Broomhead

I bid on an anvil at a local online auction sight. It looked like a decent one, I could tell it needed some TLC and a lot of work. I didn't know the weight but judging from the size of the other items in the pictures I could tell it was a good sized one. I was hoping it would be at least a 100lbs'er. I bid up to $270, but won at $260. With a 10% buyer's fee it ended being $286 total.
 
Well, I was very surprised by what I found. I put it on the bathroom scale when I got home with it and it weighed out at 152lbs (the hundred weight marks say it was 155lbs originally)! I was happy by that point. Then I got to looking at it a little closer, turns out its a Peter Wright! Ecstatic! It does need work, more than I thought actually, but the rebound is great and it rings like a xxxxxxx bell. The edges are pretty torn up, one side has a chunk broken off and another piece cracked. The face is mostly smooth with a few pits, but its flat as a granite slab, no swayback. The horn and face both have what looks like a bit welding slag on them, but a grinder will take care of that quickly. I hit it with a cupped wire wheel on my angle grinder and cleaned it up, which it did pretty nicely. I'll hit it with a straight wheel later and see if it'll clean up more. I also popped that socket out quite easily by heating it up nice and hot and beating the xxxx out of it from the bottom.
 
I haven't found a date on it anywhere, but there is a number 3 stamped on one of the legs. I did find some markings that I thought might be a date stamp, the middle character looks like a 4, but there are what appear to be two 1s on either side of it, I highly doubt its a circa 1141 or 1411. The  folks on a couple Facebook blacksmithing groups have guesstimated it to be roughly pre-1850's. One gentleman speculated that it looked like a multi-piece anvil that PW stopped making in the 1850's.
 
Oh, time for the math, $286 / 152# = $1.88 per pound! That's a heck of a deal around here. People want $400-$800 for no-name anvils, weighing less, and sometimes in worse shape.
 
Questions,
A. What's your guess on the age?
B. Can you give me ballpark value?
3. The feet are a little steeper than I usually see, what's the best way to anchor one like this?
 
Well here are the gratuitous pictures, there are a lot of them, just to warn you.

The 1" pipe nipple and 1.5" flare is impressive, isn't it? At the suggestion of Frosty, I used a 1.25"x1.25"x1" tee with his Tee Burner design. That baby cranks at 8psi, I haven't tried it any higher though. I'm also in the middle of my forge build, so I haven't tried it in there yet either.

Alright...I give...What am I doing wrong? I have two different types of printouts, one from a laser printer and one from a laser copier, both of which are from Staples. Neither one is transferring to my metal, period. I have tried acetone (lots of it), a hot iron (highest setting), a large, wide tipped soldering iron (hotter than the iron), and a micro butane torch (held at a distance of ~1-2"). I have tried using both paper towels and a cotton shirt with the acetone, both of which I rubbed very hard with. I also tried using the smooth, butt end of an aluminum bodied Exacto knife. The soldering iron and torch both browned the paper, but didn't burn it because I moved them around evenly. Neither of them even affected the toner on the paper. The acetone partially erased the toner from the paper and transferred something black to the metal, but it wiped right off, and it wasn't even a light version of my template.

So...What is going on? Why won't it transfer? What should I do differently?

I found 1", 8lb density ceramic blanket at a local ceramics supply shop, they had it listed under "Raku Kiln Equipment". It was $3.50 per square foot, so 7 bucks per 2sqft, but no shipping. They also had Zircopax (zirconium flour) and EPK (kaolin/porcelain) clay powder for a kiln wash that was suggested by Frosty.

That would be awesome Robert! I'll definitely hit you up sometime soon when I have a little more free time. Thanks!

yes, will resist salt wateretching.  In fact can be done with a napkin saturated with the salt solution and a 9 volt battery.  Heat is not really a concern most of the time.  "Toner" is actually a  plastic melting around 350f (up to 425 for some brands), similar to "glue sticks"which are low temp plastics(150 to 250f range). Neither has any adhesive at all.   Just warm enough it will stick like honey, too hot and it's pure liquid and you will lose definition.   

Awesome. I just worked up some templates last night to get printed, so I will definitely be trying this.

I was approached by the AACB editor to write an article on etching. I don't have a vast knowledge of the subject, so I was planning on doing it from the aspect of having a shoe-string budget and making your own equipment. Shoe-string budgets are something I am very familiar with. This will fit in perfectly.

It should but don't Quote me on it. A little test piece ought to answer better than I can, then if you tell us how it worked we can quote YOU. <grin>

 

Frosty The Lucky.

I shall, I shall.

Does the ATF/laquer thinner mix need to be mixed as needed or can you mix it ahead of time and store it?

Toner is a great resist for salt water etching. I use it to decorate up my old tobacco tins.

Will it resist electro-etching with salt water? I imagine if it did then you'd have to be careful not to overheat the area.

What size mig tip do you need? I've got extras in both .035 and .045. They have different thread pitches from each other, but I'd be glad to throw a couple of each in an envelope if you'd like. Just PM me if you're interested.

It works great, not as good as a real anvil, but great nonetheless. Nice rebound and quiet. Its a pretty small working surface but it helps with hammer control and accuracy. It weighs a ton, lots of mass in there.

Now mine is not just quickrete, I have the RR plate structure inside the quickrete.

As far as what steel to use, don't use mild steel from some place like Lowes or Home Depot. Use a mid- to high-carbon steel and temper the edge harder than the head, make that springier. Use the better steel so you will have a usable, working piece in the event the axe turns out satisfactorily.

To give you an example.....  a "friend" took a lawnmower blade and made a knife out of it.  It was already a perfect thickness for a small blade, so he didn't have to do any work to thin it down.  Finally gets it done and is proud as a peacock over it.  Probably had about twenty hours worth of work in it, mostly stock removal with files and sandpaper.  Lots of sweat, a little blood, but good times.

 

Gets it all the way to the point where it's time to sharpen it.... and he can't get it to hold an edge.  Take it down to a mirror shine on the bevel, but it's no different than sharpening mild steel.  What happened?  Dunno.  All those hours of work just to end up with a glorified butter knife.

Been there, done that. It was my first knife, back before I had any knowledge of knifemaking, and I was excited with how it turned out. It looked really good, nice design, great handle shape, even made a sheath for it. It sharpened up great the first time, and a few days later, and a few days after that... I'm sure you get the point.

Lawn mower, bush hog, and other landscaping blades are meant to be tough but still bend/deform when they hit something hard. If they were made of knife quality steel, they would most likely shatter when you hit a rock. Just because a piece of metal seems strong, tough, handles a heavy load, etc, doesn't mean it's good for a knife. As was said, use it for tooling or even as a bolster material, with some type of patina/bluing/coating/acid etch to help protect against rust.

That is really cool! I like that a lot. Would it be big enough to set a bowl on, or level enough to put a round sheet of glass on to make a small table?

Thanks for the clarification gentlemen.

Not too worried about the CO right now, my forge and everything is in the open air for the time being.

 

A longer tube and bigger jet will let you run low psi with better stability. The flame will be tighter and a little more robust without the bell reducer. Try a thread protector or spend the extra and buy a coupler. The induction will be stronger so the flame will be a little leaner and cleaner. The dragon's breath won't be quite so orange and the forge should get hotter.

Yellow flame means rich and blue means anything from neutral (stoichiometric) to lean. It takes time and experience to tell what a blue flame is telling you. Just remember orange and yellow are rich, not enough oxy. to consume all the fuel. A LITTLE rich is better than a little lean, a lean fire will oxidize the steel in the fire. Hot steel will always oxidize in open air.

So...Which is better? I'm confused.

Well, turning the forge didn't help the burner with the 6" nipple, it was still sucking exhaust gasses causing it to flame-out, even with the stovepipe. I guess it's just too short/close to the mouth of the forge for my setup. The 8" nipple ran like a champ though, a nice rich blue dragon's breath, a strong, steady flame, and the forge heated up amazingly fast at just 8psi. Again, it heated faster than I could get the flame recorded. The 6" nipple's dragon's breath was much more yellow as well, so it was running too lean, even when I covered one of the T's openings. I kept the .045" mig tip on for both runs. The 8" nipple's dragon's breath is in the video clip below.

I am working on moving my gauge away from the burner, but it's the best I can do right now. I'll have to wait on some money to pay for the parts to move it, my blacksmithing funds are tapped out right now. Fwiw, it stays cool to the touch where it's at, as does everything between the burner tube and the hose.

I am in the planning/acquiring stages of building a new, round forge body. I plan on mounting the burner(s) tangentially as I have heard/read that the heat is more even and without hotspots.

Now...I just need to exchange tanks and get back to beating some hot metal.

Thank you everyone for your help. If you have any further tips/suggestions, please post them and thanks in advance.

Ok, so the 8" nipple (I love typing nipple) works with a bell reducer attached, but not with a straight coupler. I have a nice big flame, but it's difficult to see the shape of it in the daylight, along with the dragon's breath. I'll have to check it out and record it tonight.

So, the 8" nipple and the 6" nipple both work with a bell reducer and the .045" mig tip. The 6" nipple heated up the forge really fast at ~8psi, but it was sucking in the exhaust gasses. Tonight, I'll also try turning the forge to see if I can get the gasses to blow a different direction. The 8" nipple also heated it up quickly. However, there wasn't a breeze to tell if it was sucking up the gasses, though the T is higher up so it may not just for that reason.

I'm worried that using the stovepipe will trap too much heat and burn up my pressure gauge, which stays cool to the touch without the stovepipe. I think, if I end up using it, I'll shorten it just enough to keep the gauge in the open air. I'll be able to see it then also, lol.

I'm torn now, I don't know whether to go with the 6" nipple or the 8" nipple. The 6" nipple would be cheaper as I can still return the 8" nipple, coupler, and bell reducer. I'm leaning towards the 6" nipple, but I'll wait and see what happens tonight when I try to turn the forge and record the 8" nipple's (can you tell I like that word?) flame and dragon's breath.

Here is the video of the dragon's breath with the 6" nipple with bell reducer and a .045" tapered mig tip. Much larger and much bluer. I tried getting a shot of the flame but it was just too hot already.

Ok, just to be clear, I'm talking about the 3/4" burner in all of this, the flame-outs, etc. I haven't rebuilt the 1" one yet.

I found .045 tapered mig tips (15 xxxxxxxx bucks for a 10 pack). I plugged in the .045 mig tip, attached the 3/4x8" nipple with a 3/4" coupler. It wouldn't stay lit at any pressure. I couldn't get the bell reducer off of the 6" nipple to try it on the 8" nipple. I put the 6" nipple with bell reducer back on with the .045 mig tip and had a huge flame, over a foot long. Stuck it in the forge and had a huge dragon's breath. At 8psi, The forge heated up faster than I could pull my phone out to take a picture/video of the flame, but I did record the dragon's breath. I'll post it as soon as I get it edited.

I think Frosty is right in that I'm getting exhaust gasses sucked back into the burner, I'll turn the forge tomorrow and try that. I had a couple flame-outs when there was a breeze. I stuck the stovepipe over the burner and it smoothed out.

Thanks for the info Frosty. I picked up a 3/4"x8" nipple and I'm trying to hunt down a .045" mig tip. There's a wielding supply place about 15mins away that I'll call up. I already have a coupler that I tried before the bell reducer that didn't stay lit, I'm guessing it just needs the bigger mig tip to work.

As soon as I track down that mig tip I'll let you know how things workout.

Gotcha. Buuuut...What about the flame-outs? I forgot to mention that the ambient temp was about 28*. Could that contribute to the flame-outs? I know the cold temps have an effect on how long the tank can maintain it's pressure. However, the flame-outs happen regardless of the pressure.

I need some help tuning this baby, if y'all wouldn't mind.

I keep getting what I guess you'd call flame-outs. It's not so much chuffing as it is the flame goes completely out and then the residual heat of the forge reignites the propane. Changing the pressure has no effect on the flame-outs, they happen from 5-25psi. Here's a video of what I'm talking about. In it you can see the shape of the flame and there is a shot of the dragon's breath at the very end. I edited out the longer periods when it was running normally, but it is from one continuous recording. During the first roughly half of the video the pressure is at 15psi, the second half (with the RR spike in the forge) I dropped it down to 8psi.

What do I need to do to prevent these flame-outs? What should I change to tune this for best results/efficiency?

Thank you Mr Powers. I thought I had read where people had had success with slightly larger dimensions using the same general setup by simply tweaking the various tunable aspects of the burner. Perhaps I'm mistaken.

I did build a successful one using a 3/4"x6" pipe nipple, a 3/4" tee, and a 3/4"x1" bell reducer. It doesn't burn back in the tube at lower pressures, so I was unsure what was happening when I tried the larger tube.

I have successfully built one of Frosty's 'T' burners going by the plans in >this thread. I used a 3/4" tee, 3/4"x6" nipple and everything else that the poster used on his. The only deviation I made was that I used a 3/4"x1" bell reducer as a flare. This is my regulator, I have yet to get a gauge so I can't really tell you what pressure it's running at. The burner will chuff a little at lower pressures, but runs like a jet engine when turned up to where its smooth. I used a piece of 6" diameter stove pipe as a buffer to cut down on the burner's sensitivity to wind. All-in-all I spent about 50 bucks, including the regulator, since I had to buy new parts. I already had a few of the tools, like the 1/4-28 tap and #3 bit, but I had to hunt down the 1/8" NPT pipe tap. Here are a few pics, minus the wind buffer.

Click this one for a short dragon's breath video.

Now for a quick question, I made one a bit bigger, using 1" diameter parts instead of 3/4" ones, with a 1"x1 1/4" bell reducer flare. The only problem is that the flame burns inside of the tube, starting at the mig tip instead of starting in the flare. What do I need to do differently for this larger burner to run right? What things need to be tuned differently? Does the mig tip need to be longer? Should I cover or partially cover one of the tee openings on the side? Should I use a shorter nipple? The OAL of the big burner is only 1/2" longer than the smaller one.

Thank in advance for all the wisdom.