Twilight Fenrir

All done!

Haha, that'd certainly be an interesting way to go... If it were anything but an Atha hammer, I'd probably do just that! Cross pein sledge hammers may not be rare, but Atha hammers are, and I've never seen an Atha cross pein sledge before. If it had had any other stamp on it, I would never have bothered picking it up to begin with. It's not junk, but it's not really usable either... I guess it's more of a prestige piece at this point... I finally found my stove black, I'll get a handle on it today, and share a picture or two of the finished product...

Well, if you ever wanna trade one of those power hammers for a 800+lb 30" Frink & Co Bandsaw circa 1890, you let me know

Alright, I'm officially jealous.... Champion Blower and Forge is my favorite machine manufacturer I've got an 700lb blacksmith drill press of theirs, several forge blowers, and a few other misc things... i would LOVE a Champion power hammer. Plus, I like their offset design more than the Little Giants. I'd be curious to see your dishing hammer made from that RR bolt.... I think I've got one of those bolts laying around..... I live next to a railyard and a few different sets of tracks, never a shortage of RR steel.... except rail itself >_>

That's post slicing.... I'm not sure how much further they go... it looks like they stop at the bottom of the bevel, tempting me to shave off another 1/4"... but because they are so deep, I really doubt that's the case... I'd have to polish the sides to try to follow the lines. That left-most crack (about 10 o'clock on the face) I never even knew was there until I started dressing the face... completely invisible from the outside of the hammer.

Sadly, it would appear that my hammer is dead set on being a display piece without welding... I guess I should have left it alone after all, but it had to be tried.... the pein can still be used, though. I'll blacken it as soon as I find my stove polish, stick a handle in it, and use it to educate people on what a REAL tool looks like

Oh, no, your execution was MUCH better than the thought I had in my head. And you're right, a cutting wheel is definitely the way to go. I hadn't put a lot of thought into doing so, as I dismissed it out of hand originally. I can measure, and draw a line around it, making a cut along all 4 faces to cut down on heat build up, and help keep it a little straighter. Cool it in water frequently, and just take my time doing it... More and more I'm starting to think I'm going to take this approach. I've got a big antique 7" angle grinder, the old aluminum housed kind, that thing is a beast. It's what I used to bring my anvil into shape after I repaired that with welding. Though for this project I'll probably stick to my little 4 1/2" bosch grinders, just to get a bit better control. I've got a cutting torch I inherited from my grandfather, an old Smith's that, with the right tip, is rated to cut 9" thick steel Obviously, this isn't very temper-friendly. But that torch is one of my favorite tools. Quite right, and that's some interesting bits of information there, thank you I've read up quite a bit on wrought iron... I more or less understand what it is, but I still haven't been able to find out WHY it is what it is. I've tried to read up on the methods of manufacturing, but I still don't understand why it winds up sort of like cable damascus, and why it can be torn... Carbide tipped bandsaw blades? o.o I never knew there was such a thing! I've got 4 bandsaws, but only my little porta-band is put together at the moment ^^; I've got all the parts to put my massive 30" bandsaw together and get it up and running... but I think I'm probably going to sell that one... it was so beautiful I couldn't resist saving it, but it's so preposterously massive that it borders on the absurd for my purposes... I need to fab a part for my horizontal bandsaw. And I need to build a stand and mount a motor for the antique craftsman I picked up.... I'm really bad about acquiring projects ^^; On the other hand, I'm really good at it too My 30" bandsaw is the only one that cost me over $25 My drill press is a pretty safe tool as well. It's an antique self-feed blacksmith pole mount. I flipped a switch, and walked away while it drilled a 3/4" hole in 1" thick steel. Perfectly geared for drilling holes in steel. That's a pretty reasonable course of action... I think I've decided I am going to try to clean the hammer up, be it slicing or just dressing, so I'll start with dressing and see what it looks like. Then I'll slap some stove-black on it to pretty it up a little, and give her a handle!

I thought about doing something like that, except I was going to grind it down, rather than cut it.... I wrote that off right away as too destructive.... I didn't want to shave a pound of steel off of it if at all possible.... But, yours really did turn out pretty nice.... I'm reconsidering my stance on that idea.... Would take a LOT of patience to cut through 2.5" of high carbon steel without damaging temper... An interesting idea.... But probably not what I'll do... Still, thabks for contributing n.n Oops, that's my bad, thank you for correcting me. For some reason I thought mild steel didn't supplant wrought iron until the early teens. I guess it was somewhat wishful thinking that I could repair it without grinding it down... Maybe if I were a professional welder I'd be more confident tackling it. But everything I hear so far is that it's not practical.

I'm relatively certain it's a blacksmith hammer... the masons hammers I've seen are usually straight peins, not cross peins. Though, I do admit I'm more knowledgeable on blacksmith tools than masons, so maybe masons used the same tool and I'm just not aware of it... Atha made hammers from about 1875 to 1913 when they were bought out by Stanley. So I think that rules out 95% of the more exotic alloys of steel. This hammer predates even mild steel mas production. I'm not a metalurgist, I know a little bit of history given my trade, but when it comes to exact makeups, I know very little... I think it's reasonable to assume it is purely a high carbon tool steel, with no exotic additives like molybendium, tungsten, etc... I don't know if that helps.

You've got me beat I've maybe 20 handled tools, though that number jumps a bit if I get to count all the ballpein hammers I've got... Well, I was planning to knock out the forming chip that that crack reveals. (it looks like it's about ready to come off with a few taps of a chisel) If it doesn't come off as I expect, I can use a belt, or a grinding/cutting wheel. I do have a 2" belt grinder. I'll order whatever kind of wire is suggested as the best suited. I've just got mild steel wire at the moment, along with some ER70S-6.

Yes, there are more chips I'll have to get off, and will require a good deal of smoothing and cleaning the damage with a flap wheel on my grinder prior to welding. But, if repairing it isn't an option, I'll stick an equally old handle in it and use it as a show piece Just keeping my options open for now. Haha, I have many hammers. I AM a blacksmith But this is my first Atha hammer, which is a pretty desirable brand if you're not familiar with them. And I don't believe I've ever seen a cross pein this big before, so it's a bit special all 'round.

This past weekend, I picked up a very special hammer, an 11lb Atha Cross-Pein blacksmithing hammer. It's been pretty sorely abused, and I'm interested in trying to make it usable again. It has a couple of chips out of the edge of the face of the hammer, which I could just grind a little bit and make it usable, but I'm more interested in the possibility of building up welds and restoring it basically to how it was originally, rather than shaving off metal. I've been doing quite a bit of reading since I bought the hammer about the various kinds of fillers I should, and should not use... As well as proper techniques, such as pre, and post heating... But the problem with trying to research the best approach is, I don't know exactly what the alloy of the hammer is. So, I'd like to appeal to those who know better. I'll pose what I'd ideally LIKE to do, and I would appreciate if someone could tell me what I need to do, and whether what I wish to do is possible or not. I have an arc welder, but I'm much better with my MIG welder, so I would prefer to use that if possible. The only shielding gas I have available to me is 100% CO2. What I would LIKE to do, is to weld the repair on with my MIG welder, grind the weld nice and pretty, dress it, then put the whole head into my forge, oil quench it so it turns nice and black, and then re-temper it in my oven. If I have to just weld it, and leave it alone, I can always give it a rub with some stove-black instead. So, please, what would the best technique be to do this repair? And what should I use for filler? Honestly, the hammer isn't going to be extensively used, I can't swing an 11lb hammer very long one-handed But I respect this tool, and want to make it usable again. Thank you.

Looks like a Haybudden, or a Trenton anvil to me. (Haybudden made some anvils for Trenton, IIRC) I'd guess 180 lbs ish? Has an awful narrow waste... The damage isn't TOO bad, it could be restored...

Well, the silhouette looks like a Haybudden to me... Is... the anvil bent? O_o or, is it a perspective illusion? Other than that, it if IS a Haybudden, looks in pretty good shape.... Where ya from roughly? If you're in Minnesota, I'd certainly be interested

Hahaha, that's hilarious, I might have to do that one... Thanks for the idea! I've got to make a portable anvil stand for it... I was thinking of maybe forging some arms and legs too, that I could use to hang my hammers Still not sure what I'm gonna do, but I'm sure I'm gonna do something!

Haha, if Warner Brothers hasn't been sued in the 70 years they've been using it, I won't either Besides, it's not like I' m selling it. I just need to figure out how to stick some coyote arms and legs out from under it in a non-flammable way...

Today I painted my anvil...

I see, thanks for the answer! I'm definitely gonna have to make one of those for the Fur Trader rendezvous I go to. It's been refined, and upgraded pretty heavily by now, but this is what my anvil stand looked like when I first made it. It's been chopped down to suit my larger anvil, I added a bunch of hammer/hardie loops to tuck my tools into, and the rope has been replaced with hemp rope. Still, the thing weighs almost as much as the 200 lb anvil that sits on it. (The rope doesn't actually do anything but make it look interesting. It's held together with 8 pieces of threaded rod running through it.) That's a little 130 lb Peter Wright I had loaned to me when I was first getting started. Actually, the forge was a loaner too... haha, the only thing that is still the same in my shop is the cart my forge is on XD It's amazing how much my work space has evolved in one short year...

That's destined to be a swage block or two. It is a jaw from those giant scrap-cutting crab claws that are attached to excavators. The thing is so hard it rings if you look at it funny The other day, I called in sick to work to go check out a yardsale that said on CL it had a 'large anvil and blacksmith tools'. I went expecting to be disappointed with a small anvil, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was at least 250 lbs, possibly up to 300. They were asking $400 for it, a good price to be sure, but it would require a good deal of repair to be usable. I offered them $300 for it, to which they agreed, and threw in the 5 pairs of tongs they had with it. While I was writing the check I found out I was actually related to them in a complicated way, and the anvil was owned by my distant relatives business since at least the 1920s! It saw heavy use in a marina repair shop. And it shows it. One of the edges is badly chipped. And the top is dished. Plus, someone took a cutting torch to the underside of the horn for some inexplicable reason. I'm going to team up with the master blacksmith from whom I apprentice and do all the welding needed to make it usable. Should be a great anvil with another 100 years in it. Not sure of the make, the flats on the feet scream Peter Wright. But I don't see a seam between the face and body like I do on every other Wright anvil I've seen. Leading me to believe it is cast steel. Something Peter Wright never made to the best of my research. I don't see any markings, but I haven't wire wheeled the sides yet. Anyone have any insights? I already cleaned up the horn..

Hello, new to the site, but been blacksmithing for about a year now... I started with a 200lb Vulcan someone welded a plate of stainless steel on top of. (they actually did a good job.... Mostly.... It was either forge welded on, or silver soldered.... The latter being most likely on cast iron) They filled in some chips before putting the new top on, but not ALL the chips, and the plate collapsed in those areas of course. I've been very annoyed working around the dent in my anvil top, so been looking ever since for a better one. But, I got it for $200 and it has been workable. Trying to post my new anvi. Still getting errors. Will keep at it.

I like that stand you made for that. I need to make something more portable than my 4 railroad ties bolted together to take to events Is there a third board behind the two with the handle hole cut into it to keep it all together? Hmmm... I can't seem to post my anvils.... Keeps saying forbidden... Is there a post count you have to have before you can add pictures?