Marc1

My little 90 lb anvil is 8" high. Must allow for difference in shape A 5 gallon bucket is 17" high give or take. In that photo the anvil seems to be higher than the bucket. Sure it can be the way the photo is taken from above ... or can be that the bucket is not 5 gallon but 2.5 gallon. Assuming the bucket is truly a 5 gallon one, that anvil is around 200 lb in my own guesstimate. May be more ...

You could easily make a rotary cutter and put it in place of the carborundum. get it up to speed and feed the potatoes in a tube towards the cutter. It would spit the chips like 45 rounds out of a tommy gun I am sure we can place it in the useless inventions ...

Oh GS ... yes forgot about him. Tha is the chap that lives in Taiwan. He makes very nice stuff.

Your hammers are on fire! he he, the first thing I thought when I saw your photo. You have a bunch of those offset tongs ... I like them too. Are they locally made, made by you or ... the usual made in Pakistan?

Not really a vice ... Consider sharpening a chisel on this thing ... or doing anything else for that matter. Nice to look at it though. Reminds me of the early mechanised tin openers. As useful as an ashtray on a motorbike then again, may be 100 years ago this was the must have cordless power tool kit of the day.

As much as I myself would itch to fix that anvil up, I know the amount of work required , time and money better spent in a more fruitful pursuit. If you can get to the point of doing enough work on that anvil to make you want a different one, you have outgrown it. Put her aside and let her rest and find a new one to keep you going. Don't try to fix it. You have way more chances to finish her off for no real benefit. Many have tried and many fail, only a few succeed and those few that do, years later confess they regret doing it. It's a funny thing and if you are like me a bit OCD, will need to overcome your need for symmetrical shapes. Once you have outgrown that anvil and you count your money to buy a new Nimba or similar, you can advertise her as an antique and ask large sums of money. You never know your luck in a big city

The issue of giving is very personal and so are the motives to do so. However the ads on Gumtree or Craigslist for that matter, requesting free or very cheap are akin to modern day begging at best or a con from someone who only wants to resell for profit at worst. I almost fell for it once and realised it was not genuine when I saw another ad worded exactly the same way for a different item. Sad really.

I have also seen those ads on Gumtree, our version of craiglist. They quote student/kids/want to get out of unemployment and other stories and asking for free or very cheap. They read like a con to me

Is it an antique stump?

Yes, it is a lost cause because it depends not from the seller but from the buyer. if the buyer believes antique is more valuable than new, they will continue to pay more than new prices. Unfortunately there is some bit of true in that idea if you consider the new anvils sold in hardware stores. They are the one making this sort of myth possible. With anvils going for 50c a kilo in China, this will go on for a while. I like that you can bargain in Spanish better than in English ... ha ha, talk about stereotyping. Do you look a bit mexican? One of my first jobs in Australia was interpreting. With 4 languages I had heaps of work in court and in government offices to help those who couldn't communicate in English. The one that gave me the most trouble were Italians and south americans. The italians complained that I had a spanish accent. True, barely noticeable and only to a native italian however I have tertiary qualifications in their language and they managed only to speak their village's local dialect. And South americans, they just dismissed me by looking at me. You are not south american you can not speak "our" language ... ha ha, true again I look very german, but can speak "their" language way better than they ever will. The most fun I get when I go to a Vietnamese restaurant and order the food using the few sentences I learned in Vietnamese. You should see their blank looks. It somehow does not compute that my face produces those sounds so they have a mental block and don't understand and I have to repeat myself. Very funny. Then they say how did you learn to pronounce like that. hu hu Stereotypes are real fun and full of surprises.

it is so nice to see tools passed down. Clearly your friend must have known somehow that his time was up. Folks do know most of the time. I remember a neighbour we had in the seventies. We had just moved in freshly married and made his acquaintance. He was a writer and a bit of a celebrity. In his seventies he was very healthy and was asked to give conferences all over the place. He used to invite us to chat a lot because his only son never came to visit. One day he called us over and pulled out old family photos and spent hours with me and my wife talking about his past, gave us some books and things and insisted for me to give him a run down of the value of all his possessions he dutifully listed. I did my best and then he told us he was booked the next week for a conference and he went on to give us the whole conference before we left at one in the morning. He passed away that night.

A lot has to do with the idea that old anvil is"better' than new anvil. No point entering into that particular debate, but the assumption that "old" is part of the quality, is only a step away from old and beaten up to prove it is old, has anything to do with quality or even resale value. How many times have you read someone purchasing an anvil and asking "how much is this worth" after actually having paid for it. The perception that older anvil have some mysterious antique value, like a victorian era jewelry piece bought at a flea market for a pittance. That explains the prices paid for average anvils that have seen better days, built with materials and technology that are obsolete, easily outperformed by a new anvil. Take PW for example. Sure it is very popular and there are heaps around and they are reasonably cheap. But are they soooo good? No! they are soft and mostly deformed and beaten up. We buy them just because they are cheap not because they are better than new proper anvils (not chinese) Having said that I bet that if I list my 480 lb PW full of chisel cuts and with a wonky horn and face, for ...say $2500 I most likely sell it. Actually I should try $3000, no harm done. It's an antique after all! Any takers? ...

My brother is an architect and lives in a posh suburb in an apartment. Last time I visited he had a 40k anvil sitting on a bookshelf. Anvils can be anywhere Mm ... opportunity calls! NOT

If the handle hurts your hand it could be you are gripping it too hard. I like the idea of an octogonal handle providing it is not a real octagon with 8 equal faces but rather 6 small faces and two wider ones to provide some better control.

Will do,. As far as no marks, try a hardwood mallet. A nice chunk of Ironbark ... mm ... you are in France ... really old oak?

Mm ... a copper hammer will probably mark it the same if it is hot enough. i am planing a gate and was thinking in adding a bar with a knot in the middle, inspired by your sculptures. I can see how to do a knot at the end of a bar, how would you make a knot in the center of a one meter long bar in say 16mm diameter? One would need to heat at least one half of the bar to loop it around and make the knot ... mm ... now that I think about it, i can fold it in half by heating the center. then heat again to fold it over and finally heat from one end to the knot to thread it in the loop. Mm ... I like it ... still the chain block is my fall back plan

I see ... how about hanging it hot from a roof beam and hang a weight from the other end and encouraging it along with a hammer?

Very nice work ... the Addams family comes to mind.

I also use fingerless gloves permanently for all metalwork. When welding the left glove stays on and I have the big leader glove on top. It's perfect for the hammer hand and has saved me countless injuries. I had trouble finding fingerless gloves that could withstand actual work. Most are just for looks, to drive a motorcicle or show off in general with holes an studs and rivets and leather so thin that it ripps off the first time you take them off. Finally I found a supplier that sells them as wheelchair gloves. They go the distance for me anyway. As for the hope of the scale coming off the anvil with vibration, and to say that a well anchored steel anvil becomes "little better than a cast iron anvil" ... that comment can only come from someone who has never worked in a smithy. For an anvil to shake off the scale by vibrating, it will have to be set at 30 degrees and it will struggle even then. Technical commentators did write with poetic license even in the olden days. I remember a famous post WW2 spanish author of automotive and motorcycles DIY mechanic, currently in its 33 edition, to say that it was very important to wear a helmet when riding a motorbike and that such helmet was no problem since it could be disguised with an appropriate hat. Err ... coff, coff.

Would it work to pull the knot tight using a chain pack?

New year resolutions are in general very confrontational and forgotten for that reason very quickly in the new year. They are, generally speaking just wishes to correct something we know should be done but never get to do for many different reasons. I never got in the habit of new year resolutions of any kind, but when confronted with something I really want done, I start by writing it down and picturing or planing how I will do it. A list to be ticked off and dates help. Although dates can be a hurdle too sometimes, depending how much time you have. The best resolutions one can take up, new year or not, are health related. The one universally accepted to be number one are, smokes, Alcohol, weight and sugar. I never had a problem with alcohol, never smoked yet was a tad overweight at 84 kilos and only 1.72 m high. I read a lot of things to do with health mainly because my wife is a doctor and talks to me as a colleague and I sort of developed a layman interest. Lately there has been a lot of reviews in relation to how we eat and what we eat. The "food pyramid" was proven to be wrong and the dieticians advice to eat small bits several times a day, a total fraud. In a nutshell our bodies are not made to feed 3 times a day but 3 times a week. Going without food for a day or two is actually very good for us. So I put it into practice. Started skipping lunch rather than going to a restaurant at lunch break and shed 3 kilos in just a month. I realised I could go without food without much effort so I decided to eat just once a day. Skipped breakfast (big no no according to some) skipped lunch ... and ate whatever I wanted at dinner time, not too late though. I am down to 77 Kg now and counting. Must lose another 5 kg. What I am doing is called intermittent fasting it is very healthy and will test you at many levels. Make it your new year resolution to fast one day a week or two if you are game, or skip one or two meals a day. Whatever works for you ... you will feel a different person and your body will have time to fix all the little things that may be wrong and need addressing yet it has no time to because it must process all that food ... Best of luck ... and happy new year !!

Ha ha, Ben, mine was just a joke but surely, in some particular circumstance I can see how it could be useful ... mm ... I think you got me ... or not?

Yes, and one must keep the rhythm going ... one sweep one stroke, one sweep ... wait a moment what about the hot iron? Mm ... there goes your theory. I suppose I could build a pipe with a row of holes in it connected to my compressor and a pedal. Each time I lift the hammer I press the pedal and the air goes wosh and cleans the anvil. Genius!

I much prefer to keep my hearing than the scale off the anvil ... assuming the ringing sweeps the scales off the anvil which is news to me I bolted down my anvil with 5/8 bolts just in case. Stand is 5"x2.5"x1/4" RHS welded at 12 degree angle filled with sand and oil. Base plate is 1" Bolts are 5/8" x 4", plate for the bolts is 2"x1/2" The anvil sounds as if it was made of concrete. No vibration whatsoever. I do keep a brush nearby though

Vertical metal band saw or horizontal if you have the room for it would be a good addition to any shop. if you have the time, shop around for a vintage one made in the US. Oops, just noticed you are in Glen Innes ... mm ... the acquisition power of your $500 suddenly dropped by a factor of 4 ... oh well. You may still be able to find a good second hand post drill press. i bought a massive Hares and Forbes, from a fencing factory that was closing down for $400. Check Gumtree, there are a few metal band saw for sale under $500