RogerrogerD

Fantastic effort Catropheus. About 40 years ago I was working in a steel foundry in your country...sorting scrap! and learned to weld there.

Great suggestions all. Thanks everyone. It came from a disused factory, a pile (!), that perhaps had been abandoned before finishing. In truth I’m coming round to the idea of leaving it soft - I have a very big, very hard anvil so going to the effort of hardening it, is interesting, but I don’t have the kit or the imperative. I’ll spark test tomorrow and report back .

Ah yes , of course. And Just forget its anvil shaped and use as one of those square striking anvils

I already have a magnificent 5CWT John Brooks anvil. But a family member has just presented me with a “new” 50kg eastern European anvil, that came from some factory. Looks nice enough, but... it’s awful soft. I think it came out of the factory before having a hardened steel top face forge welded on it. About a 20% bounce with a ball bearing and the ball bearing leaves an indentation even. Yuck. So while I’m grateful for the thought, I’m trying to repurpose it. It has a 3/4 inch hardy hole which is fine, I can use it simply for holding hardy tools. But what else can I use it for? Is it fea

Great advice Mike, thank you. I take all your points. As I become more proficient then perhaps I’ll adjust driven by the number of tools or other parts of the process. For me, now, I find the wheeled trolley gives me more usable space, not less. Where it lives while I’m forging isnt the place it is when I shut up shop, or when I’m doing something else - but it can be in a second. As a recent retiree from business, I love your comments about Six Sigma applications. Great stuff, and very valid. As an aside, the design and fab of the tool rack is probably the first thing I have p

Newbie here. Like many I have to squeeze my blacksmithing stuff in with all the other the detritus of life that ends up in my garage/workshop. I’ve not been forging long, but got frustrated looking for the hammer I put down somewhere 10 seconds ago and the tongs that disappeared from my hand seconds earlier. So I wanted one place to order them, and it needed to move. This is it so far (don’t look at the crappy welds). I’ll probably build a shelf on the back of it for punches and stuff.

Thanks VaughnT, that’s good thoughts. I have looked again at them, and I’m pretty sure they aren't hammers, because by and large the handles are not robust enough. Good enough to hold it in place but not to swing it. They must be top tools, indeed I have another two similar here that have clearly been struck many times, both with that thin groove at the non striking end. The seller on ebay suggested they were thrown out from a French museum, but other than that he knew nothing. Your analysis that they aren’t hoop setting hammers makes sense too. The larger of the two tools in this image is s

Thanks everyone! I’ll repurpose them, in coming months.

Ah, right, so, perhaps for turning square stock into round stock?

Newbie here, so this may be a silly question. I picked up a job lot of old “hammers” on ebay. One or two nice antique hammers, but a bunch of what I think are top tools. Here’s three of them almost identical each with a groove on the end. The groove is about 1 inch to 1 1/4 inch long and about 1/4 wide. Can anyone tell me what they are for?

Hey, thanks Lou!

I’ll look out for you Mr I D

Hi, I’m new. Mid fifties, early retired, Gloucestershire, UK. A long long time ago I was a metallurgist and now Im trying to do something creative in retirement. Picked up a 5cwt anvil for £200 and a 5” leg vice for £25. Spent a bit more on a new side blow forge from Mike Judd. Teaching myself, (with you tube and Alec Steele course!) for now, signed up for a weekend course in September in S Wales. So far I’ve made 4 ropey brackets to hold some steel stock, and burnt my first bottle opener to a cinder, and got the time it takes to make a coathook down to about two hours. :- ) most i

New here. I picked up this beast from a near neighbour, for £200. Marked up 5CWT, SB, JB It was languishing in a flower bed. I think its a John Brooks, and I think SB = Stourbridge. Big 1 1/2 inch hardy hole. I have mounted for now on a trunk and cleaned it up. condition is ok - some damage to the edges, so its had some use, but it’s so big I can find a clean spot easily. One spot on the face is a little damaged as if something white hot was left for too long. Lovely ring (fixed with a welders magnet under the pritchell) and a ball bearing bounces right back into my hand. Anyo

New here. Picked up this Leg vice on ebay in the UK, for £25. 5”, good condition. Markings on the side J. Warden and Sons PIRVm SJ&S any idea of its age anyone?