scotto

It's nice to have a friend that can work big stuff. I bet there are times my machinest pal whishes we'd have never met!

How big of a post vice have you seen or was made? Just by crusing the internet I think I've seen one with 7 inch jaws. Not sure the weight but I think it was 250# or so... Scott

Two or three consecutive days of private lessons with Brian Brazeal for me and my son. Scott

leaf fat. I also keep the fat cooked out from cracklins. I'm not sure how you render yours but a crock pot works real well or a roasting pan/lid in the oven set on bout 250. Every three or four hours drain off the liquid and continue melting it down. I do the cracklins in an old caludrin over a gas burner though. Talking about the old hand irons, not sure it would work for your project but I've got and old one the handel hindges up with a lid and you put coal inside to heat it up! Scott

Thanks for the replies and concerns. Everything posted has been taken in to consideration. Scott

Congrats. There's just something about an anvil that's cool. Scott

That's a nice video. I've go an old double barrel with damasus barrels. Now I know all the trouble they went through to produce such a nice looking barrel. Kinda gives you and idea of how tough an anvil is. I would think those anvils were used day in and out for decades. Scott

If you were new to blacksmithing and wanted to buy a nice hammer, which one would you get for your main "go to" hammer. Which specific model of the Bailey hammer or would you go with a Brazeal type of hammer... etc? After watching the videos on the explanation and use of the Brazeal hammer it looks like you need a real consistent swing to really benifit from all the different radii. Looks like this hammer might cause problems when you're still trying to develope a good consistant swing? On a side note, is a brass hammer suitable for using on punches? One of the items will be more sacraficial, the chisel or the hammer. Whats your view? Scott

Thats awesome. I like to hammer too. Scott

Yes a wedge piece. Here's a photo of the piece with the crack. Perhaps the piece was droped sometime when the screw box was removed.

Picked this one up. It's the first one I've found with most all the parts at what I felt was a decent price. It's only missing one tenion piece for the mounting bracket. It has a small crack on the rear overhang on the stationary jaw. The screw has some wear in the middle but is still solid. I'm pretty excited about it. It came with 1/4 inch of grime and grease all over it. Apparently the only use it's seen is years was to hold pieces together for welding. The top surface of the jaws has a few small arc marks and some spatter. About five inches up the leg there are arc marks, it looks like someone may have tried to weld something there or either some metal transfer from a poor welding machine ground clamp.

I've been putting together a scrap pile and so far have aquired a few coil spring and two sets of leaf springs off an old Dodge pickup. There is an oprotunity for me to pick a few hydraulic and air cylinder arms. These are chrome plated and will be 1.25 to 3" in diameter. Does the chrome cause a problem and what would this type of scrap be used for. Scott

My machinest friend has eyed an anvil he may be able to buy or trade work for. He took some measurements but its dirty enough he couldn't read anything. No pictures at this time. Hardy = 1 1/4 horn tip to tail = 36" height = 14" face width = 6" What say ye? Kind of like guessing how many dimes are in a gallon pickle jar! Scott

It's surely nice to have a day in the sun! Congrats! Scott

It was pretty funny. He was telling about when his grandkids were half grown, four of them lived across the yard. He had bought two new bags of coal but when he went to use a bag, both were missing. After looking around for a while he discovered his grandkids took his coal and scattered it all across his field. He said a mechanical spreader could not have done a better job.I'm not so sure he took it so lightly back then but he gets a good chuckle out of it now! With my kids still young I can see things that will make laughable stories down the road but for now they have to be used as lessons. It sure is fun though raising them. Scott

I fully agree with your comments. We discussed my free time limitations and he was more than willing plan a head so that we can fit it into the family life. With four youngens running around time is often short. He does have a few health issues to work around as well. My hope is we can fit something in every four to six weeks. If I haven't heard from him in about three weeks I'll swing back by to reaffirm my interest. That may be enough time for me to assemble my forge. scott

I've been talking around for several months in search for Blacksmithing equipment, probably a hundred or two people I've worried. You find some people who may have an anvil but no one with much stuff and most of it has some attachement to an old family member. A while back, a friend of mine I work with told me of an older fellow used to blacksmith. I had pretty much forgotten about it. He called me the other day and gave me directions to the older gentlemans house. Today I went by to see him. After introducing myself and my connection with our mutual friend he said "yea I have some stuff but I don't want to sell it." Mean while he's walking to his shop to open the door. We go into his shop and I'm expecting a few things but i was really suprised. He had probably six smithing stations set up with a forge, anvil and post vise, not to mention all the tongs, hammers, gas forges, four or five presses (home built and factory made). He doesn't smith much anymore and he was right, wasn't interested in selling but he did ask for my phone number and invited me and my son out for some forging/teaching one day. Anyhow, I went home empty handed but I believe he really enjoyed talking, as I did, for an hour or so about his smithing and I may have made a friend and given him some good reason to fire it all up again. Scott

I didn't know what it was till today after posting a pic in the Soderfors thread. A saw makers anvil. Is there any chance the upper half of the Trenton is forged or cast? There is no discernable junction where a steel laminate was attached. The chipping along the edges apears to be cast and not like a flake of hard steel chipping off. The anvil will ring by gently thumping it with your finger. Thanks

Here's my Trenton. Picked it up at a state wide rummage sale for $2.25 a pound. The edges are rough and has a four or five small gouges on the face. Rings like a bell and with the ball bearing test I dont have to lower my hand to catch the ball.

My dad is retired and buys the crumbs left after estate sales and resells it at rummage. Here is an ?anvil? he picked up and gave to me. The deceased man was a woodworker and a saw blade sharpener. I've seen pictures of a Fisher similar to this. Maybe yall could comment on what this was actually designed for. At first I thought it was a counter weight or calibration weight. The main body is wrought, I believe, and will deform with slight pecks of a ball peen. The top is harder but is not hard like my old trenton anvil. This has no ring to it and the rebound doesnt compare to the trenton either. I thought is was funny that the Sweeden stamp was upside down. Thanks, Scott

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I looked for an anvil for a while and came up short. Locally an anvil runs $4/lb and fairly rough. Over the holliday weekend there was an add 20% off on a Rigid Peddinghaus free shipping. That put the model 12 at $1500 with tax. I was leaning towards the Nimba but the discount and free shipping on the Rigid was quite a savings comparatively. If you buy new you know what you're getting. As long as an anvil will last, the cost isnt that much. Scott