Benona blacksmith

I have just started using my south german pattern anvil so in a few months maybe I will have an answer for your question frosty but for now I love both my north and south german pattern anvils. 

I should mention my north german pattern is a single horn anvil but has the same horn to face transition.

You can always check out blacksmithparadise and have a really nice vintage anvil shipped to the states for $500 flat rate shipping for a pallet up to 1000#'s and he even has an anvil over 1000#s so it is possible to reach your weight with one purchase but he will combine purchases on a pallet up to your max weight.

I just realized in that link was the link to the other forum about the design. Jerrod Miller is now the lead metalergist at the foundry where rhino anvils are made (not the foundry these were cast).

There is the FULL story of how the anvil(s) came to be on "another" forum. All the way down to the design and the alloy choice.

18 hours ago, Old Crew said:

Post a couple pictures of your stainless anvil

I couldn't help myself!!!

Looks like a big round punch used under a big steam hammer.

Here is the hammer I made at the hammer making class that Daniel Moss and James Davis put on before Quad State.

Here is my first attempt at making my own flux. This ended up a little heavier on the cast iron so I might mix a pinch more borax. I will try it out on a little hatchet that just wouldn't weld at the eye. The bit welded just fine and so did behind it by the eye until I went to do my final drifting and it popped open. We will see if I can get it to stick if not then it will go in the scrap pile and i will start a new one. 

Vulcan anvils were cast upside down with a 2 part flask that went over the pre heated stee face. This particular one the top part of the mold (bottom of the anvil) got shifted and didnt line up properly it's still one piece but just looks funny. It should be perfectly fine to use as is. That's if it made it to the heat treat process. What is the rebound?

Sorry for the long absence I've had a lot going on in my life. I have located an old sprayer tank that will be turned into a charcoal kiln if all goes well. I'm hoping to get it this weekend.

Maybe I will make a "replica" with this vise jaw. 

I understand what you're saying. Maybe I will make one with part of this post vise I have and donate that for there display. Maybe I will make a wrapped eye axe to go with it.

Hmmmmm.......very good point. So do a little forging to clean it up an make it look like its in "current use" or "ready to trade"

The thought did cross my mind but I bought a pivoting post vise jaw that has a nice wrought iron section that would be good for a hammer and I think I'm going to do that and leave this the way it is. It is a really cool piece and it is a bit light for doing any real forging. Its probably a little over a pound and a 1/4.

Found this at an old barn that a guy sells antiques out of. Paid $2 USD. I plan on making a handle for it and trying to "age" the handle so it looks roughly the same time period and donating it to a local "museum" that has all kinds of local history items and the have a really cool traders tent this would fit right in with the other displays.

I like them. In fact I like all your tongs....there definitely my favorite on my tong rack!!!

I had a run the other day that I overfilled the burn chamber and had a big bed of coals in the barrel and I had an I dea to just keep packing it. So I filled it up and let it burn down to coals then capped the barrel and plugged the air holes. Waited till the next morning and I doubled my production amount!!!

Try mig welding the entire perimeter of the billet to stop chromium oxide from forming.

Yes I have other uses for the charcoal like making orishigane and when I get up north to get ore I will be making bloomery iron. Not to mention charcoal for the grill and charcoal dust for mine and my buddy's garden.

This is EXACTLY what I wanna do on bigger!!!

Anachronist58 has an avatar photo that shows what I wanna build.

1 hour ago, JHCC said:

Definitely look into the Hookway retort, 

I looked into it and it doesn't look like it would produce enough charcoal to meet my needs.i like the idea.

I will find a picture of what I wanna build.

Also I should mention with the barrel in the barrel method I'm am averaging about 75% yield but only 30 gallons at a time.

I really wanna make mass quantities of charcoal. I have a large 100 gallon tank I'm thinking of making a retort. I want something I can capture the gas and feed it into a burn chamber. I have seen someone's avatar on here that is exactly what I'm looking to build. I will search and see if I can find who it is. 

Thank you. 

Note to mods. Sorry and thank you for moving this to the correct subforum. I did a quick search and didnt see this one so I figured general discussion was a good second choice.