MC Hammer

I hope this is not received as brown nosing because my intent it true thankfulness. I just am so appreciative of all the experienced blacksmiths who take the time to share what they know to people like me who are new to it all. You take time to explain (sometimes 50 times a year) things and answer questions. Charles Stevens touched on this sharing. In the pre-internet days it would take years to acquire knowledge which now can be accessed here in an afternoon of reading posts & threads. Sure, reading it doesn't mean you can do it or do it well, but at least you know the correct way to do it. Hats off to the curmudgeons and others who take time to share on here! Thank you.

As a fellow New Yorker I'm embarrassed this guy did this. It doesn't take too long to read up and safely begin forging. Here on IFI it's a constant drum beat to check your local code and laws to see what you can and can't do. It's also quite clear here how to have a safe set-up. FIF should do a whole episode devoted to showing the safety measures. They have 4 3-burner gas forges going at once, they should show how the place is properly ventilated because someone watching will think they can fire up a gas forge in their basement not understanding they could kill everyone in the house very quickly. Another big problem though with FIF is that they show the finalists going back to their home forges. It's the most interesting part (IMHO) to see their set-ups / tools, but a great deal of them quench in PVC pipes which isn't necessarily the best example. Can an experienced smith do it without issues? Yeah lots do, but the problem enters when someone without experience tries it. Also being an upstate NY er I can tell you that it won't be laws against forging, it will be licenses and training certifications that they would do. If it can't be taxed, they will require a license.

Very nice anvil! Not too much sway on the face either. I've seen some MH's with quite a bit of sway in them.

ThomasPowers you make a great point. I have several tools that fit that category. From what I've read so far, blacksmiths of old made tools for jobs that they kept in the rack but may have only used a few times in their career. That's part of what I think is great about forging.....need a tool-make a tool!

My initial thought was that the feet looked like Peter Wright feet. See if your local library has a copy of Anvils in America. AIA pg 111 "On the front of the feet under the horn are usually all types of markings, such as numbers, letters, asterisks, anchors and Roman numerals." Is that anchor stamp located on the foot that is under the horn? My vote is for a PW, but there are people on this forum waaaaaaay more knowledgeable than I am. It reminds me of the PW's made after 1910. Henry Wright also made a similar looking anvil too. You might be surprised what you find if you clean the whole anvil with a wire wheel. I couldn't read the weight of mine until I wire wheeled it. In fact you couldn't even see that there was anything there. Yours looks like it has some layers of old paint on it. Mine actually had grey and green on it though the rust took care of most of the paint but it does obscure the writing. I see that the body has a lot of test punches and chisel marks, but sometimes you can make out one or two letters that will really help solve things.

My recollection of the surface was that it was quite smooth and unblemished like something was over it to protect it. I'll for sure grab a picture next time I'm there. Something else I noticed while there is that it didn't have the cut slot running up the side to give clearance for tongs. He's a picker on the side so he's always getting blacksmith tools in. I plan on visiting him again in December to see what he has picked. While on the subject of mandrels, I see a lot of experienced smiths have them in their shops but they seem to be off to the side and unused for the most part. How many experienced smiths here use their mandrels regularly? I can see that they'd greatly help in making rings of all sizes.

Rangert: Yeah, I thought I'd make a knife for a first project and stopped quickly after learning that 5160 spring steel is much harder to move for a newbie than mild steel. I should have known better having mastered a couple of other crafts in the past. I read a ton more on here and realized I needed to start sensibly with making hooks and simple things first. Those simple projects don't wow people, but they teach you the skills you need to master to be able to make blades someday. I also made the mistake of trying to make a pair of tongs from two railroad spikes. Again, too advanced for a newbie but I managed to get something that would work as tongs. I like to challenge myself, but starting out with too lofty of a project really just robs a newbie of learning the true craft of forging. From one newbie to another, start making hooks and hardware. You won't be sorry and you'll find ways to be satisfied scrolling stuff and making hooks for things around the house. I just made replacement hall tree hooks for a hall tree coat hanger that I stripped and restored. It will be a Christmas gift. I also built a stocking hanger post and forged the hooks for that with some scrolling. It added that heirloom touch that hooks bought at the big box store couldn't have done. I've made brackets to mount equipment and even sold some hooks at a show I sell my other hobby stuff at. I still have that first knife I started work on. Someday I'll finish it when my skills are there and I've put my time in at the anvil.

Now there's something you don't see everyday. Here in NY State you might find yourself getting some heavy scrutiny from the police while walking down the sidewalk with that set-up I like the idea though and the minimalist approach to show you don't need a shop full of tools to do some forging.

Thanks all. That makes a lot of sense. If I return there for more tools I'll let the guy know that it might be.

When I bought my anvil 6 months ago, the guy had a 4 foot tall mandrel shaped wood cone. He called it a blacksmith's anvil, but I would think there would have been scorched marks on it if it was used with hot metal. Anyone ever heard of a wood mandrel being used? Could it have covered with sheet metal at one time? Weird thing to see. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it, but at the time I was distracted by digging through his buckets of hammers and tongs.

Admittedly, I'm a newbie, but I'd dig like a possessed mole to get that Mouse Hole out. It's only your time and some grunt work. I 2nd the idea of getting a chain around it and tugging it out of the pile with a car or truck or something if the guy will let you. Looks like there's some paint on that anvil too. As someone who looked for an anvil for over a year, I would have been happy to dig that baby out just to take a peek at it. Bottom line, make sure you are really happy with the anvil you purchase and don't get robbed by the seller who thinks it's worth more than it is. Check out the AIA book from the local library and study the different anvils out there so that you can talk intelligently about them with the seller.

I understand your anvil searching pains. It took me over a year to find my first anvil. It was in a trailer under a tarp up in this guy's woods. I had to lock in my 4 wheel drive to drive up in there to get it. When he pulled the tarp back, there was a snake coiled up on top of a decent Mouse Hole. I figured the Mouse Hole was spoken for by that little fellow Any plans on a bigger stand for it? That one looks a bit small and tippy. I mention this only because I had a smaller anvil to start that I borrowed from my Dad and the whole operation tipped over on me with an orange heat piece just touching my finger burning it almost to the bone. That was 9 months ago and it didn't take me long to find a bigger stand.

Nice to have the anvil gods drop one in your lap for free! Looks like you will put it to good use.

I saw one a bit smaller than yours when I bought my anvil. The guy knew what he had though and wouldn't throw out a price or even his I don't want to sell this price. Super find. I'm assuming you found a date stamped somewhere on it right? Or did you date it some other way?

JHCC I'll keep that in mind for striking hammers. ThomasPowers that was my thought exactly. Since it will be a struck hammer I didn't think the Chestnut Oak would be too bad. Thanks for confirming that.

It looks harder than putting a rivet in, but you get bonus points for thinking outside the box.

My first pair of tongs were forged out of railroad spikes and they didn't look as good as your retired ones Plugging. In fact, they were so ugly I haven't even punched them and put a rivet in. I plan to just for kicks, but wow mine look bad. Since then I've made better ones.

The wood handles are a good idea.

I have a piece of Chestnut Oak that I used to make a handle for one of my flatters. So far it's held up fine. I didn't see it listed by anyone so I thought I'd throw it in there.

Being an advanced level flintknapper who has taught classes and many students, I can say that some pick it up faster than others. Those with natural abilities in the hand eye coordination dept. do advance quicker. I imagine the same sort of thing can be found with forging. Being a newbie blacksmith, I feel I'm picking it up faster because my hands are used to striking small areas with tools (in flintknapping you have to use a percussion tool to hit a platform on the flint in order to remove flakes). I think your vocation helps as well. I've noticed carpenters, and craftsmen pick up flintknapping quicker than someone who doesn't work with their hands. Something I've also noticed is that people I've taught sometimes never progress beyond a certain level of work. I have a guy who I taught years ago who's still making simple arrowheads that are thick and full of problems. Others are doing work that is better than mine in some aspects. I'll bet the same goes for forging. I will say though that I've taught a lot of people to flintknapp over the years and there is no way I could look at someone doing it the first time and tell you they'd never "go pro". I'm just the opposite, I see people and know they will be pick it up fast and do great things. Others I know will have to work harder at it. I'd never write anyone off whose doing it for the first time. I'm sure some of the old "Jedi's" on here have observed the same things teaching newbies like me.

Thanks everyone for your input on the angled edge of the anvil and for a nice welcome. That was actually my thought that I could use that spot to my advantage like I do with the sway in the sweet spot. I kinda dig the fact that some past smith customized the anvil to make himself more productive. I tend to do that myself. I for sure won't be the last smith to use this anvil and am only it's current caretaker. I can ease all your minds, I don't listen to rap and I don't wear shiny pants. The only thing you can't touch in my shop is my favorite hammer and my Irish roots wouldn't win me any tanning contests. I've been using this anvil since May and the face is polishing up nicely. I'm mostly making hooks and hardware for my shop. Because the edges on my anvil have a nice rounded radius, I had to forge brackets for a nice 40 lb square piece of metal that has sharp edges and a completely flat surface. It works out nice for when flat and square is needed so I secured it to a post to keep it from ringing so loud and walking away while hammering. I also forged L brackets to secure my post vise to its base. Well actually I forged them but haven't had time to hook everything together. The little 70 lb anvil I borrowed from my Dad was shaped like a Vulcan, but had a cast seam running up the horn and through the body but not on the face. What a difference when I switched from the little guy to the Trenton. For the first time I understood what real rebound was.

I've been lurking on this forum for a long time soaking up and reading all the material I can. As a newbie to blacksmithing, I wanted to really try my hand at things before asking questions so I avoid asking the same questions I see other newbies asking constantly. Thank you to all who have shared wisdom, skills, and experience on here. It has helped me enter this craft with much more knowledge than I would have had just jumping straight in. I've been an accomplished flintknapper for 15 years making flint reproductions and some plain artwork. As such, I know that you have to put your time in learning all the small skills before you attempt the larger projects. At a show, my booth was set up next to blacksmith doing a demo. I thought to myself "I think I could really do that." A few years later I set up at another show and, you guessed it, was next to the same blacksmith. That sealed it for me, because I really wanted to give forging a try. I borrowed a junky anvil (couldn't even find anything like it in AIA) from my Dad, and got some basic hammers and a set of pick-up tongs and yes a gas forge from Diamond back. I struggled, but each time I've forged I've gotten better and quicker at things. It was obvious thought that I needed a better anvil. A friend's friend's nephew was reported to have lots of blacksmith tools and anvils. I ended up with this anvil, which after consulting AIA I believe it to be an early Boker Trenton made in Germany. Perhaps Black Frog could confirm that. Reading and lurking here helped me get educated on the differences between Peter Wrights, Hay Buddens, Trentons, and the others. Knowing good prices also helped me not make the typical newbie mistake of overpaying. The guy who sold it to me didn't know what it was and thought it was a Peter Wright, but I found the diamond Trenton logo. The feet steps confused me because I knew Trentons didn't have that feature. He thought it weighed 150 lbs so I took his word for it but felt it was a little more than that. I paid $2 per pound for an even $300. $50 more got me an armful of tongs and hammers. It was suggested to me by a farrier friend to have it machined flat and the edges sharpened. Reading extensively here showed me that was a poor decision and I just cleaned it up with a wire wheel and began using it. Thomas Powers' words of wisdom helped me to work with the sway in it and keep this old gal just like I found her. She ended up being 179 lbs, so I paid under $2 in the end. Here's some pictures of my new old gal. Her rebound is pretty good. I welcome any feedback on how early people feel it is. I got a good idea from AIA that I checked out at my local library, but maybe someone like Black Frog has more information. One question I have is what the machined off slant might have been used for on the trenton logo side. It looks specific to some past smith's work.