EJRailRoadTrack

Noted . Trade item in a month is a door knocker. I may base mine off of this design if you don't mind...

Nice work. Love to texturing!

-EJ

Looks to me like a Hay Budden. Good anvils like that are not cast but forged. But anything is possible 

Fishers aren't SUPER rare. I haven't seen many, at the same time m neighbor has 5 and he does no blacksmithing at all, but I haven't seen many anvils in general. I know there are many people on IFI that have Fishers.

Great anvil though. have fun on it!

-EJ

I had the SAME experience here. When I first joined I find a bunch of curmudgeons to name a few, Frosty, Steve Sells. I didn't like how honest they were, wrote them off as "jerks", I didn't listen to them for a while then while trying to figure something out myself it came to me that they were RIGHT. Now I can't wait for Frosty's input on something. And Steve will tell it to you how it is, no sugar coating happening there.

Thanks for being the way y'all are guys!

Very nice blades too.

Frosty is jealous. Very pretty anvil, almost mint too. Awesome find, have fun on her!

The whole thing was about 3-4 inches long.

We had some friends over today and I was out in the shop and they were both just amazed with the process. So I decided to make them an opener while they were here.

It's a bit rough since I didn't have long, but I like and they really enjoyed it. Here's some pictures:

The left side of Trentons are the weight, so my Trenton says A151 so that means it is 151 pounds. As for MFG date I don't know, I tried running some searches but came up empty.

-EJ 

I am in West Plains, the MO group is growing here!

41 minutes ago, Daswulf said:

How sturdy is it? If you do make hardie tools for it i'd wonder about pounding on the edge. Give it a shot and let us know how it worked. It's already built. If it didn't work out you can always repurpose it. 

They are extremly sturdy, I used one as an anvil for a while. They would bend in half before snapping. Not sure what the # of the steel is.

Anyone know what it is exactly?

-EJ

On 4/20/2016 at 11:41 PM, Daswulf said:

 Duckwalk was forging today and he said he had rr spikes. I mentioned making a spatula/turner out of one but he didn't have the right tongs to hang on to a spike so he didn't make one.

Funny, I was JUST thinking about making one from a spike. 

I noticed the twist was a bit different looking. Did you slit it like you were pineapple twist then twist and notun-twist?

I do like it. Nice work

I'm in south central missouri and just bought a 151# Trenton for more than that in very nice shape and do not regret it AT ALL. Considering where you are that's a steal.

-EJ

Let me add to this. Around HERE: "My  grandfather's grandfather was a blacksmith and that anvil reminds me of him even if I never met him so no you can't buy it"

On 4/9/2016 at 2:14 AM, Frosty said:

Well alright! I'll be less cryptic and stop messing with you. At this point a few things just don't matter even though a lot of people spend a LOT of time and energy trying to find out. How old a tool is only really counts to antique dealers and collectors. What make isn't much more important. THE important question is can it be used. At your age even a cast iron anvil shaped object will serve just fine. Honest it will

Now you need a HOT fire, a hammer or two and something to cut with. At your age I recommend you NOT use a hammer heavier than 2lbs. 1 1/2 lbs is a better max for now. As your skill improves you'll be able to use heavier hammers without injuring yourself. Any smoothe face hammer will work just fine, ball peins and cross peins are excellent balcksmithing hammers but for a start ANY smooth faced hammer will do just fine.

A cold chisel will cut HOT steel easily but you'll need a glove to protect your hand. OR you can wrap some 1/4" rd. steel around it for a handle. Making your own tools is one of a blacksmith's rewards for learning the craft. A hack saw is an excellent option, it's easy, precise and you don't cook one hand even a little using one.

Use long pieces of stock at first so you don't need tongs. Not using tongs helps a lot because it's harder to hold things in tongs. Once you've developed more skill is a good time to start fighting with tongs and making the darned things.

Stick with us it'll be my genuine pleasure to help you learn the craft, I'll even keep the jokes down. Wait a second you might like jokes! Do you like puns?

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty acing an answer AGAIN. I would have to say 1 1/2 lbs is a bit small for 12-13 year-olds starting out smithing, I started with a 2 pound and think it's perfect for me. And I'm a MASTER being a highly 13 year old. *sarcastic grin*.

1 hour ago, smithatheart said:

well I'm different I have my own shop a chop saw a peter wright  and many tongs an no I am not lying and I'm not rich but I just work I buy and sell and save and I build my own tools .I have been welding since I was 10 and wood working since I was 5 so I grew up in a work shop and I basically grew up in a workshop btw I'm 13 the 13th                                

 

thanks buddy I appreciate it

and I'm sorry but I like a heavy hammer most of my work is with a 4 lb hammer and a 3 lb it is just what I prefur like I strike with a 12 lb hammer

PLEASE stay AWAY from a 4 pound hammer. Blacksmithing is ALL about CONTROL. It's not a competition about how big of a hammer you can swing. You very quickly will hurt your shoulder, it will put you down for weeks. Just stick with a 2 pound. For us

-EJ

So I recently bought my first anvil and wanted to know how all of you guys made your hardy tools. I'm ALSO looking for a direction to go considering my hardy is 1.5 inches: Buy 1.5 inch square stock and welding it to my cutoffs, etc? OR forge it  from scratch or axle and larger stock? 

Any direction is greatly needed.

3 hours ago, ausfire said:

Yep, I agree with Frosty ...  several lottery tickets, mate. That HB deal is the best I've heard of. If you sent it to Australia you could quadruple your money easily.

But, but WHHHYYY would you sell the pretty girl?

Yes sir it is a shoeing anvil. I believe (don't quote me on it) it makes the table area larger since you are using larger peices of steel. I THINK.

I'd love to see a picture of yours.This is going to be a very fun anvil to make my tools on.

-EJ

6 minutes ago, arkie said:

EJ, congratulations on getting your anvil...now, rock and roll!!!!!   :-)

Very nice find!

Thank you Tom. I am extremly excited.  The next couple weeks I forge will be completely tools. Stockin the shop

Ding ding ding. Wulf had it right. 151 pound trenton farrier anvil. Made in 1898

This sucker jumoed right in the Fiat rental. Interesting to fish tail down the road I that little car 

After about 2 momths of heavy searching I finnally found a good anvil in good shape. Got in for about 4.30 USD a poundmade in 1898. I believe it is 150 175 pound range. A picture is worth a1000 words  so I'll just show some pictures of it.

-EJ

So I went to a local flea market today and saw this PW.

I looked around it and except for a giant piece missing from the edge I thought it didn't look TOO bad. But I didn't know weight, so here is the picture of the weight symbols and the whole anvil. If you could tell the weight and maybe the year if you can tell that would amazing!

-EJ

1 hour ago, SpankySmith said:

Minions?  I need a minion!  Where can I buy them!   

Minion for hire here! Must be paid in blacksmithing tools, food, and knowledge

I'm not sure about the the top pin-like object geussing it is some sort of pin though

The bottom piece is called a "clip". They can be put in with the 1050-1060 steel range. They are a good oil quench steel and temper at about 415. That's as for as my knowledge of them goes. But there is SO much more metal in them then what they look to be.

Good luck!

-EJ

after remaking this anvil the best I could I tested it against my RR track. I thought the sqaure  edges on the plates was nice to have BUT it had NO WHERE NEAR the rebound of my track. The plate was also very loud, which made it hard to want to work, so I quickly moved back to the track. Now my Dad built me an awesome stand for the track and it has about 20-30% rebound, not as good as an anvil but it does work well enough

 -EJ