TechnicusJoe

Not to forget, these fake Peddinghaus anvils are cast in the Czech republic, amongst other patterns Here's a link to a Czech company that makes them: http://www.branco.cz/anvils.htm

It is a fake. They don't mention it is one. But this is a Peddinghaus pattern, not a North German pattern. Peddinghaus has never given out permission for others to produce their patterns. And the quality is nowhere near the same as a Peddinghaus anvil.

Since no one has made a review about these anvils yet, I will take this job. I think that Peddinghaus creates the Rolce Royce of the anvils. You may differ in opinion, but if you look at how much effort and quality is put in the production of these anvils, it puts the other producers below it. I will name facts about this anvil and dispute false information that was spread by some people, busting some false accusations. Facts: -they're completely forged, top and bottom. If smaller than 50kg/110lbs they are a one-piece drop forging. If bigger, they are forged out of 2 forging, welded at the base. -they used to be forge welded at the waist; done by Paul Ferdinand Peddinghaus (P.F.P.) this was later taken over. After the 1930s they stopped fire welding them and in some year they started welding them electrically. -The faces (today) are hardened to 58HRc, not 52-54HRc. This is a mix up with the vises Peddinghaus produces. The vise jaws are hardened to 52-54HRc to make sure they will rather dent than break. The anvil faces are hardened to 58HRc to provide a lively work surface. -The welding at the waist is done individually by a skilled welder, no automized machines at this stage. False spread info. -Peddinghaus are cast steel anvils. No, this is wrong. All Peddinghaus anvils have always been forged. There are FAKE cast Peddinghaus anvils that were exactly copied. -The bottom is cast and the top forged. No, this is wrong too. It's completely forged. -Peddinghaus anvils are no longer made. These isn't true either. They are still produced today and the owners love them (including me) Now I will give pictorial references so you know what to look for! Here is a picture of a real new Peddinghaus anvil. Stamped: Ridgid Peddinghaus with the weight in kgs stamped on it. Notice the hardy hole has been chamfered round, this is something Ridgid Peddinghaus does these days. Notice the weld line in the center of the waist. Older real Peddinghaus anvils have a weld line at the waist, square chamfered hardy hole, some don't have a Peddinghaus stamp. But will have 25, 35, 50, 75, 100, 125 stamped with a punch. If it doesn't have this, it's most likely a fake and you got ripped off. Here is a picture of my Orginial P.F.P. Peddinghaus anvil, forge welded at the waist, next to my 330lbs/150kg Refflinghaus. Notice the square chamfering on the hardy hole. And if watched from the waist you could see the fire weld. Here's a picture of FAKE Peddinghaus anvil. It's the same shape. But nowhere near the same quality. The faces are soft, the bottom is usually filled with air bubbles from casting. Note the "110" and no other markings. There are other ones marked 75 and 50 like that, no other stamps. These are FAKE too. Notice the sharp hardy hole - no chamfering, absence of a weld line at the waiste, the course surface of the body of the anvil from casting, the raised 110 and no other stamps. This one has a totally different ring than the real Peddinghaus anvil.

Cheers for the comment and compliments. I do like to clearify I had different motives to produce this hanging bracket. The reason I made this because I wanted to give an alternative for the r...rai....roa... ooh geez... *Takes deep breath* R....railroad spike knives....whheew.... I wanted to give an alternative for the knives made by many beginners, of railroad spikes. There is hardly any skill needed to produce a "knife" like that. Just "pound" *cringes* it flat, twist it. (You can't deny this. And no........ not everyone goes about it like that..... I know, I know, I know... But I'm not looking away) Then grind it to something more or less resembling a knife and demand 500$ for it. Blacksmithing is so much more, there is so much more to it than that. And that's what I wanted to put together in a single artifact, with the well known American railroad spike as raw material. I don't do things "just because I can". I think about it, I do it out love for the trade, inspire people to use the hammer and anvil instead of the welding machine, lathe and jigs. I do it because I want to get better and have an understanding about blacksmithing as deep my intelligence will allow me to go. I am amazed I am regarded as an old school or purist blacksmith. I don't see myself as old school or purist, but as a "normal" Blacksmith. I utilize the forge, anvil, vise and hammer to shape any artifact I need or have to produce for a commission. My personal view is that a welding machine, drill, grinder, don't belong in the equipment set up of a blacksmith. I really couldn't care less if this is regarded as a wrong view, delusional or whatever your opinion is, It's just as good as my opinion regarding to having fall back on those tools as incompetence and laziness, for myself. That's how I grade for myself. Please, if you (no one specific) are offended with what I just said I am very sorry. But it really makes me scratch the back of my head why you would call yourself a "blacksmith" if you weld or machine everything together. If you want, you can start a private discussion with me about this, and keep the forum clean. But I guarantee you, I will work as I see is right. The same applies to you. Work as you want. But welding and drilling everything does make me scratch the back of my head if you call yourself a blacksmith in that case. If you visit a restaurant with 3 stars, you expect a really nice dinner. Not some frozen and deep fried chicken from last week. The same, I think, applies to blacksmithing. I see too many "blacksmith shops/forges", some don't even have a forge or anvil, selling "quality wrought iron bla bla bla" for high prices (just mig'ed and drilled mild steel) to, sadly, ignorant customers. That is stealing!! That's stealing money from people who worked hard for it. You can give me any excuse/argument why you didn't forge it. But I think the only excuse is incompetence and laziness. Of course, I have many areas at which I am incompetent and lazy. But that doesn't mean I can't learn how to do it. If I can't forge it, I won't do it or sell it "forged/blacksmith work". I work on it! Others like me who aspire to become a (good) blacksmith too. Then bloody live up to that name and earn it. Take out the fundamentals of blacksmithing and you will never come close to becoming a smith. Just to have it clear for everyone this is NOT directed at anyone specific. This is to clearify minimally my motives of why and how I approach my work. If you have taken offence, I oppologize and advise you to grow a thicker skin.

It's quite common to see sway back on (older, often wrought iron) anvils. I'm very curious what exactly causes it and what factors have a play in it; -energy (heat) of the anvil. -material: wrought iron, steel top - cast steel - forged steel -amount of pressure applied during forging - Scale, it is hard and will put dents in your anvil face and hammer, no matter how hard you can get it. may be this abrades the face away over time. -Bubbles in the cast steel anvils. What surprises me still, I have seen wrought iron anvils, and cast steel anvils (Kohlswa, KL, Brooks, UAT, DLC, Czech cast anvils (oldworldanvils), and more) all with sway back. But I haven't found a Peddinghaus (forged steel) and a Refflinghaus anvil (cast steel) with sway back. Even though they have been in business for quite a long time. Not as long as some wrought iron anvil producers, but steel, these two still exist today and still forge and cast anvils. Is there anyone with a scientific and engineering background who could explain this to me? Thank you very much for your input.

Cheers of the compliments! :D I'm glad you like it! LOL, thanks for the heads up, I'll contact Coca Cola and declare some cash for the free advertising I'm doing :P Cheers. Yes I forge with both hands. I ambidextrous and it has given me many benefits in forging as well as daily life. In school it had great benefits too. I heard everyone complain about writing long tests and their hand hurt while writing. If my hand started cramping up, I'd switch hands to relieve stress and switch again when the other cramped up again. I've never understood why most people have one "good" arm and a "bad" arm. I've always wanted to use both. Why solely develope one arm, while you have two? It makes work a bit easier on the body because the work is spread out. If one arm gets a little tired, switch. In forging and in daily life as well there are opperations that are simply easier from a certain angle with one hand than the other. I use my abilities to my advantage.

It's nothing more than a 3 feet of pipe, 90 degree pipe and then another 3 feet of pipe. The heat creates a draft and pulls the smoke away. Not all of it as I am outside and if the wind comes from a weird angle (not the top end where smoke comes out, it doesn't seem to affect there.) I'm under a roof, the extra length is there to stay dry when it rains and catch dust, small bits of coke if they get sucked into the pipe. The piple is just thin walled but a good flame will make it sound like a jet engine. Most of the smoke is gone and I don't have black boogers at the end of the day.

Railroad spikes are not used on the Dutch railways, so they're hard to come by. Luckily I have nice friends over the "pond" who are willing to send me few. I forged 3 into a knife.. meh... I didn't see a good purpose in that as knives aren't that popular over here, as well as the law has few things to say as about them. So, I saved them up for a better purpose and that was forging a hanging basket bracket out of 3 spikes, for the variation. Here's a link to it, I hope you enjoy! Cheers, Joe

Recently I have made a video in which it was my goal to cleary happens in your forge what makes you able to fire weld without flux. This is clearly shown in the beginning of the video how this happens. A small note, in the beginning I say it's the steel melting, this is wrong. Timothy Miller corrected me and informed it was the oxide layer turning into a liquid, not the steel. This makes sense, because you can look up the melting temperatures of scale and it is lower than the melting point of steel and (wrought) iron. The other thing that makes sense it can't be steel melting, is because then the steel would fall apart. You see this a lot with tools steels and higher carbon steels. If you heat these steels too much, bring them too close to their melting temperature, they will just fall apart because the bonds get too weak. The same will happen to mild steels and wrought iron, heat them out enough and they will just fall apart. I tested this out in my forge and I suggest everyone who is interested in this to try it out. It really does happen. Another note, I am not trying to debate: flux or no flux. Useless discussion that is. However what I do want to bring out is awareness (especially for the beginner smiths) that you can weld without flux and get good welds. Borax is something that is not available everywhere in the world, in America it's a few cents I heard for a few pounds. In Europe you pay a few dollars per pound. So, there is bit of looking into that. I have used types of sand, they all work, borax and even iron mountain flux which is great. So, by all means, if you favor flux, use it. I don't use it (often) (exceptions welding tool steels and higher carbon steels) because why would I bother cleaning it and flux etc, clean the forge boogers and more when I can do it just as easily and faster without. Enjoy the video, watch in HD 720 to get optimal view, it gives a much better view than 360!

I hardly use to brush, now that I have a good brush, for me, it makes a noticable difference. Though, it has to be a good brush. What is a good brush? Not a wire brush, brushing with a wire brush to remove scale, hot just before forging, is a waste of time as it won't remove a lot. A good one is a farrier's brush or a butcher's block brush, with those (spring steel I have heard?) flat "wires". These remove a lot in one stroke. The scale and dirt from the fire is gone, won't get forged into the surface and you can see your material a lot better while forging. Thus your forging gets cleaner. For example, look at the farrier's, good farriers brush before forging to get a good view at what they are forging. And it keeps the material clean(er) than if it were taken straight out of fire. In short: if you have a good brush. Yes, brush. If you don't have a good brush and only like a wire brush, I won't bother because it doesn't work good enough for me to spend time on and lose heat. My 2 cents.

Thanks a lot, Frosty! LOL, Andy, since my first Peddinghaus I have been Kohlswa-free for a very long time. I sold them all a (very) long time ago.

Here's my new addition: A brand new 330lbs Refflinghaus anvil, delivered around 9:30 am 3rd of July 2013. It was a gift from my father for my graduation, acception at my new school in England and other achievements.

Peddinghaus has done arc welding and forge welding. The company was founded in 1903, but I don't know the year when they started making anvils specifically. But I do know that in the period of 1903 to the 1930s they made the P.F.P. Peddinghaus anvils, which came in a lot of different styles and weights, up to 440+ - pounds. (Only in the 1903 to the 1930s period, the heavier anvils were made in different kind of style, which stopped in the 1930's. I was told by Refflinghaus the Orginal P.F.P.s were made in '50s-'60s. I can't say for sure what they did between 1930 to 1950. They may have arc welded during that time, and perhaps as result that the arc welding wasn't as good as now, they switched back to forge welding, naming their anvils "Orginal P.F.P.s". As a reference "using the old method again". Just a possible way of events that seems logical to me. After that they went to arc welding for sure in the '70s, which macbruce helps proving with his purchase. But pin pointing when they stopped doing forge welding, I can't It could already have been in the early '60s, or in the late '60s. Somewhere around the '60s and '70s arc welding became permanent.

This isn't an Orginal P.F.P. Peddinghaus anvil. All P.F.P.s (earlier model than the O. P.F.P.) and Orginal P.F.P.s were forge welded at the waiste. I can prove this, if needed. I have 2 Orginal P.F.P. double horn anvils with upsetting block. wd&mlteach's pictures show a Peddinghaus anvil that was made after the Orginal P.F.P.s. You can easily tell, because the waiste has been arc welded and not forge welded. It's still a high end quality tool.

What you got there is a Peddinghaus anvil. Peddinghaus anvils are made of drop forged steel, not cast, made in Germany. They're one of the high end quality anvils, certainly a keeper. (The Pattern is a single horn North-German. Hence the location of the hardie hole.) Looking at the sides, it doesn't say "RIDGID Peddinghaus". This means the face has a higher Rockwell hardness than the new Ridgid Peddinghaus anvils (54-56 HRc)

Small correction, he means Angele Maschinebau (Germany). They sell pretty much everything a blacksmith could need, except skill, they don't sell that. :P

Thanks for the post, but this is an "old series". I have updated the cut off video with a one video long instructional video. Here's the link, I hope it is of use to you.

Welcome to the forum Jimarichard. I live and was born in the Netherlands, so I am native speaker. If you want to, I can help you with the Dutch blacksmith terminology. I also have YouTube channel (search TechnicusJoe) on which I have various blacksmithing videos, but spoken in English. Since hardly anyone who's watching my videos can understand, nor speak Dutch. I'm sure it will all work out, as long as you can understand the language of a blacksmith, which is spoken by hammer 'n anvil and not by words. Send me a PM and we can continue from there. Joe

Hannes, ein sehr schöner Amboss! Aber, that is not a Bohemian anvil. The anvil that you have is kind of a rarity, which is not seen often. It is a Southern German anvil, but with a tail instead of a square horn. This can easily be recognized, as its face is narrow and a characteristic horn which (mostly) only appears on the Southern German anvils. Also, it misses a slope on the side and the hardy hole is on the wrong side for a Bohemian anvil. All signs show it's a Southern German pattern with a tail instead of a square horn. And with that, a few other details. Nonetheless, it's a fantastic looking anvil. If you could post some pictures of the side(s) where the trade mark is, I am sure I can tell you what brand it is. If you cannot already. Joe

It's not even close to a German style anvil, even though the double horns. As mentioned, German have their hardy hole close to the round horn in the face, and the pritchle hole is close to the square horn in the face. Looking at the anvil, I believe this is a Peter Wright (England) wrought iron anvil. I think it is one, by looking at the slight step if has at the end of its feet. A typical Peter Wright sign. Or a ....... Wright brand.

Just a sum of good cast anvils: Refflinghaus (German) The best on the market today. Kohlswa (Swedish) KL (English) Brooks ( English) Vaughns (English) Columbian (NO idea where it was made) Fisher (American) UAT (German) DLC ( German) Söderfors (Swedish)

I think the video says enough. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTFCiilGlpo&lc=HjJT9FZMJ3SygJN56P5PvAey3762GRZXpPzPn9Tbkdg

After some discussion in the thread and with Mathieu, the Belgian carpenter, aka client, we decided to thin out the arc more so it will flex more. This should only be benefitial and add some nice esthectics aswell. I have never made a hold fast before, so this is a pretty big experiment for me to found out what works the best and what adds nice esthetics. But the main goal is functionality. The hold fast is not done yet, this is still the rough forging. After I am satisfied with the arc and Mathieu too, I will clean it up and file the remaining parts that need work. Here are a few pictures for the update.

A very good example, Daniel. This is the same thought/idea/feeling I also stand for. This is the way to keep the old/traditional techniques alive and pass them on. Though, you will have to look into have much he actually earns doing it this way. But besides that, it's still proof. And if I can do the same, doing everything traditionally, I certainly will. For me there is no pressure that I HAVE to make money in the trade this way. I simply love it too much to become a modern smith. I then rather do it as a big hobby, traditionally and do another job, so I can pay my bills. Again, a very good example. Joe