Bigred1o1

glad you got it over all besides from the chips it looked good i have to admit i tend to buff the face on my anvils if i get a "new" rusty one just to have a good start no need to polish it though just do a clean up and enjoy it

thats not to bad i would see if you can haggle with him some but it looks like there is plenty of usable face left on that anvil and the hardy hole looks to be in good shape that is a not half bad price just my op though if you could get that for 50 or so it would be a very good deal

i love the quick adjust on this vice any idea what this style is called it would be really handy to be able to snap it to just about the right size and then tighten it up

just make it with removable or folding wings that you can flip in and use to cover it while not in use but unfold to give you a larger work aria or something similar to a drop leaf table but out of steel

woodarmourer that is just a perfect solution i am going to have to keep an eye out for a good block of steel to try this with just out of curiosity

i think you are mistaken Shoushoresmith bc the rebound in the anvil is pushing back up into your work as you strike it from the top to the better the rebound the more movement you can get per blow of the hammer

mind if i ask how you posted those photos steve? i cant get a photo to stick to a post even if i used a staple gun at the moment

if one of those pieces of steel is a slab i can just imagine having one heck of a worktable

i tend to save out the coke that i have left at the end of the day and start with all green coal when i fire up the forge and just start working with some smaller projects untill the fire is nice and clean this way i tend to have 5-10 gallons of coke on hand for if i need to build up a fire quickly

oddly i have to say i would like to see a photo of the end product as well i am thinking the density of the fennel and the caloric content were probably your undoing still i am hoping i can benefit from your processes so please keep up the posts

glad i could help its odd but there is not as much ready info on brick making out on the web as one might think

the 80lb fisher i did or at least i have a handshake on it but the guy in question has yet to come up with the cash for it but i know he had some unexpected expenses come up so at the moment i am just sitting on it

i have used old cast iron water bowls out of our barn as they get damaged to made a few fire pots they are a nice shape and depending on the kind even have some spots for attaching hardware to them

nice i dont know if there are any sharpening shops down your way but you can usually get a good number of old files from them for cheap or free and once annealed and cleaned up with a grinder they are very nice high carbon steel billets

cool good to know Stewarthesmith that was one of them useful comments Blacksmith Girl any chance of you uploading a photo of the anvil i would not mind seeing what it it looked like and glenn if i was to take a stab at her question i bet she wants to use it to hammer on not having it as a pet dog but then what do i know

Danvil i have always liked that video very cool to know who made it

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=firing%20bricks&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CEMQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aprovecho.org%2Flab%2Fpubs%2Frl%2Fstove-design%2Fdoc%2F14%2Fraw&ei=nYajTtC-BKP30gGy7IXwDQ&usg=AFQjCNG3jEgItkxUpJ2p8EDElI3Tf6A_Wg&cad=rja i hope that link works it is a pdf file i came across years ago on third world brick making there is a incredible coal fired one in india that it talks about but over all i thought it might give people some ideas i did a small workshop on making bricks with kids a few years back and it was based off of the bootstrap idea that you could make your own bricks to then build a better kiln out of to make better bricks in all done using local clays and materials

and sorry but i am a bit to far away from you to offer any help other wise i would have been glad to stop by

when you decide to fix something you do it right having a forge is a really handy tool in a shop and for me at least its been really nice to save on gas and time when i need to do some larger heats

lol yeah i have to say i thought it was a home made monster but now that i have seen DBoon i dont know that might just he his toothpick

i am wondering if he used the forklift to get it onto that scale and over all i am just glad that other people had more or less the same thoughts running through their heads as i did and talk about collectable take a look at who's anvil this must have been http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Dee-Boon

just one interesting looking anvil seems a smidgen on the expensive side but thought i would put a link to it http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACKSMITH-ANVIL-DEE-BOONE-ANVIL-/350500354899?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item519b72fb53

very nice i have been quite happy with mine i have been wanting a nice thick cross peen hammer for drawing and i gave it a test run this afternoon and it was quite nice looks like a keeper to me i sure wish i had had someone to be a striker when i do this again i will see if i can track down someone around here who wants to make a day of it and make some some hammer heads

this stuff was hard enough i had to hook a external blower up my forge instead of using the crank blower as you had to work it white hot or it felt like trying to work a piece of mild steel cold anyways i thought i would make a smallish crosspeen hammer a little over 1 3/4 lb this thing has fantastic rebound to the point where you can get it to sort of skitter across the face of an anvil if you hold it loosely and give a gentle tap nothing that purty in the end but for a first go at forging a hammer i am very happy with it

i have a compressor running most days but i have it boxed in and in the storage part of the shop but over all i am thinking you are right it was just a thought but i had not really thought of the large volume of air they would use