rjimmer

The old man next door had a round bar that was used for making starter holes for fence posts. It was about 4-5 feet long with a formed 'mushroom' head and a squared section about 8-9 inches long near the point, which was very hard. The bar appeared to be soft iron/mild steel. My father explained that the hard point was achieved by splitting the end of the bar into 4 quadrants, inserting part of a rat tail file in the middle and forging the 4 quadrants around it. The temperature at which the job was quenched in water was critical, he told me. As the forged point cooled down the correct time was when a certain colour reached the point. I think it was orange! Any one ever done this?

I've been in touch with the man and he is going to make up another set, but this time some of the tools with be unused. He guesses the total weight to be 500Kg, but I would have thought that was on the heavy side. The see new 2013 prices, have a look here: http://anvils.co.uk/images/uploaded/CATALOGUE_JANUARY_2013.pdf

This is military surplus and the seller is a military blacksmith. Shipping costs will be the main drawback but it's about 25-50% of new UK price. I've seen it and bought a swage block and stand from him. Like new!