Dunk_c

Ta Turbo

My newly housed anvil.

Probably last post to this topic, might go over to TOOLS for tool making advice. Anyway, just a followup to my hot hardy picture. I needed to get billet to yellow heat and then was able to more easily drive into hardy hole and get a nice shoulder. Will build a bottom tool of some sort on this.

Hi Just starting out. Scrounging around my shed looking for forgeable items. Is there a standard way to take worn out aviation, or Wiss snips, and reforge them into tongs? Coming from a family of plumbers, we have plenty of worn out pairs kicking about. Seems like the straight cutters just need handles welded on and some forging of the blades to make scrolling or flat tongs, or something equally usefull (looks like a good shape to start a small knife from as well). Not sure What the steel is, molybdenum carbon steel according to the Wiss site. Must have been tried before! Please advise.

Hello Ausfire I have been there a couple of times - it is an interesting museum. Sad to see they stopped the workshop tour. I caught it once and watched a hammer being forged on a large power hammer, a joy to watch. I recognized some of the staff from playing Ipswich sport thirty years ago - should have asked if they had a spare anvil they didn't need; there must have been dozens on site in the day.

New hardy hot cutter. 1" mild steel, convex edge. Had to weld on skirt, not enough strength to do otherwise. Seems to work!

One piece of rebar bashed into useful item on new anvil. Not very elegant to my eye but it does work. Uploaded picture of the small forge it was made in.

Thanks Frosty. Yeah, thoughts of what has been sent to landfill over the years won't be any good for my health! I am already thinking about all the rusty tools in my shed and at flea markets that can potentially be recycled. I was wondering if there was a student's path to follow in getting the basic skills; the order of the items you suggested sounds just like that! Can you expand on this list with respect to making a set of tools and perhaps some useful items such as hinges, rivets etc. Going to be limited by the size of the steel I can heat. Picked up some 1 inch square mild steel bar today, bfore I read tour reply but will put that aside while I tackle the simpler stuff you suggested, but just in case I get the urge to make a hot cut-off hardie, is there any real danger of breaking the tail of the anvil off with heavy blows to form the peg? Is common hot rolled mild steel from the local suppliers 1020 or 1045 ? cheers Sorry Turbo7, missed your invite.

Thanks gor the suggestion. Does enyone know if the first fracture depth is the hardface down to the iron body, or is it likely to go down futher to the second step? At the clean side, the face appears to be 5-10mm thick. Guess I could do a rebound test of sorts on different areas.

Thanks Frosty, i did file off the mushroomed end of the horn and blended it into a continuous profile. Lost the nice patian but I want a tool and not a showpiece? Might have been hard to fit the nose into my micro forge it is such a joy finally owining one, and one that is over a hundred years old I am guessing. Got a couple of good books and found some freebies on a UK college site. Picked up a pair of tongs to go with the vice grips, scrounged around the internet for some hammers, just short some old steel - starting to regret throwing out all those car axles,torsion bars, shock absorbers and broken hammers, over the years. I think I can start making some mid-size tongs to start with. Have been looking at hardy tools, punches and drifts as these seem to be relatively small and simple and I can start to try hardening techniques. Are hot cut off hardies and others also efegctive when offset to the bulkier part of the anvil?

Checked rebound all around and was aware of possible delamination, but everything tested OK. Been hunting for ages for a real anvil that was not being sold at antique heirloom prices. Anvils at reasonable prices are hard to come by in Australia. So when I saw this, as long as it was sound, I was keen to go and take a look. Nice manageable size, and I won't be fixing truck leafs srings so will do me for some time until I want/need to spend more.

Well, here we go. Quick rub down and some soft wax and placed in its home. Just need a slightly higher stump.

Thanks, sage words no doubt What about preventing futher damage in this area ? Do people clean of the rust and dirt and apply some wax, or is that also "destructive"?

Hi, new anvil owner, first time poster. Hi everyone. Just picked up old Wilkinson anvil, weighs about 91lbs. I am replacing a rail track anvil that was used to bash the old thing. New anvil going to increase my ability to make small wrought items and I built a 1.5 brick propane forge. The anvil has a blunted bick and a section of broken face as shown in the photos. While It is going to be a tool and not a showpiece, ans I am aure that I can wotk around these blemishes, I would like to clean it up but without risking any damage or future resale value. I expect it is OK to file the bick back to shape. Without resorting to welding the face, has anyone got any comment on rounding over the cracked edge to form a smooth bending area, or chamfering the chipped area the create a flat chamfer?