Sask Mark

Is this the anvil from Texas, and the owner also had a Kohlswa up for auction in a different sale? The Kohlswa didn't meet reserve, but the other anvil (possible the one that you won?) didn't have reserve and sold for not much more than starting bid.

I was following that auction because, to me, the horn shape looked like a Hay Budden. I was curious if this auction would take off price-wise or not.

I didn't have anything else to go off of besides the auction pictures. The first thing that popped into my mind when seeing the picture is 'Hay Budden'. Just speculation on my part.

There are a couple of extra pictures of it on ebay Australia. Someone with more knowledge and skills than I have might be able to discern more from them.

Thomas, that's what it looked like to me as well.

That horn looks like its never been used either. It looks like a nice anvil. Good luck with the auction!

In one of my old knife magazines a smith uses a 50 ton punch press to forge weld pure stainless pattern welded billets.

I found the article in the Spring 2004 edition of Knives Illustrated. Terry LaBorde from Fallbrook, CA used a modified 50ton punch press to make pattern welded billets out of CPMT-440, ATS-34, and 316.

Don't Peter Wrights usually have ledges like that on the feet?

Good luck!

I have heard that titanium gets fairly gummy when worked. Is there any truth to this? Would this affect the type of blade selected? i.e., gummy metal would require a coarser blade to be used to avoid plugging up the teeth.

I have no idea as to the validity of this. It's just a thought that popped into my head while reading this thread. I would imagine there are members here that know the answers.

Thanks Aeneas. That was my thought as well. I think that a lot of people would think $325 is way too much for my anvil, but the timing was right for me, and I haven't regretted the purchase.

I hate to admit it but I spent $325 for a 102 pound Trenton, so I don't think that price is 'that' bad.

I paid a premium for mine as it is in quite good shape. I have seen very few clean, flat anvils in my area. Plenty of 100 pound Peter Wrights that have seen better days, but I have never seen another good Trenton around here.

I drove a total of 5 hours with high gas prices to attend the auction. I wasn't going to let the day be a total waste of time. (I know, I know. I'm just justifying a potentially less-than-good deal).

You are talking about the Bill Plant auction? I spoke to Bill recently about it. The larger cone mandrel (4 footer) is a factory cast mandrel while the smaller one (2 footer) is one he made by wrapping bar steel around a cone and welding it as he went. He then ground it relatively flat then had it trued up on a lathe.

Bill has made a few tools in the past, including a 580+ pound anvil which he sold for $2000 a few years ago. I think you can be assured that they are in quite usable condition.

He also taught blacksmithing and had 7 teaching stations set up in his shop.

Bill told me a few stories of how and where he acquired many of his tools. He's a fascinating man with a passion for blacksmithing.

As for the prices that everything will go for, that depends on how many serious bidders attend the auction. I'm thinking that there will be a few members from the Saskatoon guild and the Western Canadian guild there.

I'm planning on attending so maybe I'll see you there!

That's a Trenton anvil. Very nice!

Forgeman,

Thanks for the information.

If it's an Arm and Hammer, there would also be weight stamping and serial numbers on the front foot (like Trentons and Hay Buddens). Correct?

Thanks for the info! If the parts are compatible, all the better!

Well, I picked up that bucket of coke on the weekend. The guy grabbed me a bunch of fist-sized pieces. They were fairly easy to break up with a hammer. I also thought thay they were quite heavy for coke. Compared to the coke that I obtained from burning coal, this stuff seemed quite dense (the partial 5 gallon pail (it is about 3/4 full) probably weighed over 30 pounds).

Hopefully I'll have a chance to light it up in a couple of weeks and let you know how it burns.

Thanks for the info Matt!

Based on Philip's and everyone else's input, I might have to seriously consider the electric blower fit-up.

Thanks for all the tips guys.

Millwrght, I already have a forge (check my gallery) with quite a deep firepot and a large hand-cranked blower. I also have a very large squirrel cage blower that I could retrofit, but I would prefer to keep the hand blower for simplicity sake (read: I'm too lazy to fit up the electric blower). I will give the hand blower a whirl to see how it works. If necessary, I will fit up the electric blower.

TRIW, I'm not even sure how/why it is produced. I do know that there are pieces of equipment called 'cokers' in use at the oilsands facilities in northern Alberta and Saskatechewan. The industrial division of my company has installed a few up there. My guess is it is the byproducts left when the heavy crude oil is upgraded to light crude oil.

My company is starting the construction of a large material handling facility as part of the refinery's $2 billion expansion, so hopefully I can get to know some of the operations guys out there to get more info. One of the coke piles is right next to our construction site. Unfortuantely, I can't go onto the refinery site as I have a goatee (absolutely no facial hair is allowed on site as everyone has to be fit with a respirator).

Curly George, I will do my best to film the burning for you guys. I might have to wait a few weeks until after the harvest is finished, but I am really planning on doing it before the snow flies here.

If this goes well, it might make my concerns over a cheap, steady coal supply a thing of the past.

If anyone else has thoughts or suggestions, please let me know. I will try to get some answers for you tomorrow TRIW (you've piqued my interest as well).

Thanks again everyone.

I grew up on a farm, so I have basic mechanical and welding skills. My parents also own a lumberyard so woodworking is also an interest. My formal university training is Biology - particularly microbiology and ecology. I worked in a brewery and in the malting industry as a lab tech and microbiologist for a few years. I recently got in to the construction industry on the commercial project management side as an estimator. I'm a home ownew that is too poor/cheap to pay contractors so I have pretty much done it all with renovations (mechanical, electrical, drywall, painting, roofing...).

Plus, I have been playing the guitar for almost 20 years.

Essentially, I have way more interests that I have time and money...

I have a 5 gallon pail of it.

The next time I make it to the shop (it's on my parent's farm), I will light it up and let you know what I can see (keep in mind that I have very limited experience, so my information might not provide all the answers you want-please let me know what you want me to watch for).

As I understand (and as you state) a pure coke fire will go out rather easily-hence the electric blower requirement. I have burned coal to make coke in the past, but have been able to supplement the fire with green coal to keep it burning.

I guess what I should have asked is is there any major chemical differences between coke derived from coal and coke derived from heavy oil that would affect it's properties and performance? Or can it simply be summed up by saying 'coke is coke'?

I realize when you get down to the organic chemsitry of coal and oil, they shouldn't be very different-both being heavy on the hydrocarbon component, but if someone does know of any differences, please fill me in (I've been away from the organic chemistry scene lab for too long!).

Thanks for any replies!

Pardon my ignorance if this seems like a foolish question.

Coal is quite hard to obtain around here, and it is quite expensive.

I might have access to a near-limitless supply of coke from a nearby oil refinery for free. Does anyone here have any experience working with this type of coke? I would like to know if there are any similarities or differences to coal coke. Is there anything that I should watch out for when using it? Does it have advantages and drawbacks over coal coke?

I'm not sure what you are considering a good deal on an anvil, or how serious you are about learning smithing, but there is a couple of ads on Kijiji Montreal with anvils for sale. They are not cheap, but if you are in the position, and can afford it, they are an option.

My shop anvil
1245 lb refflinghaus

Mike Tanner

In floor hydronic heat is pretty common hereabouts as it's very efficient, especially in shops.

This is me laying the 3/4" Pex for the hydronic heat. It also shows the 2" sq floor sockets. They're set flush with the floor on a 4' grid and connected to a sub-floor exhaust system.

They'll hopefully do all sorts of good things for me, first by providing a downdraft exhaust system so I can get rid of smoke and noxious fumes without having to change out all the air in the shop a couple times. Welding/cutting table is a bar grate over a plenum, it's legs pluginto the floor sockets. Additional exhaust can be provided with flex hose to where it's needed.

It'll also draw the cold air off the floor instead of the warm air away from the ceiling so your tootsies will stay warmer. While the air on the floor is maybe uncomfortably cool it'll be a lot warmer than the ground and will serve to keep the floor warmer than it would normally be. The exhaust system is about 8" below the slab.

Then the sockets will support all sorts of handy things like pedestal tools without bases to trip over, scaffolding, odd sized/shaped tables and floor size jigs. The sockets are also grounded together through welded rebar so I won't have so many ground cables to trip over. I've already used them and the porta-power to straighten a twisted corner column for the shop. I'm sure other uses will occur as I use the things. (I surely do hope so anyway)

Frosty

Thank you. The anvil is a beast, it will suck the heat out of anything that touches it immeditaly, not as bad in the summer but in the winter you dont want to try welding on it untill you have worked on it for a couple of hours. I bought a magnetic engine block heater to use this winter, hopefully it will do the trick. I found it in my friends barn, his dad got it out of a steel mill in ohio. He was only using it to straighten his sickle bar on. I had a firearm he wanted and a deal was struck. I am very fortunate to have found it. The far edge is a little chewed up, I think I am going to try working the on the anvil backwards (horn to my right) to compensate. I am still new enough to the hobby that I can switch, and if it dosent work out I will break down and fix the bad edge.

The small anvil is a 100# Peter Wright the big boy is a 527# columbus tool arm and hammer.