quint

To follow up on this thread I only found one PDF that had a rough outline for the chemistry layout for a few types of chain. The one I think I have pretty much is medium carbon steel with alot more MN in it theoretically. Had comparible specs to 1045 basically. Not that I know for sure that is what mine is but about as good a guess as any. Did two test pieces tonight, pucks about 1/4" thick of the 1.5" diameter steel. Quenched in both water and oil and got about the same from both, 55-56HRC as quenched. So now my question is what can I do with it. 6" long link of 1.5" steel so about 2 8" pieces cut and stretched out for each link. It is kind of a bear to forge down but figured could maybe make something out of it. Any tools go good at about 52-55HRC or so. Maybe hammers, Imagine some hawks with bits welded. About all I can think of. Ideas appreciated.

Good anvils. Mine is a 200lber and although alot of the face is relatively soft compared to my HB and sodafers and it has a sway back and pot marks and very rounded edges it still does a good job. I dont use it much right now but it will allow you to pound out some metal. Mine has probably about 70-80% rebound depending on where I hit it, not super great but good enough. As long as it doesnt look welded (which should show up as slightly different coloring) and you dont get any flat sounding spots as compared to the rest it should be a good anvil, Note on that mine personally is pretty flat sounding, Ive heard these can ring pretty good but mine doesnt ring overly loud. Just so ya know not all of these will ring like bells. Look for consistency.

Pretty cool. Tried this half heartedly a couple days ago. Went from cold about 40F to being a dark red. Stopped at that point as I lost my rhythm and I would probably of been there for a while (hey I am still learning :) ). Still it was pretty neat.

Now start saving more spare money for the various attachments you can get. I would like to get one of those guys but at the time didnt have the money so I made a NWG. It has performed admirably and was so much nicer then my craftsman. I have since made it a welded grinder and it does even better.

Thats cool. Now nothing will get done at work :D

Real nice job on the laminations. Good looking blade as well. Couple days ago I got brave and tried forging some wrought to 1075 for a saex style blade. Was going along decent until the wrought tried separating when I was forging the tip over and I noticed along the spine at top of the wrought it had started a small split. Fun stuff though. Will be happy when my forge welding turns out as well as yours did.

Thanks for the insight guys.

I tried this a little, funny a couple of hammer blows sounded like gun shots going off lol. I figured I would probably stop that for a bit as I am sure the neighbors didnt appreciate it. Is this normal or was I using a tad too much water.

Generally blacksmith will round over the edges per there taste to varying degrees. I wouldnt hit it too hard with just a hammer. Its a nice test but I am always nervous of chipping an edge doing that so I am careful myself. Always try to keep some steel between your hammer and the anvil. Learn from the guys on the forum here, I am just a beginner as well but have learned alot in the last year or so. Take good care of it and it will serve you and several others after your gone. Good luck and have fun.

You guys got some nice peter wrights there. Metalmark that thing looks new, no sway back or anything in a bigger size. Wish mine looked that good. Dp yours looks good too.

Then I pose another question to go with this. How about for us poor guys that end up being self taught (well with the help of various online assistance like these forums and acquaintances online and such). Now for bladesmithing they have th JS and MS that you can get. However there are a ton of guys out there who dont have either and still make a most amazing blade.

So he is the one who takes all the good deals. It is amazing how much anvils go for up here. If you can find them for $3 a lb your lucky but they are gone within minutes of listing on CL. I bought mine a while back and got lucky they were listed on my days off. Lately they have been going for upward of $5-6 a lb and some are vulcans/arm and hammers for peter wrights with half the top plate missing. A guy had one PW with the front half of the top plate missing started at like $900 and it weighed 180lb or so. He lowered the price after a few weeks by a little bit but it was still around $600. There was a nice columbian listed recently 300lber for about $450 I think but it was sold instantly I think.

Yeah those chains are pretty long, when I picked up my PW from a guy who was selling off most of his father in laws old stuff out in the shed he had most of it gone already, few things here and there. Any how I ended up getting two of those chains that were in a corner under some stuff, a full box of fresh nails (big foot square size box) and a couple ball peen hammers for like $20. He was trying to just get rid of stuff so. With my wood stumps I notice the most difference with the silicone underfoot. Second with alot of chain. With this metal/sand and a silicone bed (pretty thin) it is just dead solid feeling. I think the only thing I could do is bolt it to the concrete floor but I need to be able to move it occasionally so thats probably not gonna happen. I remember that video of yours when I first started, had me putting all kinds of stuff on my anvils.

Ok made a quick video. Ya know it is very hard to notice the difference. I think I had the hammer raised a little more for without. Only noticeable difference was on the heel. In the good spot there wasnt really any noticeable differance I could tell, ofcourse my hearing is not all that great after years of working in a steam plant. Cant figure out how to imbed the video here but here is the link.

Well got a couple hours of forging in today. I must say I am so very impressed with how everything performs now. I didnt realize how a well mounted anvil that has no movement at all really allows the anvils rebound to do its job. The metal I was forging moved so much easier under the hammer. The sound also was also pretty much nill. It was nice because the tap of the hammer you could hear but it instantly dissipated without the slight hang of a ring. Even with a well sound isolated anvil like my HB it still had that very short sound after the hammer hits. Now if I can find another big piece of steel I would like to make another one for my other anvil with a few minor changes. Highly recommended if you guys can source the supply's.

Well finally finished except for the tool holders. Gonna add those as I go along I think. Things to do differently would be splay the legs out just a tad more, its fine now but before adding the extra feet it was a little wobbly with the twisting motion. Its still not perfect gotta play with leveling it out some but is still great for up and down stuff. Do as others have done and make it so the base plate I mounted on the top would be free floating in the sand box instead of welded in like I did. Like Vaughn was saying it allows for relatively easy adjustment. Pros This thing makes the anvil feel more solid then anything Ive tapped on so far. I have not forged on it yet but rebound is amazing and the feel of solidness is a huge improvement. The pictures are with my 200lb sodofors and with the base weighing I estimate about 200- 220 lbs it feels more like a solid 400lbs vise just the 200lbs of the anvil (if that makes sense). Cant wait to hit metal on it. Quiet. Even without the chains, just bedded in silicone and the little tabs knocked over a touch to preclude it coming off although to be honest theres no vibration or bouncing one bit. It is a nice solid little thwack. Hopefully tomorrow I can forge a bit and see how well it really does under some good hammer swings. Pain in the butt to build, could have gone with a slightly better design but worked with what I have so. Went thru alot of wire but got more familier with my little welder.

Yeah I was planning on it, I didnt really plan on lightening for moving thing. I guess I could leave them open so I could just tip it over to pour the sand out, just figured that it would be more structurally sound having those guys welded up. I dont think she is coming apart any time soon but I tend to over do things when I can. Thanks. Edit to add I should probably drill a hole in the side and tap and add a plug. That would make sense and be able to drain/fill it easier. I may do that later.

Ok here it is, not pretty and like I said still needs some work. The box is welded around so it is filled with sand below the top plate and up along the sides of it. The tubes on the bottom are also filled. Still gonna grind the corners down and fix any welds that really need it. Adjust the legs and add the extra supports. Then the top mounting stuff. No comments on the welds lol. I know most of them arent that great. They are good enough where it counts. Working with a 115v mig so not gonna be very special lol. Forgot to add, once the sand is tamped down, I will weld in bars around the top edges to join the side metal with the top plate. Still dont know what that thing is, I think it came out of some rail car or something. I looked up the number and it shows a certain type of rail car. Assuming its a part off of one.

Well got it mostly done. Made a few errors. I angled the front leg just a tad forward. The other two I messed up and instead of angling them out at a diagonal from the first they ended up being angled out directly at a 90. Not the end of the world but will mean I need to now weld in a couple of little wedge supports for those two. Gotta grind all the corners so I dont tear my leg open, finish filling with sand, then trace out the anvil and weld in the side brackets, then grab some pics.

Thanks Vaughn for the insight. I think I would maybe try for solid legs but welding 1in stock is beyond my welders ability. I think I have a solid plan now. Will post some pics when I get done. Thanks again everyone for the help.

Nice little anvil. I really like these swedish guys but your right they ring like crazy. Some silicon and a chain do wonders though, well atleast a little bit.

Out of the steels you have the only one that will produce a nice hamon is the 1095, the others will show a temper line but not really a hamon per say. If you want to differential HT them for the flexibility that is one thing but I wouldnt try for a nice hamon with them. 1095 although tricky can be done and if its aldo's 1095 makes a great hamon. I usually take a small amount of satanite and mix it up then take a small amount and wipe it on the entire blade. Wipe this in all over then wipe off any extra so there is just a grey haze over the blade. Then I apply a thin layer 1/8" tops to the area above where you want the hamon. You can drop some ashi lines down a little and what not. ALso of note is water and oil will affect where the hamon falls differently. It will take a little practice to get it right where you want it.

Thanks DSW, I guess it makes sense that it wouldnt matter of the force was diverted to the four corners of the feet of the anvil.

Ok so I have been researching making a 3 legged metal stand for one of my anvils. My first question is about transference of weight as in making the stand heavier yet still quiet and have the weight actually be useful. The few things I have researched Fill the posts with sand/oil to help deaden the noise. Proper angle for the legs and stand height are all things I have accounted for. So I have a 2"x12"x12" piece of steel that I wanted to incorporate. However it has a 1/4" bow to it so in order to lay the anvil directly on top of that I need to grind it down some how. I was thinking of making this the bottom of a foot tall sand box basically so from the ground up it would be post legs, the steel plate, 4 walls filled with sand, either wood or steel or just braces and the anvil on top. I am wondering does having sand, or a thick piece of wood negate the extra weight of the other portions of the stand. I have scene everything from sand boxes to straight planks of steel to large chuncks of wood on top of the steel stand. Is just using a layer of silicone on top of straight steel with the legs filled going to give the best mating of the stand to anvil and also keep the noise down? I understand this can be a subject with about a million different opinions. I am just finding it hard to figure this out after searching a ton of post most of them here I may add. Thanks for any help with this, just trying to work out the last details before I start cutting and welding.

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments. This little guy has scene alot of use. Some probably above its designated abilities but its holding up well.