Max Mulholland - Tetnum

I proudly claim to come from over a million years of tool using monkeys and can use a *rock* for an anvil if need be!

i store my coal in 5 gal buckets by the forge

thats really cool i tried casting a coupple of times i diddent work well molds cracked and other problems

thankyou

dodge the link you gave is very usefull and contains great information

frosty thankyou for all the information i new some one would have the answer along with the answer to alot of feture questions

dave i thank you for your input the reason i am asking these questions is to replace my decrepid a 15# hf aso no feet no non chipped edges and a 1/4 inch depression in the center

i am 15 and am strongly concidering buying a new anvil (or new to me) and i realised i dont have a clue what makes an anvil a good anvil i know the idea that anay thing you can beat steel on is an anvil but what makes an anvil good what anvil do you use and what makes it good

thank you

-max

um jerry thats a little creepy i would not want that thing around

Yeah, I could set up the camera on the tripod, I suppose.
as long as I can find a place to put it where I won't trip over it as I run screaming from the shop........being chased by a mob of angry bees!

i have been smithing scence i was nine and scence i moved i had to leave moast of my stuff at my grandparents so what i have is:
1 #25 bench vice
1 #15 hf anvil (ASO)
bunch of small tools files hammers and such
and a coal/lump charcoal mix forge
made from fire brick base and 12hole brick chimney

and there are quite a few kids our age on IFI
all of wihich have contributed alot to this forum

i dont know much about your ariea but if all else fails this should help Blacksmiths Depot
i am 15 as well and it seems your doing better than me keep it up

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BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!! More explosive stuff!!! I might add to tetnum's post that you need to use DIFFERANT COFFEE GRINDERS FOR THE FeO AND ALUMINUM! I had freinds who didnt and got a free trip to the ER.

i didnot get this anvil it was sold a bout 2 hours before i got there
sort of annoying but oh well

nice find have fun with it make something cool show us all

but i dont like the lack of a ring in the anvil
ithink and some one can correct me if iam wrong but i think the lack of a ring says it is cracked

so check it for cracks and other things be carefull and have fun
and its a steel at $20.00 nice find

woke me up too early to think 4:30 ish i am in saintlouis areia
and it was interesting
just hope it dosent trigger annay more (the big one)new madrid and a whole bunch of over due faults
lets just hope the next element is left out of the party wild fire

after looking at Glenn's "true price of" threds i was wondering where most shop tools anvils forges tongs hammers blowers ect... come from

i think its mostly tailgateing and farm auctions but i am not shure

i have seen those being used as tractor counter weights so i think viking is spot on
or its an anvil take your pick

the handles are made of bass wood

i just keep it in a crucible near the fire so that it stays molten so i just put it on with a peice of twisted rebar it acts like a pen works fine

i have been making these for the past while and thought it would post them for all to see

typically the parents or people in leader ship of the council and ask me to make a knife for DESERVING eagle scouts
I ALWAYS DO MY WORK THROUGH THE PARENTS so as not to cause any problems and the parents usually suggest the pattern of the knife and handle what finnish and if its sharp or blunt so the knife turns out they they think it should look
the pictures are of knives still in progress due for a may 3rd eagle ceremony

most of the knives are made free of charge the only exception is material costs on really expensive things only such as the gold plated display knife

i invite you to have a go at it you would be surprised at how rewarding it is

now all thats left is to get eagle myself

thanks for all of your help everyone
how much do you think the anvil is worth

i have been messing around with thermite seince i was 9 and its a really bad idea in general

but if you must my recipe is
2/3 alum powder (go out and buy a new coffee grinder pack is with alm foil flakes and run it for 30 min DONT USE FOR FOOD EVER AGAIN! bad stuff happens)
1/3 black iron oxide not red (FeO) {scale} [same method for grindeing as before]

be careful

i have tried and tride with craigslist for a few years and finaly an anvil has bean located and there asckin $400
i can proly work the price down if need be of if its a steel ill just go with it

"the anvil measures 26" from tip of horn to the other end, so much rust hard to make out logo call for more details if interested, just estimating about120#"


please let me know any info you can derive from theese photos

thats more than a little rust glen

but not to hard to clean up

i was wondering if it would be possible to cast aluminum around the tang of a knife in a rough shape and file it down to the right shape

i know i would have to preheat the blade and was wondering about hopw much the shrinkage would be on the aluminiuem compaired to the steel(S7)

thanks for the advice thomas
but i just dont want to mess around with them at the currant time to dangerous

(too many epa pepole running around fineing pepole for everything and if they found that they would have a big pay check at my expence)

the best trick i have found for work hardening is a small hand held sander suchas the mighty mouse with a non abbrasive pad and some pariffin wax on the pad go evenly over the surface the vibrations will harden it up with about 20 min of work