Goods

Very good for a first hammer, especially with so little experience. The only thing I can see without closer inspection is the fuller marks on the cheeks, not a problem, just doesn’t fit with my personality. Have you heat treated it yet? If so what process did you follow? What’s the weight? Keep it fun, David

Some of the asking price out there are verging on predatory! At that type of price those anvils will sit for a long time or sell to someone with deep pockets who doesn’t know better. The highest quality new cast tool steel anvils, even with importing costs, are only priced at $14/pound. Less the 100yrs of age is not particularly significant for an anvil as will not justify that price. I personally would have difficulty asking for more that $8/pound for this anvil, but personally I would not sell it. (I would sell one of my others, after all it is top shelf quality) If only you were in my area, I would be very interested. Keep it fun, David

Where are you located? General location is just fine. This is a top grade anvil in a good size and visually very good condition. If the ring and rebound it good, $600~800 would be a reasonable price point in my area (south central Indiana). (Those pictures may have Frosty drooling , he loves his Soderfors!) Keep it fun, David

It looks like that could make a really good British style side blast forge with a little work… Keep it fun, David

Honestly, the drawing is just as impressive as the fabrication! I’m not much of a fabricator, but I have a lot that I should work on. I would just rather spend my time forging. Let us know how it runs! Keep it fun, David

If your ceramic wool is not encased, it will shed more fibers with each heat cycle, if not constantly. It needs to be covered with a good refractory! Safety first! Keep it fun, David

Arthur, those are fantastic. Good clean work! I got the cross peen sledge door prize done: Of course, I mess up the simple stuff: It will make for good conversation at the hammer-in on Saturday! (Final weight was only 6-1/2lbs.) Then I started work on the motorcycle chain clever commission: I’m not sure I can make this first attempt work. I thought it was going good, then the struggle began: I’m stepping away from it for a while to decide the next step. I may be able to savage it. I did have luck with the core for the blade. 8670 with 15N20 side Sanmai. (Beside the chain billet in the overall picture.) When I finally get the chain welded up to my liking, the plan is for a gomai final billet. I’m not sure I trust the chain for a good tough edge on a clever. Time will tell… Keep it fun, David

Fangs on a really big snake sculpture?

Frosty, I need to improve my word choice.

I know they didn’t mention a bloomery in the article, and it’s possible that the wrought iron was imported. I just thought that at such an early time period a large forge like this would also be producing its own wrought iron, especially considering that the northern part Oxfordshire had a principal iron ore deposit. (Of course, if the find was in southern Oxfordshire, it would be easier to transport iron than the quantity of ore needed to produce it.) I’m obviously not an archaeologist or a historian, nor have I had any other information on this find. It’s just my amateurish thoughts. Keep it fun, David

I found this interesting today: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/28/high-end-iron-age-smithy-oxfordshire-blacksmith?fbclid=IwAR2vZFxoR5qXRUp3gzDtOuGPRK5nHS_xGJsPUXT1zPsY6E6Lta3Mykcc7mU_aem_Ac58rbjHUOwDirFI1yahvImYDN9xYi4w75wxmzBbHMu8yrEMFBXIIZj8OVoGAP8krUo I do question there thoughts on the need for a large forge. I personally believe someone in the material chain would need a large forge to work blooms down into wrought iron, and this early in the time line I would think they were doing that at this location. What are your thoughts? Keep it fun, David

JHCC, I’m not sure I could bring myself to get that organized. Here’s my work for the day: I started with 6.5” of 2.5” diameter 4140. Target was 8lbs, and pictured with an 8lb for scale. Not sure I’ll be at 8lbs when it’s all said and done.I knew this was going to take a lot of work, but even with the power hammer, I’m exhausted. Not looking forward to the final drift, but have to make an appropriate drift first… Keep it fun, David

Your research looks sound. Just be careful! I’m not an expert on heat treatment, so double check a couple resources.

I understand that. I’m frustratingly independent. But this is not something to mess with with out experience and the right tools. (of course, here I stand forging 8lbs of 4140, with a hammer that just a bit small for the job…)

Really should have proof read that. Sorry, in the middle of heavy forging heats… 45~50HRC should be safe. I would send it out to a heat treating shop to get it there. 4340 can be pretty quench crack sensitive. Do you have a heat treat furnace? (I would like one one day…) Keep it fun, David

Ok, step back and listen to everyone. You don’t want work hammer die at the top range of hardness. You need harder than soft forging temperature steel. Hard that are too hard can kill you. One chip off the die in the wrong place can be lift ending! Start of normalized, and if you get too much distortion after a year, rework them. Then harden them and draw them back pretty far. One step at a time, and learn as you go. Keep it safe! David

I see a candle holder without too much work. Keep it fun, David

Absolutely! But, I won the door prize last month, so it’s my duty to provide one for next month. Personally, I like to put forward my best work on these type things. So, I’ll get it done, even if I end up using the whole bar in attempts… Keep it fun, David

Today I bought home a scrap heavy duty conveyor shaft: 32” of 2-1/2” diameter 4140. Woo hoo! (Already committed a good bit of the material to a project for our hammer-in door prize next month. It will probably take me a while to get this project down…) Keep it fun, David

Sorry, I’m not familiar with it, but we all love pictures Keep it fun, David

Irondragon, looking at the straight peen hammer, that is shape fiskars came out with a few years ago. I would have bought one if it wasn’t for the resin handle, just to try out. I’m not sure that I would call the peen particularly short. It seems to fit the over all shape of the hammer, even if the hammer doesn’t fit traditional blacksmith styles. It look like an over all good hammer, but haven’t had the opportunity to use on yet. Keep it fun, David

Doesn’t look like they have a very good base built up yet. I used to go snowboarding pretty often, but the past 5 or so years haven’t be weather friendly to the local ski resorts and the rates reflect it. Not to mention most of my gear is now worn out. At this point, I just put that money into smithing… Keep it fun, David

There are several good threads here on this forge. I believe JLP has one of the better ones. To get this setup to its fullest potential, you may need an original blow and that may be hard to find. Just to get it functional there are a lot of options. Do you have electricity in your shop? An easy solution is a combustion air blower from a scrapped gas furnace with an inexpensive speed controller and aluminum flex tube for clothes dryer vent. Keep it fun, David

I feel like I had a little be of redemption in the forge today. I came up with a bigger billet size for my cleaver project and tried it out: A little bit of rasping and filling, but otherwise forged to shape. I didn’t follow my planned steps exactly, but pretty close and ended up right about where I was aiming. (I anyone is actually interested, i can share my planned steps and the pictures I took of most steps.) It’s still annealing in vermiculite, so grinding will have to wait for another day. Spine is at just over 0.200” and the edge is around 0.100”. More material on the edge so this one should stay straight, right? Also, after I put it in the vermiculite, I made a couple of my pencil scribes: Made from heavy garage door spring and just the point water quenched for max hardness. I haven’t made any for a while (and it shows), but I had some guys requesting them. Shop started at 52F and was up to 69F by the time I was done, with two windows open and 17F outside. Keep it fun, David

Frosty, I’m not generally a knife person, but I’m pretty sure this is done as a cleaver. I didn’t warp in the quench, it started warping in the normalization step and I tried straightening it multiple times. Warm, lower orange cold, even tried to do a plate quench with 3” x 3” x 12” blocks. I think it need a lot more experience to make this one work as is. As it, I’m not sure how much carbon is still left in the edge… aaamax, maybe, we’ll see. I’m probably going to set this aside and try a bigger billet to get where I want to go with this. If I get there, maybe I’ll come back to do something with this. It may hang on the wall for a couple months. Keep it fun, David