blksmth

You can find a drawing and sizes for a welded up firepot sized similar to the Centaur Forge Vulcan rectangular firepot @ MILD STEEL FIREPOT Hope this helps, Dick

If you call the Delta company and talk to someone who knows, they will confirm that TFS anvils are made of ductile cast iron. JHM anvils are also ductile cast iron. You don't have to take my word for it. You can find out for yourself. Ductile cast iron makes a serviceable anvil. It is a lower cost process than making anvils out of steel. Also you might consider looking up ductile cast iron on the internet to find it's properties. It is heat treatable. It has a carbon content as high as (4.7%) as does other cast irons. It is not brittle like other cast irons. The process was developed in 1943.

The sweet spot probably has more to do with the power of the blower than the firepot.

I believe the TFS/Delta anvils are all made of ductile cast iron. This can be confirmed with the Delta factory.

You could try to fashion a bottom metal plate (1/4") that fits at the level you want it - maybe 4 1/2 inches from the top. Support it with sides or legs. It should have a grate in it of some type (welded or cut). The exblacksmith at the Warps Pioneer Village in Minden, NE used one like that with a small hole (3/8") in it to make very small fires to do very small work. His forge firepot was a cast Centaur rectangular firepot which he wanted to make shallower and smaller.

Abenakis, you might think I'm prejudice and I guess I am because I am the Refflinghaus Anvil Dealer for North America. I became the Refflinahaus dealer because I thought they needed to be available to blacksmiths in the USA. Nevertheless, here are some more thoughts for you: Your hammer should always be softer than your anvil. If you anvil is hard it is easier to find a softer hammer. I know of only one Ernst Refflinghaus anvil that has a dent in it from a hammer blow. Hammers if softer than the anvil generally do not dent an Ernst Refflinghaus anvil. Of course any anvil can be abused. Ernst Refflinghaus anvils have a rebound of from 90 to 95%. Rebound that high does make a difference, although I'm sure the Vaughans would rebound that high also. Vaughans visited the Ernst Refflinghaus factory a few years ago to see how they made quality anvils. Refflinghaus is not know to have problems with edge chipping, although as with any hard steel, it can happen. I have never seen a Refflinghaus with a chipped edge, but the owners probably take pretty good care of them. Chipped edges can happen to any anvil, the RC45 anvil, or even the old anvils with a welded on face plate. If you look at enough old anvils it is easy to see the problems associated with soft anvils, including the problems with soft edges. Also, if looking at old anvils it is usually noted that they also suffer from chipped edges, it is a fact of anvil life. Some of the older anvil were prone to chipping but not all. If you would like and if you would send me a personal e-mail, I will give the names of some Ernst Refflinghaus owners. Most would be happy to talk to you about their anvil as they are very proud of them. I have more than one blacksmith that has more than one Refflinghaus anvils in their shop. One Refflinghaus owner that has 2 Refflinghaus anvils also has a Vaughans, a Nimba, a JHM, an Ozark Pattern, and as well as others. Before he acquired the Ernst Refflinghaus anvil, he was using a Vaughans anvil. Now, the anvils he uses daily are the Ernst Refflinghaus anvils. Thanks for listening. Dick Nietfeld, Shady Grove Blacksmith Shop, Shady Grove Blacksmith Shop

I typically use from 1 ea. 5 gal. pail to 2 ea. 5 gal. pails per full day of general forging. Nevertheless the amount of coal burned per day depends in large part on the pounds of iron being heated and possibly the # of times it is heated. I have heard the sons of the blacksmiths that had general horse shoeing and farm shops, in this town, in the early 1900's, say their fathers began the day by placing a bushel of coal on the forge. That bushel of coal was replaced and added to throughout the day. My forge table is small enough I can comfortably only place about 3 to 4 gal. of green coal on the forge at a time. I try to keep a breeze/coke trough down the middle with only green coal on the right and left side of the fire pot. The Refflinghaus Anvil factory in Germany once used tons of coal per month in 6 forges, and so did the UP Railroad in my town (in the years when they forged). The blacksmith that used to be at the Pioneer Village in Mindon, NE had his coal fire no bigger around than a silver dollar, and he managed to make many small items. He probably didn't use much over a 5 gal. pail of powdered coal in a month of working every day. Therefore I would have to say that for the most part, the amount of coal used equals the size of the objects being heated times the # of hours heating them. Also, a small weak fan/blower will burn less coal and heat less in a given amount of time than a powerful blower. The weak blower, such as a squirrel cage blower, will get the job done, but not as fast, for a given amount of coal. A good radial blower will heat the metal faster allowing for faster work flow, but more coal will be used. Therefore under certain circumstances "time is money"? For a new blacksmith or a hobby smith, a slow burning fire might just be what the doctor ordered. For the blacksmith that is trying to make some money, a hot fast fire just might mean "money".

The fire pot looks normal to me. I do not know what kind of a fan you are using, but the fan could be the problem. Is it the blower that came with the forge? What ever kind it is, it might not be able to develop enough pressure to blow through the coke etc. Radial fans like in the larger old hand crank blowers should work fine unless there is a problem with the fan such as loose blade, missing blades, etc. If you fill the fire pot with coke (no fire) and crank up the blower, you should be able to blow the coke right out of the fire pot. It shouldn't be much different when you have a fire going. With a good fan/blower, you should be able to generate a forge fire that extends several inches above the fire pot. I don't think the fire pot is the problem. It looks like as good of a fire pot as can be bought.

There is a blacksmith in New Zealand named Darby West. We exchange e-mails from time to time. His e-mail address is: Darby West [darby.west@hotmail.com]. He has a small shop in the country, burns coal, and teaches blacksmithing to at least beginners. Good luck,

If your chimney pipe is too small, you could try a wind turbine attic ventilator. They work good on even mildly windy days. The best solution is to have a side draft chimney with an opening within 6 inches of the firepot, no larger than 10 inch by 15 inch (150 sq. inches), at least a 12 inch diameter flu pipe (14 inch is better and 16 inch is even better than that) that doesn't have any elbows or bends, is at least 16 ft. tall, and at least 2 ft. taller than anything within 10 ft. of the chimney. Also, trees and buildings that are close can affect the chimney depending on which direction the wind is blowing. Also keep the bottom of any chimney caps above the chimney at least as high as the diameter of the pipe.

When you buy a CF PB50 blower you get with it a speed control which is a heavy duty light dimmer switch normally used to dim lights. Most folks that use that blower only use the speed control, infrequently, to slow down the speed of the motor, when possible, to keep the noise of the motor down to a more comfortable level. The electronic speed controller works, but the motor reacts too slowly for most folks. Everyone I know uses an additional aluminum & galvanized sliding gate in the output tube as a main air controller. CF sells sliding gates for around $12 (been awhile since I checked the price). They can also be purchased from woodworking supply stores as a damper for sawdust collection systems. Maybe they can be purchased from the local furnace supply outlet. I made a sliding gate for my permanent forge. I put the CF sliding gate on my portable forge. I'd never make another one considering the price of the purchased sliding gate and since it works exceedingly well. I have a pivoting plate that covers the input of the fan on my gas forge. It works well also, at least for that purpose, but wouldn't work well for my coal forge as the fan is to low and inconvenient to reach. The sliding gate on my coal forge works off a push pull rod right under my forge table next to the firepot. It is handy.

Some comments on hard and soft anvils: An anvil that is only subjected to hot iron or hot steel, would take a very long time to wear out or become dented, dished, or have a rough surface. I know of blacksmiths that use anvils of mild steel (A36) and those anvils last a long time with care (Brazeal brothers for example). In reality, though, a typical anvil is subject to the forces of cold iron and steel. There are missed hammer blows, struck hardy tools, pounded bolsters, etc. that can abrade, dent, or chip the face of an anvil. The harder the anvil and the thicker the hard face, the less the anvil face will abrade, dent, or become dished and the longer the anvil will have a smooth flat face with good edges. It is true the harder the edge, the more susceptible it is to chipping, but suceptibility to chipping is also affected by the kind and quality of the steel. Most of the good anvils made 60 to 150 years ago had hard faces of RC 58 or higher. Most of the anvils made today are made at RC55 or less. Most modern blacksmiths will certainly not wear out a RC52 (Nimba) or an RC47 (Czech) anvil as they are not subjecting the anvil to the use that was typical of a blacksmith shop of yesteryear. About the worst that will happen to a modern home shop RC52 anvil is a rougher face over time due to the dents and dings that will eventually occur, and the edges can get pounded rounder. An anvil with a face full of dents and dings is normally not a problem in general blacksmithing. My RC 52 anvil after 10 years of weekend use has a pretty dinged up face, but is still a very good anvil. If I did not have access to a harder anvil (Ernst Refflinghaus), I would still be using my softer anvil. A dinged up anvil face might not be appreciated by someone like a bladesmith. A blacksmith can normally hammer out an edge dent in a softer anvil. In a harder anvil the edge may chip. A smith should always use a hammer that is softer than his anvil not only in an effort to keep the anvil from denting and chipping, but also for safety reasons. Most of us know what can happen when 2 pieces of hardened steel are hit together = chips can fly that are very dangerous. The harder an anvil, the easier it is to find hammers that are softer. Shady Grove Blacksmith Shop

Salt is a faster (hardens quicker) quench than water. Water is a faster quench than oil. That is a good chart posted by Marcb. Typically a salt quench is only used on larger pieces of steel, primarily plain carbon water hardening steels. It could break small pieces as it would be too quick. 1095 is a water quench steel with a shallow hardening depth. If thin pieces (under 1/4") of 1095 are quenched they might break in water therefore oil might be a more prudent and slower quench for the thin pieces. If you were making a hammer head out of 1095, you would want to quench in water to get as deep a hardness as possible and temper the eye and faces to an appropriate hardness (RC50 to RC55). Note that in Marb's chart, moving fluid is a quicker quench that still water.

Jason, I just read your post with the other comments. I am the USA Ernst Refflinghaus anvil dealer. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have about Ernst Refflinghaus Anvils. You can e-mail me directly at blksmth@charter.net or ask on this forum, although I do not look into this forum as often as I would like. There are only a couple of major differences between the Nimba and the Refflinghaus. The major difference between the anvils is in the hardness. Nimba is advertised at RC50 to 52 while the Refflinghaus is guaranteed RC59 or harder. There are a lot of good reasons for wanting a hard anvil and only a few reasons for wanting a soft anvil. Another difference is that the Refflinghaus has the hardy hole near the round horn and the Nimba has that hole near the tapered flat end. If you are right handed and like the round horn on the left, then the hardy hole in the Refflinghaus is out of the way and you can leave a hot cut in the hardy hole while you forge. In using the Nimba you should take the cut off hardy out when you are done with it as it is not safe to leave in the anvil. Of course if you are left handed you might like the placement of the Nimba holes. Also Nimba puts the pritchell hole in the round horn. I think that would be very inconvenient, but I'm sure there is a reason for it. As far as I know only a few older Italian style anvils had the pritchell hole in the round horn, but it certainly is not common. Hope this helps and ask if you have questions. I would also be willing to send you close up pictures of the 330 lb. #9 if you would like. Dick Nietfeld

When I attended the Tom Clark Ozark School of Blacksmithing, Tom and Uri Hofi made many of their style hand and sledge hammers out of new 1045. After forging, they did not normalize. They just brought the hammers up to a low yellow heat and quenched them in a 5 gal. bucket of water. They did not temper them. I have duplicated their process and have produced very good hammers. I find them a little soft if you are hitting hardened steel (some chisels etc.), but they work fine on hot iron and are softer than the faces of my anvils, which is they way they should be.

Golden eagle, I do not think it makes much difference if you are over or under with the salt. I have read that you should be able to float a potato if the salt is at the right proportion. I have not tried it myself. I'm sure you know that the salt is more severe than still water alone and works by helping to eliminate the air bubbles that tend to surround the hot iron being quenched. Dick Nietfeld, Shady Grove Blacksmith Shop, Shady Grove Blacksmith Shop

Primtech commented on a hinge making die that I demonstrated at Yesteryear Forge. The die for rolled hinge joints that I demonstrated should be attributed to Donald Streeters and his book Professional Smithing, ISBN # 1-879335-66-2 and published by the Astragal Press. I do not know what the book costs, but I do not think it is expensive. Mr. Streeter also talks about another Hinge Eye Bender. I watched a blacksmith use his version of that Hinge Eye Bender to easily bend 2" wide 1/8" cold iron hinge with this jig. That jig is called the Hinge-Eye Bender on page 85 and the Die for Rolled Hinge Eyes is found on page 87. Dick Nietfeld, Shady Grove Blacksmith Shop, Shady Grove Blacksmith Shop