ThomasPowers

Well if you are doing living history demos and work; look into real wrought iron, using charcoal as the fuel and sideblow with twin single action bellows! The roman museum at Bath has a nice anvil on display that will fit any time from pretty much year 0 through the 1700's

On that 3rd picture is there a bevel on the hollow tube part? If so it was a punch for leather or gasket materials. I have one that looks very similar but is solid instead of a tube and I use it for holding sheet metal; original use???

There seems to be a fundamental law of the universe---more basic than Newtonian laws of motion, more widespread than E=MC^2---that when you have two domiciles the tool needed for a project is *ALWAYS* AT THE OTHER PLACE! You think ahead and bring the tool with you; tack weld it to the side of your anvil chain rabid pitbulls to the anvil stand and hire ex-swat team members to guard it and sure enough when you go out to work on the project it has mysteriously teleported to the other shop! So I was working on mounting a postvise at church; out back where the animal pens used to be, and of course none of the drill bits down here were the correct size: 5/8", 1/2" and 3/8"; nothing to be done but to stop by the fleamarket after church and find them. Unfortunately that means walking through the fleamarket dressed much more "upscale" than normal, never a good idea! The second booth had the needed bits---I whipped out my steel drill gauge and double checked and asked the dealer "how much for the 3 used drill bits" "$9"!!!! was the reply so I dropped them like they were infectious and told him I'd buy *new* at those prices for used. (I blame my go-to-meeting clothes and not thinking to ask in Spanglish) Luckily there were 3 other dealers at that small fleamarket that were all selling their medium sized US made HSS drillbits for US$1 a piece and so for $3 I had my choice and was able to go home and drill 7 holes in a piece of wide flange heavy angle to mount the vise to the steel post at the ex-animal pen before we hold out monthly smithing meeting their next Saturday. (I hope I didn't freak out the neighbors cutting the flange on my front yard with my heavy duty angle grinder...)

"Hit it where it's hot; not where it's not!" another student mantra

Yes both are good anvils; HB's are one of the top american brands and Fishers are the top non-ringing anvil in America if not the world. Both are in quite good used shape---not mint but with several generations of uselife left in them.

Jim's spot on; first thing I said to myself when I saw the picture was "that opening will never work right with that pipe size!" The opening should be smaller in sq units than the pipe is. Then I read the post.

Not to mention you DON'T want to be staring into the fire all the time without using proper safety glases with filters to avoid IR damage!

What did the fire department say?

Welding heat depends on the alloy. For mild steel a few sparks are ok, for high carbon you are dangerously hot and for wrought iron you are ok to a tad cool. It also depends on your skill; I think Billy Merritt could weld locomotive axles with a kitchen match. If the day was particularly cold he might even light it!...

Thanks, and yes it looks like a good anvil to own.(barring a failure of the ball bearing test and ring test).

I had a friend who I had never met; we had corresponded, shared the same smithing forums; bounced ideas and sources off each other, shared experiences over the net. I was finally going to meet him in person at Quad-State one year.We didn't meet that year or any other; instead I was asked to give the farewell toast around the campfire. I found a ceramic cup with a lion on it and I gave the toast and we passed the cup and at the end of the circle it and the last sip went into the fire----never to be used for a lesser task. Each year I get to Quad-State I still try to wear an aloha shirt with lederhosen on the opening Friday in his honour as he was the one who recognized the reference, (RAH, Glory ROAD) in a post many years ago. In memory of a friend I never got to meet: Paw Paw Wilson.

Fisher looks in great shape; got a bathroom scale that goes to 300#? The second one is definitely an HB; the hourglass indentation on the base is a give away (as well as the Brooklyn NY, etc) As for price: I would expect them to sell for nearly double here than where I used to live and both those places are in the USA---where you are at I have no idea

Way too expensive; of course the last antique place I visited wanted US$100 for a badly broken postvise---missing the back jaw. By the time I left I could have bought it for $24, unfortunately my buy point was $20 as repair parts...

The one you are looking at or the one you found in that article on the net? Big difference between *a* 1961 Lincoln Limousine and *the* 1961 Lincoln Limousine Kennedy was shot in as far as historical significance. And, unfortunately, the net is a slender reed to rely on---give me an hour and I can have a webpage up claiming that *you* are the lovechild of Elvis Presley and Margret Thatcher. That article seemed a bit too hyped. I wonder what they would make of The Great Nippulini..... I would still like to see the underside of the base and know what any indentation looked like there.

Historically significant in what way? They made a great number of them and that was probably neither the first or last. Did a historically significant person use it? (I thought the Swedish cast steel anvils predated Columbians too) As I see it if it was historically significant then it should be worth more than another anvil very similar but of a different brand. I don't think it would bring in more money just because it's a columbian as compared to a sodefors.

What does the bottom look like? I'm wondering if it's a re-branded anvil from a big name maker---that long waist---and it doesn't look columbian to me. Any digits on the front of the foot under the horn?

Most common causes of Hot Short/Cold Short is too much Sulfur and too much Phosphorus. Cold shortness is a function of too much Phosphorus. Hot shortness; aka red shortness is a function of too much sulfur. You can have both present making the steel hard to work at any temperature! Note that manganese is added to steel to help scavenge sulfur that may creep in through the smelting process using coke.

I like to get everything ready to start and then make a trip to the facilities, get a drink of water, etc, before lighting the forge. A side effect of a lot of public demos where once the forge is lit I'm stuck there till it's cold or can arrange for a forge watcher so I can make a pitstop. As for a mantra: "It's only pain" has got me though a lot of situations---emphasis on different words at different times. Others: "any hammer in a storm" With students it always seems like *my* hammer is never by the anvil so I say "any hammer in a storm" and use the nearest one---often in the hands of a student watching. (I've had students convinced that the better results I'm getting is due to my "special" hammers---using the one they are having trouble with helps to show them that it's the skill and practice not the tool!) "Don't take the piece out of the fire until you have an anvil to take it to and the tool in your hand!" (students sharing an anvil is big on this one) "Don't lift an anvil until you have a place to put it back down!" "Hot steel has the right away!" The person headed to the anvil has right away over the person returning a piece to the fire.

It's a bit more complex than that "Anvils that should ring, should ring. Anvils that shouldn't ring, shouldn't ring." Some good quality anvils, Fishers, don't ring. Wrought iron with steel faces and cast *steel* anvils should ring; especially the late 19th century early 20th century American anvils with the more elongated horn and heel. If they do not ring it can be a sign of a major hidden (or not so hidden) flaw like a crack in the body or delamination. Also if an anvil is secured to a base it may kill the ring---and this is a very smart thing to do when you own a ringing anvil; it's nice to be able to hear in your not so later years! (Grandkid 7 on the way and I'll be able to talk with him because I protected my hearing!)

Well I was thinking of my cousins and they were probably thinking the same of me...I keep telling folks that the scars on my knuckles are *not* from broken glass on the sidewalks! (grinders, bow saws, molten metal, dog, chisel,...,---cataloging hand scars is good fun for boring meetings...) I wonder if you could adapt an easy-up to support the commercial curtains? Probably wouldn't work out here in NM due to the high winds. Ventilation considerations are a concern as breathing welding fumes is NOT a good idea!

Quad-State---you can camp on-site and spend the money you save in the tailgate area. A lot of the *old* blacksmiths virtual junkyard crew camp in a group and share food, stories, tips, shade/rain tarps, stories, jokes, Of course some folks will chicken out and go to local hotels, we try not to hold this against them... I hope to drive in from New Mexico for it and hope to arrive by Thursday at the latest so as to walk off my travel cramps in the tailgating area---and I don't really need anything! (Never stopped me before...) And yes it can be hard to recognize folks from their postings; several folks get around that by distinctive get-up---PTREE with his hats---one even had a *working* miniature power hammer on it, me with the disreputable red hat and on Friday the Aloha shirt and Lederhosen in honour of Paw Paw Wilson. Bluejeans and flannel shirts are common men are often bearded, (unfortunately the new job won't let me grow mine long enough to braid and hang anvils on this year). If you really want to stand out---wear a Tux!

temper depends on the alloy and the use and the preferences of the user. Straw for O-1 seems awfully hard for a tool working hot steel as being buried in hot steel will draw it further in use. Note that that cross sectional area makes a difference in quenching; some steels that are oil quench in 25 mm sq will be air quench at knife blade edge thicknesses; however in general you are safe going one quenchant gentler, (water => oil, etc). Overheating steel is pretty much a bad thing; some steels tolerate it better than others; some can be "repaired" by subsequent heat treat. In knife making especially we try to catch the right temperature on a rising heat and not overshooting and catching it on a falling heat.

I have an HB that was stored in an unheated shed near a swampy stream for over 50 years. The face was covered with fine pitting from condensation rusting. I wire brushed off the loose rust and started using it. Scale is an abrasive and the area around the sweet spot is pretty much polished out now---the areas that get used the most will clean up the best. The ball bearing test is the best way to judge face hardness "in the field".

The weight stamp will get you in the neighborhood 1 0 ?? == 1x112 + 0x28 + ?? lbs

The problem is that if we make suggestions and you base your actions on them then *we* are open to liability as well. I would guess that you would not be happy losing a good portion of your assets if the situation was reversed and I was the person asking. The fact that you want to use a "non-standard" method makes things even worse. Posting this on an open public forum compounds it. I know how to do a lot of stuff that I won't do for other people for liability reasons. I know how to do a lot of stuff I won't tell other people about for liability reasons. And there are a some things that I will neither confirm or deny in a public venue. Please remember that while *you* are asking the question *others* are and will be reading it and some of them just may be clueless mouthbreathing knuckle-dragging twits and we have to factor them into the answers as well.