Mtnstream

Sweet! Great to see the "USA" on the side.

My shop buddy and Search and Rescue partner. 8 years old now but still strong. Rescued him at 1 year old and now he rescues people!

ausfire, Is that a slab workbench against the back wall?...looks to be 4 inches thick. That alone says "days gone by". Great looking shop!!

Nice!! Nothing like an old tool that has done countless tasks over the years.

Look at some of the latest Alex Steele you tube stuff...he created an enclosed grinding room with ventilation. Looks like it contains the dust and grit well.

"the way" - any way that allows you to be productive and enjoy your craft.

Interesting thread....does magnetism qualify? I also have plans to use segments of springs as large as truck leaf springs to create a friction join between two pieces of metal for a project that requires a tight sliding joint. Advantage - easy to apply, disadvantage...temporary joins.

Is anvil snobbery an affliction or inalienable right? Someone did a fairly decent job welding this up (look closely at the welds), probably for a very specific purpose. Anvil?...maybe....absolutely if hammer was taken to hot steel successfully. Worth $40.00, now that is very debatable....not even worth $1.00 to me.

Nice, great re-purpose!

"Faces come out of the rain"

Even simple bottle openers can be made using self-created slitter, punch, drift. All experience building tools to make. An example would be creating a taper on a punch or drift out of an old round stock scrap. Making my own tools is one of the most enjoyable things I do in my forge. Agree with Charles that an Axe head can make a great hardie tools. So my opinion....you are on the right track. Figure out what your project is going to be, what tools you will need, and then make your tools to get it done. I have to warn you though....tool making is addictive, you may have to force yourself to move on to the project!

Beautiful work on the forge!!

Very nice! Impressive work.

Johnyb, looks like a great anvil. I agree it looks a lot like my Peter Wright which is also 28" from stem to stern with a 5" face and weighs in at 200 lbs. So if it passes the rebound test you are getting it at a fine price....enjoy!

We are not talking about couple of hundred thousand dollars or more. One or two thousand at the very most. I value my anvil, enjoy it, and sometimes am a little too sentimental about it. But, in the end it is just a chunk of iron that will be around and functional a lot longer than me that can easily be replaced if I want to work to get the cash. I don't understand why some folks ascribe otherworldly attributes to them. It can't feel, dosen't scream and won't cry no matter what you do to it. It hurts me more to see a couple of hundred usable anvils stacked in a "museum" just collecting dust than it does to hear about one being supposedly mistreated.