MC Hammer

I'm way too young for the hip replacement as well and I could go with the resurfacing to preserve my activity level. I think I'll make myself a really cool cane to use after the walker can be set aside. MM I hope the recovery goes well and that you are back to hammering soon. What amazed me is that when I questioned my surgeon about everything surrounding my procedure he said it was only 30 minutes! All he does is hips, so his team is really sharp. He's a no nonsense English guy who actually took the time to answer my pages of questions and grilling over on the device, procedures, etc.

Looks like you went the resurfacing route instead of the hip replacement if that's the device you had put in. My boss had that done and the recovery is much faster than the full replacement so I'm glad to hear you made it through ok. I hear that working hard and doing all the PT is really beneficial to a better recovery. My boss has to have his blood monitored every year because the device can cause issues with the cobalt.

Wow! I tip my hammer, excellent work.

That's a big piece of rail! It will work until you get something better.

I'm going to try to see if my surgeon will give me the hip bone he cuts out so I can make a knife handle to keep out of my own bone. There might be laws against that though. Heck, it's my bone, I should be able to do what I want with it. Probably go with a flint blade for this one and a metal blade for the second one if it needs doing some day. I know a flintknapper that made a knife handle out of a certain reproductive purposed actual bone (hope I kept that G rated mods) out of a walrus and it was so funny to see people handling it and commenting about it and then he told them what it was made out of and they would just get this look on their face that was truly priceless. I bet a get twice that when I tell them it's my actual hip bone

I'll pray for you MM. I was supposed to have my hip done this month but have pushed it until next spring. Everyone says you will wonder why you didn't get it done sooner. Someone I know just got hers done on a Wednesday and felt good enough to go to the office and work on Friday. She says she just can't believe she has no pain now. I'm looking forward to having no pain in my hip, and I'll be thinking of you today and praying for a speedy recovery.

I like how you managed to forge a very nice hammer without all the proper tooling. That showcases the fact that the tools do not make the smith, but it's the skills and knowledge of years of forging that makes the most difference. Though the proper tooling makes the job easier, you proved it's not necessarily needed. You did a fine job and anyone here would be honored to have that hammer in their rack of hammers. With my flintknapping, I have a couple of decades of experience with it and one day just decided to try it left handed. Though my muscle memory was not there with the left hand, my skills and knowledge still allowed me more success than I thought I would have.

Starting your first forging project as a knife is a tall order for anyone. Looks like your forge is working very well, just be careful that you are getting enough ventilation in there because of the CO that can build up. That's pretty good for a first knife. I've been forging for a few years now and am just thinking about attempting a knife. I wanted to learn some skills before diving in. My only criticism would be that it's really thin. Many here forge their knives thick and grind or file to the blade thickness they want for the end product. This helps keep the knife from warping as much. Then of course there's the normalizing, quenching, and heat treating steps after it is forged - there's a lot to it besides the forging. Wait until you get an anvil or an improvised anvil. You'll think you died and went to hammer heaven Keep hammering, you are doing pretty good. Others with more knife making experience might have more to say that would be more helpful.

Well, since we are sharing. Here's my new temporary set-up until I can get the shop addition built. The forge rolls out the door but everything else can stay where it is finally! I used to have to roll everything outside through the garage door. I just cleaned, so it was a terrible mess before I switched everything around

Sam - take some pictures of your anvil from the top, both sides, each end, and the bottom. This will help the many experienced blacksmiths here have the information they need to answer your questions. Johns above advice is right on target when it comes to value. There are 4 values out there for anvils generally. The first is the going scrap price for steel. The second is what a blacksmith who intends to use it will pay. The third is the collector market and IMHO the fourth is the Ebay/Craigslist market. From 1-4 the price increases. Most here won't pay the prices demanded on Ebay and Craigslist these days and sometimes collectors will pay extremely high prices for a rare anvil in great condition. I was told my anvil was worth $900 or more in the collector market yet as a blacksmith who uses it, I'd never pay that much for it and don't believe it's worth that kind of money. To most blacksmiths, the anvil is an important tool that is cared for so it lasts. We take care of our tools with the anvil being one of the most important.

Thanks for the correction Fatfudd. I should have just grabbed AIA and checked. I knew someone would know for sure.

I love it when the posting says "Rare blacksmith anvil a few hundred years old.........." and you see a beat-up version of one of the cheaper brands of anvils. Then you see the listing price of $400 with a comment stating "I've seen ones like this selling for $600" as if that makes you feel better. I'm just glad I found this forum before looking for an anvil to purchase. It helped me avoid overpaying and buying a piece of junk.

Jeremy - yeah a garage floor will suck the heat right out of an object and concrete is very soft when compared even to mild steel. See if you can make it to a scrap yard and find a steel block a couple of inches thick until you can obtain an anvil. We have a whole thread about improvised anvils:

Nice anvil Dece and am glad you are getting the tools to have a good start. It took me over a year to find a decent anvil, post vise, tongs and hammers. I'm still working on making all the punches and chisels I need right now. I hope you are able to fix the forge and look forward to seeing you post pictures of the good stuff you are making.

Looks very nice. Doesn't it feel good to make your own tools? I know I get a lot of satisfaction out of it.

I believe the arm and hammers were made by Trenton. Let us know what the results of the ball bearing rebound test are. The rebound test lets us know how hard the face is.

Welcome Gramps! You'll find a new obsession with forging and I wish you the best. Read a ton of stuff here on this forum and you'll be all the better for it. If you are looking for the challenge, certainly building your own forge will supply it but I recommend just buying one. It comes basically ready to hook up to propane and go. If you follow the threads on forge builds, some guys spend a loooooong time trying to get their built forges working on their first build when they could be spending that time forging hot metal. You can build one for a ton less money if you follow many of the plans laid out in the threads. Welcome aboard, and don't mind us if some of us get grumpy with people once in a while. As a whole we are all guilty of that but you'll never find a better group of people than here. The wealth of knowledge is just something that you can't believe until you tap into it. I've only been at this for a few years now, but most everything I've learned has been from reading and from here.

There's been times my wife says I smell like metal and leather after a heavy period of forging, so perhaps you are onto something Frosty

So did you mill the top of the anvil to get it flat and smooth Lars? Did you grind the edges to make them square? Maybe I'm missing it somehow but I'm not really grasping just how you repaired this anvil based upon your posts.. Please give us a step by step on how you repaired the anvil if you don't mind. I think maybe we could all learn something or maybe you have some methods that we don't use over here. I think that's what folks are wanting to see posted. The thread got a little off-track.

I like it, you did a fine job. Get some brass tacks and put them down the side and it will really dress it up.

Sure looks like a German Trenton to me. It has the steps on the feet and the weight stamp right in the same place as mine. If so, it was made before 1898. I think it's on the early end of the German Trenton's like mine is. They were most likely made in Germany by Herman Boker and imported to the USA. Here's a picture of mine for reference.

That's interesting George. Makes sense and I hadn't thought about the edges possibly getting more brittle due to the water gushing like that. I learn something new everyday here.

Well said John.

Yes Lars, tell us how you restored that anvil. We are interested in the process you went through to get the edges sharp again rather it is everyone's preference or not. My relatives came from Ireland and were presumed to be weavers over there. Once we got here we quickly became revolutionaries. One of my relatives hung out with Sam Adams and that crew. Both sides have a heavy presence serving our country. When my uncle did our genealogy he found pages of relatives that served in every war we've had here. I had relatives from both sides of the tree serving in the Union army at Gettysburg. As close to royalty as I can claim is that one of my relatives held the pen that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation with. He later donated the pen back into the care of a museum. All very interesting, but I'm just regular common folk I guess and I'm just fine with being a peasant. Someone has to get their hands dirty

Blacksmiths over here certainly dressed the sharp edges of their new anvils. I would assume that if peasant or farm blacksmiths over here managed to accomplish this that our European counterparts had also figured it out rather peasants or aristocracy or somewhere in between. If you say Trenton anvils were peasant anvils, then your repaired anvil must have been more upper crust I would have to assume. How'd the edges get a nice radius on them? Surly you can give an educated guess as to the age of your repaired anvil. Even if it's only 50 years old, somehow the edges went from sharp and new to how they were when you found them. My point is simply asking how it got that way and why none of the smiths who made their living from that anvil saw fit to make the edges sharp. I'm really not trying to disrespect you or the fine job you did repairing that anvil, but you seem really defensive. I really enjoy my peasant Trenton anvil and am honored to be her most recent caretaker. I found her in a trailer covered with a tarp and brought her to her glory.