David Gaddis

Mr Hoffman I think you have a very good design...the tray alon g the side allows you to temporary store items when necessary and you have bolt holes on the floor plates if you ever decide to attach to flooring. Enjoy Carry on

Very attractive piece of work you are exhibiting there! Congrats from those of us that have no skills....but appreciations. Carry on

I think you have a winner ...esp for the price you paid. There are some bad spots but you can easily dodge them. And there are still edges that are usable. Some here do not like Vulcan...and I do not know either...but it is waaaayyyyy better shape that the PW I purchased for a whole lot more money. It looks to me like it was not used so very much...but incorrectly...at least several incorrect hits left their marks. Good luck

Certainly well stated. I can see why so many anvils are or have been destroyed.

Several months ago I purchased a PW that i think is really close to 200 lbs. The surface looks like a ski jump and one corner of the top plate is cracked off. Other than the mis-shaped top it hits rather well, reflects energy nicely and is not too noisy on my sand filled stand. Dropping a bearing on its top means chasing the bearing across the yard. When I started reading about anvil repair the RG method always became the good method to repair. There was a fellow out west that advocated using a different method I tried on a smaller anvil. I am not a certified welder but have been taught by a very good teacher and have lots of experience. What I would do now is ONLY the RG method if was to make the repair. When purchasing the repair material one may consider the cost of the left over welding supplies after the repair. It is rather expensive. Hopefully one of these days I will have my PW rebuilt. I am not going to do the repair myself now because of the cost and time. From here on out I will spend my good money for good tools. In the case of $45 for a nice size anvil there is more "margin" left for the project. If you can find a repair for a few hundred bucks and it works satisfactory like then you are really a winner. Well you are a winner anyway for taking up the smithing idea. There is a lot to learn. I wish you well on your decision for your anvil. Carry on

I know many who hate to think that Horrible Freight tools are bad....but I have used many of their $15 grinders until disposal time. Most time the cord went bad first is what I have found. If you add a flap disc to the above the hammer the guy wants to perfect the whole job will be over in about 15 minutes...easy. Look at other forum information on the shape of the rounding die (head) and the profile of the pein. For me I want the face to NOT be flat but into a variable sphere. That way a minor tilt brings about a new shape. For my cross pien I do not want it flat across the face...but with a slightly rounded contour. Learn to control your hammer...and your body. Make good work from your tools. Do not waste good money on bad tools.

Definitely not a Prom Queen! Spend good money for good equiptment. What you have is a heavy door stop. Sell it to someone who thinks OLD is Valuable...then re-invest your money into something useful. Carry on.

good luck on your new hobby. When comparing punch press dies to hand held ones there is a drastic difference. The suggestion for a nice taper is well taken. Preferrably to to allow shock and bending to an acceptable ratio. The machine units a rather short stocky things...but they have depth comtrol! When you learn to drive the punch through hot metal you will learn just how much "umph" it takes to clear the hole out and yet not keep driving the punch so very deep. When the punch continues into the hole you may consider it a drift. In the next few days you will experience a whole lot of things. Be on the lookout for a cold cut end or birds mouth. Look in the books and you will notice that is not good. Many time it is remedied with cutting the length of punch material whit the hot cut hardy. Also...it you are punching hot material do not worry about heat treatment...as the hot metal will change the treated area. Heat treatment will be another lesson that too will be rewarding when done correctly. Carry on

Be happy with your deal...then apply good money for good tools! Don't waste time witha make-do anvil unless that is absolutely all you can get. When you get or acquire a good or great anvil you will be very glad you did not waste any more money. Personally I have purchased two such anvils...then I slowed down ...and got an almost new condition Kohlswa for a decent price. Blacksmithing can be as expensive as you desire...and anvil purchasing can be MORE difficult than you desire. Good luck on looking for you anvil. There are more than one person on the IFI Forum that help persons like yourself get anvils. Look around. And be available too...cause unexpectantly they show up on Flebay or CL...and they sell very fast. Carry on!

I am a supporter of the Young smiths....yes.I wish I could have been at the conference too but here i am at home. The two of the youngsmiths from Tex are examples of hardworking good young kids. in time we will learn of their abilities at the max but now their abilities have been something I desire to have. Kainon and Daniel are fine young men...smiths

Thomas Powers you have an excellent position to bring up. That is why I use two different anvils. One is lower...and it is my favorite. Its height is very effecient for those items I use there. My other one , although lighter than I prefer, is a bit higher. It is better for me to use as my eyesite is lesser quality than it used to be. I can really see hammer marks as the energy is used...more accurate...yet not as strong of blows as on the lower one. Another argueing point about height: If using "striker assisted" and top tools and bottom tools like in the hardee...then the top of tool height will get to be a bit in the air. Not soo much some will say, and that too is okay by me, but since building a shorter striking anvil made for striking top tools, the heavy hammer blows are at "my right height". So to conceed to others, I say your height you choose is okay by me. In my shop I have two different heights to choose from. Was that a Ford or a Chevy?

Springy...well that probably is not a real word. But the way I see it: Imagine a diving board at the pool. One goes out for the dive and springs to make a greater rebound. If your legs are too wide of an angle and not substantial in diminsion then there is a springy rebound. The whole fixture moves about. My personal stand has not been made yet but should be by next week. Having been around Brian a bunch this year I have learned a lot from him. An anvil that is moving around means that the energy is not being applied to the metal...completely...thus rebound and vibration. The stand I am using right now moves like a dancer! Soon the new one will be mounted to the floor like at Brians. Since you may not be able to mount to the floor with bolts then something else may be required for you. There is the possibility of hitting onto a heavy sheet of plywood that may solve some of your problems. I think I would consider that...so that when you make a move to a permanent location the anvil height will be the same...since you would be striking from on top of the ply. A fire hazard may exist too but a spilled beer can stop a fire. Good luck on your situation. Carry on!

Get out of the way! It is ALIVE and running wild. Lovely work...and I get a kick out of trying to figure what you used for each part.

I did not know what a Kestrel was...not really sure yet. But if it looks like that really neat sculpture then it must be tough creature. The feathers are neat too. Not too many...not too few...the amount that makes the bird look scrappy and fierce. When I grow up I want to be able to make objects a least half that good. Congrats...and thank you for sharing.

I have built several stands to date. Even the anvil stand and the anvil that Brian Brazeal uses as a a heavy hitting unit. Later I built stands for two of the Youngsmiths. Although I may be not as experienced as some I will now give you some insite on what Brian has shown me: If you are going to use an anvil at maximum performance then the legs should be about 8 degrees off vertical with the back two at 45 degrees off centerline as the third leg under the horn. The pads on the floor section should be about 1/2 in thick and sufficient width and length...with a bolt hole...to be mounted on the concrete. Use at least 1/2 bolts into the concrete (not lead sinkers) called red-heads. If possible use thick walled tubing with three passes of good welding at all positions. The deck for the anvil should fit and a minimum of 3/4 thick. I have used 1/2 inch and now realise it to be way too thin. drill and tap 3/8 pipe threads so that fine sand and oil can be installed down each leg to near the top...tapping on the tubing as the sand is installed. It does not take very much oil to fill. Install 3/8 plugs into the holes...the kind that are hex drive and will be lower than flush to the top. We drill two holes larger than 1/2 diameter at the waist area ...the hollowed out area between the feet of the anvil ....and use heavy duty angle iron bolted into those waist holes. This may sound like a lot of work but it is much easier than working with angle iron material. The whole build takes about 2 hours. The oil and sand really are a necessity and can be easily determined when it is installed. This fixture will ring like a bell until the sand mix is installed. Yep...learned it the hard way. There will be others that will say the angle is too sharp on the legs...Okay by me. But if you really strike on the anvil the near vertical will help reduce the springiness. On some others I built with a wider stance...which are better for twisting and bending from the hardee hole...well give me the near vertical one now and use the vise for twisting. Angle iron with a bolt holding down the edge of the anvil is okay too. It is the simpliest way and is quite speedy. Should you want to remove the anvil two bolts loosened and carry away. A deck with less than 3/4 thickness is too springy too...but 1/2 might be used if you added some ribs under to keep it strong. By the time you do all that then the welding could warp ..so I use 3/4 now. Three legs allow it to fit any floor and you certainly do not want your anvil rocking about...been there done that. Heigth is an argument that makes the Ford vs Chev debate seem insignificant. Some want the anvil top to be at knuckle height. I did too when starting but now have lowered so that I can hold long pieces between my legs as a support while I have two hands to beat out leaves and texture...or forge welding. Measurement...the length of the legs when they are about 8 degrees mean that they are basically the same as deired height. At this sharp angle the long side of a triangle is almost the same as the triangle height. Very little difference until you get past 10 degrees off vertical. On the single leg under the horn...why? Well we tend to lean againgt the horn at times to get a good straight look down the edge of the anvil. With one leg mounted that way there is more foot room. Now that I have rubbed salt into some wounds of others I am ready to hear their input. Maybe they can change my mind...most likely not. I have a junkyard full of learned info about anvil stands. But ...BUT...if I ever get a really large anvil that I may never move... I may re-design the wheel for a new stand. Carry on!

I just got tuned into this thread and am enjoying it a whole bunch. Sometime I think I may give my artistic eye a chance to connect with my blacksmithing. Thanks for documenting your work and thanks for sharing it with us.

Today is Tuesday. I got a preview of the show on Saturday so I gladly say you will be impressed...impressed in many directions. There willl be an emergence of directorship, team workmanship, total project goals, and a gozillion other nice qualities. If there is something that could go wrong it would because someone trips on the way. With youth there are challenges that this team has worked on, themselves, to iron out differences. Having been with the gang a lot last week I have never seen more ability of four that did not know each other a few days before and then join forces so well. I wish I could be there like many of you all do. There will be videos. Carry on.

Many of us have not yet learned to use ALL of the hammer whether it be ergonomic or not. Last night I got another example of a different die on the hammer by Brian as he demonstrated to the 3 young smiths....it is the bottom edge that requires a differnt body stance than normal. Call that un-ergonomic Well I am not sure. i am personally using a B.Brazeal hammer and am pretty pleased so far...I had to learn how to hold it properly, too. And some may call it marketing...well if the good hammer has many dies on each end then it is a beginning. Get a balanced handle design and good posture....beginning of ergonomics I think.

Like others my chance to meet the young blacksmiths has proven to be a refreshing event. Each of the youngsters are quiet and very respectful. Should any others see their way to help funf their trip to ABANA I am certain that Karen and Brian would appreciate it. Myself I am going to send a few buck-a-roos cause feeding three youths can be taxing ...most assuredly on a meager budget. Another observation yesterday: Although the THREE have not known each other their work styles are similar. Well they got that from their trainer. When they are stiking there is very little said between each member....kinda like some osmosis...they each know exactly what is needed from the other...nothing talked....put up the right top tool and the striker makes the correct hit. Then reposition and another hit without a word. I hope everyone going to Abana enjoys meeting the THREE as I have...please give them a well deserved pat on the back for their performane that they will present. Dang! I sure wished I could be there. Carry on!

and since you are so young...you may notice that at the ABANA convention the three young starring blacksmiths that will be showing there...yes they were trained by Brian and Lyle. they train young and old, men and women too.

If you really want to learn how to move metal...effectively....go to as many BS schools and expositions as possible. Always have an open eye for the subtle things. And if you desire to move the the most effective way then spend a few days with Brian Brazeal and Lyle Wynn. Search the internet and those two names come up quite often. Not putting down any other instructor by any means, but many will say the same thing about those two guys. Yep...it is my $.02 worth! Enjoy

Now that is a great looking piece of work!

I cannot advise you on the length of the top. There could be many differing options that perhaps Brian or Lyle could add. Initially the 1 inch hole was changed to 3/4 diameter. The reason for this is that the 1 inch square drift would leave an ever-so-slight semi-circle on the shoulder. It may seem impossible but it really happens. brian thought that going to a 3/4 inch hole would leave plenty of material so that there would be ONLY a square hole after drifting. When I took the metal back to Brian he determined that perhaps a little larger hole may be necessary. Staying less than 1 inch and we could have drilled anything we wanted, Brian chose 7/8 inch. The drift left a nice shape hole. When it fully cooled it had to be re-drifted...and the hole was square. Mechanical design techniques generally like a hole to be 3 hole diameters from edges. If I had the choice I would try to at least that 3 diameter separation, that is 3 inches from any shoulder, so the center would be 3 1/2 inches from the edge. Brian chose the 1/2 in pritchel to be 2 inches on-center from the hardy hole. He has constructed a rotating drift hole plate that can be pinned into the hardy so that his students learn to drift into a correctly supported shoulder material while the drift continues into the full sized hardy hole. One thing to consider here though is the leg placement for support. We used 2 inch square tubing with very heavy sidewall...like 5/16...but at least 1/4 inch. The floor plates are 1/2 thick too. Brian fills those with sand and oil! If you put your legs in the wrong position they could be interrupting the pritchel or the hardy hole. His legs are 45 degrees from axis and 8 degrees off vertical. There is also a 3/4 alloy plate supporting the 3 inch thick anvil! Preheating the plate prior to welding was used. the pritchel and hardy holes were enlarged on the support plate. When finished and prior to adding sand and oil, the anvil weighed 110 pounds. The striking surface being 3 inches thick is still A36 material. Remember that it is for students stiking with a very heavy hammer...many for the first time in their life. The improved striking heighth is taking into consideration of the heigth of the tools used...swages...fullers....drifts...punches. There are going to be many misses too. Imagine a big hammer coming back at you at high speed if the anvil was hardened steel. A36 makes a good choice and will get many dings from mistakes. I put a few dings in the other striking anvil myself so I think Brian made a good choice in anvil steel. Think about how many student Brian and Lyle have had on the striking anvil thus far. Would it be necessary to have an anvil much larger or out of super alloy? One of his reasons for a new striking anvil is to support and even larger hand hammer while being hand forged. The new wider anvil will be able to fit a 5 pounder..I think. My 3 1/2 pounder is large enough for me most times. Maybe we can get some comparative pics of the two stiking anvils side by side to compare. From now on the students will be in a little better striking height.

Man - oh- man! That guy does some serious neat art work. Great start of a project. I hope the remainder of the project is as good as your other posted pictures. Everyone should be amazed. Carry on!

Looks like Brian is using the new anvil that we built last week.....and Brian did not like the blue color I had painted it... but all is well...the new striking anvil is shorter so striking is a bit more comfy....FYI it is 24 in tall from the floor Good looking cover pic too, Lyle