SpencerDirks

The verdict is in! Apparently it's a norrisez an old English wrought anvil without much info about the maker! I'm very pleased with it. The norrisez name is very faintly pressed into the side.

Hmmm! I wonder what it is? Maybe I'll just leave the stand as it is! I'll post some more pictures of the anvil later because I'd love to know what it is! There are some faint marks on it that don't mean anything to me.

I'll have to take a look sorry for the lazy question! I'm still figuring out site navigation. I'm just trying to decide whether I should even bother or if what I've got is sufficient.

Thanks!

Spencer Dirks

Hey everybody!

I recently aquired my first anvil it's a 104 pound beauty with a little bit of cold chisel damage on the face. Rebound is good and ring is minimal due to its cast iron construction which is fantastic due to my close proximity to neighbours. I've been told that this anvil is a fisher but I've had trouble finding any defining markings. There are some on the side but they're pretty illegible. I apologize for the lack of better pictures I'm posting from the break room at work which unfortunately is not blacksmith related lol. I'll post better pictures later. If anybody has some insight as to what make this is it would be greatly appreciated! I also was wondering about proper stand construction. I don't mind the height that its at now but what worries me is its cast iron construction. Is there a possibility I could somehow damage my anvil by hammering on top of another piece of metal? Or worse what if one of the legs cracks off and my anvil kisses the pavement. Any advise is appreciated, for the record I believe the current stand is part of a cream separator. 

Thanks for reading 

Spencer Dirks

Thanks for all the advice guys! I haven't decided on how I'm going to repair it yet but I'll say I've definitely learned my lesson. Next time I'll ensure that I line it really well to avoid such a costly lesson. I think in the mean time I'll put some work into either building a temporary break drum forge utilizing the blower I have on this one or I'll finally finish my propane one that I started last winter. One way or another I've gotta get back to it if I want to reach my 1000 nail goal by the end of winter!

Spencer

Well folks today was an interesting day. I recently picked up an old coal forge for 250$ CAD and was pretty excited to fire it up. Today I finally got the chance to do so and about 30 minutes into the session we heard a loud bang and watched a crack form into the cast table. Is there anything I can do to rectify this situation? I'm assuming considering it's cast welding is not an option. Maybe it would be best to just pull off the blower and attempt to recoup as much of my cost as possible! Maybe this is an omen letting me know I should switch to propane. Let me know what you think.

Spencer Dirks

I love the rustic look. Good work!

It's beautiful. Keep up the good work!

I'm pretty pleased with it  thanks for all of the positive feedback on the vise and the shoes. I'm planning to mount it permanently but that could change. I'll be buying my first house very soon and I'm excited to have this as a part of my shop.

I found this USA made columbian leg vise at a garage sale. I paid 25 CDN$ for it and it functions beautifully. A little bit of wear on the jaws but that aside I'm looking forward to cleaning it up and mounting it in my shop!

This is gorgeous. I love the guard and the decorative file work on the spine. Good work! I hope someday to make something even a quarter as nice as this.

Thank you! I appreciate it. I'm sure a lot of spike knives make their way on here so I was a little hesitant to post something so basic. This guy was made as a gift for a friend so I wanted to make sure it looked nice, I spent a lot of time filing and sanding to make sure the twist looked as good as I could make it. Also tried to get a mirror finish on the blade but I realized after spending a few hours going at it that maybe my time would be better spent working on something other than a spike knife lol. The recipient loved it which was awesome. I'm looking forward to posting my first real knife when it's finished! Thanks for the feedback ☺

Hey! Long time reader first time poster.

Growing up my dad did some hobby knifesmithing and blacksmithing so I've always had an interest in both. Recently I started experimenting with various forge designs and have had varying levels of success. Anyway this is my first attempt at hammer forging a knife shaped object out of a rr spike. I am aware that rr spikes do not generally have enough points of carbon to be anywhere near proper knife making steel so I didn't bother heat treating this piece which means this is closer to a letter opener or kso than a knife. In the future I think I'm going to do my experimenting with hardenable steels so my efforts are more worthwhile. Anyway here it is! Any and all criticism/advice is welcome

Thanks,

Spencer