John in Oly, WA

What MC Hammer said! I love the historical perspective - perspeculative. If that anvil could talk, the stories she could tell.

And then in the comments section, he says he used a belt grinder to flatten out the top of his anvil. I can't stand these "I don't know how to do this, but here's my 'How-To' video on it" YouTube idiots. Worse are the ones who copy another YouTube video idiot to post the same schlock.

It almost looks like a torch cut that's been filled in. But that could just be my imagination.

Beautiful work Creekside! Love the grain patterns in the boards.

Maybe they lost their "9" somewhere in the shop and used a "b" upside down. Then later found the "9" die again. LOL Is that a sideways T in front of the weight number? If so, my roughly thrown together records show your anvil may have been made by a fellow named "Doggie" Taylor.

Wouldn't that be an ABT? You guys are making me hungry. But in my world, an ABT is an Atomic Buffalo xxxx - half a jalapeno filled with a cream cheese mixture, topped with a big piece of pulled pork, wrapped in bacon and BBQed/grilled until the bacon is crispy.

I can see that, but fuzziness and made of metal? How do you resolve that without ending up with spikey, pokey? I was just focused on the eyes and that black line that looks like a mouth. So much expression there. Now if you could find some of those twisted wire, plastic bristle brushes - kind of like a narrow bottle brush or the little brush on the spark plug gapping tool for the legs.

Das, if you mentally remove the hair from that jumping spider and just look at the position of the legs and get the eyes right (maybe the back of a small spoon for the face to mount the eyes) you'll get the essence of it.

If that were my set up, I'd get the next size smaller crucible (need more room for the flame to circulate around the crucible), a smaller diameter, but taller plinth (about 1"-1 & 1/2" tall) and aim the burner flame to go around the crucible, not pointed at the crucible. But first I'd take the burner out and clamp it in a vise, light it and make adjustments til I had the beautiful blue flame cone Mikey likes so much.

Thanks Thomas! I appreciate your altruistic intentions and concern for my well being, but really, I'm fine...no cure needed...no addiction here.. .. … everything under control … . (love my tools) .. . ..can quit any time . . . …. .. ..(ahh, making tooooools) … .. . no need for concern . … .it's just the normal noises in here .. . ….. .. ….(my preccccccious) LOL

What I've gained from taking up blacksmithing is more TOOLS! I LOVE tools. And I've also gained a revelation (at least to me) - making tools. The thought had never occurred to me before. But I couldn't afford some of the cool tools associated with blacksmithing. I love tools - I love making stuff - so I looked into making them. Then I made a forge... then a forge press... then a belt grinder... then a burnout/heat treating oven, then two salt pots, then another metal melting/burnout oven... then a vacuum casting set up. Friends were sure I'd never get back to blacksmithing/bladesmithing, or anything else...just get carried away making tools. But what's wrong with that?! I was having fun and learning a lot. And I'm working on getting back to blacksmithing/bladesmithing. Anyone know of any rehab programs for tool making addiction? Never mind, I don't need a cure. I'm fine. I can stop any time I want to. Really!

Like Dan said, If that ceiling layer of insulation is thicker now than the original was, you need to move your burners down into it more.

Beautiful Theo! And 3D printed scales? Are they still called scales on a folder?

Probably depends a lot on the type of press. For the 24 ton forge press I built, I used a Prince LS-3000-1 Directional Control Valve.

There are a LOT of variables in a LOT of different processes to get from start to finish in what you're doing. I'm in a similar process casting brass knife hardware. Hard to keep track of it all. Hard to change just one thing at a time when the process can take so long for each little test of a change. I'm using an SLA/DLP resin printer and was told, with the resin and investment I'm using, I could put the flask in and take it straight to 800C and shorten the 15 hour burnout schedule considerably. Like down to 3 1/2 hours. I could even preheat to 600C, then put the flask in the oven and take it to 800C. Well, heating the flask from ambient temp to 800C as fast as possible worked, but the surface finish of the cast brass suffered, in my opinion, greatly. Adding the flask at 600C preheat and taking it to 800C, the investment shattered. Now I'm back to the ramping up in three steps to get to 800C and running the 15 hour schedule. But you've got to experiment or what do you know.

I turn on the vacuum just before pouring. In my experience, the metal (brass in my case) goes in and starts to solidify so fast, if I turn the vacuum on after pouring, it has no effect. Before pouring, it helps pull the metal in. That's what I said. But perhaps this part "But I'd guess that it's close." wasn't clear. I meant "I think I'm pulling close to a full vacuum", not "I think my gauge is reading accurately". Obviously my gauge is WAY off.

Recipe...let's see, set the "oven" at 2100F, put the cake pan in, set the timer for, oh, say 3 seconds...Ding, it's done! Oh dang it, I used an aluminum pan. Now I have aluminum swirl cake. Back to forging - I like the flexibility in the design of your forge. If you're doing something large, you can raise the top "clam shell" with firebricks to get larger interior space.

Can't say exactly. I have a gauge on my vacuum system, but after the first time using it, it went well past the 30 mark and afterwards, the needle never came back to zero. But I'd guess that it's close. Doubt it's a perfect vacuum though.

So what you're saying is..."Not only is the world my oyster, but..." No, but now I'm going to have to. Just the titles are enough to pull me in. Ah, this is really going to cut into my forge time, or my sleep time. LOL Oh yeah, that could be part of the problem. Are you printing with PLA and using that for your mold pattern? I've heard that can expand quite a bit before it actually burns out of the investment. There are investments designed to withstand that. I've been using Certus Prestige Optima. It was created specifically for 3D printed materials. R & R Plasticast is good too.

Yes you are! Not that that's a bad thing at all. I'm enjoying the Boundary books, even if my understanding of the physical universe has to shimmer and flex a bit. That's sci-fi.

But can you bake a cake in it?

Hi Sharp5! Well, first - you came to the right place for good info. TIP: Avoid YouTube for the most part - a lot of bad info there. Hard to weed that out to identify the good info. Need more info from you to help answer your questions though. What will you be forging? Can I assume you are looking to buy or build a gas forge (this is the gas forge section of the website)? That can be a bit more expensive to make than solid fuel forges. But read the "Forges 101" thread in this same section to get an idea of what building a gas forge is all about. Until then - just guessing to recommend you might need an anvil, a welder, tongs, gloves, goggles, wire brush, leather apron, or hammers.

What temperature was your flask when you poured the aluminum? Just thinking it might be something else going on than too much vacuum. I have full vacuum (as much as my pump can create) when I'm pouring, but my flask goes from 1470F for burnout, down to 1100F for one hour, then I pour with the flask at 1100F. Don't have cracking problems. Of course, I'm pouring brass, so the temps are different than for pouring aluminum, but the point is don't pour with the flask at room temp and don't cool it to room temp and then back up to pouring temp. That can cause cracks. Now you guys have me reading the Boundary series and looking into the Black Tide Rising too.

You're right NoName, it does look like the Southern Crescent logo. And then it looks like the Southern Crescent anvil has about the same rep as the Vulcan, maybe a little lower.

Thanks Thomas. Looking at it, except for the torch cut on the edge of the face, it doesn't look like it's been used much. Just buried in the ground for a while.