shoer

That was just cool!

That would be great!

That's a farrier's anvil, it has a clip horn at the base of the horn. Some farrier's anvils come with a grove as shown for pritcheling out the nail holes in the horse shoes.

Don't know if this will help, but here are plans for building a press brake. It could probably be super-sized without too much trouble.
http://www.vintageprojects.com/machine-shop/press-brake-plans.html
If you want to just buy one, www.summitracing.com is a great place for good quality tools at a reasonable price.
I have bought lots of stuff from them over the years and never been disappointed.

Josh - in YEARS of looking I have found one published book on the subject and it's excellent. "How To Make Bits And Spurs" by Robert M. Hall, ISBN # is 0-914330-78-0.
That said, both can be made out of just about anything. The spurs should be tempered a bit if possible, otherwise the bands will warp pretty easily. The mouthpiece on the bit should made of mild steel ONLY. Pure copper will do but is too soft to last long. Anything else will dry out the horse's mouth which is not what you want. A standard width for the mouthpiece of the bit that you show would be 5 1/8" measured from the inside of one shank to the inside of the other shank.

Hope this helps.

Beautiful work. Did you do the irons also?

A few weeks ago I got a Hay Budden in decent shape. The current issue is that the hardy hole - when viewed from above - is actually twisted as it goes through the heel.
A hardy shank can go in from the top about 1/2 inch and from the bottom a bit more than an inch. Is there a reasonable way to square the hardy hole up or some other work
around that will make it usable?

Phil - here is a link to the anvil repair article by Robb Gunter. My link

I'm pretty sure that these are the only numbers to be found other than what I already posted.

This one is on the bottom of the left front foot.

This one is under the horn and to the left.

This is on the foot at the front left.

The numbers seem to be A: a mark then 2292
or B: 42292

Sorry about the size of the pictures. I wanted to be sure that numbers were readable.

Got pretty much all of the surface crud off and the only other markings found are a very deeply incised 7, on the left side under the horn and an XI under the base. Will post pics of these later.

I have Rob Gunter's article and that would be the process used IF I did any repair. I am confused by arftist's post - he seems to feel that welding and grinding are not correct. So is there another method of repair/restoration that you would suggest?

The only things that I have found so far are what shows in the pics. Where should I look on the base and I'll get out the wire wheels (pretty cruddy down there).

Now I'm even happier with it. :P

A question from the ignorant (me) here. As you can see in the pics, it is stamped SLIGO. Wasn't that an actual company or is it a 'model'?

So I did some trading today and got into this one for a bit under $100 (gas included). As you can see from the pics, it has seen a bit
of abuse but is not too bad. I believe that the wording on the side is as follows: trademark, SLIGO, solid wrought, warranted.
The numbers on the base are 116 - it weighs around 150 lbs. I am wondering if I should do some welding on the bad edges and
tip of the horn or just take a grinder to it and smooth things up. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. If anyone knows anything about
these anvils, please chime in - I've never heard of the brand. Other than the edges and horn, it seems in good shape. I can detect no dip or sway
in the face and there don't seem to be any cracks. It does look like it has a very thick face welded on.

Harry's Leather in Everett is an excellent source for any tools you may need. There also used to be one in Black Diamond but can't remember the name.

For those of us mathematically challenged, how about some simple plans for the dividers?

That helps a lot - thanks.

I feel ignorant being the only one to ask but could you please post a picture of the bender in action? I'm having trouble getting my feeble mind to see how it all goes together. Thanks.