Francesco Muci

This post is old as heck but I am gonna try and throw it there. I have the same anvil in Italy. 100kg (225lbs) and the rebound is about 90%. The surface of mine doesn't get dinged that easily. 52 hrc is about the hardness of a leaf spring so it is pretty good for an anvil. Now, it looks like the hardness is a hit-or-miss on this anvils as a friend of mine bought one, 50kg and looks like it's softer. It gets dinged easily but don't know about the rebound bc he didn't have a ball bearing. Now, I found an ebay seller in southern california that had them up to 50kg but I am really trying to find the 225 pounder since I really love mine back in Italy. Anyone has any other infos? Thanks

Indeed. Florida is not my type of weather, however, as far as working situation I could not have been more fortunate. My main job, violin making, is rewarded by the friendship and collaboration of a skilled and awesome group of people, in an incredibly nice environment, at the shop where I have been hired. Also, the workshop where I managed to rent my forging space is very well equipped and full of, again, awesome and motivating people. A bit too messy (the owner of the place is a tool hoarder), so I end up tyding up more tha I actually work... but, hey, since when tool hoarding is a bad thing? You should see the planishing power hammer we recently got...

@BIGGUNDOCTORAs a matter of fact I was already a member of this forum but I have been away too long and with the upgrade my profile must have been lost. Not a problem. Yes, I wish I could have done some forging with you also, byt going out to see art galleries was fun too!

Thank you. Feels good to be back!

1) Francesco Muci 2) Saint Petersburg, Florida 3) I am mostly a bladesmith but I am working my way into blacksmithing. Because, let's say it, us bladesmiths don't really know how to move metal.. 4) I started pounding metal about 12 yeats ago. 5) My first anvil was one of those iron weight used in front of tractors to balance when towing big machinery... 6) my first forge was a metal wheel barrel powered by a fan to which I taped a big plastic bag to convey the air to a metal chimney pipe going on the wood fire. Followed by a hole in the ground. 7) My big brother joined me as soon as he heard me hammering stuff. We then built our first forge, epic fail. Then we bought one off a bladesmith who was retiring. Then the fun really started... 8) Not sure what this question means... my attitude about blacksmithing has been always the same. Hammering hot metal and Seeing people hammering hot metal always gave me great joy... but if you mean what sparked my interest... it might have been the first scene from the movie "Conan the Barbarian"... 9) I could say my press... but really it is my Anvil. I am learning how to use it properly, with proper techniques and that really changed my life... 10) Want to start blacksmithing? Get yourself a cube of metal. Mild steel would work just fine at the beginning, as a matter of fact it is probably even better because you won't risk dangerous metal chips flying at great speed into you. You can even have a local waterjet company cut a square hole in it for future hardy tools, you will find that block of steel very useful as a striking anvil in the future. Get a comfy hammer (size don't matter at the beginning) and start using anything, even a bbq grill with a hair dryer attached. Start hammering. Have fun. 11) Take the time to learn proper techniques. It is more worth it than buying expensive machinery. Expensive machinery helps too though... 12) It is a difficult question because lots of interesting things happened to me since I started. But I think most of all, it would be discovering how nice and good hearted is the blacksmith community. BIGGUNDOCTOR;being one of my favourite blacksmithing people. Great person, great heart. Thank you man for all the help!

Hello everyone. Just signed up again, since I have been away from this family way too long so I think my account got messed up through the upgrade. No biggy, say hello a second tine doesn't hurt! Cheers! Fra