ichudov

Looks like a cute fat girl. If the anvil has a good ring, it is pretty much a great anvil. Ringing means that anvil is not easily absorbing impact energy, so that more energy is delivered to the work, instead of being wasted in anvil. i

Well, maybe next year. i

Ken... I am giving the tiny one to the boys... I will make sure that it is screwed to their workbench so that it does not fall on their feet. As for this little 75 lb columbian, I do not need it as I have a 200 LBS Peter Wright. I figure that this Columbian would be of no benefit to me. I will sell it. I am an open minded person and if you explain why I am wrong, I will listen. Igor

Try local business bankruptcy auctions. Anvils come on those regularly.

ROTFLMAO, great explanation!

I won this lot for $75 in an online bankruptcy auction, sight unseen: (photo from online auction website) A guy called me from the auction site and offered to pay me $150 for the table alone. The table has cast iron legs. I accepted his offer, he paid me and removed the table. As a result, I was paid $75 to take the following: (apologies for poor quality, I took this picture with a cell phone).

I value this piece of garbage at $20-40. I personally would not even talk to the seller, people like that are a waste of time.

Would you say that sandblasting and painting anvils with rustproofing paint, such as cold galvanizing, would increase the value of an anvil? The anvil in question is a regular Columbian, nothing very collectible, just a nice usable anvil. i

Picture is here: It weighs, I would say 60 lbs. also, does anyone have a clue as to its value and composition. (cast steel, forged steel etc). I would say that it looks like cast steel to me. I cannot attach the picture for some reason. But the above URL should be good. Thanks guys!

Thanks guys. I will try to do a spark test on it.

I have a 6 foot long "digging bar" that I bought for $3 at a garage sale. It is made out of a 1 1/8" or so hex bar. On one end of it, it looks like a metal chisel. On the other end, it is just the hex bar cut off without any shape. What I would like to accomplish is, to make it into a pinch bar, with that other end sharpened by forging and slightly bent. With that, I could use it to pry big things. Anyway, the forging part is simple and I can use my Forgemaster to heat that end, make into a chisel shape and bend afterwards. No problem. My question is more about quenching. I believe that it needs to be properly quenched so that it attains maximum strength and yet is not brittle. Would anyone recommend a quenching procedure. Thanks

I bought a rusted and damaged junk anvil like that for $10 at the scrap yard and sold it on ebay for $49. I consider both prices to be fair for their respective venues. No way I would pay closed to the asking price for this anvil. Just wait and keep looking. Great deals come to those who wait and look. See archived auction http://yabe.algebra.com/~ichudov/misc/ebay/English-Anvil/ebayhist.html i

Well, in my case, this "sword" is intentionally dull, with the edge being at least 1/16" thick. So, in effect, this is just a steel stick on a handle. Secondly, I will keep possession of it until it can be safely given to my kid. i

Dennis, if you ook at the first picture of the webpage, you will see that I started with a full bottle. :)

Hi Ken, it was great to meet you, you should stop by my house again! I got some [full] beer bottles lying around. [Gasp] Igor

After visiting a medieval kids show, with sword fighting, I wanted to impress kids and forged a little toy sword from a 1/2" cold rolled round. http://igor.chudov.com/projects/Blacksmithing/01-Kids-Toy-Sword/ Anyway, I am very new to blacksmithing. So the result, while having a general appearance of a bladed weapon, has a surface that is far from smooth. If I search for "handmade sword" on various websites, I see perfect smooth surfaces. Accidentally, I suspect that these "handmade swords" are not really handmade, but are instead made by modern production methods. Anyhow, even if that is so, I am sure that experienced blacksmiths have secrets for smoothing out their forgings. What would those secrets be? Thanks!

Maybe it is "forged" in the sense of "forged" counterfeit goods or "forged" melamine dog food.

I sold an anvil in a similar shape and of somewhat greater weight for $49. Full disclosure and detailed pictures were provided, of course. Here's a link from the archives: http://yabe.algebra.com/~ichudov/misc/ebay/English-Anvil/

I have this cast iron sink (see thumbnail). Also a blower from ebay auction: Blower-Fan 115V Sinlge Phase 5" Inlet on/off Valve - eBay (item 390071538911 end time Jul-29-09 22:56:31 PDT), which seems to produce about the right amount of air (less than a shop-vac). I would like to make a coal forge from this sink and blower and wanted to inquire what would be the best plan for it. It will be used outdoors. As coal seems to be hadr to come by, I would prefer a design that could use hickory charcoal that is available from Walmart. My main use of this forge would be for forge welding and other uses that require white hot steel. I already have a well working propane forge (Forgemaster). IOW, the requirement here is the amount of heat.

Re: Taking the vise apart and cleaning: Definitely do it. To properly reassemble afterwards, just take a lot of pictures as you take it apart. I did the same to a super grimy old vise (for which I also paid $40). It was not as much rusted, as it was dirty. See Trenton Blacksmith Leg Vise I used "marine grease" on all moving parts, and oil based paint on all non-moving surfaces.

You practically stole it. Congrats. Clean it with a wirebrush on an angle grinder, it will look almost like new. Looks like the PW I had before. Like you, I also bought it for 100 bucks, but I also got several tinsmith tools along with it: http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Peter-Wright-Anvil After I bought a bigger anvil, I sold my 137 pounder on ebay for $212, and mine had evidence of arc welding repair (disclosed). So yours is worth about $300, I would say.

Since I brought home a cast iron sink, I would like to try using it as a coal forge, but to that end, I need some coal. I am 25 miles west of Chicago and would like to know if there is any supplier who can sell me a small amount of coal locally. Any suggestions? Thanks i

Something like gravel would work?

A double cast iron enameled dishwashing sink followed me home. My neighbor set it outside, so it did not cost me anything. I suppose that if I connect a ShopVac to blow air into it, it would basically be a good enough forge, right?

Amen to that! Knowing this rule 10 years ago would have saved me enormous amount of wasted time and money...