Charlie Eberhardt

When I search craigslist they are all over in the northeast. Upstate NY and CT are loaded with blacksmith tools. Florida...not so much. Take the family on a Florida vacation and buy one on your way home...lol. I am going to keep two and sell two.

I got some cracking but I'm dealing with it.

I finally fired up the forge today and threw a railroad spike in. I got to beat on it a little and learned a lot of things.

Hello. I am an aspiring blacksmith. I haven't even started yet but I have enough stuff now just looking for time. Too many projects. I'm in NE Florida. Other interests include air-cooled VWs mostly...I have a few. I also have a Jeep, a camper, a pontoon boat and a few atvs so not much spare time. I welded for a living for a number of years, then spent six years as a manufacturing engineer then moved into management. I'm currently a Plant Manager for a local manufacturing company with about 100 employees reporting to me. I'm not sure why I decided to get into blacksmithing. I guess it seemed natural after working with steel for the last 25 years. I also have a number of hammers so I want to make my own. I bought a small Mouse Hole Forge anvil from a dealer and that started me on my way. I started to build a forge but then a nice one popped up on craigslist so I bought it. Right now, I have everything to get me started so...more soon. Somehow I ended up with three anvils and four post vises. I plan to restore the vises and then sell two of them. I also have about eight machinist vises. I need to put Sanford & Son above my garage door...lol

I started claying my forge today. I am using regular construction clay given to me by a buddy. It is basically some grey and red clay with some sand mixed in. I may try to add some more sand in the final layer. The clay was a little too wet due to rain but it dried pretty quick as I worked it. I spread out a layer about half an inch thick and worked it in by hand, then with a small piece of RR track, then with the mallet and dead-blow. I let it dry for about five hours and the came back and pounded it again. I had some cracks and some soft spots. This layer is probably 1/8" - 3/16" thick now after pounding it in four times. Tomorrow, I will add another layer and make it a little thicker. Comments and suggestions welcome.

Awesome...just what I was looking for. I bought a forge from a semi-local "dealer" and it has "Clay before using" cast into it. I have some clay/ sand mix from a construction buddy that I will use. It's in a plastic tub outside so right now it's mush but I will pull some out to dry a little before I need it.

I will try to get pics tomorrow. I haven't turned that one over yet.

OK, milling the top is out. I was pretty sure it was a bad idea. Thanks. I'm asking for identification help just for my knowledge. No, I'm not a dealer...just a guy that became interested in blacksmithing and in the course of looking for an anvil ended up with three...and looking for more. I welded for a living for 17 years before engineering and management roles so I think blacksmithing is a natural progression for me...lol. I can appraise them myself if I should want to sell them by doing comps on the area I'm in. Prices are pretty high, in my opinion, right now for all anvils. I read somewhere that there is a TV show about blacksmithing so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. I know Barrett-Jackson has everyone thinking that rusted pile of project car in the back yard is made of gold...lol. Maybe I didn't write my question correctly...it doesn't look like a William Foster to me at all and it says Williams & Co on it. When I search, the search results always take me to William Foster. On the AIA page, I didn't see Williams & Co on the list. I'm just looking for some info if anyone knows anything about this anvil. Thanks

I have three anvils and a couple ASOs. Anvil 1: Mouse Hole Forge 132 lb - ring and rebound both good, surface is a little pitted. I haven't used it yet. I have access to a vertical mill and would like to shave 0.060" or so off of it but I know enough about anvils to know I don't know how to fix one so I'm hesitant to mill it. Mouse Hole Forge 132 lb Mouse Hole Forge and blue no name Anvil 2: No name anvil - around 150 lbs or so. I haven't weighed it. It had blue paint on it when I got it. I hit it with a wire wheel trying to find some markings but I haven't found any. This anvil has a lot of dents in it and looks like someone intentionally punched "divots' all over it. There were some red painted lines on it. Excellent rebound. Anvil 3: Bought as a "225 lb no name anvil", I hit the sides with a wire wheel and found "Williams & Co" (I think) and "235" on it. It is in nice shape overall. Excellent rebound. I can't find any information about this anvil. Everything points to William Foster but I'm not sure if that's the same. Williams & Co anvil 1 Williams & Co anvil 2