Bob Menard

My opinion; I have made a number of gas forges using castable refractory. The castable I use is 3200 degree rated. I have forms made from sheet metal. The interior form is wrapped in multipule layers (8 to 10) of sheet plastic to make it easy to get the form out after curing. Plastic sliding on plastic is the best release agent I have found. The only place I use metal to re-enforce is the bottom or end of the forge. And I don't get too crazy with that. I generally weld in a few pieces of 1/4" rod to help hold in the end against putting in the fiber. Consider this, the metal in the castable will expand and contract at a different rate and will cause cracking. That will happen anyhow to some extent but the more steel embeded in the castable will make it worse. You can see from the photos I make a cast core and pack fiber between the forge body and the cast core. 1 1/2" of castable and 1 1/2" of fiber. The castable it then poured over the end encapsulating the fiber completely. There is no exposed fiber to break up and get into your breathing space. That stuff is a considerable lung hazard. This gives me a good sized lumin and enough insulation so even running for hours at welding heat the exterior doesn't exceed 300 degrees. The round forge was an earlier version, the mailbox shape is the current style I make, use, and sell Make your fake rivets just keep them out of your castable lining. Bob Menard

The key , I think, to a good public demo is to be versitile. Have a broad repatore and a few good jokes. A public demo has nothing to do with production but more about entertainment. I like to keep each item to 20 minutes or less. If it something more complicated I do some pre-forging in the shop. Public demo shoud be as fun for you as it is for the people watching. Bob Menard

I loved that video. I aspire to be that man. What I noticed first was his shop. I paused a couple of times to closely examine his "stuff" What I noticed second was his wonderful hammer stroke. It was confident and each blow deliberately placed. I have always found a good stroke a pleasure to watch. 70 years of striking clearly shows. Bob Menard

I think you would still be well served to try and grind/mill a good portion of the texture off and then fill the really deep ones. It is not a great idea to do alot of grinding on the face of an anvil but this one is a special case. Again in my opinion, you will have to do what you will have to do to save this tool and make it useful. I would make it useful again and either use it to it's best advantage or sell it and get another one that has not suffered so greviously. Bob Menard

Hey Tubbe, I think this contraption is ingenious. Easy solution that was not complicated. I once read in a blacksmithing book that when an older shop was broken down after the passing of the Smith there was a number of un-identified metal bits and parts that existed that caused wonder. If you pass and this part does not have a tag on it, it will be in that catagory. Bob Menard

After seeing the most recent photos I would have to say, in my opinion, you can not forge effectively with that anvil surface. I understand working around a few pits on the face of a fine old anvil but this is another matter. Getting it out of the field was a good first step to saving this tool. Now you will have to take the next step. It is difficult for me to tell if any of this damage is as deep as the tool steel surface thickness. The risk milling the face of an anvil is reducing the thickness of the steel top to a point that the anvil is useless for regular forging. Usually you can see the line delineating the top plate and the body of the anvil. You will have to decide for your self if it is worth fixing. Most anvils are worth the trouble. Of course you can always get another one and keep this one for forging texture in bar stock. Bob Menard

This was outside a metal fabrication business. It was likely made from 1/8" cor-ten steel. The execution was beautifully done.

I stumbled across this "little anvil" and hammer along side the road in Rockland Maine. Probably a good thing I was with my wife, driving her car, and not on my own driving my truck. I might have been tempted to offer some money for this delicate item.

Be careful with welding an anvil with any hard facing rod. I do repair anvils for mostly edge damage. A high mangenese build up rod would work but maybe better to use a 11018 instead. Hard facing rod is used to re-enforce a surface against abrasion, IE earthmoving bucket. That type of rod is easier to put on that it is to grind, (abraid), off. It most likely is harder than any grinding pad you could ever bring to bear. I am cautious to not weld anything in the face that would be harder than the original plate. I would rather fix a bad spot more than once than have a super hard repair that the rest of the anvil wears around

Brian Brazeal made a point at the last Meet I saw him at, Have you ever worked on an anvil that does not move? It was a good question and I had to admit, "No I haven't" Once the question was asked I had to give it a try. Of course it makes sense. It makes a 200 lb anvil act like a 500 lb anvil. If you can give it a try.

One note of caution about nitrile gloves, they are quite flammable. Throw one in the forge and you will see what I am talking about. It is a good demonstration of why you would not want to be wearing it around open flame.

The North East corner of these Great United States seems to have an abundance of reasonably priced anvils. I have 6 in my shop,( mostly because I do some teaching), not one cost over $250. I am not opposed to paying more I just seem to find them for that price. I do know that a few years ago two major collectors of anvils passed away in New England and with in 6 months over 800 anvils were unleashed on the blacksmithing public. New England Blacksmiths had a Meet a month ago and the 10 or so anvils being sold in the tailgate sales area did not sell out and there were, compared to what is being mentioned here, some real bargains. Maybe I should get the shipping worked out and send some west Bob

I have mentioned it before and it is being re-enforced here, being involved with a group of blacksmiths is one of the best ways to accelerate the learning curve. BAM is a great resource for knowledge and equipment. If you think you have seen some selection and good deals so far, the tailgate tool sales at the typical Meet would blow your mind. Blacksmithing is not hard to learn but it is challanging to master. A peer group makes it a lot easier. A good example is what this site is doing here. Bob

I am doing a production run of the anvil block. It is best to contact me outside of iforgeiron so as to not run afoul of selling restrictions. I would be happy to talk to anyone about it. ballandchainforge@yahoo.com Bob

It seems to me that to achieve the fullering effect you are drawing, a spring fuller would be the easiest to make and use. I have seen numerous versions of spring fullers on this site. Most recently a video for making bolt tongs by artistblacksmith.com The spring fuller I am thinking of is one designed by Mark Aspery and is featured in his second book. It is made with one piece of 1/2" rod and there is no welding needed. Check it out

This is something new I am working on that makes it easier to forge top and bottom tools without risk to your anvil

Garage door spring makes very nice small reposse and chasing tools

Hi Folks, I wanted to share a video of forging a fun little project, the Lucky Dragon's Foot. This is a project that can be incorporated into a number of different finished products.

I could never figure out why many people use only 2 wheels on their portable forge rigs. Most are heavy to wheel around wheelbarrow style. Why not 4 swivel wheels of an adequate size so you can easily place it where you want it. My large gas forge stand is set up like this and I have never had it run away on me or even move if I was not moving it. The whole body at rest stays at rest thing. If you have to move it outside to use it at least make it easy.

Hi Steven, By your video you seem to be pretty invested in the system you are creating. It looks good and should serve you. I administer the casting program for New England Blacksmiths and we have a cast iron fire pot we market. The pot is aprox. 1" thick and is cast from an alloy that is used in commercial boiler parts to resist warping or cracking under normal use. The dimensions are around 10" x 14" at the top and it is 5" deep. It comes with a clinker breaker that would still have to have a handle welded on. You can purchase the pot and clinker breaker alone or a tuyre can be purchased also. The tuyre design is pretty easy to fabricate if you have some of the parts laying around. But if you have to buy a piece of 3" square tubing and a piece of 3" sched. 40 pipe that brings the cost well above the price of the tuyre. If anyone is interested please contact me PM

I used a drill doctor to the point where it was worn out. Not the wheels, I replaced them a couple of times. The plastic parts just wore out. I replaced the smaller chuck once but eventually the alinement sections gave it up. I still loved that tool and found it useful enough to not even think twice about buying another one. It continues to pay for itself in bit savings. But to be honest I do drill a lot of holes in a year.

In Northern Italy, Florence and Senna specifically, on the outsides of many of the buildings they are rings similar to this that are for tethering horses. They incorporate similar styling and textures, I was reminded of them when I saw this piece.

I don't know what small anvils go for in GA. In New England they typically sell for $2/lb or less. That one seems a little pricey. I like having a small anvil around set on a taller stand than my usual forging height. It is great for jobs using hand tools and other light work I want to have closer to my eyes

Hi Charlie, You should check out www.newenglandblacksmiths.com for some folks to hook up with. There are many members in Vermont. There is also another group called Green Mountain Blacksmiths. Bob Menard

The hammer in my shop that everyone else knows not to touch is a 40 oz ball peen I picked up 36 years ago. If there is someone new in the shop I impress on them if you need to use a hammer go to the rack a choose one just don't touch mine except to move it out of your way. No name but the handle has always felt right to my hand. It also has the right forward weight that give me a stout blow.