Exo313

By your mention of flat blanks, I came across many laser cut blanks. All of which required modification to work "just fine". And while I'm sure it's effective, they take something that's just a really pretty tool, like a well-executed gooseneck tong, and make it look like a paper cutout.  Not my personal preference :/

Anyway... are we talking about a shoulder put in to offset the tong jaws so they line up?

If it's a cast steel anvil, depending on what was used to "fix" the edges it might not be as bad off as a soft-bodied, tool steel faced anvil having gone through the same process, at least as I understand it. More experienced folks, please feel free to expand my knowledge!

...but the edges may be dead soft depending on what was used to repair. Rebound will probably increase towards the center of the face, decreasing around the perimeter. 

Anyone in Ontario, particularly along the Toronto-Kingston corridor, keep an eye out. Old anvils being bought up by a couple outfits and being "restored". One guy I contacted wouldn't tell me his "secret" process. They're asking $6-7 CAD a lb for totally unknown, shiny anvils. 

Reproduction in general preserves the craft, in my opinion. However. Slavishly adhering to a particular set of tools based on a particular time period, when not in direct view of the public, for the purpose of demonstration, or in the shop, for the purpose of research seems a bit silly. Showing a group how a nail used to be made has value. Taking known old tools and methods home to work through the old way of making a nail, in order to prove a hypothesis of how it might have been done has value.

I think the issue for me comes in when one makes an item, then claiming a vague authenticity due to "x" and marks up the retail accordingly. 

The smiths I've met who do true historical reproduction work are infectiously passionate people who do a lot to preserve the future of the craft. 

It also may help smooth things over if you gift them something hand forged. Paying out a little in time and labour for neighbourly goodwill isn't a bad thing. 

Re: devil-forge, I think you'll find that the experts here at IFI rate them as... well, adequate.

 Personally, I bought one because I liked the price, but I found that I needed to buy more wool, the brick provided didn't work well as a forge floor, and I would probably build a Frosty T-burner over using the one provided. 

Which means at the end of the day, I bought an expensive forge shell with a bit of ceramic blanket inside it. Your mileage may vary. 

Roxul lists its melting point at 2150F.

But it also has a limited time for effective fire barrier use in residential firewall applications. I doubt it'll hold up to direct flame contact for very long, even if you don't accidentally melt the stuff. 

His anvil is so popular I ran across a semi local (to me) guy making Brazeal anvil knockoffs, in addition to offering "anvil restoration" services. I asked about his process. Apparently it's a secret...

I feel far less animosity towards collectors than some; they're mostly delaying recirculation is all. 

The true impact on the prices of smithing equipment is probably, local factors notwithstanding, newcomers to the hobby. Once you have that first anvil, you don't pay as much for the second one. How many times have we seen 800+ USD dropped on a 200lb anvil? 4 bucks a pound might even seem "reasonable" in some areas. 

Craigslist shysters are eager to get top dollar, most of the time. And with newcomers always looking for that perfect anvil, it's a seller's market. But new blood is a good thing, I'm thinking. Maybe one of a hundred newbies reinvests into the art for future generations; that's how we carry on. 

I doubt collectors are hurting us that much... except maybe with regards to the ever painful stab of anvil envy!

Well, update that isn't much of an update:

My life got kind of crazy. Father in law ended up in the hospital (But is doing better now). Then my wife lost her job. Then I got the flu-turned-bronchitis and missed a bunch of work. When I had been there I didn't feel like sticking around later to continue the rebuild. 

If I'm feeling good tonight I might try tacking 'er up and start on welding the horn back on. We'll see.

On 22/02/2018 at 7:06 PM, Laynne said:

I misunderstood, it is S7. 16"x7"x7" or 16"x8"x8". I am trying to get more information, price and hardness.

@Steve Sells initial mis-identification as A7, it is actually S7 that Laynne is looking at, I believe. 

 Although. If one could wire something up to trip an air horn when the anvil is touched, your average burglar would probably need a change of shorts after falling over themselves to get away. Better still: a train horn. 

I'd be tempted to stamp any anvils I owned with a custom touchmark. That way I can ID them if they show up online, and it's doubtful the thief would know what it's for and so therefore try to obliterate the mark. Show up to the sale with the stamp in my back pocket.

If you end up building a rectangular/square brick structure out of these, note that they key into each other rather well if you rotate every other one 180 degrees. (Front side out,  then back side out, then front again. Repeat.) 

Of course, that'll depend on whether you're concerned with keeping only the front faces out or not. 

This is off the tip of the horn of the anvil pictured above. 

.... does this look like wrought to you guys?

Restless after work today, so I poked at the anvil a bit, careful to avoid grinders. Had an amiable co-worker with a sledge take a closer look at a crack that opened up on the underside of the horn... looks like a(nother) failed forge weld to me! Top picture shows coarse crystals where my weld broke apart; I'm inclined to think not enough preheat combined with the nature of the impurities present in the material. Thoughts?

Also, thank you all for your thoughts, kind wishes, and anvil-leaning.

So, my project is on hold for a little bit folks. I totaled my car on Monday and I'm too sore to be doing much grinding. Which is just as well because I haven't gotten the wire ordered in yet anyway. 

3 hours ago, TechnicusJoe said:

Arguably, most smiths today don't need a well heat treated and produced anvil. How many actually spend at least 60% of the time at their anvils, forging? 

You're saying that hardness matters, but only for tool longevity.

But by saying this, you're actually saying that deformation of the anvil in fact occurs, and energy is really spent in cold forging the anvil surface using the inferior tools of a red hot struck tool and a hammer. 

Your argument isn't that this doesn't happen, just that it doesn't happen enough for modern smiths to worry about. 

Which means, for sake of argument, impact resistance, hardness, and, by extension, the ball bearing rebound test (which is a means of measuring hardness), actually does matter. 

I think 'throwing the hammer back' is just a colloquial way of expressing the increased return in efficiency in a way that is potentially misleading. 

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

The thing to remember is a good build up rod and 7018 isn't

Yeah. I appreciate your analogy re: glass on foam rubber. To be honest, I was coming to similar conclusions based on my original research -before- I followed advice from a gentleman with abrasion resistant hardfacing experience; since we're talking apples and oranges, though, I can see where I went wrong. I had a nagging suspicion leading up to it. Should've trusted my gut more. 

Any issues with doing a proper build-up directly on top of what I've done? My concern is the intact old top plate around the hardy hole.

That's the problem. I have an air peener but as far as shot blasting goes, all we do is abrasive blasting at work. I'd have to send it out.

I'm also looking at Stoody 965. Good impact, good abrasion, no cross checking. 50-60 HRC as deposited. 

Or I could probably just get some 1105 ordered in.... I'm just less confident in my stick welding (I have gotten far less helmet time in with that process) which is why I've been looking for a comparable wire. 

5 hours ago, Frosty said:

If you can't find the rod recommended by Mr. Gunther use a "steel on rock" hard facing rod like that used on crusher drums or dozer blades, it's designed to take impacts and not deform. Proper build up rod works best as well. 

See, I'm curious. 

Stoodite 21-M sounds intriguing. According to the manufacturer it's a work-hardening wire that hardens up to 45 HRC, no cross checking, unlimited number of layers. Used for forging dies, hot shears, and piercing plugs. 

3 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

Exo, how much $ do you have tied up in consumables? 

$0, but government jobs are an amazing perk at my place of employment. I'm keeping rough track of what I use, so I may have a ballpark figure once I'm done. 

Straight labor, not counting research time, I'm 8 hours in and not half done yet. 

Photos as promised

48 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Why didn't you just pop off the delam with a chisel or cut into the wrought iron with a bandsaw rather than grinding it

Did use a chisel for a bunch of it. Some of it was a bit more stubborn.

50 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

your question reads to me like: I'm going swimming; should I fasten 400 pounds of lead to myself or 400 pounds of concrete? (concrete of course for not contributing to heavy metals in the aquatic environment...)

 Yar. I was only pointing out what was currently available off our rack.  Already leaning towards ordering in based on preliminary research. 

46 minutes ago, Daswulf said:

I'm only going to mention on the "stinky" part. BUY A GOOD RESPIRATOR! They are cheap and replaceable unlike your lungs and sense of smell. Well, lungs might be replaceable sort of but you probably don't want to go through that. 

Excellent point. I should have mentioned. Anyone reading, +1 to Das' comment. Don't did what I did, do the other thing.