NickOHH

OHHHHH, jealous, I'd love to get my hands on a slab like that. 

yea i was like a little kid on christmas when he said i could just take it, goin rate for slabs is quite high now, said he he had that and a few more longer ones sitting for like 20 years. could probably work somethin out for a couple more if i offer him some money. so if ya make your way to SE PA with a truck :)

Garbage post removed,  Nick, can you please look at what you are posting ???

I'm Hoping the weather is wrong today or changes, and this heavy rain stays as a light rain , try to cover the forge abit keep out as much water as i  can and sit the anvil under our deck not high enough to have the forge under there to tho i dont think, dont really wanna burn down the house, small propane unit would come in handy on days like theres though.

So Since its Raining Pretty good in my neck of the woods, and doesnt seem like its gonna stop anytime soon, i have a lovely day off from work, New Anvil to try out and all i dont know how long i can wait. so ill probably be out in the rain later, since i dont have a proper shop to work inside yet.

 

What is the WORSTE WEATHER any of you have been out forging in??

My guess it that it's fairly recent as it's marked both in pounds and KG

Where could I find some history on them I saw a post on anvil fire about brooks but I wanna know more if it's out there like knowin the history behind the stuff I'm workin with.

Let me rephrase that. Put a box on top of an anvil stump and put the anvil inside the box. Now fill the box with sand to cover 3-4 inches of the anvil base.
 
I used a grease drum full of sand one time with the anvil about 3-4 inches down into the sand. Worked very well at killing noise.

That could work I have the part of the barrell from the 55 forge I just built to upgrade from my combination BBQ/forge setup lol heated steel quick and burgers quicker

Research the site for other ways to silence an anvil.  
Such as put it in a box with about 3-4 inches of sand on top of an anvil stump.

Yea I'm gonna work on it tonight or in the morning

Cause he doesn't wanna burn the carpet? Sigh.....go get a stump and show that anvil some tough love.
 
Raining here dang it............still went out and touched my anvils to let em know I love em. Congrats on the nice find!

Just gotta swap the rr track off the stump might work on making a proper stand for her

Might have some rain tomorrow so I'll be off work since I do landscaping if it's not real bad might try to break her in

There are to many people to complain around me I'm in the suburbs right outside Philly or near a bunch of row homes or I would be out there right now

Yea I'm itching to start hammering away on it.

So after posting in the tailgating section looking for an anvil to upgrade from my rr track anvil on Friday I have come home today with a 100#/ 45 kg brooks anvil that looks like it has never seen a hammer before. Sharp edges that need to be rounded off a hair still has most of its original blue paint. Excited to hammer on it soon!

I was wondering if anyone knew any history of Brooks England or if it can be dated I don't see any date marking on it just weight and England.

But big thanks to the community for tryin to find me something good.

Here's one I made a while back.  Curling up the claws and forging out the head didn't hurt the eye at all. 

thats pretty nice , i like the curled up claws, and claw hammers are less useful to me, even if i can get ball peins for really cheap.

Thanks for all the input guys. Haven't started it yet but will probably be my next project

I made a gutter adze from mild steel and welded on the high carbon bit. The compound curve of the blade might "throw you a curve."

As I recall, I gave the blade a concavo-convex cross-section (from before to behind) in a Vee block with a ball faced hammer. Then I used a wooden mallet on the hot steel to get the downward bend in the blade. Then a little back and forth to fine tune it.

 

Sayings and Cornpone

"If you're not centering, you're periphering."

frank you shaped the adze then welded a bit on it, or you welded the bit on the did the shapeing?

 

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Funny you should mention this, I forged one out just the other day.

I just kept the head in the fire at an angle so the eye didn't really get much of the heat. I was concerned about the eye deforming but it doesn't seem to have done so much if at all.

I can't seem to load pics up at the minute...

Andy

Nice andy, i am debating weather or not to just go for it and not worry about srewing up the eye, but i am also pretty new to it and want to get it right

 

This is a question of first building the tools needed to do the job properly, I've found.

 

Assuming you're using a ball-peen hammer and are going to squish down the non-peen end to make the blade, I would first make a fullering tool (a butcher) to further isolate the non-peen end from the eye.  By careful application of heat, you can keep the eye relatively cold and the fullering tool will help you place precise blows that drive the metal away from the eye.

 

The tongs should be holding firmly on the ball-peen portion, again not bothering the eye.

 

You really don't need to spend too much time around the eye once you get the majority of the metal moved forward towards where the cutting edge will be.

 

Did that make sense?

Vaughn that makes sense, im looking into some easy designs for making one this weekend, i didnt consider the eye being taper both ways on the hammer before for a drift, so that would work to keeo the eye safe very nicely. and how'd you know i was using a ball peen lol. 

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So i have an idea to turn an old hammer into a bowl or gutter adze for some woodcarving, and i feel confident in undertaking that task, but i have a question on making a drift to keep the eye from gettin squashed or warped while i hammer it probably pretty close to it. Can i taper the peice i want to use for the drift til it starts to fit through then heat it again and drive it through the hammers eye to get the shape i want to keep.

Welcome aboard Nick, glad to have you. If you hang a light bulb in the forge the liner will dry much faster. It doesn't need to really be hot, just warmer than ambient and it'll evaporate water.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Good idea im gonna try that out today . 

Thanks for the info DSW , Im looking into the PABA now, i am going to try to make the next meeting. 

Hey guys, im new to the Forum, and new to blacksmithing in the Philadelphia, Pa area . Had the bug for awhile to get into. Picked up a railroad track anvil for the time being, and am waiting for the furnace cement to dry in the forge ( been super humid here so its taking a bit). I am looking for some advice on good books to check out on basic blacksmith skills, and on metallurgy. and seeing if theres anyone in the area on here, Philadelphia, suburbs. Planing on firing the forge up this weekend, and start manipulating some steel, and if im lucky ill have a few tools to use.