j.w.s.

There's a gentleman in the area that has an anvil for sale. I've taken a look at it before but I'm still up in the air about it. I believe it weighs in around 120lb - it says American Wrought on the side along with horse shoe which might have the words 'made in' in the center. I cannot see any serial number, it's seen a little wear and the one edge has a 4" long chip. Still rings and has good rebound. I believe this anvil is from American Wrought Anvil Co from Brooklyn, which, iirc, sold their anvils through Montgomery Ward catalogues. The gentleman that has it thinks its a real gem and should be worth $4 a lb. I nearly spit when he said that, but he's in his 70's so I was nice. I told him that I'd give him $1.25 a lb and he nearly choked on his dentures. Anyway, he's got a sign on it now that says "$295 - #119 - Notice the mark!" I wouldn't mind getting this anvil, he's been sitting on it for 2 years now (stopped by yesterday just to check), and I think I could come back with a reasonable offer and he might accept - especially if I give him the details on the anvil just to make him understand that I am familiar with it. So I ask you all, what's a reasonable price for a 120lb American Wrought Anvil in this condition? (Sorry, no pictures, forgot my camera)

I would say try hitting it with some steel wool. If you have some (sorry, name is alluding me and don't want to run into the shop to check - yellow sticky towels sold in plastic bag at hardware store), use that to clean up dust that might be left clinging to the wood. I like to use tung oil - it normally gets drawn into the wood a few times but it'll do a nice job bring out that pattern.

Thanks for the encouraging feedback! I just may have to make another - I've been dying for another set of box jaws.. :)

Congrats, I understand what you mean when it feels like you're going backwards! What did you use to finish the handle and what type of wood? Oh, and the sheath looks very nice.

I've been blacksmithing for over a decade and today I was struck with the thought that I'd never made my own tongs! So, with a little bit of time left until my self-imposed 9:30 cut off time, I grabbed a piece of 1/2 (1095 spring temper) stock and started pounding away. Wasn't too concerned with hammer marks, these wont be anything but shop tools. Then I realized that I haven't done rivets for tongs before either! So it was off to the drill press with a 1 1/2" block of steel to make a guide. Grabbed some medium carbon that was laying around, heated, cut, put in the block and mushroomed it out with a peen. Put everything together and mushroomed the other side. All in all about 45 to an hours worth of work. I have to say, they aren't pretty, but they're functional. Everyone who makes tongs on a regular basis, I'll take my hat off to you. I wont be going into the tool making business any time soon, but it's clear to me now just how much thought and care go into a great pair. It's always nice to challenge yourself with something outside of your sphere of comfort. I'll probably do some tweaking on the business end of these tomorrow, perhaps change the shape to work well with more shapes, but right now as they are they hold onto a blade quite nicely. Plus I like the slight spring in the grip. Anyway, here's some picks. Bellow it you can see my little #6 Fisher 1882 - great for when you don't want to wake the neighbors.

You're probably not going to find it all that cheap. If you want to do it right, it's best to spend the extra money on the proper equipment. Hole punches, stitch punches, sewing awl, blades, rubber mallet, edging tools, rivet setters, glue, waxed thread, leather surface cleaner, dye, resoline or top kote for finish, rivets, snaps, plus leather. I've been doing leather work for 16 years and there's always a quick way to do it and then there's the right way to do it. Leather is an unforgiving medium, it doesn't heal, it shows every misplaced cut, scuff and spill - this is also why leather is wonderful in the way it ages. I have been buying some 6-7oz bellies for about $22 at the Leather Factory. Check and see if there's one in your area. Bellies are about as cheap as you're going to get, scrap leather will often not suit the job and full sides will run you $150 and up for quality. You can also join the wholesale club or the get business prices if you have an ein which will bring your cost down nicely. Good luck, leather is a fun medium but it does take a little practice and well thought out ideas. Also, try making your pattern first on a piece of poster board, will save you frustration! -J

I actually already have a waterwheel - it's about 4 1/2ft in diameter and about 20 inches wide. It runs on a submerged pump in a plastic pond liner, into the small building behind it with a flume extended off the roof running back onto the wheel. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to output much energy and it's already pumping my large below. Guess I should have mentioned that earlier. It is also also in an odd position to the rest of my smithy. I've been playing around with an idea in cad - have to run to philly tomorrow morning so perhaps I'll get a chance to work it out in the car if I can get out of driving. I attached a quick jpg of our setup. For an ariel view to understand the size of the place a little better you can google map 40.225651,-76.428626 (Should center right on our building) Anyway, thanks again for the great ideas so far, each one has brought another idea into my mind - should be interesting to see what comes out! -J

Thanks for the replies so far. Frosty, I never stressed portability in the design, it could be as permanent as it needs to, I do demo's from june until the end of october.. we've been in the same location for 20+ years and I'd like to think we'll remain there..

Thanks for the reply Thomas. Some more info. I'll be drawing out larger billets for knife / sword demonstrations. I have my demo's at several scheduled times throughout the day (according to the program) and the average persons attention span is about 15-20 minutes. Since there are dozens of other shows going on in half hour increments I try not too keep a crowd much longer than that. I do sometimes carry some demos on from start to finish throughout the day just to keep them coming back wondering what the next step is. However without a striker, taking a block of tool steel the size of a pack of cigarettes and drawing it out to a piece that's workable on the anvil, is not something the average American will find fast paced enough especially when there's someone about to get impaled on the joust tilt! The time period would be up to the 1610's - I say up to because historically a lot of previous designs would have been continued to be used, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. To some up. Need to draw at a good pace, keep it interesting and keep the demo moving before junior wants to go get something to eat at Nacho's O'Nottingham! :)

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas for making a trip hammer/ pedal hammer with mainly a timber structure? Working in a 'dated' setting, I'd rather not have some mechanically driven steel beast setup in my forge this summer, instead I'd like to have something functional that would be capable of replacing my striker (he decided to take some family time) but not take up a huge amount of space as my demo area is aprox. 8x10. I had seen a drawing of a setup from an old forge supposedly from the 1700's that used a water wheel to power a hammer, not sure if it was feasible or just some romantic notion - while I do have a water wheel that used to pump my bellows, that water wheel has seen better days so I'd prefer to keep it leg powered. I'm not sure on the size that would be capable with wood. I do have a small 70lb anvil that could be used in the project and I would like to manufacture most of the needed metal parts myself. Anyway, just interested to know if anyone has seen it done (aside from the giant hammer o doom I found on the boards), thought about it or maybe even has done a project similar to this - any advice would be welcomed!

If you're just looking for a little bit of highlight color here and there, the method I use is simple. After completing your piece, heat it slightly - trial and error on a similar piece of metal will give you some help if you're worried about affecting the temper - then use a brass brush and rub the piece. The brass will transfer onto the heated metal, the more times you apply it the more color is transfered. Since brass melts around 1650F I wouldn't try the other method you were describing, it will release zinc oxide and no one wants a case of metal fume fever, however I have seen some pieces where other metals have been inlaid after the forging process.

Not at all. We make hundreds of pieces including swords, daggers and even more exotic items in a year, mostly for stage combat. Our stage pieces need to be of extremely high quality steel with perfect tempering. Safety is a must for the people buying our weapons and unfortunately to do that work with fire and anvil is not practical. We work with a large metal fabrication factory, which happens to be in our backyard, who will cut blanks to our specs. We have about 5 overall blade blank designs that we then free form by stock removal. We generally weld on the crossguard and pommel, which provides a very nice ring that is very important when performing theater and other shows, then we send the pieces out to be professionally tempered. I've taken one of our completed longswords and used it as a spring board in between two large stumps just to show off a piece! Personally, I haven't done stock removal in years, I'm the only one in the shop that actually forges blades, but most companies or individuals cannot afford my time on a practical level, especially when needing to outfit a troupe of a dozen or more. Stock removal, when done right yields wonderful results, saves hours of work and brings the price down considerably.

Well, you asked for it. Some background first. I have done many things for a living, most of them odd and dangerous. I started blacksmithing at 19 and have taken a few years off here and there to do the stupider things in life. I've been a fire eater/manipulator doing over a thousand shows infront of an audience, I did stage pyrotechnics, live stunt shows and was even a full contact jouster at renaissance faires infront of crowds of thousands. I'm not a novice when it comes to putting my body on the line for other peoples enjoyment. No matter how much you train to be precise on any given activity, Murphy's Law always has a chance of being proven right. I've had horses trample me, swords break, guns misfire and last but not least, the following story. This past Halloween I was asked to do a fire manipulation show for a local event. Everything went great at first. Fireballs, torches, body transfers, sustained blows, all routine stuff. My memory has not fully recovered so I can't give details as to what happened next. I do know that someone else was involved and somehow came in contact with me. I do know that for several seconds I was on fire from the waist up. Fire went out. Very calmly I smiled, put my equipment away, said good night to a few people and went home. Jumped in a cold shower, my girlfriend who had witnessed it came running into the house wondering where I had gone. I was in great pain by that point and skin was starting to peel away from my body, but being a "man" I said that a little burn cream and perhaps a shot of whiskey and I'd be good. Wrong! An hour later I walked out to a waiting ambulance, then off to the emergency room. I was drugged, intebated, strapped to a board and airlifted out to another hospital in Philadelphia. I woke up a two weeks later when they were trying to remove my breathing tube. I was on the threshold of having a permanent tracheotomy if the swelling started in my airway again. Needless to say, everything went well. A few days later I learned how to walk again, very slowly at first and with a ring of nurses and physical therapists. After three days I was ready to walk on my own, by day five I was running on the treadmill, lifting weights and even doing card tricks with my badly burnt hand! I had to do barium swallow tests to figure out what I could eat. After two days of mashed everything, I couldn't take it any more and insisted I be re-evaluated, by nine o'clock that night I was having sushi delivered to my room in the burn ward! To sum everything up, I had second degree burns over my right hand/arm and my face and neck. I was treated at one of the best burn centers in world. I was fortunate enough to have not needed any surgeries and I am recovering with a minimal amount of scaring, some people have even said that I look better than when I went in! I still have some issues with fire, however it will always be my beckoning mistress, three weeks ago I fired up my forge again and started working. My girlfriend probably saved my life by calling 911 when I wasn't looking. She rarely left my side in the hospital from what I've been told and probably deserves a ring on that finger by now (any pointers on damascus rings welcomed)! Someone above was definitely watching out for me and listening to a lot of prayers. I have trained with some of the greatest, have always done things with a professional degree of safety and yet things do go wrong. God works in mysterious ways, don't ever for a moment think you have anything figured out. Most people call them accidents or tragic events, I prefer to call them opportunities, it just depends on your outlook of the situation. Well, you wanted a human fireball story. -J

I was luck enough to literally stumble in the dark over some. I have a bar that's about 4" wide 3/4" thick and about 3 1/2ft long. I've been cutting it down into smaller billets for knives. I still have a little over 2ft left. My shoulder twinges every time I walk past it.

Haven't used a forgemaster either, but I personally use a Valley Hot Box Magnum. It's a nice size, reaches welding temp very quickly, plus I have it mounted on four removable 1in. x 4ft. square tube legs at a slight outward angle which makes it nice when I decide to take it somewhere else and may not have the benefit of perfectly level ground on which to setup, plus puts it at a great working height in the shop. Back pass through is a must for me and my only complaint is the lack of a front door to keep the wind out.. however that's completely negated by placing a few tool steel billets on the front work ledge. Of course this isn't much of a problem when I'm indoors.. :)

bar [damnit, now I want chocolate, thanx ]

I've seen some rather remarkable tools made from old trailer ball hitches. They can be scavenged from old wrecks at the junk yard. For me though, living in the heart of Amish country Pa, its sometimes amazing what you'll find at little antique barns and farmers markets. Most of the times they don't know what they even have and give them away cheap. One man's trash is another's treasure. Jack hammer heads work well, too. I think one fault that most of us have is the fact that we are blacksmiths and want to make everything on our own, which of course we can, right? What starts out seeming like an inexpensive project sometimes totals more, especially when your time is factored into it, then we would have paid to have just bought what we needed from a vendor, but there is the satisfaction of knowing that it's completely yours. ;)

Hey everbody, my name is J and I've been a blacksmith for about 13 years. I work for LaForge at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire doing demos several times a day plus I make swords, knives and other implements of destruction for the general amusement of historical nerds everywhere. Finally got around to building up my home shop, which will be an ever growing project, I'm sure. Well, that's about all for my first introduction, so hello to everyone from just another metal banger from scenic Lancaster County! -J