anvil

Choose your own pathway and if you preserve, you won't wake up when you are 65 realizing you "died" when you were 25. Life is real, there are no saves, no replays, and ctrl, alt, delete does not apply. So ride her hard and when you find out why the Rocky Mountains are truly rocky, get up, dust off your britches, and mount up.

I was once told apple wood made good handles. I tried it and don't remember any big or small negatives.

Lol, background on my above post. one time I was looking for cat track pins. Someone had said they make great hammers. So I asked a heavy equipment friend if he had any. He said yes and would drop it off one day. I was sitting in my local coffee shop/office and he called me( before cell phones). He asked if I still wanted the cat track. "Sure", I answered, and he responded he was headed to sell it and I would have to take it all or none,,, so I did. When I got home I had a mountain of scrap from cat track to engine blocks! Shows to go, if you ask for it, you'd better really want it! But it served me and a few friends well. Especially a wood cutter. Sometimes he got pretty hungary and ended up hauling off all the engine blocks and other misc useless to me stuff over a few years. All's well that ends well.

Check behind your left ear,,, you never know,,,. Lol, I actually did this when I was 12 or 13. I was at the beach(madison Wi.) and dropped a contact. So I figured if I dropped the other, a d watched where it went, I'd find them both. Yup, you guessed it,,, lost em both!

Very cool! A good size for a bench anvil. Another 10 or so and you should be up to a 124#!

Thanks for this article. If I were 20 years younger, I'd be headed to France to see if I could be apart of the blacksmithing restoration. What an opportunity.

How do you develop a useful scrap pile? One piece at a time, unless it comes to in a truck load.

Lol, that's how I look at it as well.

I too learned shoeing from an ex army farrier. He was an army farrier his whole time in the service. He retired out of "Camp" Carson, Colorado Springs when they retired the mules after Korea. A grand ole man in my life. Shoeing for the horse is the only way. The major reason, but not the only reason for shoeing is when hoof growth is slower than hoof ware. I commonly use 6 nails per shoe. On keg shoes the top nail holes are often past the bend at the toe, so it makes a great emergency nailer. On hand mades the same, three per side, one just down from the bend at the toe, one above the bend at the heel, and one to split the middle. Nail hole placement for handmades is compliments of Frank Turley, Turley Forge, fall of '79.

Excellent job!

I'd build it like I do all of my doors. I'd build the facade out of 1/4"* whatever flat stock. Cut to length, then textured with whatever tools suit you,, hand hammer, power hammer, or press. This done hot. If you need to edge bend it, if it too hard to bend cold, then don't anneal, just edge bend it hot. Then do the joinery you want at the corners. Miter(hacksaw and file),arc weld, forge weld, or forged angle. This all gets mounted on an angle iron frame. Texture is no big deal, do whatever texture you want. In this example, all corners are forge welded. Material is 1/4"*(whatever) strap. I do edge bend 1/4"*4" hot with my bending forks and scrolling wrenches.

It would make a great drift. I think I've seen that shape of hammer used setting spikes to hold rr track in place.

Nice. Next forge a tenon on the horizontal bar. Also, think of changing your mouting hardware, or at least don't leave them brightwork. If you are serious about lighting you could use a string of led's. You could even inset them into the wood cutout.

Lol, pretty labor intense. However another solution is a set of jaw protectors. I think that's what they are called. I have some made from copper to protect my work from scratches and some made from mild steel. I've made them from 3/16" and 1/4". The mild steel ones will solve your problem.

If you are not good with a file, levelling two separate faces can be a challenge. When the jaws are closed, scribe a line on each jaw parallel with each other for a guide will help. Another way is to do a marriage cut with a hack saw. Tighten the jaws just snug. Then scribe a line as a guide for your hacksaw to follow on one side. When you have sawn in enough put a wedge in where you started your cut. Don't loosen the jaws! As you approach the other end, you will need another set of wedges to keep the jaws parallel, then finish your cut. When you are done, your jaws will tighten nice and both sides will match. As wide as the gap is in the middle, you might need to put two blades in your hacksaw, or saw it twice. It's a little slow,. But hey, it's precise.

Looks good. What I'd recommend would be to taper it from the foot to just above where it goes into the pritchel hole. This will give it a bit more spring.

Or do a little homework before buying so you can make an educated choice and go for the best affordable quality.

It looks like nickel to me too. That's why I asked above. So I would not forge it. You would lose the repair. That leaves using a grinder.

Forging it is an excellent idea. However I would forge the high spot into the vice and use a light hammer. Start in the middle and work to the outsides. Looks like the other jaw has the same problem. Lol, now you are prolly really confused as the which way to go.

What's the brightwork on the top jaw? I always hate removing material, but I think Iron dragon has the answer.

Is it a post vice?

A half round file works really well.

Again, check yet premice and read yer books. When you strike an object, what happens at the other end of the object(the stand) is instantaneous with your initial blow, and their is no "return". You have loss of force at every change of material. This includes the air your hammer travels thru, the material and hardness of your hammer, the material and hardness of your anvil, the quality of your connection between anvil and stand and finally the quality of the connection of your stand with the earth. The better your connections, the less loss of force. Thus the more initial force which can be applied to your hot iron. The "elasticity" or distortion between a properly heat treated hammer and anvil is neglible. The elasticity of iron at a yellow heat between said hammer and anvil is appreciable. Hammer rebound isn't caused by force returning from some distant point, it is the difference between force transmitted at the point of contact and the initial force applied. What remains is what balences the equal and opposite reaction equation and is measured as hammer rebound. A 90% rebound means a 10% "loss of force. This 10% is not " lost". It has been converted into another kind of energy, usually heat.

Two more advantages of cast is that heat will warp steel. Cast will not warp. The other is that steel will "flake off" (scale) where cast won't do this. A good cast firepot is a good long term investment. I'd go for cast. Another consideration concerning the differences is how much time will you spend at your forge? If you are contemplating a business or are a very active part timer/ hobbiest, then cast is the way to go. If you spend a few hours a month at your forge, then go for steel.

No matter how old they are and if this is what the client wants and you want to make them with traditional techniques, then Iron dragon nails it. Also, if you look at the right side, it looks like the pointy end is part of the handle with a half round piece that holds it in place. You can almost see the half round on the other side. I've made similar half round keepers. The ends would have a small square or round tenon filed on the ends. So, without having an actual piece to look at, here's two different ways to make this piece. Lol, I'd champfer the edges of the backplate.