Sluicebox

That's really what she's torqued about is I took the cargo liner out to cover my anvil in the rain before we left home lol. She was on me about it too on the way home, asking if it was going to leak out in the back. I assured her it would be fine. I must have looked like Yosemite Sam and his sack of black powder leaking on my way out to the rig. She once suggested that I write a book about Gold Mining and title it "Not as I've done." Perhaps I should start taking notes on my good times learning to smith.

That makes perfect sense to just make several passes and not allow to over heat even if it takes days to do. No danger associated with running water. I don't know too much at all about Trentons. I thought when they were welded at the waist it was a full forge weld. I have read that some Trentons had mismatched bases due to them using what they had left on hand. So were the Later Trentons perimeter welded? If that's the case I shouldn't have to go any deeper with the grinding. Just build up the ends then remove U Bolt and grind front and back same way and weld them. That's why I was asking about starting with a gap. I was hoping that the person that did the grinding would see this thread. I never met him. The seller told me he was the Prez in NWBA but had to move back East before he could finish the repair. I have heard that this is a common break on Trentons. I don't know if it is from abuse like blasting them in the air (sad.) It seems that where they are two piece if you try breaking down heavy stock with a Striker, that would be a lot of torque at the waist. Thanks for all the input and ideas.

Anvil is 4 1/2" deep by 6 1/2" wide at waist where crack is. Yes it is a visible crack that I can see on all four sides. I see no separation though. It does still ring as it is, not at all like my others though. I was thinking (scary) that I could stand it on it's face and set up a recirculating 12 Volt or bigger gas powered pump to cycle a kiddie pool full of ice water(reservoir.)Water would be contained and tray covered with plywood. Could make it like a fast moving,icy river with a plywood top. Welder would not get wet. Use tempil sticks to keep an eye on temperature and don't over heat top plate. I have all kinds of pumps 1" to 4". Those welds would be pretty deep though 2 1/4", is that even possible with several passes? I could prep the anvil by removing the material half at a time. My Son would do the welding (He's good.) I was going to use that Stoody butter rod from the Gunter method as it seems to work well with Wrought Iron. Guess that I'd have to get pneumatic needle scaler for it too. I do hear many different max temps from all different people. Personally I thought top plate should not exceed 350F or temper would be lost. Others I hear say 400-500F. Thoughts?

Where are you at with that Peter Wright and what are you thinking you want to get out of it?

I have a beautiful early Trenton 177lbs that was broken at the waist at some point. A repair was done on it by placing a large U Bolt through body of anvil just above fracture and terminating below the base. It was an effective repair. Later someone did follow up work on repairing it by prepping it to be welded at break by grinding it out over an inch deep at the fracture. It looks as if they intended to Weld the sides of anvil then remove the U Bolt and grind the front and back and weld the same way. It doesn't look like the two pieces were ever separated. I need to know if I should leave it clamped tight the way it is before beginning the welds or try to gap it first by releasing pressure on the u bolt and allowing 1/8" gap. Anvil is marked Z177 on left foot, not sure what the Z stands for yet. Serial number A17333 I was guessing a date of 1898. I know that's probably not right. I don't own AIA yet but intend to get it soon. Any advice on this project or a correct date would be greatly appreciated. I will try to snap some pics of it out in the Sunshine soon.

That would be a neat trick getting her to forge. She has expressed an interest in lost wax casting and hammering gold. She wants a small jewlers anvil and has told me no cast iron. She pays attention, and the pounding of any metal would be a nice start. You never know, I will tell her about you and your forging MarcyP. Might spark an interest, scroll work would be fun for her. Thanks for the tips all. Next time I will take my lil trailer, 90+ miles round trip is a long way for a single bag.

My first bag of coal. I got it from a farrier supply store and was trying to do the old guy a favor and get rid of a bag that looked like he had for more than a decade. Top wired shut couple holes in the side. Not at all the pristine looking bags he had sitting there on pallets. He still charged me full price for it. So I thank him and throw it in the back of my Wife's suv and head home. I wound up getting busy and forgot to unload it for nearly a week. A couple of store trips later and no doubt being bounced around in there for a couple hundred miles. I grab the corner of the bag and go to pull it out and the whole bag failed. Left me with this pile of coal mostly dust and sub 1/4" pieces sitting on my Wife's beige carpet. I cleaned it up best I could, tried to vacuum it to no avail. So today still got a nice large stain that looks like an old camp fire ring in the back of her rig. Daily daggers shoot from her unhappy eyes. It will likely be a while before she equates the smell of burning coal with any fond memories.

Frozenforge - How thick can you get the top plate? I read only 3 passes. Does 1/8" rod times 3 passes only give you 3/8"? What size rods do you recommend with the Stoody? Say for like 4"x8" full depth top plate on a PW, how many pounds roughly would that take? The surrounding plate is only 1/2" thick.

I hope you wound up with that one. I have read stories of horns sticking out of a pile at a scrap yard. Great contacts you have there.

If you can find it look for black iron sands from a placer deposit or a local miner, better yet go get your own it's free! Please respect claim owners rights and research first. Many public areas for you to do this with out a claim. I guarantee you that black sands are many many times heavier than blond sands. Trust me on this one. Most miners sell their black sands after they get what metals they can out of them. Typically $5 per pound or cheaper. If you do buy some from a miner go through it first and make sure they aren't concentrates full of gold he was going to work later. These pack so tight hauling more than a 1/3 5gal bucket over any trails gets old, more than that you might stretch the bucket bail. If you have running water near you, odds are high you have black sands. It would be perfect for your base projects. Extremely nice stands you have there Sir, I bet those counter tops turned out pretty sweet in your kitchen. I would love to see the Peter Wright mount that you came up with.

That is an incredible collection and not a bad one in the whole lot. All are available. I contacted the guy linked in the comments section of that video when I was in the market for one. Prices were quite fair as well. I bet I hit that vid more than a hundred times. Makes ones mouth water. Every Bridge anvil I saw was quite pricey. I doubt however that someone could run off with it in the middle of the night. Chain your others to it lol.

That's a cool looking piece and the providence of it adds to the value. $5 per pound is not too unreasonable for something like that. Though way,way out of my budget. Shipping that wouldn't be too bad if you use the right company. I just received one East Coast to Oregon $125 freight on a 350lb crate. PM me and I will tell you who the freight co was, I'm not trying to advertise, nor am I affiliated. If I were close to that one and could afford it, I'd snatch it and never let it go. Get the history though other wise it's just a neat anvil. My $.02 spend it how you want.

Both beautiful. That is the oldest PW I've seen. I hope you figure out the history and pass it down to one of your heirs. Quite nice indeed.

What a beautiful anvil! She looks like she's barely broken in. I love the lines on Trenton's, sweeping and majestic, narrow waist. Quite sexy really. Nice score. Is there any way I could get someone with AIA to date this Trenton? A17333. I would really appreciate it.

Seems to me that you are quite a bit further ahead than you think you are. You have contacts in the Racing Circuit... Race car axles for tool making. You have contacts in the RR industry... Tooling dies from track. You have a gift of being able to talk to others, rare anymore as most live on their phones. Your new anvil will enter your life sooner than you think if you keep this up. Then your next steps will be easier. I'm too new to be right about much, but I'm right about this. Best of luck to you.

Those Mouse Holes are pretty nice! I like the way they have more body under the hardy. Some of the other famous anvils seem week at that point. There are many out there without heels. I haven't seen any Mouse Holes without heels yet. Price is not at all bad compared to where I am. Look on CL West Coast and all the adds are from people looking not selling. Auction sites are high priced. You however have the luxury of choosing from many in person, lucky you are.

Thanks Jerry for the wax input. OP I told friends about how you scored that anvil and your integrity and was surprised that none of them would have done the same. Maybe you are meant to do this and were blessed with getting a major obstacle out of your way. It would seem that you had some good Karma due and your ways of the past caught up with you. Keep it up, as it seems to be rare anymore.

I went back and re-read thread, 12'X26" corrugated roofing panel. I have a pile of barn metal just like that. Thanks for the money saving tip. As well as the math lessons. Nice builds above though I must say. If and when I enclose work area I will build a nice one of these. Thank you all for sharing.

I put one of those 3" bath fans on my forge and it worked great. I used 2 1/2" black iron pipe for the tueir spelled wrong? Fittings were too expensive (crazy expensive) so I cut and welded it. The three inch flex duct slides right over the 2 1/2" pipe.

Howdy neighbor, Stayton here. I like your idea at the start of this thread. Is there a local chapter for smithing? I have looked and not found any.

I take it that I was wrong thinking that 6" black stove pipe would work for my brake drum forge? Glad I didn't spend any money on it yet. Forge is under the carport just at the edge, will take 10 feet of pipe to get it above my roof. I can't light forge while Wife is home. If she even get's a whiff of coal smoke she is on me for it. Neighbors are not too happy either, though they are all over a 200yds away at least. I was hoping that 6" black would work as it is not crazy expensive and not too ugly. Is 12" the recommended size? Will snapping two 6" together give me 12"? I could probably buy 3 sticks of 6" for the price of one stick of 12"

Great tips here on hammer technique. I believe the white finger thing is called "Raynaud's Phenomenom" My Wife has it and anytime temps get below 60F she gets numb fingers. Gloves don't help her either. I believe it is triggered by vibrations in some cases.

I'm real sorry for any confusion. This is my first day here. I had to set up a second account to access site as I was having log in problems. Now my puter keeps switching back and forth between accounts. I will be deleting the second one Peter Wright 275 as soon as I figure it out. I meant no disrespect to the OP or his thread.

Thank you Sir I will try that for sure. Is that how this person got this patina with ATF? I like the color and want to preserve it like this. Please take a look, I have not seen any this color before. Thanks for your time.

That is a nice one, congrats. Glad you got a good one right out of the gate. Me nope didn't go down like that. I traded a $1000 shaker table for a 115lb Peter Wright that has a rattling top (delaminating) Next one was a real nice Trenton 177lb that is broken in half at the waist. Real cool looking flat solid top but has a huge u bolt holding it together. Someone here probably worked on it once. I will post pics as soon as I figure that out. Next we have a 77lb cast steel farrier anvil by Valley Forge and it came with a wicked rounding hammer and set of tongs plus stand. Good deal on that one and it's a user. Lastly a big PW that I am picking up tomorrow. If I could get a nice HB and a Mousehole I would stop looking for a bit. Anvil bug has a nasty bite, worse than gold fever. This post was in no way meant to be me bragging. If anything it lets you all know how I lost my mind when I got hooked on anvils. Everything else went on hold. Axe heads are nearly as bad lol. Be well everyone.