Dave Leppo

Wrought Iron might be nice, too. Etched, it CAN look similar to weathered wood.

3" plate would give you 1 more inch face width than this: http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f83/anvils-revisited-5771/

CORRECTION: MIG weld thanks, all

tig-weld underneath

Chrispy PW abbreviation for "Pattern-Welded" aka "damascus". I forge-welded the chainsaw chain together, combining the various components (I also added about 50% mild steel - there's not much mass to a chainsaw chain) I'm not great at this yet, the result is not great for knife blades, but ok for wings.

THANKS, all! The loop underneath is so it can be worn in a button hole, or car visor, etc. It's mild steel wire, and is a substitute for legs. This was a gift for my wife. As you may or may not know, making something like this once in a while helps reduce the stress on the marriage that your smithing addiction may accrue. I needed this one, because for the two weeks since I finished it, I've been making a sword!

wings from PW chainsaw chain, body from Wrought Iron Etched in "Muratic" acid & colored with temper colors the colors in the photo are more from the lighting (blue cast was daylight) piece is ~lifesize for average Eastern North America species

http://www.forgemagic.com/bsgview.php?photo=2404&cat=H&by= This pic was posted by Randy McDaniel, he can be contacted: Home

This thread should be moved to "FORUM FEEDBACK" or "HOW DO WE IMPROVE THINGS?" ;)

smithingman already said he wants to add radii, just where and how much. Looking at his posting history, I see that he's a professional smith. He probably knows enough about the work he plans to do on this anvil to radius it as needed. Just for than - I’m making a sword!

I made a set of twist gimlets for my dad a while back. Used re-bar, which I first tested a sample to see if it was hardinable. I bent and forge-welded an eye for the handle. I drew the blade down to a flat taper. I ground the sides of this till parallel, and the width matched the diameter I wanted. I then twisted this tip – make sure you go the proper way; I screwed this up on two out of five IIRC. I then ground the tip to a point; you are grinding away the portion that didn’t get twisted – where I held the tip in the vise while turning the handle to form the twist. I filed the tip with a chainsaw file to get a cutting edge on both flutes. I hardened and tempered the tip, and did any final sharpening with said file. Obviously, I didn’t make them rock-hard; I didn’t want them to break in use, and I wanted them to be sharpenable with a file, like an axe. I had to experiment to get the tip geometry correct for cutting a hole into wood. Try starting with a standard twist drill. I have a piece of oak that I keep my files on, and this now looks like Swiss cheese, from testing. Mine worked, but there may be a better way to make a more effective tool. I don’t know if there was any historical accuracy to my method, other than that I was able to do it, so someone else probably has done it before. Shown is a set of four, graded in millimeters, and a countersink. Hope this helps.

I’m at work and my “Anvils in America” is at home. I remember reading that there were various versions of the cast logo, but I can’t answer from memory what yours would indicate, age-wise. I definitely think I can see the outline of an Eagle in your latest pic. Maybe someone here who has the book can look this up. While the heal of this anvil is damaged, it is still quite useable. Min is missing 50% of the horn. The shiny part you see in my pic was a poorly-executed repair. This I removed when I was cleaning the thing up. I still love my Fisher. Working smiths could use the tool you have acquired for another hundred years! Your choice.

It looks to me like an early Fisher-Norris, but I can't see a logo where there should be one (pic. #4) The shape of the horn, (remnant of) heal, and the hole below the heal that was used to clamp in a fixture and grind the horn are all there. (hole visible in pic #5) Some of the Fisher logo's were probably cast more shallow than others, and may have rusted away more or less. I have one.

In his defense, MarkH's statement is exactly true: Iron Kiss hammers are hand made, one at a time, more or less. John Larson blogs extensively on two other forums, discussing his day-to day activities not only building hammers, but fab-shop welding, demo-ing traditional hand smithing on the weekends, cleaning out his rain gutters, etc., on two other forums. A hammer he sold yesterday is different than a hammer he sold 1-1/2 years ago - there are continuously improvements, especially in the air control system. I don't have any info on Big Blu's sales #'s I don't use either model. And I don't hate Big Blu

All of the air valves and other pneumatic parts on Professor Larson's Iron Kiss are Off -the-Shelf Norgren Pneumatic commercial parts, easily ordered on-line. These are the most delicate links in this chain. Not knocking Big Blue, but the quality of Oak Hill Iron is more likely due to artist skill and experience than tooling. If I bought either an Iron Kiss or a Big Blu, I would not suddenly be able to reproduce this level of work when I got home and turned on the air:)

I believe the Vulcan is a steel top - cast iron body, with the cast iron sort-of moulded to the top during casting. I would guess that this manufacturing process was not fool-proof, there may have been a flaw here all along. This would mean that you must now weld tool steel to cast iron, which could be a daunting process, and not one that I would try (but I'm not an expert welder). I personally would look for another anvil. This is your chance to upgrade to a heavier model, if you choose:) (I have Postman, and have read it. I don't have it here now to refer to)

I've burnt PAINTof a piece, leaving a yellow powdery residue. (EDIT: sorry, there were about five posts jumped in before mine. Yellow residu on the work could be from paint; yellow smoke is from zinc.

some past threads: http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f21/passivation-stainless-10765/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/question-about-stainless-9902/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/forging-stainless-steel-7900/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/working-stainless-4308/

Ha, I can see my name on the internet! ....O wait, it's not even my real name! Drat!

I started on a rail, set rail-style, then graduated to an "anvil" anvil. I still use the rail - standing on end! the web is cut away, leaving the flat end of the thick part to work on. I use this when I need a small face to avoid damaging surrounding work, like drawing the stem on an already forged leaf.

Makes me think of old Norm the town Drunk. He was not a big guy, but he could lift a refrigerator onto the back of a pickup - because he was too dumb to know that it couldn't be done! (sorry for the hijack, but it's probably my MO)

This is a great opportunity - you will remember it forever! Here's a video of heating steel by hammering: YouTube - Stone Cold to White Hot

I vote for the bon fire. If your lucky, it will heat the sheets evenly enough to avoid warping too bad. I would imagine it would be good to stand them on edge in the fire, to try to heat both surfaces more evenly. STAY UPWIND FROM THE FIRE AND AVOID THE SMOKE!

Can't you get pine tar from a pine tree? My observation is that it's not as dificult as obtaining maple sap - pine will exude tar if you look at it wrong!

Anvil Corner Radius I notice that where this reference calls for larger radii, your anvil has the most edge wear. Must have been used properly, not abused !) If and when you decide to grind, just knock the high points on the edges down and you should be good. As mentioned, sharp edges are generally not good.