Nolano

Fishers are very quiet. Main thing I miss about my old anvil. a dull "thung" instead of the ring this thing can put out.

What I am going to do is use a piece of belting from an old conveyor belt. works rather well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_grind Thats something I found when I was unsure of what they meant by a hollow grind. an axe grind and a concvex grind are the same thing, in case you didnt realize. Also, mike is indeed a neat guy. It was nice to meet him a few weeks back. sometime I hope to go visit his shop, if I get the chance. Say hi for me, if you would.

Well, my current anvil was pretty severely borked when I got it. Nothing 4 hours of grinding couldnt fix.

The way I think about it, is that your anvil should suit what you do. I had an 80# anvil for a while, and it worked well for up to a 1/2 maybe 5/8 of an inch, after that it just bounced around too much. With my new 130# hay budden, I can work this 1 1/4 inch torsion bar I have laying around, and thats medium-high carbon steel.

Well, What I mean is that you should judge what your time is worth, IE how much things sell for, how much you can make in an hour, then add in materials, and you have a general idea.

Wow.... Thats beautiful.... Great work. A note, though. As JPH points out in his book, a mirror finish should be avoided on anything that will see use.

I cant tell whether your being sarcastic or not, so if you are, ignore this. Do you have any idea how huge a fire he would need to do that? Not to mention a gigantic hammer to make the weld, and some way of lifting both the anvil and face, most people dont really have tongs(or arms) capable of doing that.... Dodge, I would reccomend hardfacing it, with one layer of softer hardface, then a layer of harder. first layer 40-50, then the second should be 50-55. If you dent it this way, you can always patch it up with the same hardfacing rod. I dont know if your doing this on your own, or you have already found this guide, but here is someone who did the same type of thing: http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/anvil1/anvil2.html

Well, the more intricate something is, the longer it takes, generally....

Thats a bummer, I dont have access to a lathe right now. However, I suppose I could cobble something together with glue and my other available methods.

I think that I will use casters from the surplus center, but I will try to find my own drive wheel to cut costs. If I dont find one, I'll consider buying the beaumont drive wheel. Quick question, I have a 1/2hp motor from a pump, will this be powerful enough? I seem to remember hearing pump motors are underrated.

Once I get a welder, I will be putting together my own belt sander. The hardest part will probably be finding the contact and drive wheels.

If you're up for some work and scrounging, you can try building one of these: http://www.iforgeiron.com/Blueprints02/BP0215beltgrind/BP0215.shtml

I'm sorry about your father. I am probably doomed to loose my dad early, as he had kids late, and he has diabetes. I am not a religious man, but I wish you and your mother well. I hope I can take my dad's passing as well as you are.

Thats a good name, Arch. Good luck.

How I made mine, was I just used a single piece of round steel, and bent it into a 7ish shape, with a flattened leaf like part at the end. I may get a picture of it one of these days.

I know someone who uses his holddown both for his anvil, and for his bench, but I never thought to try to sell them before. Thats a pretty good idea. But, Im pretty sure they should be made from spring steel, coil springs make good ones if you let it normalize when you're done.

Argh! I still need to get your other two books, JPH! Dont spring a fourth on me yet!

yesteryear, try posting it here then linking it: http://www.imageshack.us/

Just so Im clear on this, the clay heat treating is so you get a hard edge and a softer back?

Well, Ive finally gotten around to posting the pics I took 3 days ago. I mounted it to my stump using plumbers tape and lag bolts. One of these days, I am going to loosen it up, and shove a piece of conveyor belting under there, which should take care of the last remnants of the ringing.

Last time i was at a hammer in, I heard about an auctioneer auctioning off a 300lb anvil. He got cocky, and said if you could carry it out to your vehicle, it was yours. So one of the guys did, but he got a hernia on the way there. Never came back for the stand.

Well, the most expensive files are still W2 or W1, generally. However, many file makers have switched to case hardened files, which lowers what they cost significantly.

Well, I know a lot of people who like the chain method, but I personally dont. It blocks off access to all those curves and countours on the waist, they are very useful for some shapes.

Most of the markings have rusted away, and you can just barely see the markings like Hay Budden and Brooklyn, and thats about it. I will check the foot though. The way I eventually decided to attach it was with Mike-hr's method, albiet a bit modified. His was screwed down on two feet with a steel strap bent over the feet, and wood screws. Since I didnt have any strap, but I did have plumbers tape and lag bolts, I used that. Very tight down. However, using my huge 1/2inch drive ratchet on the quarter inch bolts was probably overkill, I broke three of them in the process.