Benona blacksmith

It took me quite a while looking for this anvil again. I knew I have seen one with a similar groove. Maybe it's something german Smith's used to do to there anvil for what purpose I dont know, but I would like to know!!! (I would like to note these are not my pictures.)

Joe...have you seen many German anvils marked in pounds?

Another set I made today. I made these ones to hold some railroad track after the top is forged down a bit. I have some big flat bit tongs to hold it to start forging but nothing between them and my smaller tongs. I wish I would have dressed the boss a little more and I still need to bend the reigns closer together.

Look into electric hydraulic power packs. I find them at auction all the time. There is formulas to help get the most out of what your trying to accomplish. In my honest opinion just about all air powered forging presses are way too slow. You can make this work with the proper equipment.

Man in the iron mask. He was talking about a blacksmith scene from the movie.

This is how I work at the anvil. "Proper posture" I guess it would be described as. I have had 3 back surgeries so that's what i have naturally adapted to. I also need my anvil slightly higher than what is normally recommended though.

Not much as an anvil. ...there cast iron I'm almost certain. Post a picture!?!?

With the side exiting hardie hole I would say with almost 100% certainty it is a french anvil. Also with the casting lines visible near the feet and the raised lettering it is cast steel.

Made a quick and dirty swage block stand. There is no way to hold it standing on edge but it's only temporary until I make a better one with a gantry crane with a winch and a deep cycle battery. Sure beats having it sitting on the floor and now I can drive drifts through without worrying about the concrete floor under it.

My south german double horn does not have the Söding and Halbach and is strangely marked in pounds. Not that the being marked in pounds part but what makes it kind of strange is I imported it from Austria to America. So it makes me think it was made to originally made to import here but never made it to to boat. But anyway I'm getting off track. What I was going to say is my anvil has the No.4 stamped around the 426 weight marking. It is stamped in 4 places I believe. I will get pictures tomorrow when I get out to the shop.

It works and obviously other people like it too. I really hope this all gets figured out in your favor!!!

Awesome I'm glad your getting this figured out and you have your trademark registered to you. I dont think I have anything to worry about there is no other benona anywhere that I'm aware of so I should be safe. How did you come up with that name anyhow? Just curious and I like it.

It's just not as accurate as I would like. It gets the job done though. I wish my top die didnt retract into the stuffing box which would make bolt on dies easier to make. I am getting fullering dies for the hammer but I have to order them directly from the factory in China because the dealer only offers drawing dies for it.

I am working on getting the fuller dies for it. Weldimg round bar to the dies isnt going to work in this case. $250 for a set of dies and they are H13 that needs a good pre heat before welding. This is the spring fuller I made for it. I now have a saddle welded on it so I dont have to hold it while working.

I plan on building a guillotine tool just like that but with a saddle to sit over the lower die of my power hammer. I would have to build mine to be a little shorter though.

Both of your first rounding hammers look just like my first. The one without a handle is my most recent attempt at forging a rounding hammer entirely under the power hammer.

How did this discussion go from flux recipes to continuous casting?

Ok let's look at this in perspective. We all know trace elements do very different things in steel. They are tested for and regulated very strictly. In a continuous casting they melt the steel prior to pouring and there is several ladles already pre-charged with desired product and then poured into bars then drawn out. If it was a scrap pour with a constant unpredictable product it would run the risk of "break out" and major damage to the machinery. Maybe(?) In foreign countries they do crap runs but here in the states they produce quality product for the most part and testing for different alloys isnt that difficult and removing the impurities is simple. You guys make it sound like its impossible to create a quality product from scrap which just isnt the case.

These are the kind of deals that will be popping up everywhere once the forged in fire fad fades away.

It seems to hit much harder and faster than before! Well done!!!

Emmerson is the same anvils forged in fire uses only there's are 200 lbs.

What job did you perform in this foundry and what product did the foundry produce?

I understand what you mean now. The metallurgist that I talked to said that rebar has fairly tight tolerances and they keep records of all there pours for decades because when a bridge or building collapses the first thing they look at is the rebar and the composition and there strength testing records. The separation process for scrap steel is incredible and beyond my understanding but they have there ways of getting the desired end product.

I personally dont like welding handles on material unless it's a big billet of Damascus. And I would never try to break this material down by hand. Definitely going to be done with the power hammer. Actually these tongs were made with about 90% power hammer and 10% hand hammer.

I'm not sure I understand your question Thomas?