lawman

Thank you very much. Does any one know the signifance of the letter B being stamped into it?

Hey guys, Can someone pull out a copy of "Anvils in America" and identify a new acquisition for me please? I have a friend that was kind enough to gift me a Hay Budden anvil that once belonged to his Father. The only thing he asked was that I never sell it and that I used it for what it was intended. He told me his Dad would be proud knowing that his anvil was being rung again by someone who enjoyed the craft. In addition he asked if I could find anything out about the history of the anvil to please pass it along to him. I would love to provide him with that information if I can. The anvil is in really nice shape. It has a steel top. It is 141 lbs or that is what is stamped on the side. You can clearly see Manufactured in Brooklyn NY on the side right above the weight and you can just barely make out Hay Budden above that. Under the horn there is # "3734" on the left side and a "B" on the right side. Under the heal of the anvil on the left bottom side there is a deep "3" stamped in it. Over all it is in very nice condition. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Lawman A few pics of the numbers

Well Frosty.......Maybe, Pointy Odd Object Friday, Pointy Old Object Friday, Pointy Oblong Object Friday, Pointy Ornate Object Friday, Pointy Ominous Object Friday........... How bout Just "Pointy Objects On Friday" Cool spike Knife by the way. I haven't worked up the courage to try a animal head yet. I like the way yours turned out.

I have the cones as well. Like you I thought it was a good deal and had to pick one up. Shipping is a little steep @ $90 something dollars, but if you want a mandrel and have to have it shipped you are gonna pay no matter where you get it from. Haven't got too much use out of it yet but its nice to have in the arsenal. Like I read someone say on here once before, "If its a tool you only need once, its a tool you needed!"

No. But to be fair it is only a couple of months old and I am a Hobby guy so I'm not beating it every day like it owes me money. That being said I expect it will out live me by a large margin. Its made out of ductile iron but it doesn't really nead to be as hard as a anvil, at least not for the way I use it. Others may have another opinion. I know there are quite a few of these things in circulation so maybe a few other members will chime in. I guess I should add that the block is sent as it is popped out of the casting so it requires finishing by the smith. Apparently thats how they keep the cost down,. Not a big deal. get a flapper wheel and a die grinder and get after it......Works just Fine...Lasts Long Time!!!!

I have a Nimba Titan and love it. I do not regret the purchase at all. That being said I would love to have a Refflinghaus south german pattern.........Maybe some day. If you need a swage block, look at Saltfork Craftsmen. You can get a 65# one for about $150. You'll have to do a little sanding on it but I like mine.

now that was very cool. Thanks for sharing. I like that power hammer jig you have. I might have to steal that Idea at some point.

You were kind enough to direct me to it in my first post on here. http://www.alaforge.org/files/Tire_Hammer_Tools_small.pdf Thanks, Ill go back and read it again

Here are some more pictures of the tools in progress.

Started on some more tooling today. Bought some 4140 round stock and chopped it up on the bandsaw. This is obviously not finished but I have a top and bottom full length fuller started. Have to do a little welding to make it where i can bolt it to the flat dies but I think its gonna work out. Also started on a side set. Gonna make some handles out of 1/4" round stock and weld it on. Then I will use this tool to make a swage where I can forge a replacement later when I screw this one up . Have a round back flatter started as well but I dont have a picture yet

Thanks for all the input guys.......its appreciated. To be honest this is the first thing that I made and I wasn't going for a particular dimension. I haven't measured it yet but the blade is probably pretty close to 1 1/4" tall. I can grind it shorter if I need to but I bought some pretty thick 4140 drop offs to make tools with and thought much shorter would be too small to get the job done. Sounds like the consensus is that my handle is too thick..........that seems easy enough to rectify. As for the steel I did check it with a file and the file cuts it pretty readily. It is definitely not hard right now. I let it air cool out of the forge and have not attempted to heat treat it yet. I can leave it like it is and give it a try. If I screw it up.......I'm a blacksmith....I'll build another.

Well.....I made my first Power Hammer Tool today using my new hammer. Starting to get the hang of it a little I guess. I decided to start with a cutter. It started out as a brand new lawnmower blade. My neighbor works at a lawnmower repair shop and they were throwing away all of the new blades if they could not identify what they belonged to, so he brought me about 50# of em. I haven't tried it out yet because I haven't heat treated it yet. I am going to assume that it is a oil quench steel and see if it will harden that way, then i'll temper it to Blue. Probably fully soften the handle with a torch heat after that. Hope it works OK. What do you guys think? I didn't think it was to bad of a start.

Thanks! Im discovering that there is a learning curve that I'm somewhere near to the bottom of!!! It should be an enjoyable ride getting to the top of the curve though.

Well.......After 7 months of waiting my new hammer has arrived. Dang that thing is heavy. Day 1 was a disappointment. My 50 horse tractor wouldn't pick it up off the trailer? It had to spend the night under a tarp. Had to call in a favor to a friend with a fork lift just to get it off the trailer. Haven't got it all permanently piped in yet, but so far I can tell I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this thing.

Good Luck Russell. Sounds like a heck of an adventure. I have not forgot about your tongs by the way..... my hammer ought to be here in a couple weeks.

Very beautiful work. That is awesome.

on the hooks, if it works....its not cheating. Its good practice to learn how to do it over the horn of an anvil......but there is no shame in getting the job done with whatever works good for you. I use my jig all the time but there will be times when using the horn or a cone will be more versatile. As far as the tongs...your ahead of me, I've yet to make my first pair......it on my things to do list.

I agree

This is what the dragons breath looks like as I normally run it. This is what it looks like when I crank Up the propane

Thanks again fellas.... I didn't take Thomas' reply as being picky or anything other than honest information in my last response ......I was more making light of my own ignorance than anything else. One thing I have learned about these forum conversations is some times we infer a tone of voice that might not be what the person who typed a reply really meant at all. Body language and tone of voice seems to be pretty important when you are trying to make fun of yourself or place a comment in context. When you type it , it's pretty much up to the interpretation of the reader I guess......... Frosty, When you are speaking of the dragons breath you are talking about what is coming out the door of the forge right? I suppose this could be another mis-understanding that I have been carrying around. The flame that is coming out of the door of the forge is orange with some blue.......probably 50% blue or less depending on how much propane I shoot to it but that is probably where I run it most of the time to keep it under control were it don't burn you eyebrows off when you approach The flame coming out of the burner is pure blue. Either way i'm sure you are right about the oxidizing........my work scales up quick in the forge. Thanks Thomas, I will try that vinegar trick. Lawman

Not Mill Scale Huh.........All righty then.............I will adjust my terminology. You're the first person to correct me.....But you knew what I was talkin about didn't ya I wasn't trying to stir controversy. I am aware that it is going to happen no matter what and I expect it to, so I don't see a need for the N2 tent and egress pack. My question was about dealing with it when the wire brush or wire wheel on the grinder seems insufficient to get it back to bare metal. You guys make it look easy to deal with some times and that is not exactly what I was experiencing. Maybe i'm expecting too much. I don't dislike the way it looks just thought I might be doing something wrong. I built my propane forge before I ever discovered this site and its wealth of information. I watched a few youtube videos bought some Koawool and got after it. It works and has gotten me to this point but it may need some refinement. As far as choaking back the air .....I don't have any more to choak.........I'm using a heat gun as a blower and the inlet is already as closed as it gets. .......I will figure something out, but I don't want to modify my heat gun. Its a valuable tool on its own. Guess I could employ a little duck tape and see if that makes a difference. My next one will be a dual burner self aspirated and I intend to do a bit more research on burner design and lining before I run off half cocked again. Anyway, Maybe time for a little redesign work. Thanks for the info.

Thanks guys. I was using my gas forge Frosty. It is scaling in the forge. It continues once I pull it out which I understand. I know its gonna oxidize. I'm still wondering if I got my atmosphere wrong. I can leave a RR spike in there a too long and make a 16th" or thicker mill scale crust on the whole thing if I ain't careful. I don't know if thats normal or not. Ive haven't used anyone else's forge enough to know if this is common but I have read on here that some folks have theirs set where it doesn't scale at all. That leads me to believe that I might have a problem with my air mix. At any rate when pull it out and hit it with a wire wheel the scale don't always give it up. Ive been living with it as I think it adds a bit of character sometimes.....But there will be a time when that isn't the case so I probably ought to figure this out at some point. I'll start paying a little closer attention to this aspect of it. The tumbler is also a interesting Idea........I see a new piece if equipment in my future. Lawman

Beautiful work............Looks awesome!!!!!

I'm Gettin closer to figuring out how Black Frog makes those openers............more practice is still required. Think I'm gonna make a steak flipper on the other end of this guy. How do you guys keep the mill scale off of em. I have a hard time keeping em smooth. once it scales up I cant seem to get it off. Even tried hitting em with a wire brush on a low speed grinder when they are red hot and it just don't come off for me. I cant seem to brush it enough to keep in scale free.

​On hot metal?