ThomasPowers

Of course that style of hammer was common over 100 years ago in Sheffield England when they were used by the cutlers there; they were called a steady hammer as I recall. That style of hammer was known in the USA till recently for saw tuning. I always found it odd that folks will get real excited over japanese stuff when the same thing was common in their own cultures in the past.

Making a basket hook I nailed the weld on one end; but the other refused to weld. After it got crusty I just cut that end off and then bent the rest of the rods up and made a hook that had 4 subsidiary hooks off it. So handy for hanging things like spoons from on the pot rack I'm even doing some more like that on purpose!

You filed that thread? Impressive!

Holes in the sides to use for punching backup? Anvil-swage block?

The older anvils being built up in pieces forge welded together, I'd bet it wasn't too hard to knock off a horn with a 20# sledge! The story as I have seen it was they were removing the horns so that the smiths couldn't make or repair horse shoes for the cavalry---of course having made hundreds of S hooks not using the horn I'd have to say that that didn't hold true. More likely given a number of old anvils that have lost horn and or heel through failure at the forge welds the story grew that it had been done on purpose. When you consider that the south was very poor during reconstruction old anvils were probably used past time to redo them---like ranch anvils out here in NM even to this day! "Poor people have poor ways".

You often want a wood surface and a wooden hammer when you want to carefully tweak pieces and leave no hammer marks on them---say a twisted section that has curved slightly. Hard to do without leaving hammer marks on the twist edges with a steel hammer and anvilface. Quite easy doing it hot on wood with a wooden hammer, (I use a rawhide mallet, AKA as the stinky hammer due to the amusing smell of burnt rawhide.)

Nice design, could you find a local VoTech which could make one or two a semester as a class project and sell them on...

Please don't take offense; but can you provide the cites as I have seen reputable evidence of this story being started in recent times. Until you can cite me the journals so I can look it up for myself I will continue in my obstinate belief. (Having been involved in several Living History groups I am well aware of how easily things can go from "I heard that" to "this is documented".)

I'll see if I can dig up a friend with a camera and take time to clean out the junk piled with the sad abused anvils and get a picture up---*please* don't hold your breath as I am in the middle of building a shop expansion and would rather spend time on that if possible! I hope to raise one of the trusses Monday! (taking a day off work as my Holiday will be spent visiting relatives.) I did bring the vulcan with 80% of the face gone, (ridged back!) and the horn broken off to quad state one year to show terribly bad casting flaws in it (multiple voids the size of pencils along the horn body interface). Did that to show folks why I rate Vulcans much lower than Fishers, I believe that evidence of the voids would have been present before it was finished and sold.

The press! Only I hate the whine of Hydraulics.

Grant, The one I gave. Of course having lived in a city with two anvil manufacturers in it at one time I may be a tad more used to coming across anvil piece parts...

Robb Gunter has a similiar holder only lower filled with tin for repousee work.

If it's in good condition offer him $350 in CASH! Worst he can do is say no.

"The Complete Modern Blacksmith" is very much a scrounge it and build it yourself book, if you don't have that one GET IT! (it's 3 books in one; I'd start with the Modern Blacksmith if you are interested in smithing and branch out to the other two as you like)

I have a friend who is a hobby machinist who is always scrounging my scrap pile---he pays me back with machine work---like a tool holder for my screw press! We both profit from the association! Jeremy; new steel may require a 2 hour drive each way from my house. Drives the price WAY UP! Especially as I have to take a day off of my real work to do the trip when they are open.

I get such stock at fleamarkets much cheaper than store bought stuff. If you are buying stuff new just go ahead and order the item from a smithing supply place! Exp bull pins---I don't pay more than $2 for them. Jack hammer shaft would probably make a good drift for that and if you must go the store route may be found worn out or broken cheap at tool rental places---some places will give them to you for *free*! Save the section with the ridge to make hardy tools with.

You do not get "grain refinement" working cold. You get work hardening. Heating a piece after work hardening can cause grain refinement through renucleation in areas of high amounts of dislocations. Modern steels are nice in that we can refine the grain by thermo cycling and do not need to try to do it by work hardening followed by a heat cycle.

A tumbler can remove the oxide layer and will work the whole piece depending on what you are using for the medium---I've been saving all my scraped nuts and bolts, screws and cut-offs for when I get my tumbler built to use as the "medium". They do tend to soften crisp lines though.

Very nicely done looks like an excellent using knife and elegant to boot!

UNLESS is is a strain hardened low carbon spring in which case the heat treat 781 mentions won't work. And reshaping it cold may push it's past it's work hardening envelope and make it prone to cracking. So the basic answer is that it depends on the material.

Divermike I own no camera, don't even own a cell phone. Every once in a while a friend will take a picture of something I have done---I don't know if the picture of my pattern welded pizza cutter is still out there; but I do bring stuff to put on the display tables at Quad-State and have shown off a bunch of stuff at SWABA meetings and demos. Unfortunately my best stuff belongs to other people while I still have every mistake I have ever made!

We had a fellow borrow the use of a hydraulic press after a demo to make a 45 deg peen hammer from a double faced hammer took two bites with the press and he was done with the forging part. Almost made me want one...almost.

NJAnvilman; I have the base of an anvil where the entire top was broken off at the waist---it's weightstamped so I know it was a complete and much bigger anvil once upon a time---not a Fisher though. It's on my "wall of shame" with other damaged and abused anvils I have run across over the years.

Well if you live out here it's not too bad. If you live where I used to live it's $100-$200 too high depending on it's condition. Location Location Location

If you want a large face anvil you want it *HEAVY* so why no base? Why lighter might be better in some cases? Come on down and load up my 515 pound Fisher and lets go visit the horse farms---of course you get to load and unload it at every stop...I'll throw my little 93 pound A&H on the wagon too and we'll see who gets too tuckered to work first! Please no "sounds plausible"; enough bad info being spread about as it it (like the "Yankees breaking southern anvil horns off" story; it was told once as a possibility and is now spread as gospel truth!) For a plausible story how about the Trenton Anvils were made in Trenton NJ, plausible but they were made in Columbus Ohio...