Anthony San Miguel

Good score. I love farrier's rasps. Once the teeth are too dull for hot rasping, which takes a xxxx of a lot of rasping, most will make a decent chopper. I like to try to retain the pattern when I forge one into a knife. Some of those look like Save Edge rasps to me. If any are Bellota, I know that many Bellota rasps are case hardened. Either way, quench test a piece before spending time forging a knife or anything that you want to be able to harden.

Here are a couple more for your consideration, although these are a little harder to make than box jaw tongs. I picked them up from Centaur Forge today. 

Thanks for the replies. I use anthracite in my forge and have always found it a lot easier to start a small wood fire first. After I put a handle on it my new froe will be put to use every time I light my forge.

Thanks! I just looked up froe and I see what you mean. Cool. So you put the handle "upside down" and split logs with it. That's what I'm going to do with it.

I was walking out of my favorite antique store yesterday during my lunch hour when a sign caught my eye. It said "Dollar Days, today and tomorrow. Everything marked $10 and under is $1." So I made a u turn and ended up walking out with a box of goodies. 

Among the things that I had to have was this. I don't know what it is but for $1 I had to have it. It looks like it was forged by a blacksmith to me. Does anybody know what it is? Agricultural tool, maybe? It's 1/2" thick at the spine and kind of heavy. I don't know if it's one of those old tools where it would be a shame to use for tooling stock and maybe I should just put a handle on it and let it be whatever it was made to be.

Is anybody familiar with this piece of machinery? It is a Foley Belsaw Model 354 Clipper Hone. It caught my eye and when I did a quick internet search I found them selling for considerably more. The disc is a 14" diamond steel honing plate. The newer model on the website says it's for hollow grind sharpening clippers but I'm wondering if it might come in handy for some other kind of sharpening. Plus, the guy said he would negotiate price.

I like box jaw tongs like these.

Lucky guy!

If you can get a large enough chunk of 4140 and have the means to harden one side of it it will make a great anvil to beat on. It's one of the best steels to use for that purpose. If I worked at a place that used 4140 I'd be stocking up on all the scrap I could get. Also excellent for hammers and other tooling.

It has handling holes. I don't think Soderfors usually do as they are cast steel. I could be wrong, though.

Whatever it is, it looks nice and great price!

I think I remember it but if I'm remembering it correctly the cliphorn extended all the way out whereas this one appears to have had it removed.

Oooh, you're right. Those look nice!

Looks like a farrier's anvil.

If you do use the rail as an anvil it takes up very little space if stood vertically. I own 4 anvils but I still use this rail a lot, especially to draw things out like rr spikes fast because it is very efficient and a lot quieter than using an anvil horn. One warning about using the hot cut in a setup like mine. I cut almost all the way through and then pull the stock apart with pliers so that I don't have a piece of hot steel coming in contact with wood in a place that isn't easy to reach into. 

I've never used it to forge anything. Just a few light taps with a hammer to see what it felt like and that was it. I figured it would still come in handy for something. 

Thanks for letting me know this. I'm going to give selling it some serious thought if the price they are going for is good. 

Really? That's interesting to hear. It was one of the first things I found at the scrapyard almost 10 months ago when I was looking for something to beat on. $0.25/Ib. I was able to determine what it was through internet searches and also that it doesn't make too good of an anvil. I'm pretty sure it's cast iron. It does weigh exactly 50 lbs, as marked.

This works very well for me. All the mass under the fuller and hot cut that I ground into it make them both sturdy and efficient and I use it often.

That cube with the barrel drifts on top looks like it might make a pretty good anvil.

The pill shape at the bottom is the caplet. I think it's an A

It looks like an older Hay Budden to me because of the peculiar upward swoop of the horn. Before the top half was forge welded steel.

But it's weight and serial number are stamped where a Trenton would normally be stamped.

I like that! Looks great for forging knives. Do you know what kind of steel it is?

Hello Ecra. As far as anvils go, there are many good brands, most of which are out of production. I'll list my favorites along with SOME of the most common good ones.

My favorite is Hay Budden. I have 4 anvils, including an HB and everyone that I have ever seen whether in pictures or real life are still in good condition even though they have been out of production since the 1920's. My second favorite are Mousehole Forge anvils because they are thick waisted.

A few of the most common (to me, depends where you're at) good ones in addition to the 2 I mentioned are Peter Wright, Fisher, Trenton, Arm and Hammer, Soderfors, Nimba, Rathole Forge, Peddinghaus. The last 3 are the only ones I've mentioned that are still in production.

if you're looking to keep the noise level down Fisher will probably be the quietest. If you like a loud ring as some people do, Trentons ring pretty loud.

Many more, these are just some of the most common good ones. Very important though to read about and learn to rebound test.

She looks beautiful to me. Can't wait to hammer hot steel on her this weekend!

Nothing to be sorry about. Simple mistake. Don't feel discouraged if you keep getting pointed to the stickies. If you like this hobby you will find reading them to be very interesting and educational. 

Read them, try some things out, and come read more and try more things out. Lots of fun!

Lol, goodness. No. But if you misspell it in the search function the software may not recognize typos.