Fatfudd

You should pay attention to Craigslist down in the Medford, Klamath/Keno and Redding areas. There have been some outstanding deals lately with really nice anvils going for very reasonable prices.

Thomas is correct about the lack of anvils in NM. Actually that same Mousehole anvil was for sale last year for $550 by the same seller. I went and looked at it but it was severely sway backed and had no rebound. He had several other anvils which he had pick up in his travels and brought them here to sell. He has a Hay Budden for sale that had half of the top plate poorly replaced with laid down weld for $450.

I bought a thermal arc 161 stick/TIG welder last year and it is outstanding. Goes 110v or 220v and includes a simple TIG set-up. I paid a little over $400 off of ebay. After using it a while I sold my 300 amp welder, just didn't really need that big of a machine. Go to the thermal arc (thermal dynamics) website. They also have a small suitcase welder that will do MIG-TIG and stick all in one.

I'd suggest a slow speed polisher with a wire brush cup. I use an old auto polisher which works great and doesn't throw little wires all over like a high speed angle grinder. If you really want to get the rust off use naval jelly but that's overkill for an anvil. It'll have some brown on the face of the anvil after you use the polisher(thin rust) until you start pounding metal. If you want to really make the face shiny and not hurt the anvil face wrap some 320 grit wet and dry around a piece of flat metal, coat the face with oil and sand away. I periodically do that with my anvils just to get any surface junk off the face that might have gotten pounded in. I have washed really cruddy tools with that purple industrial cleaner you get from walmart or homedepot, it seems to remove some rust and other gunk but will also take your skin off. just make sure you dry it real well and oil it quickly afterwards. I'd like to see a picture of your anvil after you get done.

Nope, I bought mine from a fellow down in Magdalena NM.

No hurry to dress the edges, they aren't going to get in the way. Wait a while and look at some other's anvils before you go after it with an angle grinder. You could live with it the way it is but most everyone likes their anvils purty!

Looks like someone did a lot of hot cutting on the far edge but the chips don't look too deep. I round the edge on the far sides of my anvils with about a 3/8in radius which would virtually eliminate the chips. As far as rest of the anvil goes it looks very nice. I can't read the serial number real well It sort of looks like 151xxx which would be a 1908 anvil, if its 131xxx then is 1907.

I'm sure that most of you are aware of a mint set of Wally Yater swage blocks on ebay- http://www.ebay.com/itm/120920530787?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_16019wt_1396

Here's some pics of the Wally Yater blocks I just picked up. This is after I have used a slow speed polisher with a wire brush and some navel jelly. I have also been able to use the bowl shapes several times so you can see how nice the finish on these blocks were.

It does have the Hay Budden stamping on the other side. What I thought was a B could be an R. Thanks Sask Mark!

I have a 250lb Hay Budden anvil with a stamp on the other side of the anvil and I was wondering if any of you have ever seen this before, and also if so, was there more lettering in the original stamping. I have attached 2 pictures and I have tried various ways to to see if I could enhance lettering that might be partially hidden. I've tried chalk, rubbing and flour, All I see is what's in the picture- "B&H" and underneath that "Our Best". I have assumed some hardware company stamped it for resale, but that's a guess. Thanks for your help

Thomas - What time?

That's a question that has puzzled me since I got it. I've tried everything to get a complete read on the printing but it is too worn off. I figured that its probably a hardware company stamping because the "Our Best" is the only thing that is clear. I was sort of hoping someone else on ifi would know what it says. I'll post the question later in the anvils section and see what comes.

These are my homemade stands, The last 2 are on my 250lb Hay Budden and the first one has my 126lb HB. I've used the heaviest pipe I could find which was all at least 1/4in thick walled. The tops are 3x3 angle, 1/4in thick. I use those cheap pads under the stand to actually steady them. The stands and anvils compress the pads and sort of act like glue, Of course it can get kind of exciting when you drop a piece of red iron on one, Anywho it makes you stay aware of your grip on the tongs.In the worst case it just get real smokey for a few minutes.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your suggestion to him, I owe you at least one or two of your favorite beverages! I was on the list for a Salt Fork block when they come in and I had even been considering driving to MO or the midwest for swage blocks. Having recently sold my smaller anvil(to pay some bills for other toys) I had severe buyers remorse so this purchase took care of everything. I look froward to meeting up with you.

I did Thomas, they were sold by a fine gentleman down in Magdalena NM who is trying to finish a large house/shop project. I have been looking for a decent swage block now for quite some time and these had the depressions and edges I wanted/needed. NM has very few opportunities for either decent anvils or swage blocks, The blocks are in good shape for the most part, unfortunately water had been allowed to stand in some depressions and they were in need of some clean up. I also purchased his Hay Budden anvil 126# made in 1908. I already have a very nice earlier dated 250# Hay Budden.

Thanks Bigred- I had likewise seen that article about Wally's blocks in Link removed at the request of Anvilfire. I have a set myself and think they are a work of art by themselves. It appears that Centaur may have acquired the pattern thru John Elliot. Someone knows and maybe we'll find out. I don't have a facebook account so I guess I'll have to wait to find out more unless someone has Wally's email and can give it to me so I can ask him?

Does anyone have the background on Wally Yater swage blocks and on Wally himself? Seems like he is/was an important part of blacksmithing history? What were the blocks made from? I've heard that they were made from cut up wrecking balls. How long did he make them? How many did he make? It would be nice to get this info in one place. Thanks Dave

Hi- I'm Dave but go by Fatfudd as a handle. I'm in awe of all of the incredible metal workmanship I see on this site. I hope someday to be half as good as many of you. I have worked with metal in many forms for the past 40 years or so but mostly as a hobby and now have the time to really concentrate on it as an art form. Over the years I have accumulated many of the proper tools but only to a limited extent, the techniques. Since I live close by in NM, I'm hoping to get up and take Frank Turley's 3 week course next year, it just didn't work out this year. I'll look forward to reading and at times participating in many of the discussions and threads on this site. I'll post pics of my tools and later some of my work in the appropriate discussions. Thanks in advance for all of the help and assistance I know that all of you provide to greenhorns like me!