Patrick Walley

thanks. i will most likely sell the left overs.

hi jimmi and thanks. welcome to the forum.

im thinkin about making a small steak anvil from a 2 inch cross section of reail road track.

the mississippi forge council fits in to the group of people i get frowned on by. dated one guys daughter she cheated i left she blamed everything on me he talks trash about me to everyone.......
that whole bit. but that still comes back to a matter of not having the money to spare so im stuck having to work with what i have. i have seen the cutlers anvils even used one once, and im just not comfortable witht he design. like chevy engines and fords. they do the same thing the same way but some folks are just more comfy with one thatn the other.

but that is only one mans opinion, and i think he may have just been being nice lol.

thanks for the input guys. as long as the lead is poured almost red and the steel is rough it will stick. same principal as soldering pipe... just a bigger gap and more lead solder.i think my biggest issue is going to be cutting the flats on the bottoms of the rails so that the top track sections are snug to one another.im sure the plasma cutter i have access to can do it.
i know a guy thats been making blades on the same 1 foot section of rail for 15 years now. i spoke with him last night and he told me an anvile is great for everything else in the world, but there are purpose built anvils for a reason. nail makers, file makers, farriers and such for a reason. each design has its merits for the job it was meant for. he went on to saw that as far as a blade maker is concerned we are limited to anvils designed for every other job in the world, so someone should purpose build a knife makers anvil.
he said the flat topped rail he has had for the past 15 years has been the best blade anvil he could have ever asked for. he looked over my ideas. said that it looked like i have accidentally designed the perfect short (less than 14 inches) blade anvil. and thought that adding a T post instead of a horn was a stroke of genious as far as blade smithing goes. he explained why but i cant recall that at the moment. something to do with finish work on metal handle parts.....

all great ideas, but i dont have a truck.. i dont have any scrap. well scrap i either am not using or wont use. im gonna drive a post into the ground pretty deep to fasten it to. and as for the sinker mold ive seen old school molds like that before, and most of the time a small C clamp was used to hole it shut. but thanks for all the great advice guys.
pros
it will be small with a larg work area.
nice and heavy so less likely to move around
lead will dampen the ringing.
its cheap.. well free plus elbow grease.
certainly be one of a kind
will have a T stake on one end
cons
heavy hard to move.
will take a ton of work.
will take a lot of time.

so the work i dont mind.. actually enjoy it. i dont plan on moving it. and ive got the time.
besides if i had the money to buy an anvil its would be getting spent on bills christmas or the little woman. lol.

besides lead goes for $10 usd per 100 pounds. so my lead is basically worthless.

lol i live in mississippi. and the area i live in is rife with welders and weldors to match. ive tried to ply that skill for cash and there's just WAY too much competition. its also got a tad bit to do with me being overkill at do it your selfing. but thank you for the information.

you may consider searching some high voltage hobbyist forums. as the nitriding process involves nitrogen plasma... don't quote me on that. im going on a five year old memory of a discovery channel show.

Okay so im a newbie at anvil selection. I've worked on anvils owned by others but never owned my own.
so first off, what effect does weight have on an anvil?
whats the advantage of a big or small anvil?
some extra input is I forge blades and decorative pieces as well as random tools and accessories. i seldom work anything thicker than 3/8" or longer than 14"
I've been doing great on rail track, and have recently purchased a 23 1/4 inch tack section, and if i decide to spend the money a six foot section. i've considered cutting the piece i have in half and welding the two pieced back together side by side, trimming the base section so the top edges will sit flush with one another, and welding it together. then since i have rods to burn welding the valley up and grinding it flat. so i would in effect have 6" by 11 3/4" ish working surface.
as far as weight if more is better i could weld a plate one end of my doubled rail section and pour this 150 pound slab of lead i have into it for the weight.
i dont have enough cash to spare for an anvil at the moment since im in the middle auto repair bills but i do have the rail the lead and tons of other scrap around my house and shop to make one for the cost of a few gallons of elbow grease.
and thank you guys in advance for suggestions advice and better ideas than what i already have.

you could always nail it down with some rail spike. a guy i forge with did that and hes been bangin away on it for so long now that he wont buy a real anvil.

that's either the result of a lost bet or... the reason the prosthetic limbs guy has a really nice car.
jeez those guys can't possibly be so stupid that they can't grasp the concept of make a new bottom die. or atleast weld something in place so no one loses an eye from the piece of steel that will soon be protruding from their brain....
people wonder why i'm afraid of strangers with heavy equipment.

and just exactly how is he not in jail for disturbing the peace? lol. i love and i want one. like right now. lol. man thats great. kinda reminds me of tim the tool man taylor lol. big block lawn mower anyone? lol

unless im a complete idiot ive seen the modern version of that thing. I used to work in a sheet metal shop fabricating duct work and we had a gadget just like that on a smaller scale... much smaller. any way if it is the same thing its a metal brake. the piece with what appears to be a 6 on it on our machine adjuster the lower break plate for the thickness of metal and severity of brake, crank it down and it would act as a shear and as you loosen it you would get varying degrees of break. loosen the bolt in the slotted hole and make your adjustment and tighten it again, and the smaller piece that is contacted by the larger vertical handle is the "blade" that gets pressed down when you rotate the handle.
bear in mind the one we had at the shop was MUCH smaller than that and MUCH newer, but looks like the twin to that puppy. with the size of that thing and the angle of the lower "break plate" it looks like the device what could have been used to cut the leaf springs for my 29 model A and even plow blades perhaps. ours was a quarter that size and could handle up to 7/16 galvanized plate.

i love that address marker.

i gotta try that. i will fail but i am inspired. great job.

i like that. and it is true. anything you've never done is easy. best bet is get an old set of chrome/vanadium wrenches. make fantastic knives, if thats what yorue going for. and now that i say that ill have to try pattern welding my broken 12mm craftsman box end wrench some stainless scrap i have and maybe a scrap leaf spring.
and thus the journey begins. lol.

my preference for several different grades of steel, is the local scrap yard. many different grades of steel in the various parts ranging from differentials ring gears make some nice blades, the shafts in a transmission, connecting rods and cam shafts.
plus if you get to know the guys that work there you can often get some really good stuff for free.

well it was goin great. any idea what caused the crack to form? i would rather not have the same happen to me and learn the hard way. but KUDOs on that pattern.

search gil hibben. his throwing knives are very well made and balanced utility. knives. single edged.
when i was 17 i got a set of his knives it was amazingly easy to learn with gils knives and book. in two days i was throwing well enough to win competitions. but like i said his throwing knives dont follow the "traditional" design. they aren't symmetric in design, and strongly resemble kitchen knives.
the book i refer to Gil Hibben complete knife throwing guide, is a lesson on the art of throwing knives, and includes the most useful information on balance blade shape and handle shape. there is now a second edition available. i hope this helps.

im thinkin carbiner if i spelled that correctly. yup, and if you make it hourself, id add a button to one side and use a sheath with a single tab that goes up to the button on the carbiner. just me and i do tend to get a bit carried away with things.

excellent work. i hope to be that good one day. i forged a hand full of knives when i was 17 now im 29 and will be taking up the hammer again soon. hopefully this afternoon.