MC Hammer

Sure looks like a Mouse Hole to me, especially with letters we can make out. Do us all a favor.....take that long stake out of the Hardy hole and don't ever use that to pound on while in the hardy hole. It will keep wedging in there putting pressure on it and you could crack or break off the tail. That thing was never meant to be in the hardy hole. I think I read somewhere that Mouse Holes get between 65% and 70% rebound on average - some more some less. I'm sure someone will chime in and say their MH gets 90% rebound returns, but it seems somewhere I read that the 70% number is more common because of the miles they have on them and the methods use to produce them. I could be remembering wrong. She's got some life left in her for sure, just treat here real gentle in the sense of not using sledge hammers and such. Better than the first anvil I ever used.

You know, that's a dang good idea Grumpy! I'm getting ready to get a stump level to mount a Fisher on and I hadn't thought about that but I like the idea a lot so I think I'm going to steel it.

I second Frosty's comments. Any metal you take off the anvil to make it look "better" or "fix" it is all metal you can't put back on. We'd love to see pictures. Take a steel ball bearing and drop it on the face (top surface) from 10 inches to see how far the ball bearing rebounds back up. Clean the face of the anvil first by just taking a wire brush and knocking off any surface rust. You are looking for a steel ball bearing to bounce (rebound) back from the surface of the face at least 7 inches. This would indicate a hard face plate, which is what you would be looking for. Most of us here just lightly clean the surfaces of the anvil and oil it which preserves the nice patina. Here's a picture of my anvil edges. Notice the edge damage......that's perfectly good and there is no need to address damage like that and you can use it as is. That's what I'm doing. Fixing the edges or the shelf near the horn is really unnecessary to have a good usable anvil.

Acme by the looks.

I think we are missing a key point here. Back 100 or 200 years ago, everything was hand forged pretty much so everything bore evidence of that. To have something bearing no evidence of forging was something special and much desired. So if there are 3 candle holders in a general store for sale and two look hand forged and the 3rd looks flawless and unforged, 100 or 200 years ago I'm betting the more refined candle holder was higher priced. The blacksmith could ask more money for it. Today this situation has reversed. People more often want something that's bearing evidence of it being handmade because, well, everything they see in the stores is mass produced. So today if we have the same 3 candle holders, the ones bearing evidence of being forged may be more desired because hand forged items are extremely rare today. I can buy a hammer at HF for $10, but the same hammer hand forged by a blacksmith will cost me easily 10 times that or maybe a little less. If I'm paying that kind of money as a customer, I don't want it looking like a clone of the shiny one from HF.

I think as long as your criticalness of your work doesn't rob you of your joy forging, than you are ok. If you can't be proud of what you create and enjoy forging it then why forge at all? Finishing is part of that process. If in pursuing that perfect finishing you are left frustrated and unable to be proud of what you've just forged, it could be detrimental to your enjoyment as well. I'm guessing a well rounded blacksmith can achieve whatever finish he or she desires. If it's a rustic chandelier with some scale and a few hammer marks, or a chandelier fit for a fancy ballroom, the well rounded smith can do either with ease I imagine. It's something to strive for. I think sometimes you get so far sucked down the rabbit hole of perfect finishes that you can struggle to make a reproduction of a rustic piece. I imagine some just refuse to make anything not finished perfectly and that's one way of dealing with this issue while others are the polar opposite and don't even try to excel at finishing all the while proclaiming the a true hand forged item should look rustic. Right now I'm solidly in the rustic category due to lack of refinement skills I hope to acquire those along the way.

Well said Steamboat, well said.

I think you pose a good question Jennifer. Much comes down to personal preference and skill level. I personally like stuff to look old. I feel like if I make something that could pass as a handle or latch on the shelf at Lowe's than I might as well go there an buy one. I'm not a fan of forging things and putting hammer marks all over it to make it have the "forged" look, but leaving production marks naturally as you make something is what tells people this thing was forged in a fire and hammered on an anvil. I think what you might be getting at is that people with decades of experience might challenge themselves to make pieces that look like factory made pieces just as something to strive for. I'm ok with that and I"m even ok with the smith who has that as a goal. It's sorta like the smith who makes a knife with a mirror finish and ground to perfection. I like the looks of a well made Bowie knife that looks like it could be 200 or 250 years old. But there again, that's personal preference speaking. I suppose you could make two identical knives: one with a mirror finish and one that looks 250 years old. Which is considered finished? I think the answer would be both. The other question would be which is considered finished to my preference? That'd be the one that looks 250 years old. My preference wouldn't make one more finished than the other. Then one must also consider the purpose of the forged item. Something quick and dirty to be used in the shop doesn't require meticulous finish work like a door latch that's a reproduction for a historic house or museum. I needed lantern hooks because we lose power a lot at my house, so I spent some time on them but they aren't elegant but functionable. I could have done all sorts of scroll work on them, but I just didn't really want all that. My dining room is very simple and they are mounted on hand hewed beams so I was going for more of a homestead look to them - utilitarian so to speak. I'm glad I made them simple because the fit the decor. The one I make for the living room is going to be more like a fireplace crane so that will be fancier because my living room is a little more fancy. I hope that makes sense.

It should have rang. Here's a picture of my rusty Trenton when I bought it and it rang all over no matter where I tapped it. You were wise though. Those tests saved you from a costly mistake. This is how good I had to clean mine to get a good rebound test, but even rusty it still was lively.

Evvvvvvrey rose has it's thorn Couldn't resist. I think that's a fine rose, especially since I've not even attempted one. I see some guys using the precut sheet metal forms and wonder how many of the absolutely perfect roses being made are being made from them. They look difficult, but something I'd like to try.

I'm in this club for sure! I learn a whole lot when I have to fix all the mistakes I make.

Glad that worked for you. Did you use ashes or just dirt?

Ouch! Like you, I read everything I could on this forum before looking for anvils. It helped me avoid a costly mistake. The Trenton I got is an old German one and it has 90% - 95% rebound. It's got some minor edge chipping and a little sway up toward the end of the face plate near the horn but I only paid $1.67 per pound for her in the end. Next one I picked up for 31 cents a pound due to the possibility it may have been through a fire and it had a few other edge issues / a tiny torch mark. At $50 for a 160 pound Fisher, I wasn't going to pass that up. Glad I didn't because after a clean-up she was giving me 70% - 75% rebound which tells me she's still pretty hard and plenty usable.

I think acceptance is the only remedy for the above statement. Seeing a shortcoming and obsessing about it will just rob your joy in this great craft. If you acknowledge the shortcoming, resolve to do better on the next one, and accept the work that has the shortcoming, you'll still have joy. A friend of mine will finish something with a flaw and be disgusted. For him it's all or nothing - it's either perfect or worthless. He has no joy and lets the expletives fly with the least little set-back or problem. Some days I wonder why he even flintknaps. One of my mentors has a 3 strikes and your out rule. When he broke 3 points in a row, he'd just hang the tools up for the day and come back the next day. That kept his joy intact and he pretty much figured his concentration was shot by then. It's a good principle that I've adopted. One reason I love blacksmithing so much is that you can fix things and worth them until you are happy with them. Stone isn't that forgiving.

Kevin - I totally understand. As a flintknapper I want that perfectly proportioned blade with evenly opposing flakes in an eye pleasing pattern. It rarely all comes together for most flintknappers. I've chased fixing imperfections and made things worse as well. As I season I realize that this is what the stone has given me and work with it. I've knapped with others who think that if it's pointy and could have killed something then they hit a home run and their work never seems to improve. I think good artists and craftsman are hard on themselves and it pushes us forward until we reach the limits of our capabilities. Something I did early on in my flintknapping career is to save my very best work for me. I have keeper cases and when I make something truly that is my best it goes in the case and a lesser one comes out to sell. That lesser arrowhead was at one time my best. I do this because artists tend to not own their best work so at shows people can see my best work displayed. I suppose if I were a knife maker I would do the same thing so long as it wasn't someone's special order they've been waiting weeks for Another thing I do is save my firsts. I have my first slug successfully punched out of a piece of hot steel. I have my first S hooks and so on.

That's good to hear Graywall. Please keep us posted as you use it. It's always good to see repair results over a period of use. If you have no problems it might help others to know what rods were used, etc......likewise if something goes wrong we can all learn from it. I hope the repairs last for you and that you get many good years of use out of it.

Second what Das said. Cleaning the face of rust will give you a more accurate drop. Take a yard stick or tap measure with you and drop the ball bearing from 10 inches. You are looking for a 7 inch return at least. Do it in multiple places. The drops toward the heal (back of anvil where hardy and pritchel holes are) will have a lower drop return so don't let that worry you too much. Ask the seller first, and if they say it's ok give that face a good cleaning with the wire brush and then take a cloth and wipe off all the rust dust. It looks like a very nice anvil, but make sure to do the above testing especially with anvil prices being so high these days. The only thing worse that paying too much for an anvil is paying too much for an anvil that has little rebound and obvious problems. Good luck and make sure to let us know what happens. It looks like it could be an early German Trenton. If so, the weight will be in pounds between the feet on the side where the diamond Trenton logo is stamped. It also won't have a serial number stamped on it anywhere.

Don't neglect looking for a steel supplier in your area. I was just at HD and a 6 ft section of flat bar 1/8" x 1" was $10. You think "Hmm, only $10 that's not bad." My steel supplier sells a 20 ft section of 1/8" x 1 for $10. Make sure you ask for hot rolled and not cold rolled steel because hot is cheaper. The cold rolled steel is of no advantage to a blacksmith because once it goes in the forge you lose all that. So....you are paying double at the big box stores. I don't like forging rebar, but I did make a couple of doll stands from it because the piece of scrap I had planned to use was too small. I had to hammer off the texture which took longer than forging the doll stands. You'd be money ahead to get a 20 ft section of steel from the supplier and then you have plenty of tong making material.

Did the welders preheat the anvil?

Sometimes it's the imperfections that make forged things different from punched out things at the hardware store. The mark of a true artist and craftsman is seeing all the mistakes practically nobody else sees, but he or she also knows the work is good though. I know a guy who is so critical of his own work that he thinks everything he makes is junk and he's constantly in a state of frustration. In short, he's not having any fun along the way. My thinking is to enjoy where you are at. Strive to learn and perfect and make better things, but don't rob yourself out of the joy of what you are making today. I kept my first ugly S hooks. I put them on a welcome sign right as you walk into our place. They aren't that bad, but they aren't that good either. I smile at them though and think about just how much I've learned since I made them. Things I'm making now will look pretty bad 10 years from now. You are blessed to have a friend that gives you quality tools. You'll have to remember this generosity when you are bringing someone into blacksmithing and then it's your turn to pay if forward (PIF).

I just normalized a hay rake tine made into a steel striker. I used a bucket of white ashes from the stove. I plugged it right in there and put the lid on it. Because it was so thin, by the time I cleaned up the shop it was annealed. It was still hot to the touch, but a file easily dug into it. The ash bucket works, but just make sure it's all white ashes without anything in there that could catch on fire. My ash bucket is an old family hand-me-down from our wood stove heating days so the lid seals the ashes off good from oxygen. I'd want that kind of set-up if I were going to walk away and leave it and walk away.

My Diamondback has a front door that closes when I'm not using it. The reason I bring this up is that I do not see a door for yours and I notice a HUGE loss of heat when my door is open forging odd shaped things. You may want to block off part of that opening when just forging small things. Does the back open up so you can pass long pieces through there?

I've always just given the anvil a wipe with clean and new 5w30 motor oil. After every forging session I just give the anvil a good wipe-down. When I clean up tong purchases that are all rusty, I do the same thing after the wire brush wheel on my angle grinder. I've never seen the rust come back and my tools are in a basement workshop where anything rusts if left around there too long. I think it's one of those things were many different things work, some better than others. For me, it's just cheaper and easier to do the wipe down with oil I have around the shop. I think as long as you are keeping things from rusting you are accomplishing the goal. With all that said, rusty anvils still move metal For me though, I've always felt that rusty tools give the wrong impression to those who don't know anything about what we do. I'm of the camp that says "Take care of your tools and they will take care of you."

Correct on the ability to spread. I only use my wood or rawhide mallet to move the hot metal. I was thinking more of the body of the cobra. You could adjust that pretty easily with a rawhide mallet.

Don't forget to band up your stump with thin bands or it will split over time. One on the top and bottom works just fine, but don't screw them into the wood yet. I bolted mine together and when I stop having to tighten it at all then I'll know my stump is pretty much not going to shrink anymore. It's been 2 years and I think I'm just about ready to put the bands on permanently.