Alwin

I wanted to revive this thread because I've really been wondering about these questions.

You're right Nelson, It's not realistic, it is more of an art piece.

Thank you, I love these projects. It has taken a while to get to the point where I feel confident with all the forge welds and the order of constructions on these types of projects. There are ways to design things to help oneself in the construction. I love to design things so that I can use the processes I enjoy in the construction.

In my area it would be 700-1000 dollars, new ones for the same weight sell in that range as well. I think the price you were told is very unrealistic but you never know. You can buy a new one of the same size with modern alloyed steel specifically chosen for the type of work an anvil is used for in the 850-1200 dollar range.

This is a grill project that I made the beginning of this week. It is 34 inches long and 15 inches high. There is a long bar in a restaurant in town and the grill is to define a small section on the end for the waitresses and their computer. The grapevine is all forge welded then bent to fit into the frame (mortice and tenon frame). I tacked the vine into the frame using a mig on the 4 points that the wrapping goes around. The grapes were forged individually-I think 22 of them- then made into a bundle which I tacked with the mig so I could forge weld them at one time (I've done it before without tacking by just holding 2-4 together with tongs then welding, then taking several clumps and welding those to complete it. I forged and shaped the leaves then welded those to the grapes in the forge. Their are two halves to the grapevine that are forge welded in the center where the long wrap is. That forge weld was last. It is easy to work with the shorter sections until the last weld.

Very nice, thank you. I'll be trying that soon.

I can't see what the grind is on those Brian.

Gerald, those little details add so much to the finished product. Is it on a table you've made?

My fire pot is made out of 1/4 inch diamond plate because that is what I had. However, it is water cooled to make it last. As a full time smith I've used it almost daily for three years with no problems. I'll try to post a picture soon.

Your right I meant 6 inches, just writing quickly on breaks from the forge. I was wondering what the stretch from a drift would be? Is that info in one of the BPs? Thanks

For a 4 inch hole do you want the slit to be pi times diameter long (approx. 12 inches)?

You need at minimum 2-3 inches of coke or charcoal underneath the metal to be welded or too much oxygen/air will be getting to your steel. Too much oxygen cause the metal to oxidize and makes it very difficult to weld. A normal blower pace is probably right-not knowing what your normal is. You don't want to heat it really slowly or really fast. The first time get it to the point where you are just starting to see bright sparkles going up then move extremely quickly as you take it to the anvil and start using very fast light hits on it. As soon as the metal stops looking wet, when it ceases to be at a welding heat, put it back in the fire. Without flux, welding when the steel is just starting to throw a few sparks works great and will give you a good idea of the temperature range. I like to show people how to weld without flux first because I think it gives a little better idea of how the steel works. When using flux, glance at the metal and when it starts looking wet, when the surface of the steel looks like it is starting to flow around in the fire you can take it out and weld. You need to have all your tools ready when the steel is. The hammer should hit the metal at almost the same time the metal hits the anvil, and it should only take you a split second to move it from in the forge to the anvil.

To make the eye the softest I heat the hammer with the torch. I focus the torch on the inside of the slit and drifted hammer eye alternately focusing the torch towards the face and pein sides on the inside of the eye of the hammer in the center of the mass.

When I make a hammer it is for myself and I usually make it out of truck axle but I've also just used large chunks of steel that had spark tested to a higher carbon content than mild steel. To harden I've found that heating the hammer to right above magnetic and then cooling the whole thing in water gets it deeply hardened. Then, to temper it I put it in the vice with a mild steel heat shield placed over the threads of the vice and use a torch to heat from the center of the eye until the face and pein reach the bronze to purple range. Finally, I'll cool it again if it seems that it will be passing the heat range indicated by the purple color. This has worked very well, but I'm curious to hear other peoples techniques. I do know that there is a little gamble in making it out of unknown steel; that better more consistent results are achieved by using a known steel; that it would be unwise to sell a tool from an unknown material; and that probably a lot of people on this site do exactly what I do for their own tools.

I haven't seen it or at least I hadn't noticed it until now, so thank you.

Dodge, that anvil looks gorgeous. I am curious what Brian's anvil with a similar design to the one pictured in the start of this thread but with a flat and round horn as was mentioned somewhere on the first page of this post looks like.

In the book "The Artist Blacksmith" by Peter Parkinson (I think I got his name right) the author mentions how some British smiths sometimes put a cold chisel grind on their punches to make them go through metal faster. I had missed that before but noticed it after this discussion.

You answered the chiselier hammer question. It is a beautiful hammer as all that I've seen which you've made are.

What is the "chiselier hammer"? Also, is it the grind of the slitting chisel that differentiates the one you use from Hofi's or are they the same? I hope you don't mind lots of questions thrown at you, it is wonderful to be able to discuss these things. I am always looking to understand these things better.

The technique is an old one and I've wondered why it wasn't used for larger forging hammers until recently. Have you ever heard an explanation? I think that perhaps the idea of extra mass in the center wasn't ever the reason for doing it until Hofi, it was always for a better handle attachment. It is definitely extra work to make the eye of a hammer that way because if you don't start with a very undersized hole you end up with a very large eye negating the purpose-that of having extra mass in the center of the hammer. Do you fuller your hammers to lengthen them because there is a point at which they are too wobbly in flight? I have made probably 15-20 different forging hammers experimenting with different designs. I have noticed there is a point at which a short wide hammer stops bouncing straight- that is what I mean by wobbly. It seems you only want so much mass in the center. Would punching and drifting an eye without then fullering on either side of the eye give you the same result without as much work? I have always been fascinated with the blacksmith's hammer since I first got into blacksmithing. There is so much complexity in such a simple tool, and I really enjoy being able to shape steel with hammers I've made.

The thread was titled: Anvils revisited.

I was looking at some earlier threads and found Brian Brazeal's homemade anvil and a reference to his Easy Smith 3 anvil design. The homemade anvil had a really interesting design with several fullers and a flat place on the edge of large plate. The large plate was mounted on edge and seemed 2-3 inches wide. I'll figure out what thread that was but it would be any easier approach to a handmade anvil that might inspire some great creativity.

I want to add that your photographs and descriptions of technique are wonderful. Thank you very much.

Forgemaster, what kind of blacksmithing do you do? It sounds like you're working on huge pieces of steel.

Hofi's roots were in his exposure to the techniques and tools of Habermann. Hofi is the one who started spreading the steel up and down on forging hammers where in the past that was only done on smaller hammers to increase the length of the hole so it would hold the handle more securely. Brian you are a great link to Habermann, and I'm curious about his opinions and reasoning on hammer design. It is obvious that you like to shape eyes like Hofi, and that is a great way to make a hammer. Did Habermann start doing them that way after seeing Hofi do that?