anvil

And there it is. " get a bigger hammer" might be a blacksmith thing, but the start size and work to not only flat top it and sculpt the sides so you can get close enough is a daunting task! Tool makers we are, but stone masons we usually arent! Far easier to use a wooden stump. Lol, Marc, you don't have a scrolling wrench big enough to twist my tail!! So hear is the difference between a traditional smith and one who is either a forged/fab guy, or those who do fab. we make our money by maximizing hours per pound, all the rest maximize their money by tons per month! Lol, hope yall appreciate the humor and the truth of this.

I can't answer your questions either. However i couldn't be without my taps and dies. When i go to the local hardware/box store, all they have are hex. But when i go to say Fastenall, or the like, they are always round. My assumption was that round were better quality and more often used by machinists. Note i said assumed. I do know that on the smaller sizes like 1/4" and smaller, the taps are far more likely to snap than those bought at Fastenal. And there is nothing more frustrating than trying to remove a broken tap! Heres two other types of taps i use. Gun taps. They send the burr?/swarf out the bottom of hole, not back at you. For little things this is great. The other is bottoming taps. The "usual" kind you buy are starting taps and the working end is tapered. They do not cut threads all the way to the bottom of a blind hole. Bottoming taps are flat cut and will ct threads to the bottom. When making a blind tenon always finish the hole with a bottoming tap. For your info, a blind tenon is where you screw a piece of threaded round into the end of say the end of a 1" square bar. Its used when you need a tenon, but cant fit it into the hole. drill and use a tapered tap and finish with a bottom tap. Thread your round stock. Put your piece into place and screw in the stud. Peen the tenon. If you dont use a bottom tap, your stud will not go all the way to the bottom and will not peen tight. Sorry, didnt mean to steal your thread.

No critique, just an observation. I went thru an experimental phase with my lil giant. I decided to see if champfering the edges on my pickets would save me time. I ended up with two problems,, personal problems. The look of the cold vs hot champfer was dramatic and the mill scale popped on the edges but not on the flats. Thus the cleanup required extensive wire brushing or an over night acid dip. I found that if I did these champfers hot, all the mill scale was gone, or nothing that a simple hand held wire brush removed it all. And the edges met my approval. And it was far quicker done hot. That was the last extensive use of a wire wheel in my shop. Plus no noise, no flying spears, no power tool expense, and most important, my finish met my requirements for the finish I wanted on my iron.

True, with the block isolated from the rest of the floor. I have a pad made from a material similar to belting that came with one of my '25# lil giants as shown in the plan. Note This plan shows details to isolate the block from the actual hammer. I believe the purpose of the concrete mass here is to be a counter to the weight of the hammer, more than a recommendation to mount your hammer to a concrete pad/floor. This is not your usual 4"-6" reinforced concrete pad. I built a timber pad out of rr ties and set these Into my dirt floor. I believe the mount holes in the 25# lil giant are 3/4",, from memory. I used 6"-3/4" lags to secure the hammer to the ties. When I moved, the ties had swelled and I had to chisel the heads off to remove my hammer. I suspect if it had been mounted with red heads in a concrete floor that I would have had problems keeping a tight connection over the years. The use of all thread in this example is far better than your normal concrete fasteners. So, in a sense, its supports my post above. no pun intended.

Mostly I agree. I just look at it a little different. Different by matter of degree. Like I said above, a 2.5# hammer and a 124# anvil connections cause vibration, even with the best of setups, not to mention torque? when using the horn or bending forks. It just takes longer with an anvil than it does with a power hammer. The best I can say is as a farrier, my125# anvil fit snug on my metal stand. The stand sat on whatever ground was a avalable. Dirt, sand, granite, tar or concrete,gf I always left my mark. In my blacksmithing shops, I've always mounted my anvil stump 2'-3' into the ground and have come up with a real good connection between anvil and stump that is secure, relatively quiet, and the full anvil clear of "boogers and traps" so I can work all surfaces and curves. My post vice stump, which is rarely talked of, is at least 3' deep. And both the top mount and the boss at the bottom of the post are supported by the same stump. And im sold on deep tight connections. I'm a traditional Smith, so my shop is built around the primary tools and the triangle they make. Forge, anvil, and post vice. Im fanatical about tight connections no matter what I'm doing with my iron, nor its size, from "s" hooks to forged cap rail. So, those are my requirements, my reasons and my solutions. Works for me.

Ya buried me too deep to sprout on that one.

Enjoy

lol, works for me! The radish of the problem for me is the firepit isn't rooted properly...

I've been watching this thread for a while. just wanted to see where it was going before I added my two cents. The quote above is one of the keys. I base this on the only physics that matters. That's vibration. And whenever force(or whatever) passes thru different mediums, you become less efficient. Movement of any kind as well. And for all the concrete theories, there is a very important deal you missed. It's called non shrink grout. This is required in many places by yer trusty structural engineer. what does it do? Well it doesn't shrink, because basically all concrete shrinks as it cures. So, you never have a surface to surface joint, ya gots small gaps where vibration will do its job. So, back to your quote. I wonder what kind of gaps you have on your non level slab? There's a good bet that if you put a straight edge between the bolt holes, you would see daylight here and there. That causes vibration and wear on yer 'crete. Same situation at the top plate/'Crete interface if you didn't grout it. But what's the weakest point, or points. It's your connections to the ground. 4 small bolts. They look like half or so. Perhaps even 3/8". I imagine you used anchors of some type. Red heads or some such. These 4 points will wear the fastest due to hammering, vibration, and any other movement. Now, let's look at other things we commonly do with our anvils. turning over the horn creats lateral movement as does using bending forks in the hardy hole, or a small cone mandrel. Not to mention forging over the off side and using the side as your forging face. This will give your 4 bolts a real workout laterally. So the final and most important point is just how much does this matter?Depends on how much you work on it. A full time Smith putting in say 4-6 hours 5 days a week on your anvil is one situation. a weekend warrior who might get a few hours on a Saturday afternoon is another. And for those that believe traditional ideas are an anachronism to be laughed at instead of learned from, should consider that I have never seen any "factory" recommended mounting system for power hammers that makes it pretty clear that a hammer to crete connection is to be avoided. Now that's from a 25# lil giant on up. I suspect that the only difference between a 25# hammer and a 124# anvil and a 2.5# hand hammer mounted directly to crete is only bt a matter of degree. And the time to have yer attachment points wallow out depends on time in use. So as a traditional Smith I would not consider a concrete stand. Lol, I would never consider a concrete floor, so it's rather redundant! And as already been mentioned, I'd move all those tools away from my anvil and keep it all open in order to work how needed around the whole anvil. But good luck! Hope it fits your needs.

I couldn't be without them. Keeping my fire clean is just part of my fire control routine, no matter the quality of the coal. Bring coke into the center of the fire, stuff settles to the bottom, quick flip of the handle, poof, gone Besides it beats standing there waiting for yer iron to get hot doing nothing. Not so radical. I'd do the same. I'd make the lip at least that height above the lip of the fire pot, if not a bit more. And a lip the same height at the front and back of that fire pot. Then if you ever decide to fire clay it, your long irons would have a good flat surface to rest on, on both sides of the fire pot. This radically helps keep your work straight.

Ut looks like a great firepit! Any addy? It appears that the way you are set up, you will be standing in front of the extension. That puts the clinker ball handle to your left,,, a long reach. I'd set it up so the handle is under your extension.

Probably still cleaning up all those welds, or couldn't get a loan to cover the expense of all the grinding disks.

First I wouldn't use rebar at all. Good tools to start with: I'd start with a poker and a rake for your forge. Then use coil spring and make a center punch, small cold chisel, and a scribe. You will use them every day. And they will teach you a lot about forging and fire control.

Joey has a 5 part series on how to completely restore a champion 400

I used a out 8- 55 gal drums for years. Lids mostly. Nothing fancy All were top loaders. And the coal came out the top as well. When they got down to half, they were not hard to tip. Cheap and no moving parts. I have another system planned for my new shop.

When using any acid, including vinegar, make sure you neutralize or it will quickly rust.

I have a set similar. They are made from seamless black pipe. they aren't as polished. I They go from 3/4" up to 6". the major difference is that I forge (roll) the top edge of the pipe outwards instead of revelling like you do. This gives me a few more forging options and better prevents unwanted mark's on the work than rounded edges. The other difference is I use a horizontal bar instead of vertical do I can clamp them in my post vice. lol, variations on a theme.

Very cool!

Make sure you clean the scale off of your anvil face. And the red is oxidation. If you hot oil your piece at a black heat, the oxidation will be gone.

Nice hammers! Heres my positive critique. using 1045, i would pull a spring temper on the claws. Thats about a blue. And for the face, i'd shoot for tough, not hard. So about a speckled light blue. Tough prevents mushrooming, where a hard, like your dark straw, has a better chance to chip. I'd run my heat from a hot iron in the eye, and use wet rags to maintain temper while the other end reaches its color. Then just let the eye air cool. This gives you a more or less normalized eye. Its not too soft, and has a refined grain after all that forging. You can get this type of information from old blacksmith books (pdf) from before say 1920. Its amazing just how they refined those temper colors to get really specific tempers for such a range of jobs. This especially works well with the 10xx series steels.

Sears just went bankrupt, so the warranty is prolly no good.

I agree, But a big good luck!

takes up a lot of space.

Also that spring is a good size for engraving and repousse tools

Speaking of screw oress,, I nearly forgot, I've even used screws for a wedge on occasions. Most often when the head gets loose.