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kjbarth

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Everything posted by kjbarth

  1. Hi, see this other LINK about the same anvil/post vise/stand combo for some additional info.
  2. Got it and thank you for the re-explanation.
  3. I really like this idea but I can't say I understand the principles for how this works well yet. Is the size of the helium tank ideal for this or will a different size tank work just as well as long as it's not too big? I've got 8 old 20lb propane tanks and an old expansion tank from my furnace that is about 10" diameter by 19" long that I collected when I was planning to make propane forges to use before deciding to go with coal. I prefer forging in my garage but have to roll the coal forge out to my driveway. Could this work as well with a propane tank or my expansion tank or are they too big? I've read some comments on other "super sucker" posts that larger volume cubes don't work as well.
  4. Happy new year to everyone. Thank you to all for your contributions and helping me and others learn through reading your comments and suggestions. I may not actively participate in conversations, but I read most or all of them. Best wishes for a safe and healthy 2019. Ken
  5. Thanks guys. My spark test last night indicated high carbon steel. So I lucked out and made a good deal.
  6. So I picked up some new 2lb bolts as scrap. The seller gave me some info that was on the box but didn't know much about them. He did not give me the box. Unbrako brand, the box they were in had A2LA (which I think is a certification group), vendor code on the box - 66245. ANSI B18.3.1M A574M, Stock no 40418, size M30 - 3.5 x 120mm. Pics below... I googled Unbrako, "A2LA", the vendor code, ANSI code, etc but, unless I didn't read far enough, didn't see anything to indicate what type of steel unless I'm misinterpreting the "A2LA". I was thinking I could make some hammer heads or some other tooling out of these. If they're crap steel, I can just practice hammering on them - I've got 26 of them. If anyone has any ideas what they're made of or how I can figure out what they're made of, please let me know. I was going to bring one down to the grinder to see how the sparks fly. Thanks, Ken.
  7. Thursigar, have you read through the Improvised Anvils thread Charles put together? There may be some ideas in there. If it were me, I'd treat this like a post anvil and I'd get some thick walled round or square pipe that the RR track fits into vertically, weld the bottom of pipe to a 8"x8" or 12"x12" 1/2" thick metal plate, fill partially with pea gravel and tamp, put in your cut RR track vertically, fill the rest of the way with the pea gravel, tamping every few inches. Use metal wedges to wedge between sides of pipe and RR track at the top. You would only need 12" to 18" of RR track for this and if you use pea gravel, you can adjust the height up or down as needed. You could also use concrete and maybe some rebar instead of pea gravel to lock the RR track in place but you would lose the ability to adjust height if that's important to you. Just a thought...
  8. A couple other options for new anvils is Holland Anvil (I have a 190lb and swage block) and Hoffmann Forge (Jymm Hoffmann). Both make anvils out of H13.
  9. Oh, and I'm not crazy to drive all over looking for anvils. My son goes to college in Indiana so I looked out there on one trip to see him and my parents live in NH so I made some side trips on a couple of visits up to see them. BTW, on CL right now there are a BUNCH of anvils for sale in CT. 160lb Fisher $340 Stonington, plus others in Stonington including PW, Hay Budden, Vulcan, other Fishers, plus a bunch in Mass as well.
  10. Nicholas, I've seen plenty of anvils advertised for sale in CT recently and for the past few months. Not sure what media you are using to do your search. If you search CraigsList, you should find a few in CT as well as a few in Mass, RI, and NY which should be within driving distance for you. You can refine your search to look up to 200 miles (I think) from your zip code. Not sure exactly what your budget is but most of what I've seen on CL recently would be within the cost in your original message. You can also look on ebay and there are several facebook anvil forums that may have local to you anvils for sale from time to time. I'm in NJ and I've driven to Mass, CT, VT, NH, PA, and Indiana to look at anvils that I saw on CL or ebay. Even had a guy drive down from VT to meet me at a rest area on the Mass Pike so I could look at an anvil.
  11. Resurrecting an old topic.... Have a 170lb Fisher in a bucket for about 24 hours now and the electrolysis seems to be working well. Can the water and sodium carbonate solution be re-used after skimming/cleaning out the rust from the solution? If so, for how many uses does the electrolysis solution remain effective? I've got 4 anvils and a bunch of hammers and a bunch of other smithing tools that weren't high enough off the ground when flood waters flowed through my garage and shop and I want to get them cleaned up. Thank you.
  12. Trying to determine age of Mouse Hole anvil. Based on what I see of stamping on side, I think it's a 1879 after Brooks & Cooper went back to the M & H stamping. However, there is a serial # on the foot that reads either "15810" or "5810" (I'm not sure if what is before the "5" is part of the serial # or not) but neither serial # seems to match with the stamping on the side per AIA and Mousehole Forge descriptions of stampings and serial #'s after Brooks & Cooper took over. If the serial # is 5810, date would probably be 1880 but then side stamping doesn't match. If the serial # is 15810, date would be after 1896 but the "PATENT" stamping on side should be above the mouse picture. In this case, the "PATENT" is above the cwt stamp like 1879. Side stamping is: M&H ARMITAGE MOUSE HOLE FORGE SHEFFIELD WARRANTED "pic of mouse" HOLE PATENT 0 . 5 . 14
  13. Went to look at this anvil. Seller thinks it's a Trenton or Hay-Budden but I'm not so sure it's either. Seller thinks it's about 300+ lbs, I'm thinking maybe 250. I did pick it up and move it around a little. Anyway, I don't see any stamping or markings on the anvil or anything distinguishing underneath to id the maker. I did not buy it yet but am interested and took some pictures. There is some gray paint on the sides that may be covering up some stamping or marking. There may be some marking on the 2nd picture but I didn't bring chalk to try to highlight better. Anvil is 34 1/2" long, face 5" wide, and 13 1/4" tall. I looked for an hour glass or oval pill shape depression underneath but neither there. There is a shallow depression that follows the shape of the bottom about 1" in from the outer edge and a square handling hole in the middle. I'm looking through my AIA to see if I notice something similar and a lot look similar. Rings all over the top but not quite like my 2 150lb Peter Wrights. Rebound about 80% with spots near horn and heel 60%+/-. Want to see if any of the smart folks here have any ideas as to maker.
  14. Railroad ties are wooden, soaked in creosote, and if they aren't still in use, are most likely falling apart. Pieces of rail which can be used as an improvised anvil may or may not be available in scrap yards, may be available in railroad maintenance yards (if you ask nice), and are definitely available on ebay, CL, etsy, in various sizes (heights/widths) and lengths. Railroad spikes are also available individually or by the pound (in boxes) on ebay, CL, and etsy.
  15. Hi. Wondering if anyone has any information on Lomas Froming & Co anvils made in Sheffield? I think I read somewhere that Mr. Lomas and Mr. Froming worked for Armitage/Mousehole for a while and started their own company shortly before 1852. Curious to know if anyone know what the anvils were made from, quality, etc. My perhaps incorrect assumption is that the Lomas/Froming manufacturing process would be similar to Armitage/Mousehole. I don't have my Postmans books AIA and Mousehole Forge handy (casualties of flooded garage and basement over the weekend) so I can't research there until I replace them. I found some info in a Sheffield history site (sheffieldhistory.co.uk): White's 1852 M. and H. Armitage (& Co.) ironmasters, forgers, anvil manufacturers &c Mousehole Forge and Owlerton Rolling Mill Thomas Binney Anvil maker and smith 54 Holly Street Henry Ibbotson Brown Patten &c. dealer & anvil smith 171 South Street Miles James Mason Fawcett Anvil, vice, hammer &c. manufacturer Sheldon Row; h. 60 Wicker Thomas Henry Fromings Anvil manager (Lomas & Co.) Forge Lane William Parker Spade, shovel, mill chisel, anvil &c. manufacturer Attercliffe & Sheffield William Parker Spade, shovel, mill chisel, chain, anvil, vice hammer &c. manufacturer Pond Forge, Forge Lane; h. Attercliffe William jun Parker Spade, shovel, mill chisel, chain, anvil, vice hammer &c. manufacturer Norfolk Works, 65 Duke Street, Park; h. Attercliffe Joseph Sanderson Anvil maker (S Bros) h. 5 Monmouth Street Thomas Sanderson Anvil &c. manufacturer (S Bros.) h. Ecclesall Road Thomas and Joseph Sanderson (Bros.) anvil, vice, hammer, press, screw &c. manufacturers Vulcan Works, 164 South Street John Hatthronthwaite Winder Merchant and steel, file, anvil &c. manufacturer Royds Works
  16. Both anvils are in good shape, the older anvil actually looks to be in better shape, no visible rusting though there is some pitting on sides. The pitting makes it hard to see the stamping for name, size, and date which are pretty small letters and numbers. Older one looks like it was cleaned and some oil or wax applied. Newer one looks a little rusty but not bad. Tops of both are flat, relatively smooth, with no gouges, a couple of minor edge nicks and gouges but nothing major. Newer one is about $3.50 per pound, older one is about $5.70 per pound. I've been talking with the owner of the older anvil trying to get the price down which has worked some but I am trying to see if he will come down lower. Originally he wanted over $7 per pound. I do have a bit of a sentimental attachment to the older anvil which shouldn't apply but unfortunately it is. I want to go see both of them but they are about a 6 hour car ride in opposite directions from where I live so I can't see both on the same trip. Logically, the lower cost per pound is a better deal when all other things are equal. I'm hoping someone knows something about differences in how they were made in the different years or if early anvils were not as good as later anvils (or early anvils were way better than later anvils). The newer anvil is somewhat (maybe significantly) bigger than the older one and overall cost is similar. I guess in the back of my mind, I"m thinking the older anvil is more rare and may be worth more as a result. But, I'm not planning for this anvil to be a "collectable" anvil, it will go into and out of my shed, not be overly protected from weather, and beat on. I live in a suburban area with neighbors close by and they sometimes don't like ringing from my PW anvils so I want a quieter anvil.
  17. Well, I wanted to leave the cost and weights out of the discussion to try to keep this focused on quality and manufacturing at the time each were made. Both are over 250 lbs and the cost is over $1000.
  18. I'm considering purchasing 1 of 2 different Fisher anvils, and want to see if anyone knows of any manufacturing differences or quality differences based on when the anvils were made. One is an anvil made, I think, in 1847 that has a very small Fisher Norris Cast Steel stamping and another stamping of Patent Oct 16th 1847. The anvil is in good shape and I am somewhat familiar with this anvil so there is some sentimental value which I really shouldn't take into account for a tool. Made in Newport ME before Fisher moved down to Trenton NJ. The other anvil is made in 1919, stamped Fisher, with the eagle raised seal and is a bit bigger. Similar price point so cost is not really a factor. Both are in good shape and I think I would be very happy with either. Just want to know if anyone knows of any differences in quality or manufacturing based on when these 2 anvils were made. Thank you, Ken.
  19. Yes, I saw that Metal Supermarkets is in Fairfield which is the next town and about 2 miles from my house. I'm not sure how they work; whether I can just walk in or not but I did contact them yesterday to get quotes for a couple pieces of metal though I haven't heard back from them yet. Haven't had the chance to drive by their location yet even though it is close. I figure they will be expensive and am trying to go the scrap route first until it doesn't make sense to continue.
  20. Not giving up but I've called at least 50 so called scrap or salvage yards within 20 miles of me. Most don't allow people to look around the yard and only receive scrap metal and pay cash OR only deal in auto parts but nothing of a size I can use. The few that did sell didn't have anything like what I was looking for but were interested and most offered suggestions of other places to try (which was nice). I may have more luck in West Jersey or eastern PA or maybe mid-upstate NY. It's 2 hrs to Pocono's and 3 hrs to Albany for me so need to justify drive time.
  21. Yes, thank you. I have now and there are several videos that gave me some good ideas There are a few scrap yards within about 20 miles of my house but I'm not sure if they accommodate or allow people to come in and look around. I will be calling around to see if any allow this or sell scrap. I'll also look for machine repair and truck/forklift repair places to see if they have anything.
  22. I've got a few anvils, a 151# PWright, and several RR track pieces from 1' to 4" of varying track heights that all get used. I'd really like to find some piece of steel to make into a post anvil (what I call it, maybe another term is more appropriate). What I want to make or find is a 5" - 6" diameter round or 5" - 6" square up to about 30" in length (shorter would go in/on a stand) piece of steel. Would use this primarily for smaller knife blades and straight razors. I've tried googling "post anvil" and tried searching on various sites but I'm not really finding anything. I see a lot of post vices and only a few pics of things I think could work but no names attached that would make my search more focused. Is "post anvil" the right term? Any help with the right terminology to use to search for what I'm looking for is appreciated. Thanks, Ken.
  23. Happy Fathers Day to all you fathers out there. Enjoy your families. Ken.
  24. Ok, I'm probably breaking a rule here by not just reading postings and digesting the information but I suffer a bit from analysis paralysis (and this is feeding that) and I really want to get going on building a propane forge. I'm reading the "Forges 101" posting with a lot of great information and details from Mikey98118 but I'm only 3 pages through of 30 pages total. I like knowing what I'm doing and why I'm doing it so the details there are appropriate and necessary (at least for me). But, its going to take me time to get through all 30 pages, maybe a couple weeks (I don't have unlimited time to just sit and read everything). I'm wondering if there are a few key posting in the thread that I should focus on first so I can get started and do something to begin building the forge while I'm reading the rest of the postings in the thread. I've got an old expansion tank from my furnace (about 1" in diameter less than a 20 lb propane tank but several inches longer) plus 8 old 20 lb propane tanks that I can use as well. If there are some key postings in that thread or elsewhere that I should focus on first to start doing something, could some of you knowledgeable folks please point them out? Otherwise, if you feel I should just stay the course and continue reading and learning so I can make a more knowledgeable plan before starting, please let me know that as well too. I want to make best use of my time. Thanks, and again sorry if I'm breaking rules about not reading the available information. Ken.
  25. Thanks for the info and advice. I found Ken's website and will look around at their tongs.
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