anvil

I radius my edges from 3/8" to zero from the step to a rough couple inches in front of your hardy hole.

I differ from that. I don't think stand mass makes much unless your stand is not attached firmly to the ground. I believe there are two critical details. The anvil must be firmly attached to the stand and the stand must be firmly attached to the ground. As a farrier I had a portable metal stand and a 125# farriers anvil. My shop anvil sits in a pine stump that is about an inch and a half bigger than the anvil base. I notched the base into the top of the stump and the fit is tight. I put a couple inches of fine sand into the notch and the base sticks up about an inch above the notch. The stump is buried 2' into the ground. So the fit top and bottom is firm. This basically gives me the mass of the earth to my anvil. The sand deadens the sound so I don't need magnets, chains or other tie downs. I have literally no movement so no loss. The biggest loss comes from just that. Movement and vibration. There are a number of ways of achieving this. This is just how I do it.

Absolutely

I think the price difference wasn't much, but I don't remember. I think I got it at the pharmacy because i went to the grocery store more often than the hardware store. I must admit the name and not being able to find out just what that little bit of other stuff was made me a bit nervous.

I've certainly broke my share of drill bits whilst "getting the feel", but hey, that gave me good practice sharpening the dang'd ole thangs! Lol, that's just a puppy! The patent date on my camelback is 1900! I got a steel on both and two different people rebuilt each for me. The post drill needed bushings and a thrust bearing. I have about $100 in it and used it as my daily driver for about 15 years. The camelback was also a give away and another good friend and machinist rebuilt it. It needed a journal cap and that's about it. He traded me for cabinet hinges for his house. There are things I can do with the post vice that I can't do with the other. Lol, if my center punch is a little off on a cap rail, I can tilt the cap a bit, apply a little bit of feed speed and walk the pilot drill to just where I want it! What's the warning on FiF? Don't try this in your own shop just because you heard it here?

Interesting. It doesn't look that bad to me. It looks like only the edge was arc welded. If it went thru a fire, check the hardness with a file. If it's hard, then low bounce indicates a bad weld between the hc face and the wrought body. A sound(ring) check would help with that too. Also, check for bounce and ring at various places to see if it's the whole face or localized. If it's a good weld, then the Gunther method would solve the hardness problem altho doing it "by hammer in hand" would be fun to try. Remember, a bounce test checks two things. Hardness and a good weld between steel and wrought. If you can't ding the face with a normal hammer blow. I wouldn't worry about it. I'd just use it and call the low rebound be due to hehe ,, old age. Thomas, I have two projects on my bucket list. One is to be involved in a smelt, preferably here at my new place. The other is to be involved with forge welding a new faceplate onto an old wrought anvil. If you were to organize either, I'd be tickled silly to be a part of either at your place or wherever.

BillyBones, both my camel back and my industrial post drill have auto feed if you want. On the way to town I realized that most modern drill presses probably don't have an auto feed. I drill a lot of holes as a traditional smith. Figure a 10' rail, pickets to code with two tenon's on each picket. Perhaps that's why I can feel my bits start to grab so I can back off on feed to prevent problems. I shouldn't assume that's true for all. My bad. And you are correct. Feed and speed are the two prime factors along with sharp and proper angles.

I just use plane ole 20 mule team borax and boric acid is a good, but not a critical addition. It can be found as boric acid on the counters of many pharmacies and has no additives. Price is cheap, or it was last time I bought it.

I'd just wire brush it hot

Lol, Thomas, I'm not a tool collector, just a mere mortal blacksmith making my way one blow at a time. so the name was meaningless to me. I could have assumed, but we all know what that means. Thanks for the info as I never quit learning. By the way,Turley with the help of two or three others forge welded a new face on an anvil and heat treated it as well at his school. I was not involved, but relaying his story for the benefit of all. The forge was a hole in the ground. Air supplied by a hand cranked blower and all needed water came from the frost free hydrant connected to city water just outside the shop. I believe the fuel was coal. Pics would help because we could see the actual shape. How much original face is gone, how much weld etc. It's just far easier to give good advice if we can see what you are dealing with. Without that I will suggest Robb Gunther's method for refacing most any anvil. It's far more sane and reliable than what you suggest. I believe it's ok to post this addy. https://www.anvilmag.com/smith/anvilres.htm

Good to hear!

BillyBones, I dont have a machinist background but i pretty much do as you stated. I pilot most of my holes, from about half inch and up for sure.I use water for lube for under half and a good cutting oil for larger. I dont use auto feed, i am the "auto" feed. It doesn't take long to get a good feel of your drill press and proper cutting pressure. When you dont use the auto feed, clamping your material becomes pretty situational, not a hard and fast rule. When you self feed, you can feel the grab begin and backing it off a bit keeps it from binding up. I look at it this way, you are standing there anyway,,, might as well use both hands. However I strongly recommend clamping everything if you use self feed,, it will bite you and break your bits. HSS is all I use and they will last a lifetime. I think if you check, a 1/4" pilot for a 3/4" bit is within the ball park of "a little bigger than the flat of the tip of the bit". I may use a 7/32", and because i self feed, I can better center the bit in the hole then gently increase the down force as it begins to cut. So close enough for me for a rule of thumb vs shop practice. If you sharpen your own drill bits you can change the cutting angle of the bit for different steels, cast, brass, etc, so yes, HSS is all you need. However i often dont do that and adjust for the differences by my self feed control of cutting pressure. I use my "new" camel back and my "old" industrial post drill(motorized) for my drilling. Both have their nuances and do the job. You might consider A good next addition to your shop would be any kind of a drill press. A hand drill just doesn't cut it,,, you might say.

You dont give enough information on your anvil. Does it or did it have a high carbon face and a wrought body? Or is it a one piece anvil? And pics would help if you can take good pics. Without knowing the above no one can give you any good advice. If it had a high carbon face and its gone, it wont heat treat.

Wow, stay away for a "bit",,, and you miss a lot. I actually do the same. and use those ratios to get me in the ball park. Ive sorta evolved a scroll/taper ratio that fits within but not identical to those parameters. It makes me feel good so I favor it in my forgings. I nearly always do a center punch and pilot hole when drilling, and the size of the pilot is just a bit bigger than the flat at the tip of drill bit. This way the bigger bit starts easier because it doesn't have to overcome that flat spot. Too big of a pilot and the bit has a tendency to grab when starting to cut. My center punch cross section is square not round. At a yellow heat it seems that it is easier to see, and is more obvious when you brush or knock away the scale. I think i read that in the Ring long ago, and liked the feel of it as well. I was'nt so fortunate as to have a Grandfather teach me how to sharpen bits, but a good friend did. I still do them by hand.

I agree with both Frosty and Thomas,,,. You can't beat a good hacksaw! I swear, a 4-1/2" side grinder running at 1700rpm just makes you think you are faster!

A few things to consider, and a question. No matter what operation you perform, where do you go when it's done. A few examples: turn a scroll over the horn, then remove edge bend and twist on the face of the anvil. Use a cut off hardy: square up the end and take out the edge bend and twist on the face of the anvil. Use a striker and a top and bottom tool to forge square stock to round then: move to the face of the anvil to take out the edge bend and twist. Most every operation ends up on the flat of the anvil for edge bend and twist or to level it up. So who and where is the most time spent? By the smith at his station on the face of the anvil. So you are concluding that the height should be set up for someone who spends less time there, and may strike at different forging stations as well, not to mention that not all strikers are the same height. I kinda figured that forge stations were assigned to master or journeymen smiths and strikers were apprentices. Their purpose in striking was to strike for many so they could learn each individual style. Do you really think that forging stations would be set up for the benefit of the apprentices? Please note above that this style and it's variations allow the striker to very easily adapt to many different heights and tooling situations.

I used to work pretty late when working on a job. I lived on the edge of the national forest. At one point in time there was a guy who was living in the woods and cooking at a fancy restaurant in town. He got in the habit of stopping by after he got off work(late) and would stop by with a couple of steaks. I cooked them over the forge and had a great late meal.

Check out the Golden Mean. It's a great starting place for figuring out lengths using a ratio. It works for proportions of the whole piece, where they cross and even down to how much scroll per arm length. You will prolly find that your basic proportions are intuitively already in the ball park.

Lol, I almost mentioned that. Im left handed. Maybe thats the difference. Left hand forward (opposite for right handers) gives me good control over the hammerhead,particularly when rotating the hammer face to match the other hammer. Glen the critical thing is to realize there is a world of difference between splitting wood, breaking rocks, driving in a stake and striking. Also when striking this way, the weight of the hammer and difference in anvil height (knuckle high for short guy vs a basket ball player) are minimized. Thomas has concluded that back in the day, anvil height was determined for the needs of the striker. With this style, the near hand, up by the hammerhead, controls accuracy, force,and angle of the hammer face. Theres rarely any need to bring that hand any higher than eye level. One of the jobs of the off hand at the back end of the shaft is to make sure the when the shaft is parallel to the anvil when the hammer face is at the top of the work. That way the striker can easily strike comfortably with any smith . Besides, the smith at his own anvil does far more work without a striker. I have a vid of a pair of lady farriers double striking and forging a draft horse shoe. The striker uses a slightly different style(maybe Irondragons way) but every other part of their dance with the anvil shows the control you must have to be a good and safe striker. I cant give credit to them or the camera jockey, so i dont know if i can post it.

Sorry, not the case. You would be out the door before you got yer windmill around the second swing. What you are talking of is absolutely dangerous to the smith you are striking for, the well being of my anvil and least of all,,, you. Your job as a striker is to follow the commands and lead of the person you are striking for. That includes how hard you hit, how often you hit, where you hit, and the angle your hammer face strikes the hot iron. In my shop, from the get go you WILL strike how I show you,,, or you won't strike in my shop With due respect to all, this is just plane basic shop safety. Yup, there is splitting wood, driving rr spikes, whatever your work is ,, then there is striking in a blacksmith shop,,, to be fair A final note, in my shop you either strike like this, or you don't strike. Easypeasy

For me I wouldn't use that for a cupping tool. It's just too much work to get the cup to match what your minds eye wants in the first place. Not to mention cutting off the shaft etc. Read my post above, it's far easier and you don't need a shaft for the hardy hole. Just use it on the face of your anvil. Think heading tool instead of cupping tool, as in a rivit heading tool. They are in the same basic family of tools. I made a tool like I stated above to make a pyramid shaped cap nut out of 1" square, forged, drilled, and tapped in the same " cupping" tool. I did a 4 sided taper on the 1" square bar. I then took a piece of 1-1/2"x1-1/2" and drove the cold pyramid end into the hot blank 'til it was deep enough. I then drilled a 1/4" hole in the corner of this " bottom" die. I then made a cover plate the size of the die out of 1/4" flat stock the same size as the die with a matching 1/4" hole in the corner and a hole in the center slightly bigger than what I intended for the threaded hole in the pyramid.. To make matching cap nuts I forged a 4 sided taper on the 1" square bar, then upset set it into the heading tool for final shaping. I then cut off the taper on the 1" square bar and set it back into the die. Next I used a quarter inch bolt to act as a hinge for the cap and the die. I put this under my drill press and could hold the cap nut securely whilst I drilled and tapped it. It's sometimes just far easier to see something in the minds eye and make it than to convert something "close" to get what you want with no compromises.

Also be very careful as it can grab it from your hand and send it flying. Bad things can happen especially with knives and chain. Knives are obvious. Had a friend named Bear that was buffing up some chain. It got away and he was pretty beat up. He said at 7200 rpm it took him about 15 seconds to realize just what happened before he jumped or got knocked out of the way! He got a new nickname after that. We called him ChainBear. Lol, some of you just may remember that time back in the day.

I got this idea from Francis Whitaker. He had a dirt floor. He sprayed his floor with mag chloride to keep the surface hard and dust free. He usually didn't work weekends, so I would soak the floor with water from a hose. Then I would rake the high spots into the low spots. They were easy to see because of the standing water. Because of the mag chloride, it didn't take much water. This kept the dust down and the floor level at the same time. Usually in front of the forges, anvils, and post vice low spots would develop and the highs were where the dirt went. The lows were never noticeable to my eye, but a little water told the story.

Prices in my area are about what's listed here. Bigger tires plus wheel, 4' tall, 3-4" wide and 3/8" -1/2" thick up to $100. I've been given 4 of the big thick wide tires from folks this last year who knew I still add them to my scrap pile.

Dang did I ever have a great reply to the byline, but better sense prevailed.