Jonnytait

This thread may shed some light

That is correct, I did wonder about that when I was installing the forge, but I do also have a propane forge tucked away under the work bench which I could set up if I ever face that problem, which i dont think will be very often. Long work pieces can be passed through it, so that should solve the issue I hope! Shetland is a good TV show although its a bit odd watching it when you know the place well

Nice smiddy, good to see others in scotland here. This is my new place, still have stuff to move yet but its taking shape

Hi Rangie, welcome. Im in the north too

$800 is madness, where do people get these prices from? You could buy a brand new quality anvil in the same weight range for less.

I kind of like this hammer, have you tried forging with it yet?

Thanks, if you look below the forge you can see that blocks stick out of the wall at that point, from the ground up to the hatch, so I had to build that stainless heat shield at the back of the forge around them. Im not really sure why the wall is designed like that , its not like that on the opposide side of the building. Must be something to do with the hatch. The man that built the shed put the hatch there as he used that part of the shed for storing peat. He would back a truck up to the hatch when the shed was getting full and start filling it from there instead. More recently my sister used it as a stable for her horse as you can see by the stable door, up until a few years ago. Now I use it as my shop

Finished building my solid fuel forge afew weeks ago, thought I would show a photo of it. Using coke, works just fine so far Forgot to say, the original fire pot I built for the forge was a little shallow, you can see it down to the left of the forge. Welded up a deeper one which works better

I got my hands on this heavy bit of stock afew weeks back, ended up rounding off the edge a little and putting together a stand for it. Works great as an anvil, better than i thought it would actually. Its EN8 stock, seems to be tougher than mild steel. Heres some photos, and a photo of the first thing I made with it - one half of a pair of tongs

I like the treadle hammer idea. Although I think I am going to radius the edges and use it pretty much as is, make up a decent base for it. I had a play around with it tonight and it is quieter then the soderfors which has a ring that I am struggling to deaden. Thought maybe I could use this for smaller work, might do a better job of keeping the neighbours happy. Seems to have not too bad rebound too so thats nice. Nothing compared to that swedish anvils 150% though

Ah, my bad. good old dial up

Nice looking anvil! Made a set of tongs. Not my first set, but I would say my first half decent set

sounds good, im sure it will do the job until you find an anvil at a sensible price. good luck with the tongs! I am still in the middle of making my first few pairs of decent tongs

Thanks for the ideas guys, they have given me something to think about You are right it is heavy weighing in at 37 Kg or 81 lbs

looking good, have you put it to use yet? are you happy with how it works?

So I picked up this large bit of EN8 bar today, and I was looking for ideas. I already have an anvil but thought I could either use in as a smaller anvil or maybe have some grooves machined into it sort of like a swage block idea, what do you guys think? Also, I was wondering about hardening it possibly, it is pretty large so im not totally sure about how to go about that, any adice would be great. Photos to come

Hi there, where are you located? Looks like a good anvil, people here might know of a manufacturer. All I know is that google says GARANTIE means GUARANTEE in french, so possibly a french make of anvil? just a guess though. Very hard to make out the letters above that

you should take some photos of what it looks like all set up

Looks like a good space! will look even better full of tools

Hi there, sounds like a nice new shop you will be using. I wont comment on the coal forge set up since I have never used one. I'm sure loads of people here will help you with that though! What type of roof is on the building? Think modifying the roof to suit should be easy enough?

Finally got around to creating a dedicated forging area in the workshop. I still have afew things to sort out but getting there In the last photo is a heavy crane pin which I took home from a job at work, which is now cut in two and machined flat. I thought they might make good dies for a treadle hammer? If anyone has used pins similar to these as tools let me know how it worked out

Can't go wrong with 100 bucks looks like it is in good condition

I'm not a very experienced blacksmith at all, but I guess you would want a bigger anvil for certain jobs in the same way you would use a bigger hammer for certain jobs. Although saying that plenty of people seem to get by with rail road track anvils or large bits of steel I think it just depends on the kind of work you are planning to do Also where are you located Zack Ross?

I agree 100%

Ah, finally the truth comes out! I will phone the scrap yard at the start of the week and see how much they will pay for the LEMON of all anvils