ThomasPowers

Well I'd take it right over there where a smith will let you borrow the forge to heat and re-shape the eye. Arc welding would probably be best as forge welding it back is not a beginners technique. Arc welding wrought is a bit messy as the slag in it makes for holes needing more welding when you weld over it; but it can be done! Now if you told us where you were at perhaps a local smith could make an offer to stop by some time. I sure would if you lived in Central NM!

Very nicely done indeed! Can you provide the cite for where the originals were described. I want to save the pics and do one myself.

Anvils do seem to get more brittle when cold, had a friend break the heel off a family anvil once in very cold weather. Warming an anvil before use in cold weather really helps your forging too, especially things like knives with alloys that have limited forging ranges---getting only *1* hammer blow between re-heats is a pain especially when you factor in decarb during heats! I know a fellow who simply puts a thrift store clothes iron set on high on his anvil face when he goes into work and by the time he's set up and has the forge hot the anvil is warm to the touch. Many folks have a "heating slab" of junk steel that they pop in the forge first thing and lay on the anvil when it's red. The swordmaker I studied under used to take gallon cans with bails on them punch a few holes around the bottom edge and build a kindling fire in them to hang on horn and heel---400# anvil it was a nice warm seat between heats. As for self I always liked long-johns *NOT* SYNTHETIC FIBER ONES! wool socks and most of all---put down a sheet of scrap plywood to stand on, breaking the cold floor conduction to your feet makes a BIG difference! A gas forge makes a great shop heater BUT VENTILATE your shop! CO is just as deadly in winter than in summer!

On a double lunged bellows the top chamber is the only one that is supposed to be connected to the forge and it doesn't have an opening stroke---it gets force fed from the lower chamber. If you are getting any back draw with it you need to check the valve in the middle board to make sure it's making a good seal. With paired single action bellows you need to alternate the stroke carefully to avoid draw back; unless they have a very good check valve, (the ones Theophilus described in 1120 do not have a check valve; even though the bellows he describes for an organ had a check valve. So we infer that it was known but possible not used for metallurgical process bellows)

Hard with the drywall already up unless you are willing to put up another offset layer. Biggest thing I can think of would be to use a Fisher anvil and stay away from powerhammers!

Well the MOB took a HF ASO and made a propane stove from it...

That's a pretty standard configuration for a bridge anvil, they were used a lot in the old cable tool drilling rigs fro repointing drill bits and so are often found like that one with severe damage! Mine tested out to be cast iron too. I wouldn't give more then US$50 for it and not expect it to be very easily resold either. Another owner of one flipped it over and used the large flat base to true up plow points. The one I found for a metal arts instructor is if anything worse though not having that central crack---we use it for when the students need to do heavy crude pounding instead of letting them use a good anvil.

It's easy to take angle iron and make "jaw covers" that have straps that bend over to keep them on. Then you will have nice flat faces...

Did you ever tell us if it had a pritchel hole? If it doesn't it's most likely a Mexican cast anvil where they use an old anvil to make the molds from and so can range from decent quality to not very good depending on what was in the ladle that day and would not be heat treated as well. Lots of them out this way

Flats on the feet say PW for me too, If so: English anvil and so will be weight marked in the CWT system X Y Z, with the weight being X x 112 + Y x 28 + Z = pounds. Looks in quite using shape don't abuse it trying to gussy it up!

Well designed and well executed, you may have a decarb layer to remove even when you get down to clean steel but it's sounds like you did very well indeed!

Yup colour's are due to different voltages used to annodize Ti. As far as the blades go they and not well designed!

The pic where he wants to trade it for a welder seems to show no pritchel and so I'd bet on it being a mexican cast copy!

No the "10" starter indicates it's a straight carbon steel with just a bit of manganese.

Does it have a pritchel hole? If not it's a modern mexican cast anvil made using a "real" anvil to make the mould . We get a lot of them down this way. They range from pretty nice to atrocious depending on what they were casting that day. Also check the horn to see if there is a mold line going down the face of it. If it has a pritchel (that wasn't drilled as a retrofit) forget about the above. The green paint makes me wonder... Can you tell us what the bottom looks like? The indentation on the bottom is very indicative of several brands of anvils----HB, A&H, etc...

Ease into it a bit, you may find that it's a great exercise for your problems---if you don't push it. Many starters use way too large a hammer and are amazed at how small a hammer a pro can use. And don't worry if you get to like doing it you can always trade up to a larger anvil a feller up north of me has a 750# West anvil...grin WV is the only state with less water acres than NM; but of course we're several times as large.

Also note that if you have a hankering to do some knifemaking the American Bladesmith Society runs a mighty fine school down near Texarkana! Thomas, a razorback in central NM

How about a straight steel with lots of carbon or a high carbon high nickle steel to get better definition?

need the serial number to pinpoint that

Kindling hatchet for a fire set!

Have you looked into filing guides? Often used to file the tang/blade transition even and consist of hardened strips of metal you clamp on the blade to provide a straight edge to file up to (and no more!) How many hundred blades have you done? Practice is a big part at getting good for most of us.

note that lots of blades have fullers near the spine, especially single edged swords!

Differential temper rather than differential hardening is less strain on the steel---seems rather odd that you would complain about edge cracking and then "question the effectiveness of this relative to not quenching the entire blade in the first place"

Yup that's an HB all right!

Ac1 is up in the "glowing" range BTW so doing it after hardening is contraindicated...