blksmth

To add to my post above, the smooth transition space from the main face of the anvil and the round horn takes the place of a step on a London pattern anvil. Even though a London pattern built in step is very useful at times, the smooth transition is used more often than the step by many smiths that have the smooth transition. When a step is needed in a south German style anvil a block is placed in the hardy hole. The north German anvil is thought of as having an inset round horn which is as if someone stuck a cone on the end of the main face. The top of the cone is typically even with or slightly lower than the main anvil face. Even though the north German pattern anvil doesn't have a smooth transition, it does have two square corners in the main anvil face that the south German anvil does not have, unless you have one with the side shelf. With the side shelf you have the same type of heel found on a London pattern anvil with 2 square corners. The side shelf makes an effective wide acting anvil out of a narrow anvil. A narrow anvil is often desired by ornamental smiths, but the side shelf is available for support such as is helpful when forge welding awkward forgings. Both the south and north German anvils have the hardy hole in the main anvil face, but at the round horn end. That is a very strong place on the anvil. Also the hardy hole next to the round horn allows most users to leave a hardy tool in the hardy hole without fear of cutting their fingers. That only works for those that are right handed and place the round horn on their left as they stand at the anvil.

The south German pattern anvil has a smooth transition between the regular anvil face and the round horn. That space forms a flat space in the shape of a triangle usually with a long point and is bordered on the sides by the large radius of the round horrn. The length of the flat triangle depends on the size of the anvil & how well the anvil is made. That triangular space is what sets the south German anvil apart from all others and is generally only found on a few anvils such as Refflinghaus and the true Haberman. It is the main reason the south German anvil is sold as it is a very handy and popular spot on the anvil. The south German style is one of the oldest forms of anvils. The north German anvil has a round horn that is more round on top, but there is a practically unuseable edge between the round horn and the main face of the anvil.

Phillip, I see on your composition of the Rhino anvil the carbon content is 2.8%. I've always read that carbon over about 1.8% indicates cast iron. Is your composition list in error or are the anvils a ductile cast iron?

Brinell of 500 is equivalent to HRC 50 to 51. That would be an anvil on the softer side of anvils. JHM anvils are ductile cast iron which is suitable for an anvil, but not as strong or hard as some cast steel anvils.

I'll be there. Look forward to meeting you. Stop by the Refflinghaus booth.

That looks like a serviceable anvil stand you made of iron. Should you wish to make on of wood, you can get some idea's from http://www.blksmth.com/Anvi_base_preparation.htm . Personally I like anvil stands made from a tree trunk even though I sell 3 legged iron stands similar to the Hofi, Tom Clark, and Brazeal style. If feasible, it is best to bury in the ground, but that is not always possible. It is good if you can fasten the stand to the ground or floor in some way especially when using strikers. If you want to preserve your anvil, it is always necessary to use a hammer softer than your anvil. You can test both with a file and try to determine if the hammer is softer or not. If the hammer can put dents in the anvil the hammer is too hard! Many blacksmiths have a hard hammer for hitting tools such as hard purchased chisels, and other forging hammers that are generally soft in comparison.

As the USA Ernst Refflinghaus anvil dealer. I am asked to radius the edges of many new anvils. The best product I find for the purpose is the 3M Scotch-Brite surface conditioning disk in the hook and loop style. The discs come in course, medium, and fine. They come in different sizes for different size angle grinders. The size I like is the 7 inch as it lasts much longer than the smaller sizes. A few years ago you could buy the necessary backing pad with each size disc for approx. $40 from most machine shop suppliers. They work great for putting the small radius on the edges of anvils and for smoothing out or finishing any larger radius areas. I would not use a regular weld grinding disk, belt sander, or anything similar as they are too aggressive for me. When requested to put a larger radius on a portion of the edge, I usually begin with a flap sanding disk on an 4 1/2 inch angle grinder in a medium to course grit and am very careful. Generally I put a radius the size of a 3/16" or 1/4" drill bit (that is a radius of 3/32" or 1/8") for 3" to 4" on both edges next to the round horn. I then smooth out the sanding marks with the 3M Scotch-Brite disc. I also do use a 3/4 inch wide air tool belt sander to carefully radius the hardy hole (but only for the hardy hole). Mine is a Jet Brand air tool, but I've seen similar ones at Harbor Freight for less than $40. Refflinghaus anvils are as hard as the typical file so files do not work well. The larger the anvil, generally the larger the radius. The 3M Scotch-Brite surface conditioning discs are also great for polishing hammer heads, or any blacksmith tool that would like to be polished, smooth, and shiny.

Another possible solution besides gas for waianvil would be to use commercial coke. Might be worth a try.

Waianvil sent me a picture of his forge some time ago and asked that I post it here. The chimney appears adequate in size and the hood is reasonable. He possible could have a problem with the height of the chimney, or possibly another building or tree etc. is blocking the wind. Also, the chimney cap could encroach on the opening and cause a problem. Have not seen his set up so don't know about those. Maybe waianvil could talk about chimney height, surrounding buildings etc., and his chimney cap.

One of my first anvils was to have the edges welded up at a affiliate meeting by the experts. Put the anvil in a ring of fire bricks with a propane weed burner inside. Everyone went to lunch. When we checked the anvil it had turned gray and the face lost all it's temper. Then had a soft faced anvil until I replaced it. Just mentioning my mistake so hopefully no one else will make the same one.

1/3 hp should be more than adequate for that size fan blade. The big blower sold by Centaur forge has a 1/5 hp motor at 3600 rpm, but it has a solid cast aluminum and balanced fan blade. 1100 rpm should not be too fast for the old riveted on fan blades like the one you have. One always has to wonder if the old fan blade will stand up to the rpm, but I have seen other old fans run by an 1100 rpm motor and it seemed to work OK. Give it a try and stand back when you first start it.

These anvils that are fastened down securely should work great. As you, I prefer a stump for mounting an anvil. It is particularly good if it can be buried in the ground 3 ft. or more, but that is not always practical. If you would like to look at another way to level and straighten a stump without access to a commercial saw mill check out: http://www.blksmth.com/Anvi_base_preparation.htm

At least the top 1/2 of the newer Peddinghaus anvils made by Rigid are all 1045C steel (45 points carbon and not much else). The bottom half could have a steel with a lower carbon content. Either way it shouldn't be hard to drill the bottom. Try it and find out. If you are just interested in fastening it to the base or stump you could use 100% silicone caulk and glue it down. Not easy to remove, but quite a few blacksmiths do that. If you want to remove it periodically then chains, bolts and clips, can be used. Personally I would not be satisfied if my anvil were just sitting on a base with just pins to keep it from falling off. I think it is important to have the anvil fastened very tightly to the base/stump.

Oh, I forgot. The other ingredients are anhydrous borax with about 10% boric acid powder.

If you want colored flux, use iron oxide powder. It comes either red or black and can be purchased at pottery supply houses. It doesn't cost much and your flux is much prettier than plain old white or grey. It might even help. Some commercial flux contains it, especially flux used for gas forges, but I use it in my general all purpose flux. I don't know how much to use. Just mix until you feel good about it. If you don't care about pretty, you can forget it.

Well, I guess I was being a little particular. Mule skin was used by many old time blacksmiths because it is thick and protective as Frank said. Peter Ross uses cheap ($2-$3) cotton aprons typically for woodworkers. As many have said, just about anything works. Personally I don't wear one very often. I usually have burn holes in my blacksmithing shirts. I do like to wear a leather apron when I am using a wire brush on an angle grinder. If I do not, I am picking little wires out of my belly.

Nope, won't work! Has to be genuine mule skin.

Chipped edges on PW anvils might be due to the quality of the steel as well as high hardness. There are hard steel anvils that do not chip easily, and there are those that do. Refflinghaus all steel anvils do not chip easily, but they do have a loud ring when sitting loose on the floor, table, or base. The ring can be reduced to a reasonable level by tightly fastening the anvil to a heavy & solid base/stump. Refflinghaus anvil steel has a high percent of carbon which increases the hardenability, but also increases the ring. Other anvils can have high percentages of some alloying elements such as chromium that can result in less ring and less hardenablility.

Even though high rebound has been a sign of a quality anvil for well over a hundred years, it might not be too noticeable between an anvil of lets say RC52 and RC59. To me the main difference is in the how the surface of the anvil holds up under the useage of the general blacksmith. With an anvil face of RC52, a square bar of mile steel (A36) pounded with a square corner down on the anvil, will more than likely put a small groove in the anvil face. That will not happen with an anvil with a deep hardened face of RC59 (Refflinghaus or Vaughans). Even though it is not a good idea to pound cold iron on an anvil, many smiths do it as a final straightening etc. particularly when time is money. Also, it is best from a safety standpoint to use hammers that are softer than the anvil. If the anvil is hard, it is easier to find softer hammers without having to use hammers that are too soft for most anything but hot iron usage.

Jerry Darnell has a web site showing his shop, products, etc. I'm sure envious. See it at: www.millcreekforge.com.

Kayne & Sons (Kayne and Son Custom Hardware Inc.

Lots of good advice posted here. Sometimes you can determine if your anvil is too high by paying attention to your shoulder when forging. If you find you need to frequently raise the shoulder of your hammer arm when forging, your anvil is too high and can lead to shoulder problems and tense neck muscles. Sometimes your stance is more important than anvil height. For example: If you stand toward the end of the anvil (Hofi style) when forging over the right/far edge, the anvil doesn't need to be as low as if you forge over the far edge while standing in the middle of the side of the anvil. Check it out and you will see for yourself. The raised shoulder can also happen if the arm holding the iron being forged must be raised. If this is the case, try other places on the anvil to forge so that the shoulder doesn't have to be so high.

The nice thing about 1045 is that after the tool is forged, you can normalize it if you want, then just heat it to approx. 1450 F and quench it in water. If the hammer has thin spots such as a very thin peen end, then it might be subject to cracking, but generally hammers of 1045 are just quenched in water. That is the way Tom Clark and Uri Hofi made 100's of hammers for their classes at the Ozark School of Blacksmithing and that is how they made many of their hammers that they sold. I did not see them normalize the forged piece, but I usually do that with mine.

Those are very good. I like them.