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I Forge Iron

Charcold

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Everything posted by Charcold

  1. I have a "9" Vulcan from the same year, "42". What Thomas said, NO GRINDING. It's hard to even judge what's left of the steel face on mine, it isn't much. But it's working well enough thusfar.
  2. When I told my grandpa I was thinking of starting blacksmithing he walked out into his shop and brought back a cheap 20-ish lb cast iron ASO from Harbor Freight or similar. "Here this will work great" he said. It didn't work great, it had very little rebound and was soft under my hammer if I missed. But it was free, and got me started at least tooling around. Also, that soft face showed me EVERY time i missed a hit. A dent clear as day. Later I received a piece of RR track, turned it on end and tried that. Then I got a nice old power hammer base that works for a decent post anvil. Now that I have these better tools as well as a proper anvil I appreciate the rebound increase and better work surface I have, and I'm better trained not to miss hits and scuff up my anvils.
  3. I did find a similar example listed on another website: http://www.antiqbuyer.com/All_Archives/MISC-ARCHIVES/collections.htm Someone mentions in there that: "looks like it would accept a hammer handle. Never saw that one before! "
  4. I didn't intend to be mean at all, rather making a lighthearted joke.
  5. Old in terms of an anvil is sometimes 1700's and back, I believe that's what was meant. Unless it's been buried in that shed since the revolution
  6. From one beginner to another let me suggest perhaps looking at flea markets or swap meets. That's what they're called here in the states, not sure if they even exist in AUS. Basically a bunch of people selling antiques, tools, random stuff in booths. Failing that perhaps garage sales. I have gotten a bunch of chisels, punches, hammers, and such at these for very very cheap. Most of the hammers I paid 1-2$ US for, most of the chisels and punches 0.50$. Also I can't suggest the "Abana controlled hand forging" program enough as someone who's currently working my way through it. Good diagrams and descriptions with a heavy emphasis on safety.
  7. Congrats! I logged onto c-list a few weeks back and saw what looked like a 80-100ish lb anvil listed 75$ cash. Was in decent shape but painted entirely red except for the top work surface. Sadly no phone number was listed and the auto-email router didn't work for me. It hasn't been re-listed so my guess is someone scooped it up instantly and the seller edited out the phone number but left the ad up in case the buyer didn't show. Someone got a great deal.
  8. I attempted to scale these pictures and take measurements off of them in cad. I am pretty confident in the results from the top view, as that includes a tape measure. However the side view would be a rough best guess as I can't see where that tape measure is starting from to get the 21.750" measurement. At a 1/4" or so over 10" tall by my rough measure the height listed by the seller seems a bit short. However that width listed seems farther off. By my measure it's 4.5" wide per that tape measure. As to the pattern, age, usage with the dip in the face, etc. I can be of no help. I'm also less than helpful in terms of weight, but perhaps with some better ideas of dimensions someone else can chime in.
  9. That dovetail repair method sounds incredibly interesting!
  10. I think that's exactly what I'll do, have them make one, see how it fits, and then if I like it just have a stack made. I'll get some solid dimensions tonight and have it made this week hopefully. Will update with some pictures once it's done
  11. there's a great idea. skip the tab on the step altogether and wedge it. Seems like that would make for a tighter fit and simpler design! Thanks
  12. HAHA that's what I'm picking up on! It's simple from the perspective of our fabrication potential in house. all 90 degree bends and a pretty basic flat pattern that the laser can handle in no time flat. We on occasion have to make much more complex things with a 1/32" tolerance or less. But it's fairly overkill design wise from a blacksmith's perspective for something that's sacrificial and temporary. ty Glenn and JHCC, good things to consider
  13. thanks! that's true i'm sure it will get used up pretty quickly. I may still go ahead, just because it can be fit in on a sheet pretty easily with our regular fabrication schedule without any problems. we cut a lot of pieces with sacrificial "slugs" in the middle that are then cut out after rolling for radius'd pieces. I can fit this 1/2 a sqft piece right in there and do the work on the brake press myself. If for some reason the shop head hassles me for a bit of cash i'll skip it though, and just grab something out of the scrap pile instead. Thanks for the advice
  14. I am planning on making a plate to fit over the top of my anvil to protect the face (what's left of it) while doing any punch or chisel work on it. I am blessed to have a fabrication shop downstairs at work that can do this no problem, I'm just curious what thickness of steel I should go with, and perhaps the base material. As this is a sacrificial plate I'm thinking regular mild steel, versus a more hard stainless steel, would be best. We stock 16 ga. (.063"), 11 ga. (.125"), 7 ga (.188"), and 1/4" thk. plate that would all be available and bend-able in our brake press. I was leaning towards the 7ga material, mainly because we can cut up to that thickness on our laser, versus using the waterjet with a bevel on the cut and a larger chance of a burr. As for the design itself, very simple. Just a plate with 4 lips bent down. 2 over the sides of the anvil, one down into the hardy hole, and one small lip just over the step. About a 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch wiggle room or more all the way around is what I was thinking. Not a tight fit but not something that's going to wobble off either. Something like this:
  15. The two reasons i've read people do this is to reduce the ringing noise and to prevent the anvil from walking with the extra weight. I can neither confirm nor deny either reason, but I can confirm it looks bad xxx. I've also read someone suggest that making a chain is good practice for a beginner on a number of techniques, but most especially forge welding. As your chain gets longer it serves as a visual aid of your progress getting better and better. Around an anvil would be a good place for a chain with many weak links from the learning process methinks.
  16. Thanks for the advice all, I will get a proper measure on bringing it up to knuckle height and add some risers. Will add some casters so i can tilt and roll it as well to save my back. Hit the front with a wire brush last night and I can see a faint "9" on it, so it's a confirmed 90 pounder
  17. Long time since I've last posted because it's been that long since I've been able to do anything but plan for a wedding! We had the bridal shower last weekend and my grandparents surprised me with an old Vulcan (80lb?) from a family member's barn. It came mounted already on the stump and appears that someone drilled holes in the feet long ago allowing for lag bolts. With a level on the face it looks about dead on so I have no plans to remount it unless the stump starts to show some more worrisome cracks. Only had time yesterday to heat up some rebar and try out a few simple tapers and simple bends with the pritchel hole. She's seen a bit of work but seems to have very solid edges other than a small knick on one side. The horn is smooth and the surface is pretty flat. Face dimensions are 3.250" x 11.750" or so, with a 1" hardy hole. I was surprised at how quiet it was when working, then looked online and found that these cast iron body Vulcans are notoriously quiet. My neighbors will be pleased! After messing around forging a bit I lightly wire brushed off the top of the anvil with a bit of oil. I'm thinking about using some tool oil of some kind on the body of the anvil just to prevent any rusting moving forward, and I'm open to any advice on that. I've read some suggest doing nothing, applying a bit of oil, or painting the body. I have also read the faces can get quite thin so I have no plans to do any grinding at all on the face. It's a bit pitted but the power hammer base is dent free if I would ever need a perfectly flat face. The other picture is of my other recent pickup. It's a base to an old power hammer that I was told was from the 30's or so. It weighs right around 85 lbs, and is about 9" x 8" obround. Built a stand out of some 4x4's and some 1.5" sq. deck railing boards. The base has a key on the bottom so it was fairly easy to built a stand for. Seems like this will work great for chisel work or anything larger, and it's a very hardened steel with good rebound. When I first got it a while back I heated up a railroad spike and flattened it out a bit just to see how working on it would be. Much improved over the railroad track on-end and sledge hammer head that I was using previously. On a personal note I'm still doing mostly reading and working my way through the ABANA Hand Forging program a chapter at a time when I get the chance.
  18. Nice looking knife! Did you grind off all the teeth of the file before forging?
  19. Hi Everyone! I live in a little town called Pickett in Wisconsin outside of Oshkosh. I'm a 28 year old male and mechanical draftsmen by day. I have just recently started with a whitlox mini forge, hand crank blower for heating. I have a nice post vice on a thrown together stand i need to replace! And I'm using a combinaton of a 3 ft sect of rail on end and an old hard sledge hammer head in the profile of the rail lashed in place which is considerably harder than the rail. I generally use the sledge but the rail is nice for shaping. I'm still green as grass but I've done a few easy projects and am reading my first of many books now. I'll try to post up some pictures of my setup and projects when i get a chance.
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