tonyw

Thanks for replying, IronWolf and Yuppie. Good to hear another "it's probably okay" about the forge weld line.

thanks matto. The sound is the same across the entire face although the pitch rises as you tap further out onto the heel. Hopefully it is just a forge weld line.

Thanks John. I had wondered if the welds were stainless, but wasn't sure why you would use stainless rod for a repair like this. And I will be careful with the heel. I am really excited about the good deal--I paid just a little over a dollar a pound!

Thanks Frosty. The welds do look very nice--that is, they are very hard and smooth and level with the rest of the face. I hope it was an experienced welder who knew what he was doing....

Hello to all, I just bought this Peter Wright anvil stamped 1 3 22 which I believe means the weight is 218 pounds. I paid $300; it was on CL and am really excited about the good deal. The question I have is the anvil seems to have some unusual face repair; that is, there are fairly small spot welds all over the face. I am wondering how bad this is to the anvil and whether it would mess up the temper much. I tried to dent the welds, but they seemed just as hard as the rest of the face. what are your thoughts? There also seems to be a small crack along the heel. Also, there is a big bolt welded? in the handling hole in the bottom. Was this anvil worth $300? the face is very smooth and the edges aren't chipped badly. (that is a shadow; there is not an arched base)

Wow!

Thanks for all the replies. I learned what I wanted to know and a lot more! Perhaps I will get to QS someday...

apparently I am not making sense? or I just asked an incredibly stupid question? I was thinking that with so many anvils all in one area at quad state the tailgaters' asking prices would be lower ($1-$2 per lb. ) rather than ($3-$4 per lb.) tell me what I need to clarify or tell me to stop asking stupid questions!

are the anvil prices at quadstate on the same price bubble as anvils elsewhere, or are there a variety of asking prices depending on the seller?

I can get decent coal for $0.12 a pound in Harrisonburg, VA.

If you are serious about forging, as far as a forge liner, there are much better materials to use. Read the gas forge section.

Sorry for the late reply, but thank-you very much Frosty for the helpful critique and suggestions. Hopefully I can make the next ones better! thanks again. Anthony

Thank-you Lou and Das. I like the pen and label idea.

Thank you for your critique. There will eventually be plants growing all over the shape, so I am not sure how much metal will be visible in the end. I could have wrapped wire all the way along the weld, but then I thought that there would be a disproportionate amount of copper vs. the size of the metal. Or probably the better thing would be to make smaller welds. At any rate, this project was a good learning experience, which I am glad for.

This was a recent project that took all of last week. My family runs a garden center and they wanted some heart shaped trellises to put into herb planters. So I made eight of these hearts, 3/8" sq and bent them around a jig. It took me all week to make eight, it seemed to go pretty slowly, but that is probably due to me not having a lot of experience; I'm only 17. I'm charging US $50 apiece, not sure if that is too high, but the business will pay me that much, so I'll take it! What do you all think? Some people I asked did not like the copper wire, others did.... Oh and I made a new touch mark but I made it backwards. It was supposed to be a music note... And dimensions, not sure, I can't remember, I think about 3 feet tall, 6 feet of stock in each heart, they will go in the middle of an 8 or 10 inch wide pot. Anthony

you use more borax for forgewelding than your wife or mom uses for laundry...

do you have to neutralize the pieces after electrolysis? The last time I tried this, I got some nasty flash rust on the clean metal parts, and now I am hesitant to try electrolysis again.

Thanks Lionel and Thomas.

Hello to all. I am trying to help identify an anvil for a friend. I am 90% sure it's a Mouse Hole anvil, mainly because of the pointy feet. could not find any markings except a couple letters on the side, the only distinct thing being the letter "s". I am guessing the anvil weighs around 250 lbs; the dimensions are 28" long X 5.5" wide X 12" high. A bit of saddle in the face as well as some chipping, but rebound seemed good. Can you all confirm that this is a mouse hole anvil? It is going to an auction. And the camera was doing weird things. Not sure what's with the blotches of light. Thanks in advance for any help!

May be something over at anvilfire in the iforge section.

you might be a blacksmith if .. you use a wire brush to comb your hair

I love the background in the pics. Is that a broom?

Thanks for all the replies. If I can get it for cheap, then maybe.

I didn't know it was for wood working... That's a bummer. Perhaps I will still get it if no one else bids. And yes, the bench comes with it and also two pipe clamps.

This workbench along with a vise turned up on a local auction website. The listing says it's a Record #52 vise. Nobody has bid on it, and I was wondering if the vise is worth anything?