Nathan Stanford

Lol. My mom had me tested and horse wasn't one of those. Just didn't know if was too hard of a wood for a mallet.

I now this is not about a regular hammer, but I'm making a wooden mallet for fine tuning my work. This is to avoid scaring from metal hammers. Is walnut an okay material for this use? It's what I have laying around and seems to have decent weight to it. Any feedback is welcome and appreciated. Thanks, Nathan

Frosty, I wanted to thank you for this reply. It prompted me to seriously look for a blacksmithing group in my area. Tomorrow I'm going to my first hammer-in. Having educated myself thru YouTube, forums like this, as well as trial by fire (pun intended), I'm excited to actually meet other blacksmiths!!

There has been weld slapped on top of most of the stamp (which makes me sick). The weld doesn't look to 'sunk' in all that far. Any ideas on how to 'peel' it off? I'm afraid to try an chisel it away bc I don't want to do that not be successful and come to find out there's a good way to do it Do you know where to find the history of this forge? I'm very interested in learning more about Mousehole

This railroad track with coil spring "horn" is what I used for 2 years.

So as I was reading up on Mouse Hole anvils I came across the pre 1835 anvils were made without a pritchel hole. Later some had pritchel holes punched in them. I was looking at the bottom of this pritchel hole and it seems to be flared. I added a picture of this as best ad I can. Does it look like this is an after market hole to anyone?? Also, a picture of the completed anvil. Not the prettiest thing, rebound is only about 85%, but its functional. Thanks to all who have given me input an tips bc it put the importance of being serious about the details and not just laying down beads.

I know it was made after 1835 bc it has a pritchel hole. I'm just intrigued as to its history. Apparently Mousehole has a storied past. I just can't find a way to date it. Lol

It seems consistent with the Mousehole made anvils as it has punch marks between the numbers. (I did a little reading online) What do you think? Any idea on approximate age?

The beast part was about the look of the terrifying project in front of me. It's funny how you said no one is picking on me. I was just telling my coworker that the most brutally honest group of people are those in the blacksmithing community. I wouldn't post on here if I didn't think your honesty is with good intentions. Going back to the repair. If it was to get ruined, I probably already did. I heated up the anvil to around 400 like Gunther said to do and started welding. I'm going to finish up anyway and if I can't get a workable surface then I think there's a club down the road. Toward the horn is some weld that looks like it hasn't failed (I can just tell its weld vs hardened steel). I did a bit of a ball peen test before digging into it. Either side of the delaminated area has good rebound, hence why I left it alone. I did grow up welding which is why I'm not cocky to consider myself a pro. I tried doing a rubbing on the side and wasn't real successful. Then again my eye is probably not as well trained as others. I will post a pic when I get home from work later. Any idea about that w? I can't find anything on its significance. Thank you for the advice and keep it coming bc I have avoided many mistakes from this awesome forum. Helps when you are Forged in Fire and YouTube "self-taught". Here is a pic of my anvil that I have used for a year and a half and made some decent creations with. The mandrel sticking up there was for a project. Lol I was hoping this new anvil was going to be rather turn key with minor issues, but it was essentially free!!

I am limited on experience. I have read up on Gunther and am doing my amateur best to follow it to a T. I can't find anything on what the w in the pic below means. It's the only clear marking on this beast. When I weighed the anvil it is 140# if that helps in identifying the anvil.

Someone at some point welded the surface back on I'm guessing and the weld cracked and it looks like rust spread underneath the weld. It has a strange look in the top picture bc I had done some grinding to see what I was dealing with. I have actually removed about an eighth of an inch of steel from the face of the anvil and am working on resurfacing it myself. I don't plan on it being perfect but I am just a hobby blacksmith at this point so anything works better than an anvil with a big chunk of missing out of it. It was my payment for cutting a couple loads of wood for my grandfather.

Any insight into what kind of anvil this is? Has some faint indentations that were letters. It does have a 'W' stamped in the base at the back. Just got it from my grandpa and working on resurfacing and repairing it. Just curious what I've got. Any input is appreciated.

The nice thing is that my garage is not attached to my house. I only spend 3-4 hrs in my garage at a time and I exit it several times during that time. I was scared there for a minute that I was spending too much time in my poorly ventilated garage. Looks like my forge will be around 275 cubic inches maybe a little smaller. I'm just looking to build a cheap, efficient burner to be able to eventually get hot enough to forgeweld and do little projects as well. Wayne, I love the hinge set up that you use on your forges. I am going to adopt this design. From what I have gathered I should be okay making a burner like what Frosty has posted prior and putting it at an angle on the side of the forge.

Oh gotcha...Yeah when I start running this larger forge I will be more aware of ventilation. My garage is about the same size as your work area. I dont have big huge doors like yours just 2 car garage door. So if i get a CO meter then i just open the door when it gets to a high level? You are right opening the doors in the dead of winter in Iowa is not real condusive to wanting to work metal. lol I open the walk in door from time to time but with the small forge I dont have any problem with the ventilation.

The front of the forge being the ventilation? And do you think that Frosty's burner would be a good choice for a forge like this one? My plan is to coat the ceramic insulation with about 1/2" of refractory and then put a hinged door on the front with a hole for viewing/stock. From what I have read, it seems that about 4"x4" opening would be ideal for this size forge.