VaughnT

Very nice looking anvil. Sure wish an old girl like that could talk and tell us some of the things she's seen! That last number looks like a 12. Either way, that's a great size for an anvil, and she looks to be in fantastic shape.

Fantastic find! At just over a dollar a pound, I wouldn't have even though about haggling for a cheaper deal! That thing is almost new and is a great size for general work. Very lucky you!!!!

I'm pretty sure I saw that for sale/rent on one of the props-r-us websites. I'm thinking it would be mighty difficult to find the right drapes and valances......

That's a great forge for all the stuff you're likely to do while learning the basics, and charcoal is plenty good as a fuel if you have enough of it and keep the air to it. Tim MIller's thread on making his spikes for holding the anvil down is fantastic and that would make a great first project for you as it will be an immense help to your efficiency. Were it I, I'd first build a "stump" made from pressure-treated lumber that I could bury a foot or two into the soil. Then I'd forge 4 of the above mentioned spikes to help develop hammer control and produce something useful. Once the anvil is spiked solidly to the stump, and the stump is tied solidly to the ground, you'll find that the metal moves far easier even if it's only a bright red in color. All the wobble in the anvil/stand combination is energy that isn't going into moving the metal. You're certainly off to a great start!

On a piece of wood that size, I wouldn't use something as heavy as 4" tubing. That's HUGE and would overwhelm the wood, and not be really workable. The client wants the look of a spike, but that doesn't mean you have to simply increase the dimensions of hook until you've reached the length needed. 4" tube would would be incredibly heavy, both physically and visually. I'd use 1" solid stock, upset and flatten the end for the head. Pointing and curling would be super simple as long as you can get the metal hot. If you can't upset and flatten the head because of your tooling/knowledge limitations, find a local welder to weld on a piece of 1/2" flat stock that you can file and grind to shape to create the look of spike's head. Heating it all up to a cherry red will scale off the odd file marks and blend the two together, then hit it with some black paint. Frosty is right about offering the client other ideas. They saw your hooks and had the idea to simply enlarge them into legs. Okay, great. Maybe, however, they would like something else if you showed them something else. I like the idea of a girder span to give it that old bridge look, maybe the client would, too.

Congratulations. Very much looking forward to that book!

Sweet! I've love to have one of those giants!

That's good work, and you'll only get better as you continue. Celtic knotwork would look spectacular on a hammer handle! The only downside is that a rough handle is hard on the hands. I wouldn't do much carving on the handle of a working tool unless blisters are something you like.

As to longevity, I always wonder just how long a steel pot will last relative to how long people need it to last. In general, the folks that are looking for a cheap option are the ones that think they might be interested in smithing as a hobby. For them, the brake drum forge is almost unbeatable in terms of the return on investment over the duration of their interest. A new cast iron pot will run at least $120, plus shipping, and will last over 100 years considering how little it's going to be used by a hobby smith. Folks say cast iron lasts longer, but is that a real factor for the hobby smiths? If I can get a steel pot for $50 and it lasts 5 years, that's a pretty good return on my investment. If I buy a new cast-iron pot and use it for a year or two, I might be able to resell it and get some of my money back. But then we're right back to the price point of the fabricated pot. All that to say.... durability is a relative value. If the price was right, and the shipping wasn't out of this world, I would certainly consider buying a fabricated pot.

Not bad at all. While Vulcan's often get a bad rap, I think you did well. The face is flat and edges look almost new, so run with it. At 60#, you've got a great great great general anvil that's easy to move and can do 99% of the blacksmithing that you might like. Currently, I have a 66#, 120# and 300# anvil in the garage, and each one is great. Light anvils are a blessing when you have to move it out of the way or want to travel to do a demonstration. Even when you find that bigger anvil, you'll keep this one around. Promise!

I would buy that thing in a heartbeat if I could! Don't really need it, but it sure would be handy for that once-in-a-decade project. Cast iron or not, it would likely take a beating.

It'd certainly be a great learning experience. I would probably farm out the heat treat if that was required, though. No harm in making one out of 5160 and trying it as-is to see how it holds up. If heat-treat is needed, go for it. If not, great!

Lots of meat there. You could reshape it into a hammer or top fuller for different projects. Definitely something worth having in the arsenal!

That's a wonderful anvil! For less than $2 a pound, you got a very good deal. Congratulations to you. You have a gem of an anvil with a bit of local history, and now it's time to get the fire up and put the hammer to steel.

It's less than $2 per pound and that's a decent price. Figure in the cost of travel and you're still getting a decent purchase if the anvil quality is there. Take a straight edge to check the amount of swayback. Look at the edges for chipping. Pay attention to signs that the anvil has been welded on to make the face look better. Does the horn come to a decent point or is it missing some? Chipped edges are not a deal breaker unless the chipping is severe. Even then, a bit of time with a belt sander to radius the edges can work to your benefit. Most smiths will do this as the radii come in handy for bending stock. A bit of sway in the face plate can come in handy, too. You don't want a ton of it, but a modicum won't hurt a bit. The overall condition of the face plate is important. I once had an anvil that had a faceplate that was like a rolling ocean. There wasn't a single flat spot to be found and working on it was a constant struggle. I would steer clear of something like that unless the price was really good. There are enough pictures on IFI to show you what a good anvil looks like.

I'd be hesitant to buy it because it requires some serious fiddling to get the blower fixed to a stand. For that money, you can find a blower and stand if you wait a bit. That said, if you don't mind fabricating a mount and stand, and the gears are good....... use the lack of stand as a bargaining chip to bring the price down.

Doesn't impress me as being very large, but you couldn't have found one in better condition! Wow, is she a beaut!! My next anvil is going to be a Fisher with the bolt-down lugs. Love the idea even if I don't need them and I can't wait to built a stand for one.

I would leave it be until you had enough time and experience to know what you really needed, as opposed to wanted. Those edges don't look great, but they aren't awful either. You can take a flap disk or belt sander to them and radius the edges, which I wold personally do. Or, you could weld the edges back up if you have the time, electricity and equipment.

Considering how beautiful your house is, I have no doubt that you're shop will turn out decent.

I'm not seeing what the problem is, to be honest. It's heavily rusted, sure, but that's not that big of an issue. The missing face plate is a bad thing, but there is still plenty of hard surface directly over the waist of the anvil, the sweet spot, and that's where you do the majority of your hammering. Is the price right? I wouldn't pay more than $2/lb for the thing, to be sure, but what is the pricing and availability like in your area? 28" AOL and a thick waist means it will be a very good general working weight. The amount of face plate missing isn't extreme and could potentially be welded back up with the right rods. Or, you could look at it as having an extended cutting table..... I certainly would want either better photos or a personal visit before committing to the purchase.

That's a good quality of anvil, but the price is a bit steep in my opinion. Of course, a lot depends on what the anvil market is like in your area. You can do 90% of all blacksmithing without a london-pattern anvil. A large piece of scrap steel, with hardies held in a vise, would do you just as well. Of course, I say that and still buy every decent anvil that I come across! If the price is good for you, and the market is a bit thin on quality anvils, I'd go for it. The worst you can say is that you got a great anvil, in a great size, for a fair price. Not a price to brag on, but it is fair as long as the anvil isn't beat up too badly.

Sounds like they have a very bad business model that's focused on failing instead of succeeding. While they might need to offer a built-to-spec oven/kiln to serve a niche, there's no reason for each and every single build to require its own manual and even less reason for the manuals to cost so much. All they are succeeding in doing is losing money. Thanks for the heads up on them!

If you're happy with the price, it's a good deal. That anvil has a bit of wear, but only a bit and will probably last you another hundred years or so. I'd certainly buy it.

Constantly amazes me that folks would think an anvil like that is worth the time or money! I wouldn't pay $5 for it unless I was planning on using it as a hitching post for a horse. Save your money. You live in a port city that deals in a lot of large machinery. Contact those places and find yourself any large solid chunk of steel to use as an anvil. Heck, you'll probably find that a lot of "real" anvils buried in the back corners of the shops that work on the ships.

The first knife is a big step for anyone to take. My advise? You did good, but you know you could have done a whole lot better. The key is that you got lazy and short-changed yourself. But, you know that and knowing is half the battle. In the future, use good steel from a known source. It saves you a ton of work and money. "Free" metal is never free when you figure in the time and energy needed to get it to a decent state. What I would do is take that knife apart and apply all that you've learned since. With the before and after pics, I bet it would be a real eye-opener!