BartW

Discarded old oak dining table, hereby reclaimed to become workbench & vise mount. I also put a 3mm aluminium plate on top. Makes it last somewhat longer.

Hello; Ceramic hardboard does shed fibers. Run a black cloth over it; you'll see the dust. As such, it is less dangerous than koawool; but far from harmless. Never gamble with your health. As such, please do not use it like such, but coat it. Any coating will do; ITC-100, plistix are ideal; any other refractory will work too. Even Porcelain oven coatings work will (the zirconium-based white one). Additionally; a good coating will reflect heat & protect the board; so it's a clear win.

That damage looks like plasma or acetylene torch damage. If you can clean it up, and have the skills, you "could" weld it. It would never be as strong as new of course, but be suitable for light work.

I second the opinion of Daswulf. Deforming is not a big problem; and as your hammer skills improve, you will miss less. If the surface is hard; you can chip it. Chipping is dangerous & difficult to repair. Denting is harmless, apprentice-proof and easily fixed. Word of caution tough; I know counterweights that have been made from cast iron (cast iron is cheaper to made weights). This isn't usable as an anvil; as it's way too brittle. You can test this by drilling it. If you can produce a long spiral chip; it's iron. If it produces short chips or powder; it's cast iron.

I don't want to bring this thread back from the dead, but I always used Decomposed bluestone as filler for anvil stands, I even once made a tube filled with it and put the anvil on it. Problem with that stand was that it was WAY to heavy (much heavier than the anvil). It worked better than sand however, and didn't allow the anvil to sink. What I would like to add; I've found decomposed stone to be somewhat corrosive (maybe this is just the case with my bluestone). So once I filled a tube, whithout compacting it; I pour some mineral oil in it. It soaks it up like a sponge. than I compact it it, and weld it shut. I've tried opening one a year later, no rusting on the inside.

Awsome anvil; use it well. These are top-of-the-line anvils, they are solid cast tool steel, and can be harder than a file. If you use the sharp corners a lot; they can chip (farriers drawing out toes for example). Also; they ring like a church-bell; verrrrry uncomfortable. They need to be silenced before you can work without getting a head-ache. But if you take care of it, polish the face by working on it, you are set for your great-grand-children. Anvils in the old world are cheaper; true. On average they go for around 1.5€ / pound around here for the decent modern cast tool steel ones. For some reason it's fairly hard to find wrought iron anvils around here. I started with a Press block; then recieved a vulcan, then my first Skoda; then my second skoda, and then I recieved a Belgian UAT. All 3 cast tool steel anvils. All I did was make sure everyone knows I'm looking for anvils. Didn't even cost me much. If I contrast that to how long, and how hard some people are looking for an anvil in the USA ... All I can say is that I am extremely lucky in the anvil departement.

from my very limited experience with propane burned forges, I'd say the isolation needs to be thicker and covered (it really is a health hazard; the guys installing this wear respirators for a reason). Also; there is a relation between heath, flame, internal volume and gaspressure. I bet that forge would go a lot hotter if you doubled the isolation (and covered it with something to reflect even more heat); and covered the top half of the open hole on both sides. Or make doors. It looks like too much heat is lost through the large openings on both sides.

I made a low stand for it from angle iron, so I can turn it over, because the 80 degree grooves in the bottom is sometimes handy for bending things. It's somewhat a hybrid between a bolster plate, swage block and striking anvil. It's not pretty, but it works just fine for my usecases. If anyone lives near me, I still got a couple of chunks of that bar left. It used to be a massive bar for a heavy sheeth bender.

looks like cast iron to me. What does your friend intend to use it for ?

I had the same problem once; then I made the "swage block" pictured below. Mostly use the slot for the hammer-eye drift. It's 2 pieces of a 80 degrees bending block from a press, really pain in the... to drill, it's semi-hard, I estimate C50 steel. I drilled a 30mm and a 40 mm round hole in it; and milled the slot in one half; then welded the together (The welds go really deep, and I welded it hot...) Made it in 2018, haven't had problems with it beside rusting

Mayo is really good, but i hardly ever use it actually. It always bumps me to see that people consider mayo one thing. In fact, most fries-places have 2 kinds; normal mayo (made with lemon juice), and sweet mayo (made with eggs, and in general smoother). And then there's tartar Then you go abroad and everybody considers mayo the sweet stuff, like in the hamburger restaurants in those bags.

Well; I have a medically schooled wife, I've seen lots of this virus and I've seen what it can do, and how dangerous it is. And I'm serious when I say, do not underestimate this, as this virus can have a serious fysical impact on you. This is the time to invest in yourself, avoid this thing, get healthy, learn a new skill .. that kinda thing. However; it's not going to go away. There are too many things that simply do not logically make sense. Here in Belgium; we currently do not have a governement, due to our deadlocked political system. But the "temporary" governement has an easy time actually, since the money velocity is dropped enourmously, people are afraid and do very effectively what you say ... I got zero proof however, so take my ramblings as the words of an old fool if you will, but something is "off". Can't really explain what however. My boss (+2) told me the other day he actually liked everybody homeworking. Average hours went up from 7 to 9 a day, and he sees more productivity, so even without virus, he would recommend working at home. Of course, working as a core business system administrator, or deep-down-cellar-ICT for normal folks, this is to be expected. Our political game is ruled by the "never let a good crisis go to waste" credo in Belgium. But Belgium is too small to matter on a global scale, so I'm taking care of my loved ones and watch the show pass by. And forge some cool kitchen knives in the additional free time Greetings, Bart

That is a cool anvil setup. Congrats. very ingenious.

I leave them open outside of my shop for a couple days untill I can no longer smell propane. Then I use a very large adjustable wrench to remove the valve, then I fill it with water. If it has been filled and emptied a couple time for a couple of days, I cut them with a plasma torch. Sometimes the valve is stubborn, but I've never broken one off.

Well; only a picture will do. The anvil is broken in half, about 10 inches behind the pritchel hole; it's welded back together by a stickwelder; and reinforced by welding a plate over the seam, and a strut under the square horn. Both feet under the round horn are also broken off; and replaced with a square-iron bracket. anvil horror :-)

I don't get that either. Maybe it's location based. Here there's no shortage of anvils nor post vises, new as well as on the second hand market. Postvises, anvils ... I don't get it. Give me 400€, and I'll get you a post vise & an anvil in a couple days. Just for facts, I checked the local Belgium based second hand website. 3 post vises today, 5 anvils. And one anvil that got abused to an insane degree. The Square horn broken off halfway into the face, welded back with a strut, and half of the foot broken off, with a bracket as replacement ... the sorriest anvil I'v ever seen ...

My first anvil is 82 cm from the concrete floor. My second was 80 cm from the floor; and my third is 77 cm from the floor. I've moved mostly to the 77cm high anvil; but I've also moved away from knifemaking a bit lately.

I've seen 2 small anvils with hi-end anvil markings but cast in poor cast iron, obviously fakes. One was a UAT, and the other was a SZ Skoda anvil. At first I thought the faceplate on both had been removed; but the side were milled to look like a faceplate. So; yes; there are counterfeit anvils, although not a lot.

About the original question; get the biggest heuer front Vise (the forged steel versions) you can find; I've banged hot steel on it for years, and it's still kicking well. But legvises are better for shock absorption.

Hello; Well actually i did that experiment a while ago. I took all my anvils; cleaned & polished them. On each I put a slab of copper(about 2 x 2 x 0.5 inch), same thickness, cut from the same bar. I took a 50mm (2inch) ballbearing, and dropped it from a meter high on the copper plate on the center of the anvil. I couldn't detect a difference between anvil hi-end anvil (solid tool steel vs tool steel face plate). My iron swage block had a noticeable smaller dent, even compared to a railroad track. A piece of cast iron was about the same as mild steel, I didn't have a cast iron anvil. Now, my opinion is that rebound Does matter, but the difference is extremely small. You will save 1 or 2 blows out of 100 hammer blows, but that's it. And if you stay in suitable anvil teritory you may save one blow in 200 by having better rebound, so does it matter really ? Well yes, but not much.

That's the reason I keep a whole stack of railroad around... Help me as a striker for an hour, 58 cm of RR. 2 hours; 58 cm of RR with 2 fish plates welded in Sometimes, when people really want to get into this, but really are rock bottom, I'll just give them away.

There are more than enough anvils more to the north, usually the french "pig" style, even more north (other side of France), you are in my corner of the world; and there are plenty anvils around here. Now being spoiled anvil-wise, you need to understand what you want to do, and what kind of anvil you want for that work. I have anvils which are completely harder than a file, and made from tool steel; they will not support cold work on edges. There are also softer anvils; anvils with faceplates ... Once you figure that out; use the Thomas powers anvil acquisition process; take your time, and you will find MANY anvils very close to you. Buddy of mine living near Barcelona has several from old barn sales and such.

A2 / 1.2363 is an air hardening steel. As in, get it beyond critical or non-magnetic, hold and aircool, and it will harden quite deep. It's a very fine steel actually :-) However, hardening a block of this size is NOT simple. You cannot heat up one end and let it aircool, as the heat in the other end will anneal it. You also cannot heat up one end and quench it, as it will crack the top layer. You need to get it entirely hot, soak for a LONG time, and you need to quench it some way suitable for this steel in this size, as still air will be too slow. If I needed to harden this, i'd get professional help. If you want to use it as an anvil as such; I wouldn't harden it at all, and I would not grind out the inevitable hammer marks; as this alloy workhardens easily. meaning; the more you deform the top layer, the harder it will become.

In Belgium, we've had succesfull treatments of very bad cases with serum from people who fully recovered (same blood-type). However; we've also found that a lot of people "thought" they had it; but turned out just then normal flue. People really would like to believe they are immune; I understand, but here we only test people based on 4 factors: Flue-like symptoms after february, and 3 of the usual symptoms; most of the time: Fever; cough and loss of taste/smell. Usually they report all 3. This "seems" different from the normal flue; as the flue usually has only one symptom. I've never had a flue anyway with all three symptoms mentionned above anyway. Keep in mind; there's still a LOT more flue going around than the cerveza-virus Stay strong, and help others, together we'll get through this.

Well; this is week 2 in lockdown-light (as in, we're free to go shopping and whatever; but try to stay at home). In Belgium; this is starting to flatten the curve; as our ICU beds are about 50% full. (counting an ICU bed as artificially ventilated with 100% oxygen and doctor & nurses available). if we don't loose too much health personel, and people stick to the social distancing for a while; we won't reach the 100% mark; where terrible choices will have to be made. We probably won't stop this, but we will stay below the breaking point of our infrastructure. However; this is Belgium, there are 11.4 milion people living here, this is smaller than New York, and we have more highly advanced medical facilities & hospitals than most other countries in the world; and we spend over 10 % of GDP on social welfare ... What gives me trouble to sleep at night is the billions of other people in the world, who will probably suffer a lot worse from this pandemic. And what bothers me is the goverments & companies using this pandemic to do stock buybacks, pay bonusses, issue dividents, issue more deth, to do reorganisations, to reduce costs, to lay-off people ... pretty much everything that got us in this much economic trouble in the first place. Some common sense, compassion and social awareness should be the lesson from this pandemic, but I fear few will see it that way. I suppose we will need new leadership, and our old style leadership won't go away without passing under a guilliotine first