Rob N.

Thanks, guys. The gentleman seems pretty genuine and we have an agreement in place, so I'm not really concerned. I'm calling him tonight to firm up pick plans. I'll post some more pix once acquired. This has been a long search for me and to get a great anvil such as this is very exciting.

Well, I'm going this weekend to look at and buy it so I hope it's not gone :)

Hello everyone, I found an anvil not too far away from me on Craigslist. The seller says it's a 159lb Peter Wright Anvil. Attached are a few pictures he sent me. I don't know much about anvils, but to my untrained eyes it looks in good condition and the price is right (for me). Thanks in advance for any advice/comments.

Thanks, so much.

That was my thought, too. Maybe, I wasn't getting the steel hot enough. I definitely am going to try to get down to Quad state this year. Thanks again.

Thanks for the replies. The reason I am asking about the treadle hammer is I have around 60 rail clips. These are very curved as well as, at least for me, thick (3/4"), It took me, on my makeshift anvil of a 4 x 6 x10 inch block of mild steel, a good two hours to just get the thing straight. I know that's got some poor skill involved with it, too. I have heard both good and bad regarding the treadle hammer in terms of drawing out, of which is my biggest need at the moment. I'm assuming, as usual, it's a relative thing, that with the proper dies, I think I could do the straightening of the curve as well as the drawing out much faster with a treadle hammer than my current pace. I know it's not ideal (power hammer) for my most pressing need, but in anyone's opinion here, would it be worth it? BTW, I am buying the Tire Hammer plans from Clay Spencer, but given the present state of my finances, I don't see being able to get that build done anytime soon. Again, thanks for the advice.

I guess if I wanted to build a tire hammer, I could just take the hammer and anvil from the treadle hammer and start from scratch for the tire hammer build. Of course I'd lose the treadle hammer, but I'd be gaining a power hammer :)

As I do when in need of some expert advice, I'm going to the experts :) I have got the plans for both the Bob Warner Inline treadle hammer and Clay Spencer's Inline hammer (from Abana). From a cursory perusal, it seems that Bob's is more doable for guy of my ability in fabrication and tooling. But my question is, does anyone see a big difference between the two THs? Is one without question the better hammer? Because if there is no real big difference in performance, I'm definitely leaning towards Bob's, with two changes. Both the hammer and the anvil are going to be solid pieces as opposed to lead or sand filled. It just makes sense to have these as solid for performance reasons. A second question is do you think it would be difficult to make either of these hammers into a power hammer? Has it been done (asked the novice)? I'm just thinking of down the road if I may want to do that, because I would hate to have to buy new steel for the hammer and anvil. As usual, thanks in advance for any replies and advice. Rob

Can someone give me the address (email or snail) to get a set of Clay Spencer's Inline Treadle Hammer plans? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the advice, Rich. No, I don't have too much experience smithing. However, as I said to Matt, I have the parts (all free), I have the desire, all me, and I have the drive. I have stuff to build a smaller HT furnace and will, because as you inferred, I will be working with smaller pieces that obviously do not need a large HT furnace. However, I love fabricating, so I definitely will make the larger one, too. Thomas, in your opinion, should I put two layers of kaowool instead of one? As I told Matt, I am concerned about efficiency, obviously. He makes great points in that maybe the refractory and the Plistix may be overkill. I've got enough kaowool for two layers, so cost isn't an issue. Thanks in advance.

Thanks. Like, Jesus, I'll just have the ends tack welded for easy unassembly. The flue, I'm guessing is just a mild steel? I suppose Stainless would be ideal, but hey I have it and it's free. Thanks again.

Thanks, Matt for the reply. I wasn't sure if I was over doing it with the two inches of kaowool, cast-o-lite and plistix or not. Sounds like, for a HT forge, I would have been. Thanks for setting me straight. As far as building a smaller one, that has definitely crossed my mind, however, I have this thing and I at least want to build it. I'll think of it as planning for the future. I have something else that might make a very good smaller HT forge for smaller pieces. In regards to the internal supports, I've spoken via email with Mr. Hernandez and he stated that he put rebar welded to the top of the HT forge to hold his pieces. That was an option for me, too. I do, however, still have the 4" inch pipe that ran down the middle of the tank. I was thinking of cutting that down to size and using that as the internal support (i.e. putting the blade to be heat treated in the pipe for nice even heating). The pipe would be suspended with either rebar or some other steel. As for the burner, I was thinking of using the same T-Rex that Mr. Hernandez uses.

Ok, so I'm making a heat treat forge, based on Jesus Hernandez's hot water tank HT forge. I had access to an old 50 gallon gas water tank, so I started to rip that bad boy apart to get to the tank. The tank is a lot bigger than I thought. After cutting the long 4 inch pipe out of the belly of the beast, I have an approximately 40 inch by 17.75 inch steel tube. I am planning on reusing the ends of the tank as I know they'll fit I was also planning on lining the tank with two inches of Kaowool and a coating of either Plistix alone or a castable (such as cast-o-lite) with the plistix on top. I plan on having my forge vertical as opposed to horizontal like Jesus' forge. Why? Because when I get better at this smithing gig, I do want to make bigger blades, and from what I've read, taking a 30+ inch blade at 1500 degrees out of a horizontal forge to the quench is tricky indeed. The steel bending, etc...Or is that overblown? Anyhow, my question to the experts here is where would be a good place to set my burner inlets? Can I get a way with just one? Or, given the size of the forge, should I have at least two burners? In my novice estimation, I'm figuring I need at least two, so the question again is where to put them? Thanks in advance.

Well, the original leads were taking me nowhere, Thomas. I do appreciate you directing me in the right direction. Now, onto those tines. I have read in the past that they are already hardened, so heat treating isn't an issue. I've been reading around the net and it seems, as Dragons Lair alludes to above, that just edge welding the 4140 onto the 1020 may not be an ideal, or even near ideal, situation. So, other than forge welding, is there a way too weld the 4140 onto the 1020 and making a nice solid connection? One site I came across mentioned something along the lines of "really deep vee-ing of the base". What does this mean and how hard is this to do? Another suggestion was to " create the face surface from multiple levels of hardfacing". I'm not a welder, but is this simply using welding to harden the face? These suggestions were not to me, but rather from an old thread on another site. Thanks in advance to all replies.

Many thanks to the Master Curmudgeon, Mr. Powers. So, I called a craigslist ad, that led me to a forklift reseller, which led me to a forklift repair shop, which led me to another forklift reseller. This very nice gentleman had an old pair that he was about to scrap. I offered him what I thought was a good amount (above scrap price) and he said, no that I could just have them both Needless to say, a nice find. Thanks, again, Thomas.

Rich, actually both. I knew the cold forging would be bad for the mild, but was surprised at the hot forging. Thomas, from your lips (or finger tips) to the forging gods' ears. I have looked high and low around my parts for a broken tine. I have had absolutely no luck.

I have a 15 inch long piece of 1020 steel. It's approximately 5" x 6". I did a little forging just to see how it would handle the steel, and was frankly disappointed in the number of dings it got. They weren't all from missed hammer blows, either So, my question is, should I get a piece of 4140, which I have been told makes a nice anvil face or should I go the more inexpensive route and pick up a piece of 1045? Is the cheaper price of 1045 worth foregoing the better 4140? Or is there something out there better than either and just as inexpensive as the 1045? I would have either of these two pieces (I'm thinking 1/2 inch thick) welded to the existing 1020. Thanks in advance.

Ok, so I'm building a gas forge. It's going very well. I am using Larry Zoeller's side arm burners as my heat source (it's a two burner furnace). I am going to line the inside with (2) one inch thick layers of Kaowool. I've got my fire brick for the bottom of the forge (rated 3,000 degrees), so I should be able to do some forge welding with little worry of ruining the bottom of the forge. My solicitation for opinions is concerning the topic title. I will be coating the Kaowool with one of these products. Is one really better than the others? Is there any real difference between any of those products? Should I use one and then use another on top of that one? You get the idea. I want the best product available, hence the request. Thanks in advance.

I recently saw "Birth of a Sword" and the smith made a great fullering tool. He said that (and he had a very nice graphic of this) using a scraping tool, or mill, thus cutting material out of the blade was a bad idea. Can anybody else speak on this? Thanks in advance.

LOL, bajajoaquin, my wife has the keys I figured I could get the gentleman down a bit, too. Thomas, I'm primarily into bladesmithing so the horn isn't really that big of a deal. Thanks for the advice. as I definitely value your opinion in these matters. As for Quad state, I am bummed as I believe I will be out of state that weekend But, If I'm not, I'm there!

Thanks, WmHorus. Those are some nice anvils and going to Pittsburgh isn't that bad of a haul for us. In my reality as it certainly is right now, the only one I think I could afford is the second one. The horn looks pretty damaged, but do you think that I could clean that up with a grinder? I'd probably grind the edges, too.

I've just about given up (but not completely )trying to find that anvil "steal". You know. The anvil that you get for pennies on the dollar because someone didn't know or care what they had. Presently, I'm using an 18 inch piece of rail on it's end as an anvil. It works pretty well, but the surface area is just not that big. Now, I know I'm going to be told to go around my local scrap yards to see if I can find some bigger (and heavier) pieces of steel and that's a great idea. However, I have called every scrap yard around my county and the two adjacent counties and have been told by everyone that they do not sell to the public anymore due to liability issues. Yes, you guessed it I'm in a northern state with approximately 10,000 too many lawyers. So, as that is not an option (or so it seems), my next stop will be at a metal store looking for a piece of 4x4 or 5x5, around 6 inches long. I've got one close that sells hot rolled (A36) and cold rolled (1045 and 4140). My question to you gentlemen and gentle ladies is which would make a better anvil (i.e. harder face, etc...)? Also, in lieu of the fact that it seems I can't get any scrap in this hole that I live in, what other options are there for me to look for used steel, before plucking down cash for a mild steel? Thanks in advance.

Thank you, Thomas. That clears it up for me.

Quick question. I'm going to take the forumites advice and save up to get a real anvil, but after reading here and other places, is it possible just to weld a a couple inch thick steel plate on top of the grizzly cast iron anvil? Isn't that what some of the anvil manufacturers do, or have done?

Thanks for the heads up. I'm in NE Ohio, so that's about 3 and 1/2 hours away, but looks (on paper) like a great deal. I'll try and look into it.