HWooldridge

I don't own one but have heard Gransfors Bruks is one of the best.

Might have been a trade school project.

Wonder if it might have been an improvised bottom die for a drop hammer with a dedicated progressive top die?

Might have been used (improperly, of course) under some type of large forging hammer or press.  Takes a lot of "whomp" to generate that much damage.

I think that is an ax head next to the sword, with the bit facing away from the camera.

Here are a couple of pics of my Peter Wright (this is the one I replated and rehardened about 30 years ago).  I am right handed but work with the horn to my right so that view is offside to my stance.  There is a generous radius that fades toward the heel.

How many know how to properly dress the edges of an anvil?  

 

Not just take a grinder to the edge in order to remove the edge but actually dress the edge properly. Can you show the formula for how much to remove, and where? What radius is needed and where? Is the larger edge radius better located at the horn, middle or heal of the face, near or far edge, and why? Most importantly, what type work is done on each radius and at each location?  

 

If you grind away at the edge to make a perfect size radius in order to form the fram on a framinwhizzle, you must ask yourself, how many people are actually going to make a framinwhizzle and need that radius to make the fram?  Then why grind away the edge in the first place? 

 

Once removed you can not add metal back to the anvil to make it original again. Live with the anvil a year. Learn how to use its blemishes to your advantage. You can always take a grinder or a cutting torch to the anvil later if you need to modify it for your use.

I ground a fairly large radius close to the horn on the offside of the face for drawing purposes.  I did not measure but it's likely a 1/2" radius that gradually blends toward the heel.  None of the edge radii are intended to form the lower side of any particular item.

That sounds a most reasonable and convincing theory for the chip formation. I would add that the conditions under which the blister steel was made; added to the the anvil and then hardened were not the most controllable and the fact that many of those anvils survive is a testament to the incredible skill and ability their makers developed. There is bound to be a variation in hardness and resilience given the production system.

 

As to the radiusing of the edges pre flap disc and angle grinder….how about heat and a hammer?

 

Alternatively have you ever tried filing hot iron, use a farriers rasp and it is like grating a carrot, 

 

I believe the Romans had water powered grindstones and I daresay they did not invent the technology...

 

Alan

I tend to doubt anyone would take a new anvil and redress the edges with heat and hammer.  Granted, it could be done in big shops when an anvil was repaired - but why on an unused edge?  I suspect they either worked it with a stone or simply left it alone.

The anvil factories most assuredly had water stones; although I'm not so sure about the average shop - but entirely possible.

I once knocked a chip out of an anvil that was about 1/16" wide and 1/4" long - the edges were too sharp and needed to have more radius - so I took a flap sander to it and removed the raw spot.  Over the years, I have seen more hammers spall and throw a fragment than anvils break.

Here's my take on why so many old anvils have chipped edges.  The bodies were generally soft wrought iron and would slowly collapse with use (i.e., the "swayback" effect).  The hard plate couldn't take the movement so it began to crumble.  Once a stress riser started, the rest of the face eventually followed suit.  Most of the old shops also had strikers so now the additional force of a sledge is added to the equation.  If the original crack had been dressed, the subsequent damage might have been avoided or minimized.

I might also add some food for thought, which is - how did a smith of 150 years radius his anvil edges?  A file would probably slide on an anvil face and there were no portable flap sanders.  I've always assumed they probably took a flat river stone or whet rock and told the apprentice to apply some elbow grease but it could be that fewer of the older anvils were dressed than we now assume.

It all goes back to the intended primary use.  North Americans seem to want heavier machetes because they will chop firewood in a pinch, cut woody limbs, etc.  In a tropical environment with a lot of leafy vegetation, a wide light blade does a better job - not so tiring on the arm due to less momentum to overcome.  A Central or South American trained in its use can clear tall growth faster than can be cut with a lawn mower.  They use a hook cut from a limb to pull the stalks and keep the off hand out of the way of the blade.

I DID IT! I DID IT!

Just finished an hour ago.

 

I was worried during the quench because at time the pour was interrupted but at the end it worked and the face hardened up well.

 

I will have the video up soon.

 

Here are some teaser pictures for now.

 

 

 

Good job!  Now you know how to do it.

I use an old steel milk can - won't melt or burn and has an attached lid.

I'm glad you're getting rain - we're still dusty and dry, just south of New Braunfels...oh, and nice score!

You can probably have one fabbed from a big piece of steel shafting if necessary. IIRC, a no. 5 is a 125lb hammer so most of the work is in the dovetails.

Where are you located? That might help the search.

I have a mechanical hammer and it behaves better when it idles. Belts and bearings warm up, lube moves into all the right places, etc. My shop also has a lot of motors in it and several 3-phase machines running off a phase converter but I have never been able to see a noticeable increase in the utility bill when I'm busy - our household AC unit has more impact during the hot months. I'm not knocking foot pedal switches but I see them more as a convenience than anything else.

I have a pedal switch on my drill press but nothing else in the shop.  My only concern about a foot switch on the power hammer would be an unplanned motor start from tripping over it accidentally. 

And everyone's habits differ, but I usually turn on my hammer and leave the motor running until I'm done forging - whether between heat cycles or not.

GMU, I have seen that very one while looking around for design ideas.
And from previous machetes we've used, I was thinking around an 18" blade ballpark....

HW-I also found that very site while doing some info searching on some blade designs.
I guess I'm wondering how much taper there should be to the blade thickness going from the spine to the cutting edge?

Is it a constant thickness from the spine right up to the edge grind, or should it be tapered?

The Mexican machete I mentioned above was evenly tapered from the back - just a long, even V-profile from the spine and about 3" wide at the widest point.

Go to www.machetespecialists.com and do some reading.  A lot of the design goes into the specific application - light thin blades cut leaves and vegetation well, while heavier blades are used for woody plants.  For example, I made myself a 17" kukri, which is great for small limbs and camp work but it will wear you out when cutting light stuff and vines.  One of the best machetes I ever owned was a very light one made in Mexico that was about 24" long and less than 1/8" thick; easy to swing and cut grass like a breeze - but it was no good to split firewood or cut limbs.

I used to buy an AP Green product that was a heavy grey rammable that I hammered into a 1/2" tile which was then allowed to air dry and fired.  Worked a treat for many years until it eventually started coming apart.  Unfortunately, I cannot recall the product part number - but it was premixed and only had to be pounded into shape.

Ceramic board works well on the ceiling and walls of the box without coating but flux and forge scale will eat up the floor in short order. Best to use a rammable ceramic or kiln tile for protection on the bottom.

I've cast thousands of lead bullets in my life and can say that explosion was very likely due to moisture. I typically drop my finished bullets into a bucket filled with water and a towel at the bottom so they don't deform. Every so often, I stop to inspect the pills and set aside any that need to be remelted - those are always dried by hand then stacked on the edge of the pot to heat up before placing back into the melt. I've seen what one drop of sweat can do falling into a pot of molten lead - that will pop and spatter but a large piece of metal carries the water under the surface and will cause a real eruption.

I knew a smith some years ago (he's now deceased) who had a large open shop but didn't want chimneys and stacks all over the place - so he cut a BIG exhaust fan into one side wall (maybe 8'-10' in diameter).  It moved a lot of volume and you could feel a slight draft anywhere inside the shop.  He could place a forge where it was convenient for the work, light a fire and the smoke would wick up and out.

If your forge is permanently located, a nearby exhaust fan should work fine if sized properly.  You might also want to consider a TEFC motor so carbon soot doesn't get inside and cause problems.

Andy,

The obsession you mention is likely based on the belief that form follows function, i.e., if I have a perfectly shaped anvil, then I will automatically produce better work.  It is related to "I must have a larger anvil" philosophy.  Although some people forge work that requires a large anvil, the vast majority of people don't need one.  Ditto on power hammers - a smith finds a 25 lb. LG, then he wants a 100 lb. Beaudry, then he wants a 500 lb. Bradley, etc. - when in fact, he never forges anything larger than an inch thick.  Sometimes, worshiping the tool(s) becomes more important than producing the work.

Hollis

I have lots of snakes in the shop and also skunks, possums, etc. but the weirdest thing I ever saw was a prairie falcon who used to come into my shop on fall evenings whenever I left the lights on at dusk.  It happened a couple of times - on one occasion, I caught it with a large dip net and put it into a cage overnight so the bird wouldn't injure itself (I had to use welding gloves to handle).  There were two falcons that lived around us for a few years - I think they were a nesting pair but don't know for certain.  They always followed me when I would cut hay to hunt for rats and rabbits.

I used to make a lot of production forged items and simply tumbled the parts against themselves with about a quart can of medium blasting sand thrown in then I ran the machine for about an hour. That combination worked pretty well (aside from the dust coming out of the drum) and I never had any trouble with black residue. Is your drum lined with any type of material that might be sloughing off?