ThomasPowers

How uniform is the steel you are using? Trying to get matching bends with steel of varying composition is very difficult.

Not to mention that lava tends to put out a lot of sulfur compounds that are damaging to steel when it's hot! One thing to consider in "forging a sword out of previously broken blades" is that it tends to lose carbon with the repeated re-welding and so a blade that may have been too brittle previously may end up ok after the carbon levels drop a bit. This is of course opposite of common urban legends that forging and folding increases the carbon levels to which I point out that the master Japanese sword smiths often start out with material that is close to 2% C and end up with material that is 0.5% C and are considered very good at what they do.

Pot:Kettle take your choice!

And the calibration used? (I used to have to go over the calibration records for ISO9001 certification....)

As I recall it was a "small red headed boy or a goat fed ferns for three days" so both are omnivorous. I once sort of qualified for the first and have been assured I would qualify for the second, nowadays, if I went to a fern diet...Of course out here in the desert we tend to run to a more concentrated "output" normally and so don't need to be quite so specific.

Historically; all forge welding done pre year 1000 in Australia----wasn't!

I once did some research on the use of "full body quenching" and was amused that I could not find a culture that said "This is what *we* do!" but it always was "This is what our enemies do!"; the amusement was that for one example I was able to close the loop (a said that b, b said that c, c said that d and d said that a...) Just using blood is touchy enough since it sets up so fast and is a rather weak brine; Theophilus' suggestion of urine works better but has such an amusing smell when you use it after it's gone a bit off. Researching history can get very weird indeed!

I plan to go to the scrapyard Saturday morning. Got a request that will fit in a flat rate box/weight limit?

Just need to wait a while till Alaska gets somewhere warm again; those coal seams indicate it's happened before!

I've run across several auctioneers with dubious business practices; one had members of his team bidding things up and if they won it the piece mysteriously showed up later in the auction; another would grab imaginary bids from the floor. I stopped going to auctions for the most part as I found it was cheaper and faster to work the TPAAAT. I have bought 1 anvil at auction: 134# HB; but the auction was a business auction where (back then) there was little interest in smithing stuff---it was a HVAC company so no yuppie crowd with money but no clue about going rates for old tools. *AND* the auction was held on a holiday weekend and so most businesses didn't attend either---so the chance of a business guy interested in smith was lower. Buying a 5' heavy duty brake for US$15 was the height of my buys; the 10' hydraulic brake went for over $12K. Anvil was one of my more expensive ones $150.

bolt on with wingnuts would work as well

make sure the shaft is smooth and not upset on the outboard side.

Definitely take the boat and get some fishing in. With the current bubble in anvil prices I would expect it to go high; especially as that sounds like an auction the dealers will be attending.

Are you actually working your forge above the melting point of steel? Or are you going off a flame temp and not the operating temp?

If you are out my way let me know by PM and I can help you get set up on the cheap. Now if they will pay for training the ABS, American Bladesmith Society, has classes offered 6? different places in the USA! Also if you are anywhere near Troy Ohio SOFA puts on Quad State THIS WEEKEND! It's the largest annual get together of smiths and since tailgate sales is free once you pay your entry it's dripping smithing tools both used and new. There are a bunch of demos going on including blade smithing. https://sofablacksmiths.org/event/quadstate-2017/ I can't go this year but I am planning to drive up from New Mexico for it next year!