wooginator

Thanks for all the help, guys. Follow-up question: When making a hardy tool, does the shank have to fit snugly in the hardy hole? When working with a 1-inch hardy hole do I have to buy 1-inch stock to make a hardy tool for it? Or can it be looser provided it rests on top of the anvil?

Two part question: If I want to forge a cut-off hardy, what kind of steel should I use? I figure tool steel, but what kind of tool steel? I have a forge but that's about it, my other equipment is very limited. Part two: Can a chisel be used as a cut-off hardy? I've been using one, but the cut isn't that clean and I'm wondering if one I forge wouldn't be worlds better. Also, other question I'm tacking onto this one because I've been making too many threads lately: Is a finishing hardy (like a hardy with a flat face that's really smooth and free of dents and whatnot for giving pieces a nice mirror finish) anything more than a flat piece that's been sanded until it's super smooth and has a handle bit to fit into the hardy hole?

I just picked up my first anvil today, a 120 lb. fisher norris from 1891. Being old, however, it's got some dimples and whatnot in the surface, and my cousin who blacksmiths too (and has had actual training whereas I have not) said I should get the top refinished so the things I make (many of which are blades) will come out nice and smooth. Is there a way for me to do this myself, and is it worth doing?

Well I was thinking about using a handled punch, but I'm not sure I can punch through steel without hitting the punch with a hammer (which would require three hands). If you understand what I mean.

Yeah no furnace for me. I'm heating with a coal/coke forge. O- steels you quench in oil, right? I'm making a punch for poking holes in hot steel, to be used as a hardy tool.

Thanks guys! Someone messaged me and recommended I use A2 and that, since it's air-hardening steel and hardens once it cools, rather than forging it I should grind it (because it comes relatively soft) into the shape I want and then heat it past the magnetic break and allow it to cool. Is that a good idea?

I want to make a tool and I've never made any before. The website I was thinking of buying tool steel from gives detailed instructions on how to go about forging, annealing, quenching, hardening etc. the specific steels (http://www.speedymetals.com/information/material10.html) but it makes frequent reference to temperatures. How do I tell what temperature steel is? I have no idea how to "heat slowly to 1550-1600F and then cool slowly in the furnace (40F per hour) to 1000F", or any of that other stuff. Help?

Thanks. I posted another thread in the Tools section asking what kind of tool steel to use.

I want to make a punch (I think that's the right word for this kind of tool) to use as a hardy tool for poking holes in steel. So I figured I should buy some tool steel. But this website (http://www.speedymetals.com/c-8303-round.aspx) has six different kinds of tool steel and I don't really know one from the other. Which kind of tool steel should I buy?

I want to make a punch (I think that's the right word for this kind of tool) to use as a hardy tool for poking holes in steel. So I figured I should buy some tool steel. But this website has six different kinds of tool steel and I don't really know one from the other. http://www.speedymetals.com/c-8303-round.aspx Which kind of tool steel should I buy? Edit: Just realized I put this in the wrong section. Sorry guys.

Before you say this should go in the tools section, my question is about heat treating it. I figured I'd buy some tool steel, forge it to a point and use it as a hardy tool to punch holes. My question is, is there any specific way I should go about heat treating it after I shape it? Aside from the usual heating it up until it loses its magnetism, dunking it in cold water, and then tempering it?

The anvil is #120 and I bargained him down to $240 so I think it's a pretty good deal. Forged staples sound like a good idea. Is it bad for the anvil if I hammer (lightly, just to get the form right) the hot metal over the feet so that it really fits tightly?

So I'm getting my first anvil and before now I was using a steel plate with holes in it so I could just nail it down. But how exactly do I go about securing this anvil http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/for/2436465176.html to a tree stump?

Follow-up question: What's a good way to secure that anvil to a big stump?

I'm getting it no matter what because I'm sick of working on a 25 pound railroad baseplate, but how's this look? http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/for/2436465176.html The guy says it's #120 and I'm paying him $240 for it. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Fishers are good anvils, right? I'm bringing a scale with to make sure it really is #120.

So there aren't any ordinary sunglasses-style glasses that protect against IR?

Hm. So...are they going to help at all? And, for that matter, absent protective glasses of any sort (if those don't do any good) is forge welding going to hurt my eyes?

Thanks for the info about didymium but I already ordered 'em. Heh. A blacksmithing book I bought a little while back says to use them, so I figured I should after keeping an eye on the steel + flux in my forge left me seeing spots. They'll probably do the trick, even if they're overkill.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I only actually welded one side of the bend before I decided that I probably shouldn't proceed until my didymium glasses arrive, lest I damage my eyes. In future, for this sort of weld is it better to get the two sides close to each other but not touching, heat them up, apply the flux and then pound them together, or get them completely flush so that there's only a slight depression between them and apply the flux then? (For the moment I'm sticking to fagot welds since I'm just learning and those seem easiest).

Haha. I really do appreciate the offer. I've found a guy an hour upstate from me willing to sell me a 120# fisher for $240. Seems like a great deal to me. Craigslist + searchtempest. I don't suppose the "guru"-ship offer still stands? Heh.

So I'm not quite sure where to put this, and this seemed the most plausible category, but if it's not please bear with me. I bought some flux with iron filings in it and I decided to try a fagot weld using a doubled over piece of half-inch mild steel stock for my first weld. The thing is, I'm not entirely sure whether I did in fact weld it together, or whether the iron filings just melted and filled the little gap in between (I bent it when it was round and then hammered it square so there's still a bit of a depression in between the two sides), or whether there is in fact a difference between those two things. Is there? Sorry for rambling.

I'm from Westchester county, NY. There was one guy up in Binghamton who was willing to sell me a 50 pound vulcan and deliver it even for a total 175, so I still might take him up on that if he's still willing to sell/deliver. Would that vulcan be better than those various farrier anvils?

I've never forged on an anvil, period. I'm not saying a 100 pound anvil wouldn't make a world of difference, I'm just saying that 35 pounds isn't non-functional, and I'm short on both money and time.

Eh. What I'm using now can't be more than 35 pounds and it's been serving me in good stead for a while now. It's just a baseplate from a railroad track. I mostly wanted an anvil for the horn so I could more easily make round stuff, but now that someone told me about cone hardies I might get one of those instead.

What about this Cliff Carrol 35 pound anvil? It's a bit light, but it looks more like a standard blacksmith anvil than the heavier, farrier-y anvils (thicker heel, shorter, less curved horn). http://www.centaurforge.com/Cliff-Carroll-35-lb-Anvil/productinfo/18CC%2D035/