Marc1

I like Sutton drill bits especially the Cobalt one. Drill Stainless without too much anxiety. I use coolant and low speed all the time for everything. 1:10 mix of cutting oil and water. Essential for the annular cutter, cheap and saves your drills from even getting warm. I have sharpened drill bits for 50 years by hand ... until I got myself a Drill Doctor, the top of the line model. Love it.

This picture landed in my Facebook page. Never seen anything like it.

Check this video for home made anvil. Cheap and quick.

This landed in my facebook page. Seems like a lot of work spent engraving. Not sure I would want to use it.

My brother in-law is an orthopaedic surgeon and he used to take me along when he was the resident in the local hospital because I am familiar with tools and he is not. Was kind of fun and the surgical side of things was something anyone good with his hands can learn in a short period of time if you have a steady stomach.

It's definitely the long lost Wile E Coyote Anvil ...

"Reducio Via Nauseum?" err ... I have another one ... Latinus grossus facit tremare pilastros ... (*) Not that Reductio ad absurdum is any better. It may be spelled correctly but it's applied incorrectly. To say that those who post a simple question most of the time have failed to look for the answer, and that those who have found the answer need therefore not to ask a question, is a simple statement of fact and not an argument to prove or disprove anything much less the need for the forum to exist. Since we always talk about 'how to' perhaps the most pertinent latin quote would be this from the poet Virgilio "Vires acquirit eundo" or ... for the common man ... you gain strength (or you get better) as you go. * Maccaronic Latin makes the columns tremble ... (or rattles the building's foundations)

No need for the video, you can do it yourself with a 4mm wire and a hammer on the round horn, just keep on pounding fast

Hack into your optic nerve? yeiks ... but you wouldn't find a thing there ... you would have to hack into his memory ... unless you do it same-time of course ...

Your chinese machetes start looking like knifes ... It seems "futzing around" works and one can futz ... I mean learn bladesmithing by himself without first making candleholders. Get yourself an anvil and things will start shaping up even better.

I don't know why the OP even bothers with this, buy a post vice I say Then again there seems to be an obsession in spending a lot in order to spend nothing for some reason that escapes me. I declare proudly that I avoid making tools of any description I can buy off the shelf if it is of reasonable quality and the price is right. However ... giving in to the spirit of the DIY debate ... screw ... piano stool ... come on guys, you have never seen an old round piano stool? I grew up sitting on one of them since age 3 to age 28 when I sold it to buy a rectangular one. It had a screw 1" thick and easy 12" long if not longer. I made the stool top spin fast enough to come off the base countless times. It would make a very good home made vice screw. What was the question again? Making a vice? You must be kidding! A quick search on your US ebay reveals over 10 ads for post vice under $200, many more for under $300. And we all know ebay is top retial price, so gumtree or craigslist will be cheaper.

Have you ever seen anything like this? ( not mine by the way)

You may have to beef up the nut though.

Mm ... for some reason I am picturing my athletics coach pontificating on the scientific reasons that make it impossible for the human body to run 100 meters faster than 10 seconds. He must have been right all along. I never did.

You are going through a lot of trouble for a couple of holes. Find someone who has a magnetic base drill to drill those holes using an annular cutter, hire it or take it to a shop for them to do. It will be cheaper in the long run. Also ... you can buy a screw for a vice from fine-tools.com or similar joint. You can also try to find a piano stool screw for that purpose.

Yes, if the wires are far away it becomes expensive. I only had to come from across the road. 400V 60a x ph and 50 hz. Keeps the Lincoln Bullet Welder happy.

I can not tell you if SS is really 100% safe to forge, but there is a clear difference with chrome plating. Plating is pure chrome and Nickel laying on top of steel with a precarious hold on it. Once the steel expands in the forge the plating comes off and burns, giving up pure chrome. 304 SS for example has 18% chromium but that is not released when you heat it up, although some most certainly is. The question is how much and I don't know that. Lately there has been calls to say that SS is also unsafe to cook with. (?)

I think it is a very valid question that has been asked many times over, I don't know why all this argy bargy about it. There is a market for anvils like there is a market for coffee machines. It is ruled by the principles of supply and demand and therefore as others have said, it is not only dependent from what's on offer but also where. You have an anvil from one of the best makers, on the small side and with light damage. In Sydney Australia it would fetch $400 to $600 australian dollars. Retail. In Saskatchewan ... I say it is worth exactly what you paid for it ... supply and demand, you are part of the market ...

Interesting contraption ... may be part of a small sheet metal bender?

You guys don't have 3 ph?

True. Heavier hammer moves more metal. But you risk injury, that is the problem, and it is not so much to do with muscles then it is with vibration coming through your hand, bones and impacting your joints, elbow and shoulder. The shoulder joint in particular is ridiculously small, a manufacturing defect I may address eventually with the Proprietor when opportunity arises.

Don't be a hero with hammer weights. I try to stay under 2 kilos (4.4lb) and my arms are the size of your legs ... (if that is you in the photo ) Try to think in terms of ... what is the lightest hammer I can get away with, to do this job.

That angled flue seems to work well ... how high is the vertical section? I like the bucket! Sorry, I did not read the question ... what can you make ... good question. (Was it a question? ... may be not, anyway I answered it for good measure ) How about a small gate? Keep it simple, make a couple of scroll patterns, use all the same size flat bar, learn to make the hinges and the lock. Great satisfaction and you get to use it all the time. Or try a lamp for indoors ... or even easier, a couple of shelf brackets for the kitchen to practice your twisting. The classic gift when I worked in a smithy was to make an ashtray in the shape of a vine leaf ... a bit passe this days If you are making anything with scrolls and want them to look super, get yourself an old mallet, and drill on the face a series of holes all over the surface. You can use a die grinder with a stone bit, or a dremel. Use two or three different diameter stones. Use face protection and gloves and long sleeves when using this since you will have weakened the hardened surface and it may chip. The holes have to be rather close. You can of course anneal it drill it and then harden it back if you know what you are doing. I used to harden it with cyanide when cyanide was sold as an ant killer ... you can buy safer surface hardener this days. Once you have your mallet all covered in dimples, take the flat bar you will use for the scrolls and give it a good hammering all around cold, both faces and edges. The more the merrier. Change sides all the time so you don't end up with a banana. Then do the scroll as per normal. Your piece will look made from very old recycled iron recovered from underground all corroded.

Actually it means apricot. or Prunus Armeniaca for long

I tried that before with zero result. I am afraid that Angiolino may be located in Italy but does not seem to converse in Italian. My guess ... eastern europe, Romania?