Stephen Olivo

Your cutting might have rehardened the end.  I found diamond burrs to be the only thing that touches it even when annealed in the sloppy way.  Did you warm up the ashes with a big hot block of steel?  Use the burrs with water or they will disappear in a second.  

Better then the first ones I got to use.  Ring is never positive and has nothing to do with usefulness of the anvil.  It is actually detrimental as it will cause more hearing damage sooner.  Better if it doesn't ring at all like my anvil.  Eather way wear ear protection and be happy you now have a good anvil.  Time to strike some hot steel and learn how to use it:D  Have fun with it and its worth every penny. :D

From forge welding large pieces and working on some of the hottest and muggiest days in summer I  have learned some tricks.  

bandanas are your friend.  One drenched in water and tied loosely around your neck will help.  Another on your head with ice cubes on top of it underneath a baseball cap.

A large squirl cage blower pointed directly at your head will help immensely.

Drink lots of water not pop/soda or coffee or alcoholic beverages

consume salty crackers or just add salt to your meals to replace that which is lost from sweat as your body needs it.

shade is helpful.  

and if you don't already take frequent brakes step away drink some water eat salty food.  let yourself have time to recover what your loosing.  

The best thing for you to do is to learn about all the tests that will tell you if it is the higher quality and worth the price and then go test it before you try and buy it.  Ball bearing test, winding sticks, straight edge, level, square, scale.  All of these tests will tell you how well it will perform for you as an anvil.  

very nice jumping off point.  :D  can't wait to see the next ones.

Oh yea and each piece should be made many times. Forgot to state that.

Oh at the point you make s hooks is also the time to make some j hooks. I have found both very useful around the house and forge.

I have come to like throwing spikes as the start. You can never have too many, they are small so fast to make so quick practice, and only require a base knowledge of drawing out a square taper. Make from mild steel. That is where I would start. Then move up to s hooks which gives you more of the same practice but adds bending/scrolling and rounding, then start adding twists to the s hooks, time to make some punches and chisels(I recommend fully hardened tools struck by some mild steel, a good piece of 2 to 3 inch round stock will work well until you buy a soft hammer or make one) from there move on to making some wall hooks for the house witch will give you practice punching holes along with all of the previous, now it's time for some tongs, from there it's a little more wide open and well I haven't thought that far out yet.

If you can't tell I have had some beginners coming around so have been thinking this out for them. The key though is to take a class as soon as you can as hands on will help immensely on the learning curve. Also before you try something new (piece or process) work it out practice it in clay. No heat required moves like hot steel, can use same tools and it's much easier work.

Hope that helps.

Interesting my friend just gave me a peice of h 13 and I have to research it. Thanks for info.

I am finding this thread really interesting as my mind as of late has turned in this direction... As we'll as many other directions...sometimes that makes things difficult. Like locks for chests I am making the workings and the interplay plus the fire to file of all the pieces and the many options make me want to tackle one if only to make a mechanism that works. Thanks guys for all the info. Looking forward to putting some of it to use. :)

Thanks dsw I thought I had that video linked in the thread but it must have been a different one I was thinking of. I Love the woodwrights shop :D

lol you can never have to many vices :D after all its easier to replace a vice than your hands :D I have a 300 lb peice of steel bolted to the bottom of my main vice. Its never enough:D I still move it constantly:D

Check out ABANA and your local affilit don't skip the educational resources on ABANAs site as well.

jim thats a nice little stand for multiple vices.

your welcome. Glad to help :D or just be interesting :D

although I found a half round basterd to be the most usefull file.

if it is a lot use cold chisels like the caping chisel, dimond chisel, and straight chisel to remove it. Then you will probably find a flat basterd good for flattening the sides of the hole and a large rough square or tryangle file for the corners.

seen one once before. interesting idea.

thanks anachronist that was an enjoyable read :D

look up mark aspery videos on youtube and his 3 books.

I have seen that attitude in some of the people younger than I am. I remember having to search for things really hard to find them for school. Before Google and search engines gave us more of a instant gratification society. i find myself passing over more threads that ask for the simple answers and only posting links on some threads leaving them to find the relevant information.

welcome

play with clay and some punches it will come to you. if i was home i know i drew out a procedure in one of my sketch books.