Charcold

Looks like a #16 unless my eyes are worse than i thought. 160# for a 100$ bill, shame about the edge damage. Looks like the one side isn't as bad but might be a candidate for repair. Ive browsed enough threads to think it may be a bit more challenging due to the cast body, but im no welder. Still nice to have a horn that size i suppose. My #9 vulcan has only a few edge chips by comparison and i still do all my work on a power hammer bottom die. better rebound and perfect edges.

From reading a lot of these post vice ID threads you might have an uphill battle without a mark. Maybe someone will recognize a small part of it and know the maker, but it can be an excercise in futility for what you get out of the information. I too like to know the origin of things, but after chasing down rabbit holes I sometimes regret the effort i put into it for the knowledge i gain. Post vices may be in that camp, thus the response you get from many people. Some people don't seem to care for Anvil id, I can understand the logic. Why waste 6 hours researching that could be spend forging. I personally spent a lot of time researching my anvil, post vice, etc. Its something I enjoy but something others don't, thus is life. The vice itself looks nice tho! The pictures you were asked for weren't a useless request. The size of the jaws, shape of the threads on the screw, etc can all tell a tale and potentially lead towards a maker. Let's say for a crude example 4 or 5 companies made that style vice, but none made 5.5" jaws except for 1. Generally when looking for IDs on tools I follow the same guideline as selling something on ebay, more pictures than you can even think of a reason for. What you dont think needs highlighting and spotlighting may in fact be the image or angle that gets you a proper ID. If only you knew how many times people posted anvil photos only to be asked to flip it upside down to see the underside to help with the ID.

for a soft metal anvil it should work just fine to grind a horn into it! Hit the scrap yard in spring for a hard metal anvil and you can use whatever you make for your mother until then. excessive useless quote removed

Too many American Piddler's out there showing off chopped up rail anvils, making people think they cant even heat up steel without first burning through a pack of cutoff discs and a weekend's worth of labor. Usually not the person's fault, its just bad info getting tossed around like crazy. I thank my lucky stars i was told early and often to stand the rail on end and spend less time on a temporary anvil and more time on the more permanent forge, vice stand, etc. As a pet project these mini anvils make sense, but just too many people wasting time on them only to upgrade shortly after, wasting a weekend or more of prospective forging in the process.

Ya I was thinking having a permanent handle/slidebar on there would be good but i can see my shins or knees hitting those weights a time or two!

I am planning a variation of this when I get some time. The slide bar will be a handle, as that's already needed on my stump to tilt back onto casters for moving in and out of the garage plus hanging hammers on. The hooks attaching it will be open enough to remove with similar weights on the other end, so that i can remove the hold down when moving the anvil around. May use a heavy duty carabiner for the connection between chain and handle for a secure removable setup.

Wowza, ya that's a massive anvil to move in and out!

Could be worth a post card or letter as well. People may be more apt to let you if you let them respond on their own time rather than a knock on the front door! 15 year old ANYTHING would be considered new in my grandpa's shop. Maybe if you're lucky they just piled junk and never cleaned it out.

My mother recently moved back from Florida and was complaining about 40 degree weather. Then it hit negative 15 real temp, closer to neg 30 wind chill at times... She grew up in the midwest but 15 years as a Florida resident really made her forget what it's like up here. I'll take negative temps over snow, ice, and sleet however. Rolled the dice on my tires and so far it's paying off.

50# Vulcan, what a great driveway smith anvil! Now all he needs is a vice on wheels, forge on wheels, and a rolling tool cart. My 90# vulcan is getting casters this spring, the round stump can be barrel rolled into the driveway but one of these times i can see it tipping. Also going to add some handles and hammer/tool holders. Been a cold winter in my area, cold enough to keep me from lighting up the forge. I did get to bend some S-hooks in the pritchel last weekend from rebar for hanging odds and ends from the garage rafters. When my wife saw them she said "I didn't even hear you hammering" to which I responded "i'm just strong enough to bend them by hand dear".

In my area an anvil with that level of sway and damage to the heel would be a 2$ a pound or so anvil due to it's age and the mousehole reputation. a lesser brand anvil would be even less, although with the market where it is it's a bit harder to price. Prices that i find insane seem to still be selling. The only thing i would caution would be to make sure a museum plans on displaying it if you were to go that route. Many people have thought their family heirlooms would be displayed and instead they made it into back storage permanently. That's not a general dig on museums, just something to be aware of.

to be honest that guy would have had me at 50, 40 seems reasonable if it looks like it can be disassembled AND he seems honest enough of a guy not to tell a bold faced like that it turned sometime semi-recently. But i've been known to be trigger happy on barters that i could have really worked down lower.

NEW junk china blowers cost a bit more than that, and they will break in surprisingly quick time (source: broken one in my garage!)

My overall point wasn't about blunders in beginning sword making, it was about sword making being a blunder for a beginning blacksmith. But i can sure see what you mean about overheating a blank. My knowledge of sword quenching goes just a bit past what i've seen on Forge in fire, so it's incredibly elementary, but don't you at the time of quench need a uniform heat for the entire cutting edge? I can sure see a trench forge working well for that, with a minimal pricetag to boot. I've pointed people towards that design before on other sites when they're looking for the "try out blacksmithing this weekend" experience. Stick of rebar, sledgehammer head, black pipe, hairdryer, hand hammer. and away u go.

It may also be helpful to include your particular shop's contents and what your experience is in making swords, or machining and forging generally. If you're looking for a really refined finished product but aren't confident in your ability to hand forge it you'll likely need to machine it. But if you're looking for a refined product at all, and are really new to smithing, a Viking sword isn't the right level project to do. That's an incredibly involved project that will likely require specialized equipment you wont have somewhere in the project, be it a forge that can heat the whole sword or a tank to quench it.

I hear you, i have a somewhat similar pin that's hard as heck. Tried a few times to taper off the end to make a cheap and dirty punch tool, was planning to twist a handle on it out of 1/4" rd or so. After a few tries and holding it with the tongs i have I called it a day, the whole bolt is only about 3-4" long and i couldnt hold the hex for the life of me.

Do those wheels spin, or did they at one time? Looks almost like an adjustable linear caster foot. Cant guess why they'd grind away the threads tho, i suppose the weight of whatever is there would be on the jam nuts, perhaps the threads stop that jam nut from binding under a lot of weight so it can be adjusted freely.

Given prices of just about everything in San Fran that could be a good deal. Regardless of the price/lb its either a craftily repaired anvil or in incredible shape.

On vulcan anvils, I own one and it works fine. The rebound isn't legendary but it works fine. They do have a cast iron body however, which means they're far more quiet than steel ringing anvils. If you want to get started working on your skills really all you need is a sledgehammer head as your anvil, or a piece of railroad track. I agree with the others tho, a book or better yet a class would really be best to get a feel for it.

hahha my name on a metal detecting forum is "Foiled" as a play on that very fact. Get's me every time.... I've always leaned towards a serrated trowel personally, lets you cut a perfect "plug" which can make finding items a lot easier. I tried hard plastic and snapped them off every darn time... I've also had my AT Pro coil in water but never been brave enough to fully submerse, also cant really find any places near me that have deep water i'm interested in digging.

If you do head to the beach I suggest first doing this: Go to your local Fleet Farm or whatever farm supplier is near you, buy one of their 3-5$ plastic grain scoops. One of the ones that are entirely boxed in, not the bottom and sides with the top open. Take it home and drill in 1/2" holes until she looks like swiss cheese! Now you can actually sift beach finds, digging for them can be a REAL pain. You might still lose earings and other small items but that scoop will even get dimes. and you can grab a big scoop and swing it over the detector to figure out when u have it. I'd say be prepared for a lot of pop tops and bottle caps but if you're a metal detector you already know that! Also if you plan on taking that garret AT pro into water look up some waterproofing guides. They claim waterproof out of the box but some people notice worse performance if they dont grease up some of the connections ive read

90% rebound on a 50$ anvil. thats the kind of thing people say "I heard of a guy who_____" about for years...

AHH yes didn't mean to connect the two(french clips and this anvil), I don't think this anvil was purposefully altered, if it was the person who did it seems misguided. Was just making a wild guess that since french anvils dont traditionally come with steps that may be the motivation behind the french clip, this is the first i've heard of that type of alteration.

do french anvils typically have a step in them? Could it be a modification to create a step (much less drastic than the on in this thread's OP)? My knowledge of anvils is almost none, and french anvils especially. just a guess

If you've watched a few videos and think that running a power hammer looks fun, and should therefore get into blacksmithing, you may want to re-evaluate. Drawing out a big piece of steel on a power hammer is one very specific aspect of blacksmithing. But to get to the point where you can use that skill you need a firm foundation, which is comprised of smaller hand forged projects to understand the basics. As LBS said, a PH wont help with s-hooks and other small projects which will be about all you do for the first year or two. If you'd like to try just going ahead and running a power hammer to make billets be prepared to ruin every other one of them and have steel cracks open on you. Understanding how metal moves at different temperature ranges is pre-requisite knowledge before moving up to a big rig. Overall my suggestion is to spend 15-20$ to buy Art of Blacksmithing, read it, and decide if its a hobby you'd like to pick up.