Dax Hewitt

Update time, this weekend I chalked my Anvil, I lit if from multiple directions and distances. I even put my receding glasses on and I couldn't find anything. There is a faint circle about 1.5 inch diameter with what could be some letters running round the top of it but it's so far gone I can't get it to show on the photo at all. The chalk rub definitely brought out the steel top, it's about 5/8ths thick. I'm the eng I gave up and lit the fire and bashed on it until the heat of the day (28c) got too much.

It boggles me how anyone could scrap something like that.

Very sorry to read this. I hope you can work things out amicably for the sake of the 2 of you as well as the kids. For some reason I have been asked multiple times to act as an adjudicator when people have split up and divided their things, perfectly normal rational people going to war over wanting the £40 toaster because it toasts perfectly but she wants it because it matches the kettle that is in her pile helps no one.

Thanks Don, it does look very similar. I still can't see a weld line, maybe I need to put my reading glasses on. I like the chalk trick on the one in the link, I will chalk the sides tomorrow too and see if it reveals anything.

Hi Steve. I'm assuming we are talking about a piston compressor here? The vibration from the pump plus the pulse from the air will often break plumbing grade copper pipe, the manufacturer will typically use thicker wall stuff. Anealed pipe should be fine, don't go mad on tightening the compression fitting though, a very compressed olive will create a weak spot in the pipe. Becareful using hose, again assuming it's a piston compressor and your taking the pipe direct from the cylinder head to the tank depending on how hard you run the compressor the pipe could get up to 150C to 200C. Most hydraulic hose isn't rated for that hot.

Once again its a few pages of excellent stuff to look at. I'm planning a raised grill for my fire pit and the rivited one TP made looks great. I was going to weld it but the rivets add to the whole thing. Rojo, what a cracking little key holder, I like the flat top to act as a little shelf. Chad, love the beer holder, simple and effective. I made a few bird feeders like that last year, just coiled some round bar with a hook on the top, hang them from a tree branch and drop 3 fat balls down the center. The birds live them and a few of the neighbours asked if I can make them one so you might be able to sell a few. (assuming you get fat ball bird food in the states)

Around 30 some years ago my dad and myself cleared out a workshop for the landlord when the tenant did a runner owing the rent. They bought and sold caravans and for some reason they had this Anvil. As he couldn't move it without our forklift the landlord gave us it. My dad always said he would set up a forge when he retired but never did because he died 6 months before retirement so I set one up instead. It is 36 inch long from heal to the horn tip. 14 inch high and the face is 6 inch wide and weight 205kg. I can't see any obvious line so I'm thinking it's probably cast steel, it has an 80 to 85% rebound. The 2 pritchel holes are 3/4s and the Hardy hole is 1 and 5/8ths. There are 11/4 tapered Square holes under the horn and heal. One side has a number 3 on it, the other side a S with possibly a T in front of it but that might just be a casting mark and a number 6 close to the horn. It's in very good condition other than the odd chisel mark on the face and a few on the horn. The strangest thing is the surface finish on the face, it did 30 years as a garden ornament in my mums garden so it was very rusty, I set to with a wire wheel and emery paper (I don't know much but I read on here never grind the face) and the surface finish came up more like grey cast iron than steel and its covered in micro pitting like you get on cast iron. It is definitely hardeded though. I would love it if anyone can shed a bit of light on its history.

I had a lot of practice keeping things neat with the old shop George. As you say it's vital in restricted space. TW, the bottom half of the door lifts off, the top half folds up. I was going to do the whole thing to lift but an 8x8 door with no mechanical assistance is very heavy and I was working to a tight budget.

As some of you may remember I had a very compact shop in a 8 x 10 storage container. It worked well but it was down at my works and on top of a 40 foot container so I had to use a ladder to access it. Last year I had a minor heart attack and I have been unhappy about going down there on my own on a Saturday morning totally out of site up a ladder in a container so I decided to move it home to my back yard. I built a lockable shed for the bench and tools and a canopy for my Anvil and forge to go under. The last couple of weekends were building the wood bits. Yesterday was moving all the gear, getting the Anvil down from my old shop was fun being as it was up 10 foot in the air, we have a small pickup mounted crane at work so used that but it didn't quite reach so I had to sort of drag it out. Whilst it was out I put it on the scales too. She weighs in at 205 kg (452 lbs). I knew it was heavy but not that heavy, give or take 30 years ago when I got it I managed to lift it on my own, only about 1 inch from the ground. Next Saturday is bracket and hook making day, my tongs and fire tools used to hang round the forge on S hooks and I will be putting them there whilst it's in use but I need to hand them in the shed for storage otherwise they will be stolen. So that's my new playing space, it's a sub optimal layout but the back yard is an awquard shape and I had to leave the open area in front so SHMBO can hang the washing out etc.

That's a beast, looking forward to a video of it in action.

It Slopes towards the narrow bit at the back. That bit of garden is fenced off and left wild and the water from the flags drains there already. Your right though the photo does look like it Slopes towards the garage. The roof to the side is my garage roof, they are concrete / asbestos roof boards.

Air compressors are my main buisiness, any time we have a scrap tank we chop lumps out of it with the plasma cutter. Can't be too careful with them. I havnt done anything in the shop for a long time but that's going to change soon. I'm moving my shop home so the last few weekends have been building a shed for the workbench and tools with a lift up door to give a bit of weather protection and a covered area for the forge and anvil to sit under. It's only a small back garden and the Mrs still wants to be able to put the washing out so I think this is the best use of space. It means I can just walk outside to play rather than drive to my work, unlock 6 locks, set up and climb the ladder to my shop (it's in a 10 foot storage container on top of a 40 foot storage container), forget something so back down the ladder. Repeat the ladder process 6 or 7 times until everything I need is up there then work alone for 4or 5hours. Since my heart attack last year I'm not liking the idea of working alone with no one in the area. Long covid means it's taking far longer than it should to build but it's getting there.

Unfortunately that's not an option for Ian. The saw removed too much of the joint. They actually worked on it again 2 months ago, took the bones out and ground them on an angle and put them back and now his finger is permanently bent in the position it would be if you picked up a pen with your thumb and first finger so though it still gets in the way its far more useful than it was. At 50 years old I just learned this lesson. 14th of March 2021 I woke up at 2am with pain in both arms, being a bloke I took pain killers and went back to bed. After a few days of the wife nagging at me I went to the doctors. Long story short, lots of tests over the next 14 months that resulted in part of my heart is dead and I have 2 stents in one of the main arteries on the left side. According to the surgeon the artery was that blocked I'm lucky to be alive. Had I dialed 999 (UK version of 911) when it was happening all the tests and the operation would have been done within 24 hours rather than 14 months as a non urgent out patient. To be honest though it was quite amusing on the day of the angiogram when they found and fixed the block. 2 mri scans said everything (other than the dead bit of my heart) was fine and they only booked the angiogram because of my family history and even the surgeon on the day told me he wouldn't find anything and it was a bit of a waste of time. Whilst he was poking about inside me he suddenly said "Oh" I said that doesn't sound like a good Oh and he showed me on the screen what he had found, 3 of the 4 major arteries were fine and you could clearly see the contrast dye flow through them, the bad one was passing like a kiddys drinking straw that they have screwed up and chewed on. Moral of this story, if something isn't right get it checked out.

The finest music in the world is fiddle and banjo music. I have to say though my wife certainly doesn't agree.

Wow, that is incredibly cool. What skill. Would the vice be period correct? It only showed it briefly and it looked like a modern engineers vice, were they around in the old West?