viking-sword

Really nice anvil!It's odd though(at least to me) that on every Peter Wright anvil I've ever seen you could always see the definition line where the face plate meets the anvil body... but still, very nice indeed! Wes

Well, for starters, I'm right handed, though as a blacksmith and knifemaker full time I'm finding myself using either hand more and more, even while forging. That being said, I position my anvil horn to the left because that seems to be the way this anvil was always used from the begining, and it's a really old Peter Wright. I believe this simply because of the condition this anvil was in when it came my way, and what I mean is that the face was severly radiused in certain sections on the far face edge( with the horn facing left) and it just makes sense that the previous users worked the far edge for most off the time as it would be much too awkward to use those radius's as a near edge position. I personally am more comfortable using the horn on my left because I don't like working the hot steel while it's held across my body to reach a horn thats on my hammer hand side, I just don't have as much control and manuverability that way. I wish I had the option of having a double horned anvil with a hardy to the left just behind the horn base as many of these newer anvils do, oh well, maybe someday!

Hey don't tempt me, I stand 6'3 at #300 and have easily manuvered hunks of iron much heavier than that into the back of my pickup to follow me home. :)

I too believe it is a Columbian anvil as it has a very similar Z symbol as well not to mention traces of the same yellow paint. Here is a photo. Wes This one weighs #151 and is one I have just laying around.

A quick thanks to BIGGUNDOCTOR for the quick overveiw on the different TYPES of taps as this is very important much of the time and figures in greatly when it comes to tap types and tap failure. Much has been mentioned here to get you started well and I would only recommened that you get a hold of a Machinest Handbook(as new an edition as possible) for a little Lite reading. once you learn how to sort through all the info available in it you will have a lifetime guide to nearly every situation concerned with tap and die, drilling, machining, screws, nut, bolts, metal properties, etc,etc,etc, though never discount the aspect of good quality advice and instruction from others with experience. Wes

Thank You both! Wes

Gentlemen, I was wondering about the knife making technique mentioned here and I would like to know if this is perhaps something that is documented somewhere, a tutorial or something that can be gleened from? Thanks, Wes

The electritian said he ground the groove in the face for making the pritchel on the horse shoes(I'm not a farrier so that doesn't mean a whole lot to me). Your right on the terminology of those hammers as being swages, my mistake. Wes

Well I can finally post here, as I've been admiring all the goods people come across I finally had my day, though It wasn't cheap. The story goes like this, I was having my new shop wired with 220v for all my machinery(I'm leasing the building)and the electrician doing the job just happened to be a retired farrier who had acumulated a few blacksmithing tools and wondered if I'd be interested. I took a gander at his offering and had no doubt I wanted what he had! In the group was a near perfect #187pd Peter Wright anvil, a small portable riviters forge(fully functional), a swage block of about 75pds,three top fullering hammers, and a cone mandril-51 inches tall.The total package cost me $500, but it was worth it to me, and you know, if you price them out separatly, I feel that I got a good deal, what do you guys and gals think? The Peter Wright is in excellent shape and weighs #187pds(digital bathroom scales)and most of you will notice the little groove just back of the step, well he ground this in(it's about 5/16 wide and does not go all the way through the plate). He was intending to use this anvil for farrier work but found a real farriers anvil soon afterwards, anyway, as this is going to be my new blade forging anvil, this groove might come in handy as a blade straightening device. A week later I was at auction and stumbled into this Columbian anvil for $300. Very good shape and as you can see I cleaned up the face and dressed the horn.I would guess it weighs just short of #150pd ( no scales!) and I'm short on space for this anvil so I'll probably sell it( I know, you can never have enough anvils, but you can never have enough money to pay the bills either).

I have this Columian anvil I'll sell. It's in excellent condition, not exact on the weight but it's close to #150 and I'd sell it for $300. I live in Thermopolis, Wyoming where I run a smithy and knife shop. Hope these pics come through. Wes This is that same anvil sitting next to a recently aquired Peter Wright that weighs exactly #187pds.

I'd be real interested to know what sort of tempering cycle you used to get that kind of performance? Wes

Thanks for posting the photo, it really clarified it for me. There are tons(literally) of those in massive piles down at the tracks waiting to be picked up and hauled off and it don't look like there in any hurry to do so. I'll aquire "a few" this weekend after dark as the RR crew boss prefers I do it this way so the general public doesn't get the impression the can help themselves to just anything(common curtesy you know)! I have just been able to get back to these forums lately having been in and out of hospitals for the last year, I'm back to trying to make a living at blacksmithing and custom knifemaking. Have lots of photo's to share but it takes time as I still use a 35mm camera and the film must be sent off clear across the state to be developed and converted to digital, (maybe Santa will be good to me this year). Anyway thanks again for the photo, looks like good stock for tool making, maybe hawks and blades too. Wes

Hello all, I live very near a RR, and now have access(and permmision)to a few hundred thousand rr spikes and plates and other parts as they just replaced about a hundred miles of rail, but I am not certain as to the identity of the clips you speak of and I was wondering if a photo of one could be posted. I tried to google for a positive ID but I was unsuccessful. Thanks, WES

I wonder if using a heated vehicle battery blanket or even an oil pan pad would work and still be safe enough to leave over night with no worries?

I just finished up the second of a set of hunters for a good customer and thought I'd share. The first is a carbon steel blade, 4 inches long of 52100 with a stainless guard and a fine figured walnut handle. The second is a damascus blade of 1084 and 52100, stainless guard and walnut handle from the same block as the first. His initials are silverwired in the back of both. A woodlined sheath comes with each. Hope you like. Wes

I'm planning an anvil build myself when time permits. I have this solid iron post30 inches long and 5.5 inches square, weighs 190pds, and I have a block of annealed D2 that I will mill for a tougher face for forging on. I initially wanted to weld the block on the iron and set it up vertically as a post anvil but I am told welding D2 is iffy and looks out of my scope of experienc and I;ve never brazed. So I believe I will clean up the iron surface and bolt the D2 face down as shown in the photo's, then build a base of 2x12's and if this works out I believe I could actually get more D2 blocks(or some other tool steel) and fashion modified forging faces and they could be changable. Any Idea's? Wes

Thanks for the thoughts. In ten days I journey down to the Mayo clinic in Scottsdale AZ,there they will reconnect my large intestines so I can get rid of this xxxx colostomy bag hanging on my side and because of the first surgery I experienced a complete hernia of my abdominal wall and they are going to reconstruct that during the same operation, this will put me on life support for three or four days due to the fact that they will be putting all of my insides back in place and it may be immpossible for me to breath on my own at first. This will hopefully put me back on my feet full bore because afterwards the wife of fourteen years has decided she wants go her own way(divorce). It looks like I'll be trying to make it as a full time knifemaker and blacksmith on my own without that second income, wish me luck. Wes

What did you say her e-mail was? My Lucy used to be quite a loudmouth but I managed to wrestle a muzzle on her and she's more tolerable now, and I gernerally like the quiet, but when my Lucy is quiet for even just a short while I just don't feel right. She also likes a good beatin on occasion. :o

I've never had a chance to try them but I'm told they work well!

I guess it does depend on each persons shop and the lighting they choose as temps between 1500 and 1700 are not quite in the orange range( though I guess I'd have to say it's redish orange when right at 1700), at least in my shop, which is why a magnet is always a good idea. If you ever have the chance to experiment with a good calibrated digital heat treat oven, take a magnet and your prefered steel your using and observe the colors as they approach and then exceed critical temp(non magnetic) to see just how they look at those temps. Do try to adjust the shop lighting to closely resemble your shop conditions, it's very educational. Wes

No more sisters, but there are a few cousins lurking around that I wouldn't mind sharing a nice warm fire with(Kolshwa), maybe even a nice hot(slack)tub with. Here where I live anything blacksmith related is very rare, and I'm getting ready to pick up and move my entire shop to another state. Glad to see I'm not the only one attached to there anvil. Wes

Though I have not seen the video, I can tell you that your process's are a little confused. When you normalize, you should bring the metal up to just below the critical temp(non magnetic), this will be a good red color and not at all orange, which you did twice, this is what grew your grain to an enormous size, and when you anneal, you should bring it to just above the critical temp(again non magnetic) and then put it in the medium you have for slow cooling. In thermal cycling you should never see an orange color unless your using some types of tool steel, orange is bad, very bad, grows grain, grows lots of grain! Don't depend on eye judgement if you don't have to, magnets are cheap and pretty acurate. Hope this helps. Wes

When you take in to consideration the viscosity of your quechant, the amount of quechant, and the type of steel and it's required drop in temp speed needed for proper hardening, the main factor that determines the need for aggitation of the part comes down to the crossectional thickness of your workpiece because it will determine how long a piece needs the vapor barrier disrupted. Back and forth, up and down, figure eight,, they all expose the part disapating heat to fresh quechant so the temp continues an uninterupted drop and solidifies the grain in the steel.Very thin parts will naturally have all the temp drop need almost immedeiately, but the thicker your part, the longer that time difference is, and the need for breaking up that barrier. Wes

Well,,,, my Lucy is gone! She weighed 150pds, had a beautiful figure(nice trim waist) and a real nice face.She was my very first, Peter Wright did a good job with her. I'm fixin to go in for a risky operation, planning to move to another state afterwards, and I still have Lucy's Identical twin sister,Lucy, ta keep me company, so I guess I'll survive(providing the doctors do their job well , anyways I'm planning on building Lucy a cousin that will be a very specialized anvil for forging knives and swords soon,she'll have a weight problem,,, and I'll think I'll call her,,,,,,,Lucy . Anyway, I'm feeling like a little part of me is gone today, Wes

I've never found a horse rasp to be tempered as hard as most files, the reason I say this,is because that makes them more subject to greater wear damage, and even a real strong acid dip is not going to help bring back any sharpness if their wore down to far. It can't hurt to try, just clean the files and rasp as best you can and soak them for three or four days in a tub of cheap vinegar. There not usable to you now anyway, and then you will know and see for your self if they are salvagable. Best of luck, Wes