Timothy Miller

I think its actually carbon monoxide not dioxide that is doing the transfer.

I don't think that that anvil has any temper left to it. For a anvil face to get that beat up it has to be somewhat soft to begin with. If there is still some temper left in the steel face as long as you don't over heat it wile grinding you will do it no harm. I would agree it is probably a foster anvil.

At some point the heal broke off of that anvil. A person I would loosely call a welder reattached the heal. I doubt if those welds penetrate more than an 1/8" into the body of the anvil. under repeated heavy work it will fail but were talking about sledge hammer work most likely. It is an old English anvil probably a mousehole. I would say the welding job was a poor one judging by the irregular quality of the weld bead and the slag inclusions. This anvil is already pretty messed up It would be hard to make it worse. The face must be soft because of all of hammer marks. It was probably over heated at some point in its life. I would feel free to do anything you want to it. It could be restored but it is a big job not for the inexperienced or unmotivated not that I am saying you are. The easiest thing to do and probably smartest is to just grind it flat and clean up the edges and use it like that. It will be a good learning anvil and you can make your mistakes with out dinging up an expensive anvil and if it falls apart just weld it back.

And reveal my secret identity? Never.

I have not run it in all of the speeds the lathe is capable of but it seems to happen in the most speeds. Both high and low back gears in or out.

everything seems tight and true as far as I can see. The lathe is in good shape.

I have a 14.5" Southbend lathe with the motor under the head stock. It has a flat belt running from the head stock pulleys to the jack shaft pulleys. It is a 1hp single phase machine. Whenever I take a heavy cut the belt starts squeaking and then slips off. the book says it should be able to take a larger cut than I can get before the belt slips off. I never get to the point where the motor starts slowing down. I also wonder could this lathe safely be fitted with more than a 1 hp motor it seems like by the way its built it could handle a lot more. I have not been able to find any info on this topic. Thanks Tim

All thread tends to get bunged up and then you cant get the stop nuts to turn.

why not just drill a hole threw a standard creaser say 3/8" and slide a round bar bent at 90 deg threw it use a set screw to hold it. This would make a very simple gauge no milling of welding required.

When needing to fuller a line like that I usually first draw the line I want with a silver pencil. I then use a hardened narrow fuller to mark it cold. I heat the object up forging temp and put the line in to the desired depth by hand. No need for gauges or depth stops. Some times it is better to build up the hand skills instead of making up a new tool only to find the old way was just as effective as the new way. And now you have a new tool that is less flexible than the old tried and true tool. But if you were doing 100's of pieces this might be the right approach as it will save some time on layout.

When needing to fuller a line like that I usually first draw the line I want with a silver pencil. I then use a hardened narrow fuller to mark it cold. I heat the object up forging temp and put the line in to the desired depth by hand. No need for gauges or depth stops. Some times it is better to build up the hand skills instead of making up a new tool only to find the old method was only to find out the old way was just as effective as the new way. And now you have a new tool that is less flexible than thew old tried and true tool. But if you were doing 100's of pieces this might be the right approach as it will save some time on layout.

I have a soul patch and side burns does that count?

That forge is based on the old abana gas forge plans. I built one of those and ran it profitably for years. It needs a blower period end of story. The air flow is usually regulated by a gate valve or sliding cover over the intake of the blower. Perhaps he never finished building this forge or the blower got lost at some time.

You need a blower for that kind of forge.

Seems like a lot expense to avoid making a bolster plate. I like that rotatring disk with holes Brian Brazeal uses, its a lot cheaper and more sizes of holes.

Actually I can always just make more money. I just work longer hours but in return I give up free time. I have always in my 17 years of blacksmithing had work it may have not been good work but it was always there. I can never remember where I did not have a job that I could not gotten out faster or make something I could have sold to some one. I have a pile of broken chairs I could run out and weld up befor the crew gets to work right now but I would rather relax with my tea. I could forge up a batch of hammers and tongs to sell at the next meet or sit here, make sketches for a client or return scrap metal The list is really endless. Its how you choose to use your time If I want more money I just work harder longer. Give up weekends and evenings and pull 65 hour weeks. I need a tool that just works I don't want to blow my valuable time with junk. I mostly avoid chinese stuff buy good used stuff new European or American products wherever possible.

I don't have the time to work with cheap crap. Broken tools waste time you can always make more money buy you never get back lost time.

There are very few serious scientists who will say global warming in not a serious threat to our way of life. We are using up oil It may not run out in 10, 25 or 50 years but we will eventually use it up. We rip down whole mountains to get coal iron and other minerals and people die in the process of extracting this stuff we all need. I live on an island sea level rise is a real issue I have witnessed the beaches get smaller in my lifetime. I'm no tree huger either I burn coal drive an f-250 and don't recyle unless its scrap metal. But I always try to buy quality or I go without. I think we need to respect this planet we all live on. Being wasteful has always been immoral whatever your background political or religious. I think we as a country need to start asking for American made goods for our own good. We need jobs,people need to feel proud that they did something worth wile with their day. I also feel we will make these goods in a safer cleaner way than china ever will. If you say we cant I say you are a fool. Just look at Germany they are the worlds second largest exporter. They do it with strict controls, high quality standards and unions too. What if people started walking into stores and said what do you have that was made in America.

That would be a good surface too upset on I think but I would have to try it first.

I told you it was hard.

How did a 3 man shop end up with a union?

we have one of those in our shop. It is a good anvil and the face is one of the hardest I have ever encountered on an anvil. I always thought it was a no name Fisher anvil or a product of the company who took over for them. It has the same paint and same weight.

You Europeans and your 38 hour work weeks .:P

Now that's anvil abuse.

How is an anvil used for loosening fittings a professional blacksmith wants to know? I always used a vise and a wrench.