Judson Yaggy

Last I knew, yes. Website is still active, as a one-man-show Steve wasn't the fastest to respond to emails but he gets there in the end. Search for Fontanini anvils, that's what the website is under. Can't say enough good things about mine with the caviat that I have one of the older anvils of H-13. I understand that the alloy has since changed and have no first hand knowledge of the newer castings.

Today In the shop I made scale. Scale made at the anvil. Scale made at the swedge block. Scale made at the old power hammer. Scale made at the new power hammer. Sucker hits HARD, joy! While waiting for the bigger stuff to come up to heat I poked around the edges of the fire and made some roses and feathers for a local non-profit raffle. AND, to cap it all off, cleaned out the barn with the help of the world's best dog.

Hi, welcome aboard! If you are ever near Bristol, drop me a line and come visit. Here is the link to the membership page, http://www.newenglandblacksmiths.org/neb-membership/ or if you want to do it by paper I could post a pdf of the membership form for you to print. You don't need to be a member to attend a meet, but it will cost you usually something like $10 or $20 more as a non-member. (I havn't seen the prices for this year's meets yet but that's how it usually breaks down) Some people buy a membership at the door when the get to their first meet. A working meet like the spring one often costs less as we don't have to pay for a demonstrator. In addition to savings when attending meets there are other benifits, like access to our email list for up to date announcements and discussions, the ability to purchase our line of cast blacksmithing tools at cost, and subscription to one of the best newsletters in the country! Hope to see you around. Jennifer, I think that was the first time in my life I've been called "upper management". Will try to not take offense! (grin)

I just weld a 3/8" round handle onto the side of the chisel. The handles break off on very rare occasion, and I weld them back on. Had best results tig welding with 309 filler rod.

Welcome back Dave.

Fontanini!

Looks like a curb stop wrench.

Bunch of cute anvils there. I really love the Hay Budd, nice looking anvil. It's underrated here on IFI (from unscientific occasional personal observation) but the ones from the era of the top half made of quality steel are outstanding. My second favorite anvil!

John, you have a nice set up there. Clearly put some thought into it. Well done. A blacksmith and a machinist were talking. The machinist said "I can make anything. Ask me to make something, anything, and I'll prove it." The blacksmith said "Make a 1/2" hole in a 1/2" bar."

An interesting one from Craigslist, in a town up near the border. Not your usual Champion or Can-Otto. Atypical flywheel location. .

Wilkinson not Williams. Good score.

I’ll poke the webmaster and folks running the meet. 100% volunteer orginization so sometimes things don't happen as quickly as one would wish. Sorry. Thanks for checking out the website thou!

Not quite a church window pattern but close, Steve Fontanini out in Wyoming is currently having his pattern cast out of 8624, in years past the alloy was advertised as something custom but very close to H13. I would suggest that a new anvil should come with crisp corners and a pointy horn, let the user alter the tool to suit.

I haven’t watched his specific vids, but from your general premise Rowan T. is correct. Flux is an aide, not a requirement. I've seen Peter Ross forge weld and talk about forge welding without flux on many occasions. Complicated welds. Pretty sure he can drive! If anyone out there doesn't know who Peter is, look him up. A lot of old school British smiths didn't bother with flux as well. I've stuck fluxless welds, sometimes even on purpose. In the architectural smithing world occasionally avoiding the clean up of the mess and finish ruining aspects of borax is required. Flux helps, sometimes a lot, but if I had an induction heater (currently saving my pennies for one) I'd mess around with putting the coil in a box that could be flooded with an inert welding gas or similar.

English hundredweight and flats on the feet, very likely to be a PW.

Love mine. I make 1/3 to 1/2 of my income from architectural metalwork. I wouldn't be without one for that kind of work. Said this before and will say it again- set it up like an anvil, on a clean dedicated stand near the forge and think of it like an anvil with interesting shapes, because that's what it is. Once you get that mindset and physical/logistical functionality, it becomes a great tool.

A block of 250# (+/-) S7 is worth many hundreds of dollars, USD. Perhaps worth even more than the going rate for an equiv. weight London pattern anvil, depending on location. Especially if you have the paperwork to prove it's S7. If all you want to do is hammer out approximate knife shapes and then go make love to your grinder, a 250# rectangle of S7 might be the best anvil in the world. If you want to have a more versitile anvil, I'd sell the S7 and buy a 100# London pattern PLUS a few other nice tools with the extra money from the sale.

That's a serious deal!

Nice! A good hammer makes everything easier. You probably already know, but pick it up around the throat, not by the main shaft. Funny looking snow you have down there!

Sizes vary by manufacturer. My Perkins 4e is the size of the Indian made #6. I'd buy the biggest you can afford and easily run by yourself.

Ask for the Saftey Data Sheet to find out what's in it. Some of the commercially available fluxes claim to have no borax in them.

I also think the 45deg. bars were welded on. The way the paint is failing in that location is another clue. If you wanted to do this with all "traditional" joinery, you could split a larger bar into a 4 way intersection, then slit&drift the intersection on the diagonal for the 45deg. pass thru. It would turn the swelling of the pass thru onto the diagonal.

Cut the claws off and you can forge the heads into adze blades, makes a nice little bowl/carving adze.

Cabinet handles and started a fire screen.

Boilermakers.