C-1ToolSteel

Is it high-carbon? If not, that would make heat treating unessisary.

Welcome Nigel! 250 lbs! Man that's a nice anvil to be learning on! Do you know what kind it is? If you post it up here, we can help you identify if.

Very nice! Looks like maybe a Hay Budden or an Arm and Hammer. Could be a Trenton or something else.

Beautiful anvil, and pretty good deal. I was supprised to se an hourglass base on a Trenton. Goes to show that you can never really make universal statements about anvils. I don't know how many times I've heard people say "If the base has ledges, then it's a Peter Wright.".

Nice. What kind of steel did you use? The few striking anvils that I've seen were mild steel. Next thing for you to do is make a really sturdy base, something set into the ground and welded to your anvil.

Super nice! I really like the way you did the ricasso.

OK. Sorry if it sounded like I was trying to burst your bubble. I wish you luck on the scholarship!

What's wrong with the board? After all, it's all about making the most of what you've got layin around...

I don't want to be stepping to deep into something I don't know that much about, but it seems like this project would involve taking advantage of your schools resources to create an anvil that will end up costing the school more than it would cost to buy a brand new one. What does that accomplish? If you can pull this off in a cost effective way, then more power to ya. If not, I strongly suggest making something that you will look back as a time when you created something out of nothing, not a project that you were able to make because your school doesn't care how much money it costs.

As far as heating vs hammering goes, that all depends on what kind of heat and what kind of hammering. 10 minutes is a long time, but for charcoal, it isn't so outrageous as it would be for coal. In between forging, it probably takes 20 seconds for me to heat 5/8" round to a bright orange heat. I highly recommend using coal if you have acces to any. Charcoal is good for learning, and I've seen impressive things made in a charcoal fire, but if you try real coal, you will never go back. Look on Craigslist. Sometimes you can find it really cheap there. Even free. Just buy a little bit before you buy a whole truck load, so you can make sure it burns well.

I could never begin to list all the knife makers that I look up to. There are so many right here on this forum. Process of elimination?

If you don't have a belt sander, a half round wood rasp is the next best thing. Don't worry about marking up the scales. File the pins completely flush, and sand over everything, pins and all until you have a consistent curve with no flat places. On the other hand, depending on what your going for, you could make it more flat to give it a "primitive" look like many of the ML knives.

Never seen one like that before. Must be a Swedish thing.

I like the design. I would still make the heel thinner, but that's just personal preference. To give give you my honest opinion, I think it's a WAY too ambitious project. With that being said though, I've never made an anvil over 20 lbs, and I really hope it works out for you. One thing you might want to consider is downsizing it to no more than 150 lbs. That would make everything easier, and with the beefiness of your design, you would still have a very substantial anvil.

Great score on that anvil!!! I would probably just pick up a few bottles of liquid nails at Home Depot and just squish it on there. For easy forge ideas, look up "just a box of dirt or a simple side blast forge. The best advice I can give you is to start small. Good luck!

I might have my dad be the striker, but with him being a computer programmer and all...

And you don't have to scold them for it. The steel will take care of that.

I agree with both ways of thinking. We shouldn't keep people from experimenting, but we should offer them advice to keep them having fun. There is no place for scolding someone for "wasting steel".

Yeah. When you try to start out on knives and find out that you have to heat treat it, but it's different for different carbon contents, and even with different carbon contents, there are other factors like chromium... , It gets really confusing. I remember having to take a step back and learn how to make an S hook. Once I did that, it was fun again. No heat treating, no smiley face bevels, just fun at the forge.

We were in Dickinson. How bout next year after I finish my Thanksgiving turkey, I'll head on over to your shop and spend the afternoon making hammers. On the other hand, it may not sit well with the rest of the family... I'm planning on making some variation of a spring fuller for spreading the cheeks. Are you going to wait till you have someone for a striker?

Very nice!

A+++

Too bad you're in Texas. Hey, we just went to Texas to celebrate Thanksgiving. Maybe next time I can swing by and we'll make some hammers. We could take turns being the striker. Sound good?

Yeah, a guillotine would be nice. Is it just me or is it kinda wierd to have a striking anvil and no striker?

I like it. If you wanted to, you could even cut a hole through the back for heating the middle of longer pieces.