HammerMonkey

Congratulations grandpa! Welcome to the newest member of your tribe!

Thoughts and prayers going out.

A newbie with questions... I have a Majestic 2 burner forge that I will using for bladesmithing. I would like to attempt to weld with it too eventually,  and I am wondering if there is any benefit to coating the ceramic liner with a reflective treatment such as ITC 100 or Plistix? Or is this something that should never be done at all?   Will it make it gooder?

Either is fine. I’m on days.

 

I build airplanes, airforce tankers and freighters. Shady, looks like we have another thing in common. We should meet up sometime.

Nice... Where are you? EMC, Flight test, EDC, Factory?? Meeting up would be great! 

Currently: Flight line Airworthiness inspector, AMT-I, Preflight & Delivery - At a large commercial airplane company near Seattle.

Spring 2018: Going to retire and spend my winters on the beach in Puerto Vallarta, enjoying many icy cold beers and grilled shrimp tacos... 

 

I'm a Hardscaper for the last 12 years doing mostly retaining walls and patios  

Beautiful work!

Awesome!

One more pic.

i can't quite make out the maker's initial. Sometimes I see an "M" or an "N", and sometimes it looks like a lazy "Z".

what think you?

The out of focus pic actually shows the mark better than the sharper ones I took... go figure.

 

Beautiful!

I hold my stands like that together with the large hot galvanized bolts they use for guardrails out here---they show up at the scrapyard on a regular basis.  Also the eyebolts from utility poles, my local scrapyard is where the local electrical coop scraps their stuff.  I drilled the holes using an electrician's drillbit used to drill between studs in a wall. (My wood was free oak floorboards from a horse trailer---a very "rustic look"

The pic is not of mine, I grabbed it from the interweb... My base will be a bit bigger and I am using treated lumber left over from my pole barn. 

I bet yours is really nice looking with the oak. I'd love to see a picture of that!

 

Yes on the weight.  Please be sure to run your 2x12's Vertically and not a criss cross horizontal stack!  (We have a CL guy out here trying to sell a chunk of rail on a piece of plywood atop a criss cross stack of 2x4's with a hollow center which he claims quiets the anvil.  I guess he is unfamiliar with drums.....he extols it as "THE BASE IS SUPER STURDY AND HOLLOW ON THE INTERIOR WITH SPACES TO TAKE THE RING OUT OF THE ANVIL" .  12.5" piece of rail with no work done on it mounted on scrap lumber US$100--- I wonder if he's related to P.T.Barnum?)

Yeah, I saw the crib style base online and thought that it kinda defeated the purpose of having a quality anvil...

im going for something like this:

(On edit)

My base has 8 - 2"x12" pieces, offset by 1"  then another 2"x12" on each end that is 3/4" longer to capture the base of the anvil.  The base measures 12 1/2" x 10" which will work out perfect for my stackup.

Ive got the first half glued and clamped up in the shop (my clamps are not big enough to do the entire stack. I've got enough threaded rod to run through the finished pedestal in 4 to 8 places). 

 

yeah, ok. it was pretty a lame attempt. and yes i do know how they actually work.

Hey, I thought it was funny... 

Very cool, thank you!

is the "185" the weight, (as I suspected)? 

I will be removing the old stump an weighing the anvil tomorrow, but after jockeying it around, 185 seems plausible.

So, I got the new anvil home. I took a wire brush to it to see if I could make out the markings.

i was a little disappointed by the auction house as the dimensions the listed were not right. They said it was 33" x 5". It actually measures 30.25" x 4.25". 

The stump turns out to be a dried up cedar log. Very light and severely cracked. I am making a new pedestal out of offset 2"x12"s (a design I saw on this forum).

i did the ball bearing test and got as low as 75% in a couple of spots, but 85% +/- 5% over most of the face.

i took a couple of pics of the markings. Can anyone help ID it from them?

i will weigh it Monday, but for some reason I suspect it will only be 185 lbs ...  

Whatever you change interval is, you can get 4 times the wearability if you follow this pattern...

1. Right side out, label in back

2. Right side out, label in front

3. Inside out, label in back

4. Inside out, label in front

Thanks!

Manners required... no problem

Sanity optional...    Whew!

I'm NW of GF on the Engebretsen Rd. I have heard of NWBA, but I have not contacted anyone yet. I'll look into blacksmith.org too. Thanks for the tips.

 

Nice looking anvil. I'm gonna bet you won't be disappointed when it comes home! Looks like a Trenton, by the way...

Thanks, I'm really stoked!

I've already posted in the anvil forums, and benefited from several knowledgeable fellas with helpful responses. I figured that I should introduce myself before I get too far down the road though. I am just starting to revisit blacksmithing after first being introduced to the art way back in Jr high school. I was fascinated by what my shop teacher showed me 45 or so years ago, but I never had the opportunity to pursue this interest until now. I am just about to retire and I want to learn about blacksmithing and be able to create some tools, artwork, knives, bottle openers, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I don't intend to do anything as a business. I just want to create things for friends, and family.. and most importantly, for my own enjoyment and edification, working just as a hobby.

I've been building a coal fired forge, and I just purchased a good anvil. I've got a good assortment of tools and my welding equipment. I'll probably get started on making some tongs soon. 

It looks like this is a very nice forum where a person, such as I, can learn a lot. I look forward to reading through the posts here, asking some questions, and hopefully making some good friends along the way.

thanks,

Scott

That's great. I was wondering if there was anyone in this neck of the woods.

 

It's easy, go to your name (top right) and it gives a dropdown list, click on profile then up in the RH side there is an edit button. Click on it and a page where you can put in information.

From the anvil picture it looks like you did OK.

Thanks! Got the profile going too.

 

33" long would put it close to 300lbs. That being the case anything under $1500 would be an acceptable price but I have seen them go for more than $2000 because as Charles said

the TV shows are driving the price. If I were going to spend that kind of money I would look at some of the new anvils that are made in your part of the country. Rhino anvils in particular but Nimba anvils also. They are more than excellent.

Well, I won the auction and got the anvil for $810. It was an online auction and I was not able to look at it in person, (or drop a bearing on it). I hope it is as nice as it seems and has no issues. I'll pick it up on Friday and see if I scored or not. 

 

Welcome to the forum. If you put the location in your profile you might be surprised how many of the gang are close to you and we will not remember where you are ten min. from now. In my case that will be when I click on the next thread.

In my area that anvil would bring $700-$1000 if it passed the rebound & ring test and had no hidden damage.

I will try to figure out the profile thing tonight... I'm kinda new to the inter-web as I've only been on the line for a little bit.

Seattle WA 

Anvils are crazy expensive up here it seems...

Thanks, any estimate on value?

I am looking at an anvil being sold at an auction. The seller says there are no markings, and it weighs somewhere north of 200#. It is from an old and well equipped machine shop.

33" x 5" are the only dimensions provided.

any opinions?