George N. M.

it depends a lot on how large the anvil is, by weight. Here in the US used anvils, depending on size and condition can run from about $US 3-6/pound. New anvils are about $US4-7/pound. Assuming that it was about 100 pounds before it lost its heel I'd say that up to $NZ 150-250 is about as high as I would go but you have to decide what your own resouces are and when you may have a chance at a better anvil or deal. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out. If you can possibly do a rebound test before you bid do so. There are some very good anvils which ahve been damaged in a fire or otherwise mishandled that have lost their rebound and are worth little more than scrap value. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Mothman, this is my own aesthetic preference but I suggest either texture all over a piece or not at all or some kind of a pattern done with chisels and punches. The few random spots looks like a shotgun pattern to me. Just my own taste. You can vary a hammer texture by using tools with a different radius, large ball peen vs. small ball peen vs. rounding hammer, etc. or even mix and match the size of the depressions with greater or lass impact and well as different tools. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Cool vehicle, Jennifer. No home should be without one. Particularly those in snowy and wooded environments. As Frosty says, hoods make good sleds. The greater the curve at the front, the better. My 1st car, a 1948 Buick Roadmaster, had a hood with a very deep front which would have made a great sled or toboggan. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Assuming Bayard is talking about New Zealand dollars $NZ 150 = $US 100. As others have said, if it passes the ring and rebound tests it is worth it. I'd buy it for $US 100 in a minute. BTW, rebound test is more important than ring. Some brands of anvil have a sharp ring and others, which are as good, do not. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Natkova, make the tools that you think you will need. If you are making items that need holes make punches. If you are cutting things off or putting decorative grooves in, make chisels. Making anvil tools such as fuller and hot or cold sets usually requires thicker material than common leaf springs but you may be able to design something within the parameters of the size of your material. If I had to start over I'd probably make various sized and shaped punches and chisels to start off. I do like handled tools so that I am not holding the tool directly above hot metal or having to hang onto it with a tongs or vice grips. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Frosty, original mistakes are like Original Sin, after thousands of years folk have explored almost all aspects of both. However, there are still talented folk out there who can come up with something no one else has ever thought of. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Assuming 350# that is US$ 2.51/pound. Not a bad price at all. You would find buyers at that price all day long. Auctions can be strange, sometimes the prices get astronomical if there are a couple of people who want an item and sometimes no one is interested in what is really fairly valuable and the person who knows something about it can get a real bargain. I was once at an auction in Julesburg, CO (very NE corner of the state) of the estate of a guy who was a document and autograph collector and I picked up a document signed by Abraham Lincoln for $350. It is worth about $7-10,000. I was the only one there who knew much about old documents. An hour's drive is not bad at all by Wyoming standards. We'll drive 100 miles for a cup of coffee witha friend. Back when I was single I would think nothing of driving 80 or 100 miles each way for a movie date. Wyoming has been described as a small town (570k folk in the whole state) with really long streets. BTW, if you put your general location in your profile you will get better answers to your queries. A surprising number of answers are geography dependant, even within the USA. Also, there may be other smiths within visiting distances. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Charfox, welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have another vet. We have at least one other TBI survivor. Frosty came out 2d best in an encounter with a birch tree in 2009. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. Very nice anvil, hardly broken in. It has generations of use left in it. I'm going to guess that it is no less than 300# in weight if not more. If you don't mind saying, how much did you have to pay for it? "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Jennifer, I'd take that behavior up the chain of command to his supervisor and or whoever is on the town council from your area (Selectmen in MA?). I would take the attitude that you are coming to them more in sorrow than anger and you don't want Mr. X's head on a platter but this is what happened to you and you don't feel that this is the best way to serve the public. Perhaps Mr. X needs some gentle redirection in serving the public, even those persons in the public that he doesn't care for (possibly you). I would look and speak as professionally as possible which adds to your credibility. Someone in grubby jeans and an old tee shirt is not as credible as someone in nice "business" clothes. That is an unfortunate reality in our world. And it is best to appear to be someone that the person up the food chain will want to help. I kind of wish that I was closer than 2000 miles away so that I could be your "mouthpiece." Also, document all your interactions with the township. When you have an on site visit to your property a video and audio recording of the interaction would be highly valuable. A body cam or Go Pro would be just the ticket. The issue of junk and/or trash is a touchy one. A lot of people say, "Thant's not junk/trash, that's my stuff. I moved to the country so I could have my stuff!" The less visible it is and the more neatly it is stored the more it is stuff and not trash. I used to tell folk that a pile of tree limbs and trunks were not firewood until it was cut, split and stacked. Very often a project car is not a problem but the 4 or 5 parter vehicles feeding the project are. So, the more you can keep stuff stacked and out of site the better. Even a blue tarp staked down over a pile is a step in the right direction. PM me if you want to discuss this further. GNM

Dear Billy, It is almost certainly an igneous rock from outside Ohio. I'm going to have to go into a bit of rock genesis to describe the formation of big crystals like that. Crystals grow VERY slowly. So, to develop large crystals they have to develop deep enough in the earth where the rock is a liquid or semi-liquid for a very long time to allow for crystal growth. So, your rock was either in something like a magma chamber where crystals develop and grow and sink to the bottom of the chamber or in a dike where molten rock was intruded into a hot, solid or semi-solid rock and then took a very long time to cool allowing crystals to grow large. These kinds of intrusions are known as pegmatites. The crystals in the intrusions are much larger than the crystals in the surrounding rock. My best guess (and it is pretty much a SWAG) is that the crystal in your specimen may be black tourmaline (aka "schorl"). It could have been transported to Ohio by glacial action or by human action such as gravel or fill from Canada or a state where there are igneous rocks. That's the best I can do at a distance. GNM "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I set the price of my blacksmithing items or my fee as an attorney based on time, which is the only thing we have a finite amount of in this world. If someone tries to haggle with me I tell them that they are paying the price for a piece of my life given my education, experience, and skill. If I accept less than that I am saying that a portion of my life is worth less than I thought. That almost always stops the discussion dead. That said, I will offer a bit of a deal on ironwork for a large order, but not much. And most of my legal work today is done on a pro bono basis for friends, family, veterans, etc.. These days I am working for love and friendship rather than money. Your customer may be one of those folk who have the philosophy of always as for a discount because if you get it you have saved money and if you are refused you are no worse off than if you hadn't asked. Kind of jerky IMO but you do encounter them. I would have probably said, "No, and if you ask again the rate goes up." You might even put up a sign on your wall saying that if a discount is asked for the price goes up 25%. Most people are a pleasure to deal with but there is always a percentage of jerks in any given group of people. That is actually the basis of most laws. Laws are passed for the ten (or fewer) percenters. Most folk will do the right things but there are always a few who will/can not. Most people would drive in a "reasonable and prudent" manner but we have to have speed limits for those few who would put the pedal to the metal and endanger themselves and everyone else. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Davy, welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. You sound like someone who will fit in here very well. We have folk who have been hitting hot metal for decades and others who are green as grass. Ages range from early teens to late 70s. Education from drop outs to advanced degrees. There is a huge amount of collective experience and wisdom here in many, many areas of human endeavor. About the only restrictions are to avoid political, religion, or other controversial subjects and don't put in anything you wouldn't want your 10 year old grand daughter reading. A fair number of us are your age or older and have various physical limitations. Blacksmithing does not need to be very demanding on your body. You are letting gravity do a lot of the work rather than really forcefully whacking down on the metal. Very often lighter blows will get you to where you want to be faster than really hitting hard. Also, there are various hammer techniques which minimize impact on your body. Holding the hammer lightly and sort of whipping it forward as you swing down is one of them. I strongly suggest that you find the nearest blacksmithing group in your area and attend their events. They love newcomers and there is nothing like in person instruction. Many of us, myself included, started out as lone eagles and that is not the preferred way to to do things. There are some good instructional videos on You Tube (and some really bad, dangerous ones). I like the ones from Black Bear Forge, JPL Services (our own Jennifer), and Torbjorn Ahman (from Sweden). There is a young fellow named Alex Steel who does a lot of videos but I find his presentation style a bit annoying. Also, there are good books around. Being old and old fashioned I like real books. As to your anvil, it is perfectly usable as is. Any restoration if you MUST should follow the Gunter/Schuler technique which involves heating the anvil to several hundred degrees and using hard faced welding rods to build up an new face. It can get pricey and the welder HAS to know what they are doing. Not a job for a hobby of apprentice welder. Again, glad to have you. George Monsson dba Westmarch Forge Laramie, WY

Goods, are you starting out with a pointed piece of angle iron? The top of the story board picture is a little fuzzy. Thx, GNM

Happy Easter to everyone! To the Christians here: He is risen! To the non-Christians and a-spiritual here: Happy Bunny Day! In any case, I hope you have a good day today and every day. Partly cloudy, windy, and in the 30s here. Typical Wyoming spring weather. Had about 1/2" of snow last night but melted off now. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Alexandr, lovely. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. GNM

I really like the aged look. You could believe that it was made decades ago. The only thing that I can suggest, and I can't believe that I have the nerve to critique one of your blades, is to use a rivet set when peening over the end of the tang. That will give you a nice round dome rather than the sort of ragged end you have now. That little thing does not go with the very great craftsmanship and quality of the rest of the knife. It hit me like one out of tune instrument in an orchestra. Respectfully, George

In Eastern Wyoming is a place called "Spanish Diggings" which has nothing to do with the Spanish but are Native American flint excavation pits similar to what Frosty describes in Oregon. A few miles south of there is Camp Guernsey where I spent a lot of time during my National Guard service. I realized that most hill tops were covered with broken bits of flint and realized that they had been used as flint knapping workshops. I can see advantages to the hilltops, good visibility and fewer bugs in the summer. There are LOTS of shards and central cores. I have picked up some of this detritus to accompany fire steels. "By hammer (and hammer stones) all arts do stand."

Alexandr, really nice, as usual. I have a question about the wiring: Is the main, square element of the bracket above the lantern hollow and the wiring is within that piece? Also, is this your or a customer's house? Thanks, George

The smithy is beneath the chestnut tree and the smith is working within the smithy. The first 2 lines set the stage and then the poem goes into describing the smith. Substitute "garage" for "smithy" and "mechanic" for "smith" to get a more contemporary sense of it. It is sort of inconsistent if "smithy" and "smith" both refer to the man. It keeps the meter but that is all. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned using the light on their cell phone. That's what I use much of the time, e.g. looking for something under furniture, lighting my way from the shop to the house on a particularly dark night, looking for a dropped object on the driveway, etc.. It wouldn't be practical for an extended period such as caving or walking a dark trail at night but that is where a headlamp comes in. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Nicholas, to each their own but there is an advantage to having your general location listed besides the possibility of meeting up with others face to face, many of our answers to queries are geographically specific. You might have had different answers if you were in Montana, Alabama, or even NYC. In the years I have been on I Forge Iron, using my real name and, occasionally my last name, I have never had any problems and I have never heard of anyone having any issues or unwanted contacts. In fact, I find the use of handles and noms de internet slightly peculiar. But as I said, however much or little anonymity a person is comfortable with is strictly up to them. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

-Can you do it, yes. Should you do it, no. Because of the larger diameter you will end up with a gas hog and something too large than what is needed for almost all projects. The shell is the most basic and cheapest part of a propane forge. Don't use something too large just because you happen to have it. You will burn up what you save in additional propane usage very quickly. I suggest something smaller, e.g. a 20# propane tank. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

BTW. where in NY state? The answers may be different in NYC, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, or points in between. I second Frosty's suggestion of actually calling on that new fangled device, the telephone. You will get better results and faster. If a company can't help you ASK if they know who can. And Irondragon is correct, many blacksmithing groups buy in bulk and sell in smaller quantities. My nearest coal supplier is a farrier supply outfit that sells 40 pound bags @ $30 which is $1200/ton. Buy as much as you can realistically store. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

The dreaded homonym. The term is "raze" meaning to tear down. As in "They razed the old factory to the ground." "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."