Marc1

Knowing the quality of the BK Sydney anvil and looking at the size of that monster I can tell you that you have bugger all chance of damaging the anvil by hammering on it on the heel, the horn or anywhere else Having said that, BK are not Swedish steel and do deform with time just like Peter Wright. Can we know what you paid for it? There is an ad for a 160 pounder on gumtree asking $1600 for it ... oh mama ... It seems the anvil was used more like a stand for a metal worker to cut and grind rather than forging. If the previous owner was that rough with it with torch and grinder, I hate to see what he had done forging on it. The little holes and cuts would be more a cosmetic consideration rather than structural. I would weld them shut using the appropriate pre heat and the correct rod, but leaving them as they are would be just the same, so ... leave them alone since you are just getting started. The anvil looks like a gladiator sporting his scars. What do you intent to forge? Do you have a forge? Hammers? Tongs?

Hallelujah !!! One that does not start with "making knifes"

Great job Nolan. Particularly love the air funnel Make some more photos or videos about heating up steel

The only question I would ask is ... how mini is your sledge and why use it instead of a hammer. I understand if you want to forge a boat anchor ... or a two foot machete out of a truck leaf spring ... yes, you need the kilos in your hammer, but for a knife? and in mild steel? You can do with 2 pounds cross peen hammer no worries. You can forge on a leg vice, a rail or a cheap anvil providing you are sensible with your choice of hammer. The choice of hammer is mainly in accordance to the job at hand. A test at forging a knife with mild steel is probably just a step further than a hook for a hat. i don't see the problem. The only problem is your proposed hammer and it's disproportionate size for the job. Not the vice or anvil nor the fact that it is a blade. i was looking for a cartoon picture of a very large hammer on a very small vice but couldn't find it ... Have a read at this old thread

By far the most popular course of action.

I agree with the suggestion to polish and display, then buy a propane one As for jets for kero or petrol ... no difference. with kero the torch goes whoom. with petrol it goes WHOOOOOM Actually we used to mix kero and petrol 50/50 when agri fuel for the old Fordson stopped being available. It was the best to light the Petromax

Yep ... and when everything else fails ... trade in bitcoins! Now there is an innovative initiative. Actually I liked the chain letters and pyramid schemes... aah the memories Quick or you miss out !!!

Interesting thread. Almost 10 replies from different members in Australia only ten years ago. All disappeared. And I can think of another half a dozen that stopped posting years ago, mostly professional blacksmith. Sad trend.

I have another say of my own ... Only ever make a tool if it is not available for sale and no one wants to make it for you ... or you never get to do what you need or want to do. Or words to that effect

Buy as many tools as you can. No such thing as too many tools or (heavens forbid) "clutter". Clutter is a term used by outsiders who see untidiness as something bad and don't know where things are unless they are labeled and in a neat row on a shelf.

I didn't know there are different perspectives on anvil usage. I thought they are meant to give a surface to squash hot iron on ... but hey ... what would I know Come to think of it, they can be used to kill or try to, road runners, as counterweight for Trebuchet, blow them up to see how far they can fly, my brother has one on his bookshelf holding up a row of books ... how about we start a thread named ... perspective on uses for anvils As for hammers, that is really irrelevant, since the hammer is supposed to hit the anvil only accidentally, and home made or factory made they can both be too soft or too hard, so again, provenience means little. As for your mousehole, it is a piti to hammer on that area with no faceplate left. i would seriously consider to find someone experienced in fixing her and give her a new lease of life. welding a piece of something on her is not what I would consider ... but it is not my tool.

Definitely a woodworkers vice. Probably designed for a workshop that built structures like roof trusses or similar when they did this by hand. Would suit a carver of larger stuff. As for price, I think it will depend on your urgency to sell. Being a unique piece, you could ask for a premium price, if you are patient. $250 does not seem to be not here nor there. Ask an antique dealer. we are blacksmith ...

I doubt there is a formula for that, more a case by case. In Sydney I buy steel from Edcon Steel and Waratah Steel. Edcon is more a boutique supplier that cuts small amounts and is more likely to have scrap. The times I got scrap for free was unsolicited. The worker cut some steel for me and chucked the leftover in my truck saying, better there then in our scrap bin. If I wanted to get more scrap for free I would ask the person working in the yard. Having said that, if this practise becomes routine and more than 2 people start asking, I bet it will be banned by the owner or supervisor.

Interesting. They made a spelling mistake ... ? The blacksmith that made it was from Barcelona and worked in Kolbermoor

I see ... yes, rigid is the word. This contraption is all cast and has a worm gear to go from 1400 rpm down to 40. Very useful to cut nice and square, different angles and repeat cuts length etc. I have to redo the stand however. At the moment it is mounted on a wooden benchtop and the vibrations shake the whole bench and amplify the noise. On a sturdy metal stand it should be almost silent. I am thinking in a vertical bandsaw with a twist in the blade to overcome the throat limitation and a sliding table as a nice addition. Will have to make the sliding table myself though, never seen one offered.

All this talk about thousands of rpm confuses me. Aren't we talking about cold saw? I have a 14" cold saw and it has a 2.5 hp motor turning the blade at 40 rpm Am I missing something?

We are all familiar with the ancient photos of dark and decrepit blacksmith workshops of old. We tend to idolise them as a thing of the past. They used to be in most town or suburbs but have mostly disappeared. Or have they? When they are a rarity for obvious reasons, they are not extinct. In fact i believe that the internet tends to magnify the illusion that they are. Websites like this and others seem to be visited mainly by newcomers and hobbyist giving the impression that full time blacksmith don't exist anymore. Either the market does not require them or the skills are lost. The above generalisation might apply to some countries or some regions but is by no means accurate. There are scores of full time blacksmith that make a living forging and that do not enjoy social media or posting photos of their work. As an (ex) full time blacksmith, I had a long list of workshops I could count on to subcontract work i had no time to do myself. Are they still there? Most likely just like myself, they have aged and gone silent or just working as a pastime. Yet many more remain active and have passed their skills to a new generation that remains active and makes new things. The question is ... who do you know, personally or by reputation, that works full time blacksmithing? Artistic, architecture or the ubiquitous blades, does not matter, even when i am particularly interested in public artwork, the type commissioned by local government to display in a public space. And why are they so elusive? Your reply is appreciated.

Very interesting. I made some search on my own and it seems that Belorussia, means White Russia. The funny thing is that I heard some folks referring to people from Belarus as "White Russians". That would be a grammatical extrapolation of politically incorrect nature ...

The reality of who is "up" and who is "down" ... And what is the problema with my spelling? From the sarus.com What is the closest synonym for the word desaster? desaster katastrofe. patatrack emergingcing falure phiasco disharmonious hollow cast miss hop

So true. For years I worked close to a second hand shop and instead of stuffing my face at lunch time, I went to shop for bargains. over the years I bought scores of good tools at bargain prices. At first I told everyone what a good bargain I found, only to get laconic comments like ... it is probably stolen. So now I don't tell anyone. Well I can tell you ... I bought a Fein Magnetic base drill worth close to $3000 for $150. It was missing one handle I bought for $20 ... Scooter, you messed up big time. THe WD40 will penetrate the anvil face and make it swell and blister. It's a desaster. Neee, schmier away, no harm done.

It seems that EMR shielding is taken more seriously than tin foil hats by the paint manufacturer and yes, they use graphite powder among other things. The data appears to be very professional however ... who can tell? If you google shielding EMR you get the wackiest link

Not touching your face is a very valid recommendation to avoid the virus getting in your nose or throat. Only kidding. Considering that a large proportion of post on this forum refer to anvil purchases by prospective blacksmith, and the first though appears to be to fix what needs not fixing, there is a recurring lietmotif here. Many years ago i posted a photo of an anvil I bought and pretended i was going to weld and mill face and edges and sharpen the horn like a needle. A few got sucked in ... I believe Frosty was one of them Don't mind sarcasm and jokes. Enjoy your hobby and make beautiful things. Belarus is short for beautiful Russia?

Unfortunately my father's business partner did just that to an original Giorgio De Chirico. Just like Mr Been in his movie many years later. The fixation of "restoring" a tool like an anvil that is not and never will be a machinist die, never ceases to amaze me. Next we will sell apples restored to a perfect spheric form by turning them on a lathe and dipping them in wax?

Many ways to use plumbago, Randy does it the way I do. Apply the powder with a rag on tacky paint. If you use red oxide colored paint, and then rub the plumbago on it, yet leave a few streaks here and there of red paint showing, it will look like the piece is slightly rusted. Looks good on chandeliers, chairs, tables and the like. Or you can paint black and rub lots of plumbago on it. Once the paint is dry, you can rub off the excess and it will not stain the hands.