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I found some time this evening and got it drifted, shaped and heat treated. :) It went a little easier today. I took the corners down a little more on the drift, and discovered that rubbing soapstone on it really seemed to help it go through the hole much easier. For anyone wishing to learn from my mistakes, take the advice of the pros and go with the oval shaped profile instead of rectangular. It also helped when I quit cooling the drift every heat, it was just sucking too much heat from the hole. Fortunately the angle for the handle turned out about right which I was concerned might not work. When I started on it yesterday I staggered my slits opposite from one another by about 1/4". If I do another I will have a proper slitter for sure! The drift held up fine, even the chisel point was fine until today when I banged on it trying to get it out. All in all it was a learning experience but I am happy with the result. It finished at 2.7lbs.

Congrats on the new anvil Lisa, hope it serves you well!

Oops double tap

Fishers are great anvils. Hard to tell much from the pics but if it rebounds good you are set. There are a few experts here that can give you a better idea of what it's worth and more info on them.

I also figured out that making knives is easier than making hammers! (Well except for finishing anyway) ha!

I've never been to the Ag museum, I'd love to make that trip and meet some folks. And thanks for the link to the video, I should have watched it before I proceeded today lol! After I got some honeydo's done I got out to the shop and and hammered the corners of the drift down a little then cleaned it up on the grinder. Probably not the easy east way to do it but I decided to just grind a vee tip right on the drift and use it as a chisel too. Ok definitely not the easiest way to do it lol! But I got it punched through, even centered it pretty good. I was really wishing I had a striker today, a couple times I looked over at the drill press but didn't give in ha! My hold-down worked good though. I didn't get it finished this eve but I'll get it done in the next couple days hopefully. I even used my little one brick forge, very long soaks! It's on it's last leg, the cracks are gettin pretty large..

Good looking blade. I'm inspired to try a puukko soon, thanks for sharing!

That would be awesome man, I've always loved to watch a master of their craft work if I'm not in their way. Very nice of you to offer. I still want to do the week class but I'll have to try and plan it several months down the road. I'm just down I-20 so in the meantime I may show up if I get a break. I'll check out the video too. Thanks again!

Thanks guys I'll do just that. And to the OP, sorry for sidetracking the thread.

Thanks so much guys I will use that advise. I'll round the section a bit with the hammer at this point, but next time I'll go through the steps and draw it through the different sections. I realized partway through that the holding end was gonna be too short but to get the girth large enough I had to upset the original round drill rod stock on that end. I should have upset 2" away from the end really. At this point I'm not sure exactly what I'll do to make the "handle" longer, maybe weld on a bit of rebar. BTW Brian, I'd love to come to some of your classes one day. This stupid day job thing makes it real tough to take off a week at a time though :-/. Do you do day classes? I'm not very far away so that may be feasible for me soon.

I've got this piece of scrap that I was informed is made of 1060. It's an old railroad coupler pin. I've been thinking that it wants to be a pair of hammers :). So I'm thinking at least one will be a Japanese/ dog's head type hammer for bladesmithing. Not sure what size I should make it though, any suggestions? I included some pics of the dimensions. Might try a small rounding type too? This will be my first try at making a hammer so any suggestions or help are greatly appreciated. Also I made a drift or a DSO at least lol. As it is it's got a long taper and rectangular in section. I plan on grinding the flats and corners quite a bit tomorrow. Any suggestions on it are appreciated too

Sorry to butt in here, but I've been looking for a Brazeal style rounding hammer in the 3.5- 4# range. Does anyone know if those makers mentioned have websites or are they only on ebay?

Here are my anvils, a 200# Vulcan and a 95# Wilkinson; also my home made post anvil. I had posted a pic of my Wilkinson back in '08 but the pic disappeared?

I'll second just using hardface and omit the plate. Then there's no need for heat treat. If you decide to go the plate route, I think it would work ok but instead of using a bar for a spacer in the middle, I'd lay a few beads directly down the middle of the face prior to welding the plate. Let us know how it works out

Mines homemade from a hardened chisel.

Beautiful anvil, congratulations! Looks like it should last several lifetimes. I've been curious, what is the width of its face? Thanks

I've not had the opportunity to use a peddinghaus but I've heard nothing but good about them. My dream anvil is the #12 at 275lbs. Maybe one day! I would suggest looking at a bit larger one though, perhaps the 165lb model. If you do get one please give us a review!

I like the bends and twists, gives character. Nice job!

Thanks Wernher, I'm real happy with it just need more smithy time! :) I made a hold down the other day with adjustable bolts to hold different size stock. The pics aren't very good, hard to tell the handle is a "T". It has a spring attached to the base and goes through the hardy. The large round bar is gonna be a couple of hammers once I get my big gas forge put together. Never enough time...

I found this 5" Columbian in the back of an antique shop, paid 80$ for it. I took it apart, cleaned and greased it good. Just have to get it mounted up now

Thanks Jeremy K, I've read all I could find with a google search. I guess I'm just looking for more than what's there, maybe not enough long term experiences out there though..

I've read some limited info on these anvils but I'm looking for any reviews or opinions from anyone who has used one. The Smithy Specials look real nice but I'd like info on any of them, such as durability, hardness, rebound, anything from actual experience. I've been reading up on heat treated ductile iron and it seems to excel at certain industrial applications even better than heat treated steel. It supposedly has a different type of work hardening that occurs? I've got a trip planned to Dallas in a few months and wouldn't mind checking them out if they are any good. Thanks for any experiences in advance! Brent

Thanks Matto, I finally got to do some real forging on it today and man is it quiet! My old Wilkinson rings like a bell but the Vulcan is nice and easy on the ears. Moves metal real good too! I drew out some rebar and made these staples to attach the base. I started the holes by burning them in, then cooling them and driving them in the rest of the way. It's solid as a rock now :)

Good call. Use enough and she'll gain a few pounds in the process! :)

Thanks guys. 1" stock is bigger than I usually use, but I think I'll hang on to them for those few times I need them. They should be about right for making hardies too with a little adjustment. I have a few other tongs but they are only for 1/2" and smaller stock. I still might hang the big pair in the shop for display when not in use, hadn't thought of that!