bbales

Hello all! I recently inherited my late father in law's, hand made bench anvil. My expertise lies in the non-ferrous side, but I do have a lot of experience refinishing stakes I have scavenged over the years. My late father in law cast this anvil somewhere in the very beginning of the 20th century in high school in Chicago. It has not been welded on, and has a phenomenal ring when I am smithing my tiny and shiny stuff on it. It was found in the basement of the family home very recently and gifted to me by my wife for Christmas (best Christmas ever!). It has a couple of small chips on one edge, some chisel marks on the face, but aside from that no real damage save for neglect in a damp basement. (see pics) I started to block sand it, and noticed that there is porosity in the cast. Due to the recent high cost of silver, I have adapted my work methodology to minimize filing and sanding and the waste that is generated. I was wondering if this cute (yeah, I said it before anyone could get the jab in ) anvil could be re-heated and forged in a power hammer, and then re-tempered in order to compress that porosity. I would like to ultimately finish the face into a more mirror like finish that you would find on a t-stake or mushroom stake in a shop like mine. I am hesitant to grind it or have it milled, as I have found that porosity on the surface can be all through out a given cast and lead to larger "holes". I am willing to leave well enough alone, but if I can refinish it so that my silver won't pick up any texture, I would love to. Thanks in advance!

WAIT!!!!!!!! Before you melt it down, sell it off, or forge on that silver, take note of the hallmarking and do a little research online. Depending on when and what the mark it is stamped with, that silver could be worth more than its weight on a scale. If that flatware does prove to be collectible, your friend's positive results are twofold: the first being a nice boost to their personal economy, the second being a part of the preservation process. Your friend might have a piece or ten that might have historical significance to those of us on the non-ferrous side. If not, melt 'er down and get nutty with it. A couple of things to think about if you are going to play with it. Casting an ingot, bar or some such activity with silver is a little different than playing with iron or steel. Take alot of care with your atmosphere around the silver once you start to heat it if it is anything but fine silver (.999). The alloy in sterling will attract oxides (cuprous oxide, and cupric oxide), which if moderate to severe can cause profuse profanity down the road when working the ingot. It can make the metal brittle and porous, which can lead to shattering and cracking (see previous note on profanity) and can also make it very cranky to silver solder. Using a reducing atmosphere, proper melting and alloying procedure, and good flux go a long way to keeping the shop profanity free. There is a technique recently developed by the japanese for casting larger ingots that helps to mitigate firescale AND produce finer grain in the final project for the small shop. I have used with success on a number of occasions. I have tweaked it a little over time to suit my working methodology, but by all means do the same as you see fit. The following steps assume you are following safe procedures and have a general knowledge of casting, pouring and handling molten metal. materials needed: copper ring, mine is 2" tall, by 6" across, by 1/4 inch thick a metal bucket, tub or container and stand that can hold enough water to cover your ring and accommodate twice again the weight of the ingot for compression and evaporation. fine cheesecloth water a heat source to boil the water in your bucket, i use a propane burner converted from a turkey deepfrying rig scavenged at a garage sale. Process Fill your bucket with water (I use distilled, Im finicky that way) and start the boiling process. Make sure that this apparatus is sturdy and stable for obvious reasons, and that the boiling is robust. Secure the cheesecloth to the copper ring in such a way that the middle of this form is suspended 1/4" from the bottom of the ring. You want the pour to be suspended above the bottom of the bucket. Strap it, tie it, clip it, just make sure its tight and wont move or slip. This step is optional, but I bring the water to a boil and boil off the excess water just before I start the melt so my exposure between crucible, air, water and cloth is minimal (finicky) Pour your ingot directly into the center of the cheesecloth. ( I have seen metal molds that create regular ingot/bar forms but have not experimented with them. YMMV.) The cheesecloth will suspend the metal as it cools in the boiling water and a steam jacket will form around it at once. You will hear an immediate increase in the volume of the boil, followed by a thump ( sorry best description). Once the ingot ceases to make noise, you can pull it out (use tongs, its still at 212 Fahrenheit). Forge the ingot down to 1/2 its poured thickness, annealing as you go, and you should have a nice, tightly grained, workable chunk o' silver. If you plan on hot forging sterling, you still want to be finicky about your starting ingot. You should also practice hot forging sterling on some scrap before pounding on red hot silver........it WILL shatter. Hot forging sterling isn't hard, it just takes some practice to get a feel for the right striking temps. I forge in a low light, using a medium red silver to lay on my anvil. The heat sink provided by the anvil is perfect for "black heat", the temp range safe for forging silver. You will feel the metal stiffen under your hammer just before its too cold.......get a feel for it like anything else. Have fun, be safe and consider yourself very fortunate to be able to play with that amount of silver........I am completely envious! :D