David Einhorn

Very very nice.  From the photos, it appears that you used splines to join the boards, or am I mistaken?

I agree.  I would be very hesitant to make the drive without knowing even the ballpark of what the seller is expecting for the anvil.  My expectation is that the seller is just maneuvering to get as much crazy high amount of money for it as possible.   Part of that maneuvering is to see if you are desperate enough, and/or gullible enough, to drive 3 hours with zero information. 

Or you can modify a pair of vise grips by either cutting down and aligning the jaws on vise grips used for sheet metal, or having someone with a welder attach short lengths of angle iron to the jaws of a vise grip.  http://www.amsisupply.com/graphics/vice grips/23-large.gif

​If I understand correctly, blood is basically salt water with stuff in it.

​In U.S. versions of wheeled "Traveling Forges" the fireplaces are flat because of wooden members under and on all four sides of the fireplace.  There is a slight air space below and on all four sides of the fireplace for the mid-1800s Army Traveling Forge to prevent the frame and stock of the forge from catching fire.  An indentation in the bottom of the fireplace would likely cause the hot metal to contact wood. I reexamined the drawings of a mid-1800 British Traveling Forges,  the semi-circular indentation in the fire pan, yes that appears to be part of the design of the British Traveling Forge.  The indentation is possible because the forge is in the rear of the forge, and the wooden frame is only on the sides of the fireplace and no part of the wooden frame is under the fireplace.   Because the fireplace is in the front of the mid-1800s U.S. forges, there is a heavy wooden member less than an inch from the bottom of the fireplace.  That is because that wooden member is necessary to pull/attach the Traveling Forge to the limber.  There is no wooden member under the middle of the back of the Traveling Forge because nothing is being pulled by the Traveling Forge.

I built two side blast forges, both are my attempts to reproduce mid-1800s U.S. military one Army and the other a Naval forge.  For the Army forge, I used reprints of the period diagrams the army gave to factories to produce the forge.  The diagram is the official government drawing of the "Airback" at the rear of the fireplace.

There are a number of books written by people of various backgrounds about their life and experiences during the War Between the States.  The publisher is Time Life Books and the series is described as the "Collector's Library of the Civil War" under various book titles.   To my knowledge, none of the books in this series was written by a blacksmith, however you can get an idea of the life, issues and living conditions of both soldiers and civilians from reading their perspectives.

Metallurgy of Steel for Bladesmiths and Others Who Heat Treat and Forge Steel – by Professor Verhoeven

http://www.feine-klingen.de/PDFs/verhoeven.pdf

Pictures would help.  Unless the forge is something special, it sounds to me (sight unseen) that it would be less work and less expensive to just build one myself.

Impossible to get away from the temptations of blacksmithing.  Even if I got rid of absolutely every tool that I have, everywhere there are dealers offering tools, a hammer, a chunk of metal, a camp fire, a tool that needs fixing or needs to be made.  Not to mention the enablers ...

Welcome, depending on how far you wish to drive, some guilds that may be within driving distance include:

- Blacksmith Guild of Central Maryland http://www.bgcmonline.org/

I highly recommend taking a course or two at the Blacksmith Guild of Central Maryland, you can find further information about beginner and intermediate courses on their website.

- Philadelphia Blacksmiths Guild https://sites.google.com/site/stuarttheblacksmith/home/hammertymephilly-the-philadelpia-blacksmiths-guild

- New Jersey Blacksmith Association: http://njba.abana-chapter.com/

- Pennsylvania Artist Blacksmith Guild: http://www.pabasite.org/

- Central Virginia Blacksmith Guild http://cvbg.org/
- Blacksmith Guild of the Potomac  http://www.bgop.org/
- Mid-Atlantic Smiths Association http://masametalsmiths.org/
- Tidewater Blacksmith Guild  http://tidewaterblac....com/index.html

- Chesapeake Forge Guild meets at the Kinder Farm Park in Millersville http://www.chesapeakeforge.org/

For a more complete list visit: http://www.abana-chapter.com/

At the local blacksmith guild meeting last week, from what I was told by a member of the guild leadership, apparently the majority of the people at the forges were trying to make knives as their first project, without first learning blacksmithing basics.  This seems, at least around here, to be a growing trend. 

This discussion reminds me of this cartoon:

Now you just need to plant some Pyrite around the yard for him to find.  :-)

I try to put as much of my stuff on wheels as possible.... including  :-)

Wife's family William Foster anvil.  They bought it new when they built their barn.  The smooge is mud.  It was found buried in the mud in the foundation.  

David..I found that drawing last night on the web, thanks for posting it ..will check the dimensions later today, but I'm reasonably sure it's the one that was used for the Civil War mountain howitzer,

It sure looks like it.  Let us know if the measurements match. ... Now all you need is to build the matching forge, and anvil stand, to go with it.  :)

100 lb anvil was used with wheeled forge. This picture was taken in Antietam in 1862.

Sorry it has taken until now to figure out how to post this image.  I had to change browsers.

Ask and here it is.  The official 1850s-60s U.S. Army drawings by Captain Mordecai, used by the period factories for the manufacture of the anvil for use with the Mountain Howitzer of the U.S. War of the Rebellion. Circa 1850s the U.S. Army started documenting just about everything.   If you wish you may compare the measurements of your anvil against the official drawings.

If you wish, you can acquire a photocopy of the complete original plans from:  http://gunneyg.info/html/AOPCatalog.htm

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In contrast for the more common four-wheeled Traveling Forge wagon, the period Ordnance manuals called for a heavier 100 pound anvil.

If you were a member of the DeBeers family, burning diamonds would likely work as well as coal. 

Yup, you can't argue with stupid.  There is a guy selling cast iron anvils on a number of Facebook forums (both blacksmithing and historical Facebook groups), and an unbelievable number of people in eastern Europe trying to sell junk knives.  The guy selling cast iron anvils seems to truly believe that his cast iron anvils are fine. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are so blinded by their desire for a bargain that they will actually believe that they can buy a high-end pattern-welded knife or a high-end sword for $40, or an anvil-shaped-object at a bargain price.  Some people aren't very bright, many others are blinded by the desire to get something for nothing.  ...... And then there are the instant experts; people who are absolute experts the moment they take up a hobby.  .... The Internet is a place that misinformation can spread rapidly, fools can portray themselves as experts, and thieves can make an easy profit preying on the ignorant, the fools and the instant experts.

I did a bit of cleaning up of the image so that I could see it better.  What I see is a six-leg forge that was drawn in 1945, likely a later forge, and one that is different from your forge, and also one that I have never seen before.  Very interesting but much different than your forge. 

I agree, definitely a piece of history that deserves to be preserved.  One of your friend's options is to sell it to a collector for enough money to acquire a larger newer anvil, or other useful equipment.

To get rid of them, show them a bill for use of the equipment to make their armor.

Free ebook, “Metallurgy of Steel for Bladesmiths & Others

who Heat Treat and Forge Steel” by Verhoeven

http://www.hybridburners.com/documents/verhoeven.pdf

Excellent, you are very fortunate to have such a great mom.

I've offered to let people adopt me, but I haven't had any takers.  :)