VaughnT

Don't be afraid of stretching out a bit. I use searchtempest to cover all of craigslist with my searches and often find anvils listed in ways that I would never have thought. And just as soon as you find your anvil and get it home, you'll see a dozen better anvils on CL for a hundred dollars less than you just spent.

Good use of scrap metal, especially when you can get two hooks from each spike. The leftover heads, if you've squared them up, make excellent decorative washers and backer pieces of more hooks. Punch a hole in the center, or in the corners, and you've got plenty of room to add some decorative chisel marks or rivet on a hook.

Beautiful work. Having access to all those sweet tools must have been a joy! I can't imagine how much fun I could have with a giant shot cabinet like that!

Nice video. I keep saying I'll make a flipper out of some of the railroad spikes I have, but now you've really motivated me. As for turning the hook the wrong way.... nope. I've done that before and just market them as "southpaw" flippers. People that are left-handed are always left out of the game because everything seems to be designed for right-handed folks, and southpaws really appreciate when a smith takes their needs into account.

It wouldn't hurt to put it up for auction. You want a hammer to use, but collectors might pay a pretty penny for an old hammer that still has the tags on it. Maybe, maybe not, but nothing lost by trying. Personally, I'd start the bidding at $30 just to make it worth your while. If you get that much, great. If it goes higher, even better.

Gorgeous!

​I would dearly love to have an anvil like that! What an incredible find, and definitely something that deserves a place of honor in a working shop.

I've goofed up more than a few of the teeth on my bottle openers with bad hits and found a "save" by using a ball-peen hammer to enlarge the divot. It gets rid of the mis-strikes by faceting the area. The size of the peen determines the radius of the dimple, and a small ball peen can be use just as effectively as a larger one. If you don't like the faceted look, use the ball-peen as a punch and give it a good whack with a piece of firewood. I've found red oak to be a good whacker!

I've been using something similar to Jim's socket bender for years, and it works a treat if you don't need to go beyond the largest socket you have. For bigger circles, the sections of pipe welded onto angle iron is the way to go. I use a fork or vise grips to hold one end to the pipe while making the bend, but you could also try using a moveable peg much like is done with the socket bender. The biggest issue I have with the pipe sections is finding a pipe that's the right size. You can get a lot of little pipe at the home stores, but finding stuff that's 3", 4", 5", 6", etc, has proven rather impossible for me. If you do run into a supply of the larger sizes, I'd be happy to talk trade for some slices!

A fun project. I'd anneal it before trying to turn it conical. Even in its softest state, that alloy is sure to be plenty hard enough for an anvil's horn. And it will be easier to machine.

I agree with Eddie. I love welding a kiss button on top of the die so it takes all the abuse of the hammer strike. When it's thoroughly mushroomed, just chop it off and weld a new one on. The die remains pristine.

It would certainly do fairly well to make rivets as long as you need a lot of rivets in that diameter.

Arkie, there's no telling what alloy I might have. I got this metal in a box of stuff I bought when a factory went out of business and was auctioning off all their stuff. I got my main shop table from them.... 1.5" solid steel top with a 100# Wilton vise bolted to it..... I won't make you cry by telling you how much I paid for it! That's why I think I'm going to redo the whole mess. I had hoped I could use some of this scrap that just happened to be the right size for the project, but I there's way to much bad juju going on. Best to start with some H13 die stock that I can get plenty of replacements for and some nice mild steel for the body....

Looks like I'm in for more practice. I was using the guillotine to neck down some stock yesterday and noticed that my dies weren't lining up like they were. Turns out that the weld holding the arch to the base decided to unstick itself. I'm thinking that a complete overhaul of the design is in order. While the collars are working well, the mystery metal that makes up the base and arch could be too problematic to get around with my limited knowledge of welding. I have some 3/8" flat mild that I could use for a base, and some 1/2"x1" mild that could be bent around to make a new arch. Trying times, indeed!

I'm always happy to accept donations! Considering the quality of my welds, I dearly need to practice more!!!!

There's no doubt in my mind that shows about 'picking' have driven up the cost of things, but there's also a lot more interest in forging due to mainstream drivers like Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and the Vikings television program. While it's great for those of us that try to sell what we forge, it also gets people interested in trying the craft for themselves.

Got to love a great find like that!

$50!!! Wow, what a great deal. Not only did you get a good anvil, you got a work of art. The exposed grain in the wrought iron is actually not very common even though most anvils used wrought iron in the body. While it won't make the anvil work any better, it's certainly very easy on the eyes. Take a wire brush to the face to knock off any loose rust, then get to hammering hot steel.

Very neat!

Thomas, I was thinking the same thing. Looks like some of my work when I use an oxidizing flame and/or pound the scale into the metal to get texture.

I have a serious thing for old tools. Even if I'll never use them, or even know what they do, I want them all! I can't stand the idea that something built in the 1920's will wind up in the scrap yard or lost in the weeds, never to be seen again. The quality of older tools aside, I'm curious about their stories and love knowing that I'm working with something that another guy once used in his trade. My Fisher anvil was made in 1892 and was used consistently for decade after decade, helping craftsmen and tinkerers do their thing. Where it's been and what it's seen has been lost to the history of time, but I do my small part by recording my adventures for posterity. And when I die, I'll be sure to leave the anvil to a worthy successor. I've often said that men are attracted to tools because men have evolved to be tool-makers, builders of things. And I'll never understand how someone would allow a perfectly good piece of equipment rust in the field rather than selling it to someone that will put it to good use. Even if it was grandad's favorite, grandad wouldn't be very happy to see it going to pot! My most memorable recent loss was a beautiful 150# Fisher anvil sitting in a field as a tombstone of sorts, marking when an old homestead building used to be. The owner was downright rude when I stopped to inquire. I've seen a lot of anvils around the area, but that's the only Fisher I've ever seen in all of South Carolina. I had to import mine from Massachusetts.

You should definitely make a set of butchers. They can be used for all sorts of small items like leaf pendants and bottle openers, so you'll definitely open up some design ideas with them. A flat anvil is also very nice because it allows you to use the top die only. The nice thing is that you don't need to cut up your good stock to make one as most any scrap would do as long as you have a tail that will fit down into the slot on the bottom. Here's a shot that shows my guillotine with the butcher dies in place and the flat anvil in the foreground.

That's a pretty neat design. Removable wheels and t-handle are always a good idea, but I'm really digging that slotted table underneath. I never would have though to do that, but I just might have to borrow the idea for my anvil stand!

Neat. Kind of reminds me of the one Hofi showed except you're doesn't have a hinged top arm. How much clearance did you put between the collar on the top arm and the guide rod? Seems like your design would sure help keep the two dies aligned - something that my swing-arm guillotine doesn't like to do at all! Another thing to put on the to-do list.

You can secure a stand to the ground using a couple of large auger-blade dog holders and some turnbuckles. The auger is very easy to sink into the ground and won't pull up easily, so holding a lightweight stand from jumping around shouldn't be a problem at all. Certainly better than nothing! Something I just thought of.... screws and glue make for a very secure joint in a wooden stand, but screws look wrong. So, cover the screws with large-headed nails. Use more nails than you need, with different sizes of heads, and you can make patterns in the wood much like the indians used to do on their rifles with brass tacks. You can buy replica "hand-forged" nails for a pittance, and they come in different sizes, so you don't have to worry about making them - and the customer will never know that you didn't make them.... And you'd end up with something that looks almost like an old bridge or ship that's been riveted together. Ya know, I've got some old lumber sitting in the barn and an anvil that doesn't have a proper stand......