stevomiller

Yep, either choke air into the blower, block air out of the blower, or divert some of the air out of the blower (as Irondragon said by open your ash dump), and as Rob says turn your air OFF when not actively taking a heat. Be careful with varying the blower speed, some motors will fail prematurely depending on how you do it. Also as guy said shows us your setup, including it with a typical fire in it. Everybody here will help you out and get you running efficiently. Honestly what you describe is one of the biggest issues new smiths have if they haven’t had the opportunity to spend time with someone knowledgeable: they big too big of fires, they use too much air blast, and therefor burn more fuel than needed. And for all the fuel burnt and spread out fires, the fire also often aren’t deep enough so are less efficient and scale up the work badly.

I disagree with vises not needing to generate much force. I agree they don’t always need to but sometimes you need to crank down to keep something from moving due to odd shapes, beating on things, or twisting things using much leverage. Think about a typical post vice with an18” handle and a 1.5” screw with 6TPI. 40 lbs of force on the end of that handle will generate about 4000 lbs of clamping force directly inline with the screw (the jaws are offset so the force is perhaps half that). I know that we don’t always tighten the screw that tight but sometimes we push that hard so I used it. To directly compare, an air cylinder or bellows/air bag as used in suspension, etc, would need an effective piston face surface area of 40”sq if using 100psi shop air. That would equate to roughly a 7” diameter air cylinder. This is if the cylinder is directly closing the vise and there are no lever linkages, screws, etc that increase mechanical advantage. This is why folks would use an air brake actuator, because they are of a large enough diameter and can be found as scrap if you search. Controlling the closing speed is a piece of cake by using flow controls on the exhaust side of the cylinder, and also using a soft start valve. You control the exhaust because otherwise the piston will actuate jerky jerky due to friction and seal stiction. I have built a lot of manufacturing equipment using pneumatics and that’s how it’s done for commercial usage. As some stated you can use a rotary actuator (actually air motor with gearbox) on an existing screw vise, and again play with air flow to control closing speed. A regulator isn’t of much use because you need the pressure to drive the actuator to provide enough force, so instead you leave pressure high and reduce the flow volume. For safety you can rig dual switches, so that if say you don’t depress a second switch with your knee the actuator won’t work. This can prevent unintended closing on hands etc. Best steve

Yes OPs first post says they have two bathroom hand dryers.

That’s great, I’m happy for you! This will be night and day different than your railroad track! BTW, you get a gimme - you can grind the back edge and vertical face if you want to clean it up and no one will probably chastise you. ;-) You won’t hear that very often around here.

I bet a single hand dryer would would give you more than enough air, and it’s fairly high presssure which is good. Play with choking the air inlet and outlet and not the motor speed, as that usually is tough on the motors. Also beware some motors used on blowers and fans will overheat if you choke the inlet, I’m not sure how the hand dryers are assembled. Frosty, got a question for you (or anyone that’s used it really): can you mix anthracite fines with water to make a closed fire like you can with bituminous? I’ve only ever used bituminous, and a couple of fires worth of some industrial coke someone gave me (which was clean but absolutely miserable to try and use with a standard coal fire pot). Well I’ve burned a lot of lump charcoal too but we’re discussing coal. Thanks!

If you are up to making your own, Roton has 1 3/4” Acme rod for $38 a foot, steel hex nuts for $27. I’ve seen guys use large house and railroad screwjacks they’ve cut up to make or fix vises also (if you find one cheap that isn’t being sold as an antique or collectible).

Look online and find something interesting to visit near where that anvil is located, a store to visit, or a restaurant you might want to go to. Stuff your pockets with cash as suggestested, knowing the max you will spend, bring your hammer and scale and go looking. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Perhaps reminding the person it is badly damaged, plus the fact you want to actually use it and just starting out might influence him to sell reasonably. If not, go to plan two and go to that museum, store, restaurant whatever. In my first post I wasn’t trying to say I wouldn’t buy it, or you should t buy it. I justwanyed you to be extra cautious that there weren’t other flaws, that it weighed what they said (let’s be honest 100lbs feels like 200lbs if on the ground especially if you don’t move heavy stuff a lot). My comment about other smiths buying it is that your resale value, if you decided to offload it in the future, is much less than what a complete anvil will bring, and many smiths wouldn’t even consider it (wrongly I feel if the price were good). As TP says the whole face is sweet spot, and it should be much quieter than a complete anvil. Just pay according to what you are getting :-)

Mike89, Is it a professional heat treater you know? What did they quote you? If it’s cheap enough I’d get it hardened, but that’s just me. Definitely not required, but it’s a deep hardening steel that you can take advantage of. Something you can’t do with mild steel plate anvil, and the hardened anvils rebound does lessen your fatigue. 4140 heat treated with professional equipment and methods can get you to 55rc or higher. Id orient they way you wanted and Frosty suggested (that mass under your hammer helps keep it immobile so energy goes into your work and not driving the anvil away from the hammer). Definitely grind 3” of that face into a nice radius for moving metal faster, simalar to Brian’s. It could be be a simple or compound radius depending on what you want. You could even grind different radii or semicircle and V swage on the edge 180* opposite, make your anvil stand so the block drops down in a trough to secure it. Lets say you paid $75 for the steel, and $125 for heat treating- you will have a fantastic, efficient (with great rebound) anvil. It’s whole face is sweet spot, unlike any othe 110 lb anvil, especially a farriers model. Also if you want a hardy holder and you can weld, you can get chain sprocket hubs forsquare shafts with 3/4, 7/8, 1, 1 1/4” square bores. Either weld them to heavy wall pipe, or find a heavy pipe the minor ID can fit in. Bolt it in place and you could actually have replaceable holders to fit any hardy shank size. Some times you can find those hubs online as cheap as $5. Whatever path you take, congratulations on s great new anvil. I’m sure that even once you acquire a commercial anvil with horn and hardy hole you will still use this one a lot. All the best Steve

You need to get some real weight, either on a scale or the original makers stamping and then take off 25% weight for what’s missing. Since it already FAILED catastrophically you need to examine the face and it’s weld to the body with extreme scrutiny. As for cost, it’s based on the above AND I’d weasel them down like crazy. That anvil May very well serve your purposes well and still be solid, but it’s the same as buying a car with a salvage title. It is a wreck, and no serious smith will give you much money for it. Again, not saying it’s not solid, not useable, etc. But spend according to what it is, don’t get goofy anvilitis just because you want one.

Heck leave it crowned it will move metal better if it doesn’t explode. I wait with baited, or perhaps just bad, breath. And of course I know you mean know I’ll will, I like the fact that you like to see for yourself. It’s not like your suggesting using magnesium as a forge insulation, so you should do as you see fit!

If the shaft runs directly in bore in the case without bushings, and they are oversized by wear, I’ve polished the shafts and used the smallest drill that would true the bore in the case. Used brass shim stock rolled into a bushing to fix it. Another one was really beat, I drilled it ou to tak a standard sized bronze bushing.

Rock Fort tastes better than Bleu Cheese, of which I consume much in my stoned castle here in NorCal, pondering with onset paranoia Ted Ewert’s demise to his dismay and the purists gleee. Ted, I’m so confused to why you always open yourself to such ridicule by by openly flaunting that you are a self thinker and do as seems fit to you. Very un-American of you in these days of collective goose stepping to the masses. You are probably using all of this as some sort of micro aggression towards traditionalist blacksmiths every where on the inter webs, definitely bordering on, well, I shan’t speak it.

Aamax yes it’s like beating on a tuning fork, forging on the horn is less efficient. Beammeupscotty, there were English anvils without steps, but moreso the Swedes, French, and Germans very often made single horn anvils that were designed like this. The fact that his anvil is a Swedish Soderfors, and he’s in Sweden (so more likely to have nonLondon Pattern anvil) I’m guessing he’s ok, although someone maybe could have milled off what would have been the whole face. Anvil, I’m thinking TP is using something similar to a spring fuller, so fuller itself is nowhere near the hardy hole. Swing arm also makes me think there is a pivot joint with axle near the hardy, and not just the body of the spring bent back on itself like a hairpin. I’ve used similar , they can be laterally more stable.

In reality, handling ceramic blanket probably isn’t any more dangerous than handling fiberglass insulation. Wear a particulate filtering mask, eye protection, do it outside, wash your clothes you wore while handling it by themselves and you will be fine. PM me your address and I will send you an OSHA approved mask for free. Best Steve

That’s awesome. Did I miss the cost in a previous post? Ductile iron correct? Thanks!

Yes, TP is correct, a proper double lung bellows has the advantage when working alone of behaving similar to a large hand cranked blower with the counter balanced handle: it will keep blowing , if wanted, when you stop manually actuating it. A box bellows, single lung bellows or even some dual single bellows require a helper to keep it going.

Dunno who made it, but it’s a nice Yorkshire pattern anvil, pretty cool find this side of the Atlantic!

If you’re going to build it why not spend $25 on that online auction place and get some 2600* ceramic wool to line it instead of cement based stuff that might crack, blow up, etc? You spent good money on Kastolite , but you’re putting it over something that’s not recommended by just about anyone. Just curious.

Well, sir, get a real stand under that baby and you’re off to the races! I think that since you really wanted a new traditional pattern anvil, are just starting and needed other tooling, you made a good choice. Note that the feet are pierced so that you can pass work through the hardy and pritchel holes and all the way to the floor (if your stand will allow). Think about if that’s useful to you when designing your stand and your method of anchoring the anvil to it. A long time smith on here, JLLP, recently stated that one of her newer anvils doesn’t allow for this and it’s a nuisance for how she likes to work. Best Steve

Dick B are saying to apply the borax as soon as it will melt (about 1400*f), which I agree with to prevent scaling, or that it doesn’t need to be any hotter to weld than the temp the flux melts? I was never super consistent in butt welds and scarfed lap joints, but captured welds or flat lams or cable I was decent. I personally could not get low carbon steel to weld at 1400* . If however you are saying apply flux when it can melt, then bring up temps higher until a small thin piece of stock will still (like a coat hanger or leaf rake tine) then yes Iagree from experience. Either way not claiming you’re wrong, just that if you are welding at 1400* I couldn’t personally do it.

Congrats, I hope yours is as nice as Jeremy and mine! Too bad the online auction house isn’t selling the 110lb and 165lb version for equal price per pound. Is your hardy hole 3/4””? Mine is, I’m assuming same maker but the Chinese copy everything, including themselves. I had to knock some slag and sand out of mine, not bad, but when done the square was nice and true and the solid wall material was smooth enough. Did you try either a small hammer rebound or the bearing drop test? Curious how yours turned out. You might want to CAREFULLY us a flap disc and put a radius on part of the edges, or at least break them, I cleaned the vertical right next to the edge as well so it was pretty straight and any minor glitches or hollows were reduced so the edge would be more robust. Have fun be safe

That’s a great anvil and I can’t imagine you ruining it, or wanting to get rid of it when you get a “real” anvil. All that mass directly under the face makes it pretty efficient. Is there cement under the rod as well, or did the rod sit directly on the bottom of the form when you concreted it in? if you ever need one with straight edges but can only find more rounds, look for a bar about 5” -6” round by 10-whatever inches long. You can then hacksaw and grind a step on one or two opposite sides, about 2.5”-3” long, or step one side and grind the opposite side as either a straight edged chamfer or straight edged radius. The straight edges allow you to work knife edge tapers right to the edge without striking the face, the step can be useful for some operations and a chamfer or radius straight edge can be used for forming or for drawing metal faster.

Looks like part of a Dr Seuss forge to me. Did Thing One and Thing Two help you design and build it? :-p

Daswulfs is the way I learned from my mentor, round on round is tough, especially in smallstock unless it’s a say a bundle that’s either wired or tack welded first (for a basket type, although square is still way easier). The idea of a heated block isn’t one I ever used but it could buy you a few seconds which can help. Charles and Rockstar are correct make your fire deeper to get into a neutral environment. If you are just playing and trying to get s feel of the dynamics start with square or flat stock that’s a little bigger than you are using . Since it’s easier you can concentrate on proper heat etc. I’d even say take some scrap the same size as you want to weld, heat and wire brush and flux and take it up until you see just ones twosy sparks come off of it. When you weld low carbon you want to stop just before that color/point. As you get better you can go down in heat some and still weld, and better, but starting hotter was easier for me.