ThomasPowers

Wow the cost of machining a cast iron bodied vulcan would probably exceed buying a better anvil at a conference like Quad-State! I have a vulcan on my "wall of shame" (damaged anvils) . The horn is broken off, the face is paper thin and is missing over most of it. It's ridgebacked so I think it was originally abused as a ranch anvil. It was a gift from a person I found a cast steel swedish anvil in mint condition as a replacement.

From "Formulas for Profit", Bennett, copyright 1939, 4th printing "To identify iron from steel" "Mix 5 drops nitric acid with 10 drops H2O", (remember acid into water *NEVER* water into acid),"File a clean spot and place a drop on it. If it is steel it will turn black immediatly. If it is wrought iron or malleable iron it will stay bright for a considerable length of time." Use at your own risk!

May I commend to your attention "The Celtic Sword" by Radomir Pleiner. A scholarly tome with much metallographic information on how they made their blades. In it you will see the start of going from a piled structure to a pattern welded structure. So late Roman/early migration period for pattern welded blades in Europe. More than just C variations were involved as some of the early ones also used rather high Phosphorous "irons". Tricky to use but phosphorous is also a hardening element. Damascus is a term that has been used for several centuries to refer to two very different materials: pattern welded as was used all over the world---anywhere they used the bloomery method of smelting iron they came up with pattern welding too. And wootz which was a crucible steel method that seems to have it's home in central asia and been exported to other countries. It is possible to find examples of swords that are composed of *both* types of damascus, usually in alternating chevrons.

229dog: Richard Postman, who wrote "Anvils in America" says he has found over 200 british anvil makers so far and is still counting. Any of them would have used the CWT weight system. The most common ones to show up in the USA were Peter Wright and Mousehole but there are a whole lot of others over here as well! (I picked up an 1828 William Foster for US$5 once at a fleamarket in Columbus OH)

Look at the electrified screw press using a friction drive.

A friend of mine bnought one in unused condition from a place that used to deal in Army/Navy surplus. His was a naval version that had a powered blower but at some strange voltage so he just hooked a hand crank blower to it. I once found a giant buffalo forge with all the bells and whistles: coal/water troughs, down draft exhaust, original hood, etc at a store on the west side of Columbus OH that was army surplus. Never had a fire in it! I found a fellow that wanted to buy it from them at their price which was over US$1000. Moved away and don't know if thet store found any others.

Does the term "bowling ball mortar" have any resonance for you?

Look out for large punchouts, I once bought some 6" dia in 1/2" steel that came from a shipyard made nice dishing forms as they have the curve you get with a paper punch on paper. CBrann; I had a 68# flat rate box that was two pieces of round stock and there was still room for more. Box arrived in shreads and the post office told me it was above 70#---I told them it weighed 68# when it was shipped! (might have been the massive ammounts of strapping tape that had been applied as the box disappeared) For largish pieces of steel it is always a good idea to have labels on the individual pieces inside the box as well as the outside label. I lost a shipment of real wrought iron through the USPS I hadn't individually labeled.

James; can you come back and give us a readout after a length of time under hard use? I'd expect any method to work right after it was done...a year or so for your primary using hammer is a much more impressive statistic!

Ahh Jimbo I'm a bit confused: by the time regular borax is molten it is anhydrous borax so I read your statement: "Anhydrous Borax does not eat the floor of you gas forge the way Anhydrous Borax will"? Tis a puzzlement to me.

Quarrel is an arrow for a crossbow, points are usually short and stout, (and 4 sided). On mine and the others they had for sale, the cone was welded. Much easier with real wrought iron than modern mild steel! I did very well spending a summer in Germany on a business trip; lots of research opprotunities and I even got to do a pattern welded billet at an open air museum as the 80 year old smith wanted to see how it was done. (why yes I always travel with a billet and flux...)

Well now if they are stranger than *Frosty* then they are strange indeed! Blacksmiths tend toward the odd part of the spectrum in general; for example I'm going camping for a week so I have already packed a 134# anvil, large stump, postvise, 4 propane bottles, scrap iron,....I'll probably get around to the tent and sleeping bag sometime before I leave...

After so many years in the cold north that great anvil deserves a nice long working vacation somewhere warm and dry---did I mention that todays forecast was for 88degF and 27% humidity down here in Socorro NM, USA? It's a great *using* anvil; good brand great condition. Proper use of it will do no detriment to it's value. Just letting it sit around collecting dust/rust would be a crime.

Wish you were closer I'd let you look at my renaissance quarrel point---an original. They were surprised when I bought one of the more weathered ones over the others; but the weathering shows the grain of the wrought iron and so exactly how it had been worked. A simple fuller made by bending round rod back on itself with a slight gap works well. To make it really fancy fold one end till it will fit snugly in the hardy hole so you don't have to have someone hold it as you use it.

Unfortunately the arguement that lots of folks do something so it must be OK never held for me; else I might be wearing a ballcap turned backwards and pants 6 times too large! Also since lots of people don't do smithing I guess you'd be better off giving it up! I consider RR spike cutting tools to be 1 trick ponies especially when you consider that the clips actually are medium carbon steel (40 to 60 points) and car springs are often a good medium carbon steel and so easy and cheap to find.

EWCTool: let me paraphrase "everyone says that sheets of window glass make poor drinking glasses; but glass makes great drinking glasses---what gives?" Material is fine, shape is not as great as it could be. In forging the hammer "sees" mainly the metal directly under the impact point and the way most people use RR rail makes for little steel directly under the hammer---most of it is to the sides! A better way to use it would be to stand a length of it on end and concrete it into a 5 gallon bucket and then forge on the end putting the entire length "under" the hammer. Welding on a fairly smallish face can make it a bit easier to use too. BTW "The Complete Modern Blacksmith", Weygers, has detailed plans for make RR rail anvils thye way folks usually use them including heat treating instructions. A bunch of knifemakers are now going to vertical lengths of steel for bladesmithing anvils.

Does this type of burner use a blower? What type of regulator are you using with it and at what supposed pressure?

Metal drilling bits---pre twist were often a diamond shape point on a shaft. I would check Moxon's "Mechanics Exercises" (pub 1703), Diderot's Encyclopedia (late 18th century) and IIRC Richardson's "Practical Blacksmithing had a section on how to make and use them as being faster and cheaper to make than a twist drill when you needed a certain size. I'd have to look a lot harder to get earlier than Moxon and I'm about to leave on a week long campout with my forge but away from my library.

Well; nice to see you all posting; however Arm and Hammer anvils with the trademark stamped *in* and not a raised casting (Vulcan steel faced cast iron body) in latter years used a cast steel base that was arc welded to the top piece. "Anvils In America" can give you all the details. Most of the ones I have seen were dressed (ground) down; however spending 15 years living in the city where they were made (Columbus OH) I have seen a number that still had the original welding visible. I often wondered if they were sold as seconds or were lunchbox freebie's...

Not nearly as good as sifted wood ashes! (and if any was to melt to the steel a bigger pain to remove.)

The Complete Modern Blacksmith by Weygers has a whole chapter on using rail to make custom powerhammer dies with the example being one to forge wood carving chiseld with a raise center spine for strength.

What EC said, make a little jig for the loop bending, though I would squeeze the legs together hot using a pair of tongs that's good for that purpose.

About 37 years ago I saw a beautiful anvil thrown in the weeds alongside the Madrid to Toledo train track; I doubt it would still be there... Welcome.

Hard to forge does not equal hard at cooler temps. Does not hold a good edge and is very expensive. Save it for where it's looks or properties make it a star and use easier to find and afford alloys. Me I want some 1/16 to 1/8" inconell to line my forge with; got some Ti to trade...

Ahh the Romans used real wrought iron or wrought iron derrived steels; mild steel as we know it dates till after around 1856 when the Bessemer/Kelly process came into being. They were also forging with real charcoal, coal not coming into use till the high middle ages and even then was not used everywhere. Carburizing steel: generally you will scale off steel fater than you can soak carbon into it. There are ways but expect to need a bit more experience before going into them. (I recently let a carburizing process go too long and ended up too close to cast iron dang nabbit!) For more roman era info may I commend to your attention "The Celtic Sword", Radomir Pleiner, goes into much detail of the metallurgy of the blades.