Jose Gomez

Finally got some close up pics of the tool tray, hinges, and movable racks. The tray extends nearly 6 feet away from the anvil, and all of the recks on the tray are removable so that it can be more versitile. The pics are huge but if you right click and then click open link in new window the pictures open normally.

Im not really sure who made it. There are some remnants of the original markings on it but not quite enough for me to figure out who to credit with it's manufacture. What I do know is that it shows several career's worth of chisel sharpening. If you look closely in the pics showing the horn pointing to the right you will notice that the feet of the anvil bare the scars of literally hundreds if not thousands of chisels tempers being tested. When you stand next to it you can see where the smith used to lean over the anvil and strike it with a freshly forged and heat treated chisel in order to insure the quality of it's temper. On the face there is a slight sway, and some deep wear on the edge, dead center over the waist where undoubtedly several smiths spent many years slaving over hot steel with large sledges. Also, just in front of the hardy hole on the heel there is a gentle groove that has been worn where the smith would refine the shape of the tools being formed. This anvil, like most, drips history. I feel honored to be one of several persons lucky enough to be its caretaker, and be involved in the history of something with whom so many others have spent lives working over. When I'm gone it will move on for several more centuries, but for now, the way that it came into my life and the joy I get every time I get to create something with it's help makes it all the more precious to me. Im one lucky Smith.

Thanks all! The articulated tool rack is actually on a double hinged arm so when the need to support the end of a long bar comes up I can swing the rack up to 5 feet away from the anvil and still support up to 160 pounds on it (tested it by sitting on it). All of the tool holders/tong rack are built on a pieces of angle iron that were forged closed over a thin spacer so that they can be hung on any side of the table or removed entirely if they get in the way of specific operations. I'll get some shots of that stuff and put them up here when I can.

Robb's post on another thread "If you follow the process detailed in the article it works very well. As of this point I have restored 86 anvils using this process with complete success. The rods suggested were chosen for not only their impact resistance and ability to interface with the base material as well as the W - 1 tool steel top, but also to produce a surface that came out the correct hardness as welded. Robb Gunter" I too have used this exact procedure to rebuild dozens of anvils and have had no problems what so ever. You will notice that the hardness listed for 1105 is given with the rod being applied over 1045 steel. Both w-1 and 2110 have significantly higher alloy content and therefore when an overlay of 1105 is put into place on either of these materials it will typically yield higher hardness than if applied over 1045. Bottom line is that this process works extremely well and has been proven on lieraly hundreds of anvils. If you want to fix an anvil and be absolutely positive of the result, follow the procedure to the letter.

The copper was salvaged from old copper pipe (about .040) and I used .030 nickel 200 sheet for the remainder. The anvil shaped tool that I used to make the indent was cut out of a chunk of 3/4 inch mild steel plate by drilling two holes (one under the horn and one under the heel) and then cutting the rest of the material away with a band saw. I then welded it to a handle and heated it to 1600 degrees and dunked it in superquench to harden it up enough to withstand the abuse. The mokume anvil was cut out with a pneumatic cutoff tool (the type that use 3" abrasive wheels) and the finish profiling and fitting was done with an electric die grinder fitted with a burr bit. I am attaching a photo of the anvil tool next to the buckle and a shot of the buckle next to an unwelded bilit that is set up exactly the same as the one the buckle was made from. I'll try to get more in process pics soon.

This 700 plus pound anvil was a gift form a very good friend of mine for helping him learn the ways of pattern welding and a few other things. After I told him that I was looking to upgrade (I was using a 65 kilogram vaughn) and asked him to keep his eyes open for a 300ish pound shop anvil He found this one in Michigan and had his father-in-law haul it all the way to my house in New Mexico. AMAZING!!! It rings like a bell and weighs in at over 700 pounds minus the original cast iron base which adds another 300 or so pounds. I raised the anvil 4" on timbers, added a swinging tool tray that will float around to either side of it, made up a hammer rack, and put it in to service. I stuck a buck to the side of it with a magnet, and took a shot of it with the 25 pound little giant so that you could get an idea of the size of this beast Thanks Joe!

If you're going to go to the effort of pouring a special slab for a power hammer then do yourself a favor and go at least 12". Most small hammers (25-50# Mech and some utility air hammers) will run fine on a 6" slab, but it is worth the extra $$ to have a good rock solid foundation that will serve you even if you chose to upgrade to a mid sized hammer. I have a 25# Little Giant with 18" of 5000 psi under it (I was planning on upgrading in the future, but when I did I kept all of the hammers), A 50" Little giant with 10" of 4000 psi under it (that shakes the shop when I run it) and a big blu 155 that used to be on 4" slab. The Blu is now on a 20" chunck because it was compacting the earth under the shop and shaking the whole building; now it runs like a top, is quieter, and hits harder. I don't think I would go 4' square, but rather go 4'x 30" x at least 12". Be sure to isolate this area from the main slab if you want to keep the hammer more quiet and minimize the risk of foundation cracking. Now dont get me wrong, you can get away with a 6" slab, but if your going to go to the effort of making a special place for an expensive labor saving machine I think it is time and money well spent doing the job correctly enough to serve you properly even if you choose to upgrade to a larger machine, and the cost won't be that much more.

I started out with 6 pieces of 1/8 inch 1080 tool steel and 6 pieces of .95 inch thich 15n20 steel all 1 1/4 inch wide by 5 inches long. I then stacked them in order (1080/15n20/1080/15n20 and so on). Following that I welded the stack to a piece of rebar so that I would not have to use tongs to controll it, then heated it in a gas forge to dull red color at which time I fluxed it with anhydrous borax and returned it to the forge. After the billit had had sufficient time to reach welding heat (2300+ degrees) I removed it from the forge and ran it through the power hammer gently. Following the first welding cycle I re-fluxed and re heated the billit to welding temp at which time I agressively forged the bar down to 1/4 inch thick while letting it grow as wide as it wanted to (ended up being 1 3/4 inch wide or so). So now I had a 12 layer pattern welded billet, but I needed more layers in order to get the fine pattern I was looking for, so I cut the bar into 5 equal chunks, re-stacked them and repeated the welding process giving me a 1/4 inch thich 2 1/4 inch wide 60 layer bar....Still not enough. So yet again I cut it into 6 equal pieces re-stacked and re-welded giving me a 5/16 inch thick 2 1/2 inch wide 360 layer slug of metal long enough for 2 buckles. Now I hade the layer count I wanted but I needed the anvil shape indentation in the center, so I cut a tiny anvil out of a piece of 3/4 inch steel plate and welded it to a handle. I then re heated the 360 layer bar to welding heat and drove the anvil shaped nugget of steel down into it leaving the metal about 1/16 inch thick under the indentation. After that I profiled the buckle on the belt grinder I forged a curve into it by driving it into a 2x4 from the back, and threw it in a brass tumbler (normally used to pollish empty casings for reloading)In order to clean off the fire scale. Following that I Etched the buckle in ferric chloride 3 times for 15 minues each until I could feel the raised grain of the metal. I then forged a sheet of mokume using 16 layers of nickel and 16 layers of copper and using the same anvil shaped tool gave it a whack with the power hammer so that I had a print of the anvil shape to follow while cutting the mokume. All that was left to do then was cut out the mokume, dish it to match the buckle, epoxy it in the indentation, and weld the hardware to the back. Ill try to get pictures of the tooling and some in process pics tonight and post them, but for now I hope that this both answered your questions and made a few more at the same time...

Thanks all! Mr. Turley, I am definitly looking forward to it! Ironstein, The edge details were done with a die grinder and then finished with a file, and the Mokume is 32 layers of nickel and copper forged to 3/32 inch thick. This buckle is for a benefit raffle for one of our members; Each demonstrator at our meeting will donate a forged and signed specialty item created just for this unique raffle. All proceeds will go directly to her to help with medical expenses accrued from her battle with cancer.

I finally got to return to the forge after breaking my right hand 3 months ago (4 days before a major demo). this is the first lingering project that I have gotten to finish since recovering from hand surgery. It is a 350ish layer (15n20 and 1080) Pattern welded belt buckle into which I forged an anvil shape. I then forged a burst pattern Mokume anvil to inset into the indentation in the buckle. This buckle will be auctioned off at S.W.A.B.A's June meeting as a fund raiser. Demonstrators/Presenters at this meeting will include Robb Gunter, Chris Thompson, Frank Turley, Tom Joyce, and 'Lil old Me. Here is a link for more info. http://www.swaba-abana-chapter.org/CAMPOUT%20FINAL%20CORRECTED%20PDF.pdf It sure is nice to be back in the game!

Your flame will also turn pale green (inside the chamber) if your forge is running extremely rich (too much fuel) which would also account for the longer dragons breath. Try ditching the siphon tube propane tank and see if your problem goes away before you go to tearing into your forge.

Traditional Japanese smiths typically used a mixture of fine fresh rice straw ash (very high in silicates)and clay as their flux. as for the liquid that was painted on the face of the hammer my guess would be clay. This thin film of clay would prevent scaling/oxidation at the elevated temperatures needed for hardening, but could be rinsed off esily in order to observe the color of the face of the hammer durring tempering.

I dont think that Brent knows how to forge anything that is not increadible. I have two of his hammers and have spent as mutch time staring at them as I have swinging them. What a cool gift and a good friend. Enjoy!

It doesn't always take a monsterous tool to hurt you, being dumb can catch up with you anywhere. 5 weeks ago I was drilling a 1/2 inch hole through a piece of square tubing with a 1/2 inch electric drill when the bit snagged in the hole... Now before you think that I'm gonna blame the tool, I was using a drillbit that was dull and running it faster than I would have if it was sharp... Dumb. It happens in a fraction of a second and without warning. In my 19 years of metal working this has happened to me a thousand times, typically it was a good tug to the arm and a little complaining, but this time I felt the POP.... Bummer. I stood up and told the guy next to me that I was sure that I just managed to break my right hand. A few hours later the doctors agreed. Now mind you Murphy's law was in full effect because this happened days before I was to demonstrate at the AABA/SWABA Blacksmith's Conference. I put off the sugery and managed to make the demo and pull it off (without my right hand which was is in a cast) thanks to some good friends that were willing to help me move and set up the 50# Little giant, a treadle hammer, a rolling mill, and the rest of the things you take to a demo, and still made surgery the day after the demo. A rebroken bone, 3 stainless screws, a dozen stitches, and 5 weeks and counting with a cast on my right hand... Note to self...use your head. untitled.bmp

divermike.. Unfortunatly I don't really have any drawings for most of the stuff that I build, I just work with what I have and adjust everything accordingly. I've foun that I rarely build more than 1 of anything the same. The design of things like this all depend on what I have left over from jobs past, and I am allways trying to learn from my prior adventures so designs constantly evolve. Let me know if you have any specific questions and Ill tell you how I worked through the problems.

Im glad you like it!! There fun little gizmos. The one thing that I would recomend is to put a second brace just a bit higher up on the stump so that the hammer does not rock around too much durring hard use. I ended up building both of the ones in the pictures out of the scrap pile within two weeks of eachother for two different friends. the fun thing about ollies is using what you have aroud to make a whaking machine. The larger ollie was made for a bladesmith so it was not made adjustable, but the little portable unit was made to be used as a striker, so I made it adjustable so that the smith can adjust it to strike tools of various heights squarely.

here are a few more shots of a portable version that we whipped up for another friend. It is adjustable, can strap on to most anvil stumps, and dissasembles for ease of transport.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the ollie that is in the video. They show the spring mounts, treadle adjuster, and pivot in a little more detail. The head is 16 LBS and mounted to a piece of 1 inch solid bar. The springs are garage door springs from the hardware store. hope this helps.

Ask your local welding supply guy for the Millermatic calculators. It is a set of three slide rules that cover all of the setting information that one can use for mig tig stick and flux cored arc welding on all types of materials and joint designs. Heres a link Miller - Resources - Tools

Sorry everyone, I forgot the stats!! The overall lengh is 10 1/2 inches, the blade lengh is 5 3/4 inches. The blade is 5/32 thick and 1 1/2 wide at the thickest point. It tested out at 55 Rockwell C. The corby rivets are 5/16 inch stainless and the pins are 1/8 inch stainless. I don't know the weight but it fills the hand well.

WOW!!!! Where to start, first off, thanks to everyone for the caring and concideration shown twords my cousin, It is truly appriciated. Originaly he asked for a regular old rock pick, I decided to make it out of damascus after he fell ill thinking it might give him a little something to smile about, and it worked... But the best part of the story is that with state of the art medical treatment at the Mayo clinic in Houston, family support, and the fact that he is tougher than a two dollar steak, it appears that he is winning the fight. It's that strenght of spirit that I hoped would prevail, and it is.. thanks for all of the kind words, I'm glad you all like the pick, and here are a few more shots of it!!

Knock yourself out Mark! I'd love to see it when your done. Im sure that I am not the first to make a knife of this pattern, and sure dont want to be the last. I have always been a fan of medeum size hard use knives, and this is one that I actually get to keep! (wasn't commisioned, just built it for the fun of it) Thanks for the interest.

If you want to twist you need to get your layer count where you want it (between 100 to 400 layers usually), forge the bar to a uniform cross section (IE 1inch by 1 inch, or whatever size you can comfortably work), chamfer the corners of the bar, heat uniformly, clamp one end in a vice and twist. Stop twisting when the bar drops below bright red or you risk tearing welds apart (always work pattern welded steel at or near welding heat). repeat the heat/twist cycle untill you have your twist as tight as you want it. After that you can go in a hundred diferent directions. Most people usually pound it flat, grind it, and go with it, but I enjoy leaving the bar round (as twisted and cutting the center out of the twisted bar which reveals the cross pattern in the center of the bar. Here is a pic of a cross pattern cross, and a flattened twist kife made from key stock and nickel. Keep up the good work, stay after it, and remember that when things go wrong its not a failure, but the lesson of the day!

Absolutely beautifull work! What a great hamon, tons of depth. Love it!

Heres another one. A 120 layer 15n20 and 1084 drop and wave pattern full tang hunter with 6al4v titanium bolsters that are dovetail fit to the green micarta scales all held in place with stainless pins and Corby rivits.