Frank Turley

From the shape of the base and feet, I can only say that the anvil is old and it's English.

That was quite an article! Thank you.

This knife was given to me by a collector whom I had helped ID some of his stuff. It is said to be an Argentine gaucho knife, but I know little of gaucho tools. The blade is stamped, WARD SHEFFIELD ??ST STEEL. It looks as though an extension was drawn from the handle and faggot welded on the back of the blade where it stands proud. The blade has a slight concavo-convex cross section, the convex length on the side where the welded extension can be seen. The nice handle appears to be solid. Overall length 9 3/8". Blade length 4 5/8". The question marks indicate where some letters have been obliterated. I assume it was originally stamped, "CAST STEEL."

Japanese hammers have rectangular eyes.

I won't be much help with your gas forge size. However, several years ago, I had Uri Hofi and his then striker, Tsur Sadan, demonstrate for my students for 1 1/2 days. Since that time, Tsur has opened his own smithy. If you could contact him, you would have a wealth of information at hand. Tsur is personable and open and has been presenter of workshops in the U, S. Besides, he told me that his name in Hebrew translates as "Rock Anvil." If that is true, then I am envious.

http://There's less ID info on the old vises than on old anvils, but if you want to send in photos, I'm sure you'll get some educated answers.

I don't know of such a book. There is a good but brief discussion of leg vises on anvilfire. Use the pulldown menu to go to FAQs, then "V" for vises.

A good looking vise with the nice scrolled spring. I wonder where it was made. I sometimes google "etau a pied" which often shows old French leg vises. Also your search engines can look for German leg vises by entering "schmiedeschraubstock."

I say all this just because it needed to be in print. It won't solve your anvil problem. Proprietary brass brazing rod is easier to use than copper because it melts at about 1,600F. There are special alloy fluxes which are available, one called a white flux and one, a black flux. They might serve better than plain borax. In any event, both anvil and face should be at a bright cherry red to allow the brass to flow, and again, steady pressure should be applied once the brass is liquid and is wetting both surfaces to be brazed. Sorry I can't give you a blow by blow description of what exactly to do.

I've done a little homework on these vises. I've been to the UK and Australia, and the Peter Wrights there seem to have a slight chamfer on the legs, whereas the ones imported to the U. S. have deeply chamfered legs. Don't know the reason. I've seen a couple of vises in the U.S. that have "P" stamped before "Wright" on the box.

I used a 250# Trenton for about 40 years. It was my first heavy anvil that I purchased. Got it almost 50 years ago. I liked the horn shape, the slender heel and the deep step, the latter often used as a vee block for shaping. Then Steve Fontanini was passing through town several years ago on his way to an Albuquerque smiths' conference. He called me and said I could have a deal on his 250# "Rathole." (I don't think he uses that name anymore). I said, "What's the deal?" He said that I wouldn't need to pay shipping, as he had several anvils and he would already be in Santa Fe. Anything else, I wanted to know? Well, he had made a sheet metal tray the shape of the base about 4" deep that would hold sand. The anvil would sit slightly into the tray and on top of the sand. He would throw that in gratis. Anything else? Steve said he would appreciate it if I would tell my students about his anvils. The Fontanini anvil has some of the German styling. It has the quadrilateral horn and a round horn, the latter being American ahaped with a belly rather than a straight sided cone. The upsetting block is on the near side with the horn facing left. My helper and I turned the anvil upside down and disc-sanded the side shelf to give it some sharpness. In that way we can forge hot splits on it such as when making barbeque fork tines.

The Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, MA, had one or more fancy anvils. Their collection was transferred to the Worcester Art Museum a few years ago. Some early, nice anvils are pictured in the catalog/book "Made of Iron" published by the University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX, in 1966, It's a beautiful little book which reflected a show that their Art Department put together.

A veritable work of art. I would say, "Not for sale."

Yes, that's essentially correct. Having used such tongs, they grip and dig in when grabbing a hot shoe and not so much on a relatively cold shoe. The short jaws give clearance for working, whereas a long jaw would get in the way. Smiths' flat jawed tongs often have a lengthwise, centered fullered groove. It also serves for a grip on hot iron as well as a place for holding small rounds and squares.

To the left of the farriers' tongs are pull-off pincers for prying off horseshoes.

Probably a replacement. I've seen a couple of Columbians that had the flat spring vee shaped with the apex on the bottom, as installed. I think they were original from maybe the 1940's, but a poor design. The typical single curved leaf spring was a well thought out idea. Being clamped at the top with the U shackle meant that there was less throw at the bottom to open the movable jaw.

Yes the cold hardie is handy. I use a nice one made for me by Tom Joyce.

It's shaped like a cold cut probably from so much sharpening over time. Cold cuts and cold chisels are dressed to 60 degrees, included angle, if intended for cutting mild steel, a greater angle if the material is harder than mild steel. Hafted cold cuts were common in the old shops and were often used with a striker to nick and break small and large lengths of iron and steel. We don't often see anymore cold hardies; they were also fairly common in the day. They fit the hardie hole of the anvil and most had the 60 degree included angle.

Probably a mill pick aka "mill bill" used to chip the channels in grist mill stones.

Granite tool sharpeners' stake. The stake is wedged to keep it from flopping around. It's normally used with a hot-cut hardie specifically made for the pritchel hole. The hammer face is made with an angle to match the angle of the stake, so that the hot granite tool takes a wedge shape between the two, via hammering. The worker can sharpen and cut without having to constantly exchange stake and hardie in the square hardie hole.

Who are the curmudgeons? I consider myself knowledgeable in the field, but a humility sign in my shop says, "Nobody knows 10% of anything." One of my students had a business card that said, "Mechanically Declined." I've borrowed that to talk about me. I am mechanically declined. I have done some mechanical things, only because I wanted to be a smith and I dug for the answers. Years ago, I poured Babbitt for my power hammer by calling around trying to locate Babbitt material...finally found at a windmill supply. Pouring instructions were in a blacksmithing book. Somehow, I got it done. I thought I was hot spit when I learned to change points on my pickup distributor, but then points were becoming obsolete. Therefore, in responding to beginners' questions on the forum, I try to stay clear of mechanical stuff. I know when to be quiet and let the big guys talk. Another thing, thinking as curmudgeons, let us not give so many answers that we feel elitist and wind up culturally slumming.