Curly

Right folks, managed to pick the anvil up today. I was certainly expecting it to be in a worse condition than it is!

So much so that after gathering all of the kit to dunk it in the electrolysis tank Ive decided its not worth it, a wire brush and an oily rag has bought up some shiny metal!

Only had ten mins to rub it down so could do with a bit more work. So here is my new 1916 Fisher anvil! Due to the lack of scale the pitting on the face looks worse in the pic. I dont think any of the pitting is more than 1/4 of a mm deep if that but is is consistent across the whole face.

Also an anyone tell me what the 8 stands for on the foot?

Wish I spent more attention in chemistry class right now!

Sodium Carbonate is Na2CO3
Sodium Carbonate Decahydrate is Na₂CO₃.10H₂O

Which means in the dehydrate there are 10 water molecules to every sodium carbonate molecule.

Good old google tells me the molar mass of sodium carbonate is around 105g/mol and the molar mass for the decahydrate is 286g/mol which means you need around three times as much but in essence it is the same thing!

Will try it on an old rusty hammer head first!

You have convinced me to try this on the anvil when it arrives, does look like an extremely good way to remove rust! Cant seem to find the arm and hammer washing soda here in the UK but did find something called Soda Crystals which according to the ingredients contains Sodium Carbonate Decahydrate greater than 30%, does that sound like the same sort of stuff??

One thing that is a useful marketing tool is to get a distinctive touchmark and use it on everything. Mine is as per my avatar. I got it from Blackbird tools- they aren't expensive. If it gets you 1 referral it has paid for itself.

Realise this is a year old thread, but Ive been thinking about this recently, touchmarks seems like a good idea and its nice to mark work you have created. However if for example I went around to a friends house, saw a lovely bit of ironwork with your touchmark on it, how would I know it came from you or your forge and therefore lead to a referral? No dig at your touchmark at all, just curious to see how well they work in that respect once your piece has left your hands.

Ok to cut a long story short I got really fed up of working in the office over the last 6 months, saved up enough to get me through at least 3 months of non guaranteed pay and as of the 6th of May will be selling ironwork to pay the rent. (Will also be doing a bit of web design on the side) Very much jumping in at the deep end but feel for many reasons this is the best time to give it ago.

Now one of the things I keep going back and forth on in a business name and domain.

Currently I have Lloyd & Co. Blacksmiths. My name being Tim Lloyd and have a good friend who will also possibly become part of this hence the & Co bit.

The domain I purchased for very little money was www.lloydblacksmiths.com but looking back at it now not sure how well it sits. What do you think? Need to finish building my website and get some business cards printed, so need to commit to something soon!

Noticed a lot of people trade under their own name or the name of their forge rather than actually having blacksmith in the name. Any reason for this?

Might start a separate thread at some point if anyone is interested on how I will be setting up this business. I actually did a degree called Entrepreneurship in IT, Technology and Business (Yeah its quite a mouthful and I get many funny looks when I tell people thats what I did, but it should serve me well now!) I have also got 3 years experience working in a sales and marketing position. So I am hoping that all of this will give me at least a fighting chance!   

All the best,

Tim

Will now be spending the morning being distracted from work by watching videos on electrolysis! Looks pretty impressive on what I have seen so far.

Colleen, ended up getting the steel from an online site called The Metal Store. Pretty impressed with them so far. Very easy website to use, if not too easy, got a bit carried away with the quantities ordered! Free delivery over £70 and 5 free cuts per length of steel ordered. I am sure you pay a little premium for the service but cant complain at the moment for the ease of use.

Andy are you still down this way then? Saw in your other thread you were looking for smiths around Liverpool way. It wasn't you that outbid me on that nice swage block the other week that was being sold in Dorchester was it?!  :P 

and thanks Ian, that sounds like a really good idea using the vinegar that way, will keep that in mind!

Okay, think I will just give it a quick brush down and go from there. I have 125lb of steel being delivered tomorrow so its going to be put back to doing some hard work very shortly!

Forging on a upturned sledgehammer head mounted in a stump at the moment, so this should be at least some sort of an improvement!

I paid 70 pounds for it, not entirely sure it was worth that, we will see I guess.

Will give it a good clean this weekend and go from there.  Is it worth using any sort of rust remover on it? Or should WD40, a wire brush and plenty of use afterwards be enough?

As a very last minute decision I took the plunge and purchased my first anvil last night off ebay. Will pick it up this weekend.

So what do you think? Think it will clean up ok? I reckon it must be around 1 cwt, it had no real description on the advert and no time to ask any questions. If anyone can ID it that would also be great. So a bit of risky buy but hopefully it should do the job! 

Good shout with the idea of turning the vices 90 degrees think that would certainly make it less easy to flip. Also taken into account putting the sleeper along the bottom as well. This the sort of thing you had in mind?

Yeah thinking sideway loads as you put it might be a problem, however currently I don't have a permanent workshop and unfortunately don't have anything to bolt a vice to that will not move. Might have to go with this until I get a proper workshop to set up shop.

Chinobi, agree with having the hardy rack higher, mostly it was there just to make use of the lower support. As for mobility, think having a set of fixed casters on one end and a lifting jack with a wheel on the other would be the easiest to do, just not sure if that will be too much stress on the inch box section.

Just putting together a design for a stand to hold two leg vices and wanted to put it in front of you guys.

My doodle in paint is pretty self explanatory but looking to use railway sleepers as the end material which the vices will be mounted on and inch box section to connect the two. The box section will also act as a tool rack with some round bar added and the lower bits of box section will be used to hold hardy tools.

What do you think?

My main concern at the moment is how stable it will be, hopefully adding some wider feet should help with that.

I also wouldnt mind it being reasonably mobile so currently thinking of ways I could add casters which could raise and lower the whole stand. Maybe using a trailer jack at each end??

Any ideas or input most welcome!

Greetings Curley,
 
Nice find...   The Pexto sheet metal anvil alone is worth   150.00 American..   A man can never have too many vises...
 
Jim

Well went out today to look at a leg vise ended up coming home with four! They all need a bit of tlc, some more than others but all should clean up well.

By the way Tim, I have almost finished a hearth using John's plans. I found it easy enough to make given my very limited fabrication skills. I adapted the design slightly by making the hearth longer and using angle iron to add strength. I am only tack welding the fire pot in so it is easy to remove and repair bits if needed - might not be worth it. Also the fire box is steeper but that is due to my poor oxy/propane cutting skills :(

 

Anyway, have not fired it up yet, this weekend I hope :)

Thats good to hear bogmonster! Its still on my list of things to do, however two weeks ago my wife gave birth to our baby daughter Josie. So think its going to be a few more months before anything happens! Plus I don't think one should operate a forge with such little sleep each night!

Having said that, I did actually buy a small second hand gas forge a little while ago, so hopefully I can fire that up when I have a spare 30 min here and there. Long term plan is to find a more suitable workshop and have a proper coke fueled forge.

Hi All,

Acquired this gas forge recently, was hoping to gain a bit more info on it. Cant see any makers marks but it looks well made and think came from a farrier here in the UK. Just getting into blacksmithing and hopefully this will be a good little starter forge for small projects. The opening is 9in wide and 5 1/2in high so should be quite capable.

Any information would be great!

Thanks,

Tim

Cant help on the blacksmithing side of things. However, if you are looking to take blacksmithing up as a full time career I would recommend learning a bit about running a business and that side of things. There are lots of evening classes in marketing, website building, keeping accounts, setting up your own business and so on. Of course if you are looking to work for someone then this doesnt apply as much.

A lot of these activities you can work on and set up now before you end your Army career so you can get up and running as quickly as possible.  

Thanks John, that would be great! PM Sent

Thanks for info Glenn, one of the forges I have been looking at seems to be cast so does not have the option to slide more pipe out or replace whats there. It looks in good condition but after reading into it a bit it seems that this type were used more with coal rather than coke which apparently burns at a higher temperature. At the right price it might still be worth getting and then converting into a water cooled one.

Hi all,

Just a quick question, Ive been looking into getting my first forge. I have seen a couple of side blast forges which do not have a water tank on the back to cool the tuyere. When using this type of forge what stops the tuyere from getting too hot? Can they be used for a sustained period of time, ie forging all day?

Any help to get me into the world of blacksmithing would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Tim

Hi John,

Just wanted to say thanks again for a brilliant time on the taster day last Saturday. It certainly gave me the blacksmithing bug! Thinking the tool making course in April would be a good next step.

Now I just need to get sorted with a forge and anvil!

Cheers, Tim