Fatlip

Oh well, not all treasures can be saved. Lucky you for having such a good supply. “Is your anvil good? Does it do what you need it to do without a lot of extra effort? If it's working for you then it's good.” (quoted from previous comment by pnut) yup, it’s a good anvil then! Didn’t know what to think for myself, I was just hoping I didn’t get ripped off. But you’re right, if it works, it works. I’ll make sure to take a look at all the places you suggested. Most of the men in my family have had shoulder/hip issues from sports or weight training, so I’ll downgrade my weight. I am relatively quite strong so I thought ‘big hammer mean more power’, but I need to stop thinking like a caveman! My dad will probably let me have one of his old ball piens to thrash up. “Small face = more pounds per square inch”. I need to start thinking with physics in mind too. Gonna get that hammer control in line now, thank you! xxxx, I hope so!

Thank you. I hope I do fit in, seems like that’s easy to do around here though! You were right (obviously). The specificity in your post really helped a lot. I found a couple suppliers that I could order some high carbon steel from, and have found a couple leaf springs to work with too (woohoo!). I’ll keep at it though, I like to be well prepared and I want as much stock as I can get, finding scrap (cut offs, coils, etc.) is definitely addictive. Still working on the PR, but when I find time in between work and whatnot I’ll be buttering up whoever I can. All this info is much appreciated. I can’t thank you (and everyone else on this site) enough!

Thanks for the kind welcome! Will do, I just wanted to get some of the rust off it anyways. I’ve been practicing when I’ve found the time this week. Round, to square(ish), and back. Definitely seeing improvement, I think I need to get a smaller hammer though. I’m using a 3lb right now and can only work about 2 hours at a time with it max. ABANA seems like it’ll be tons of help, thank you for all the advice. I’ve been looking around car scrapyards and talking to some shops. Not too much luck but I’ve got some steel and plan on making some more tools. I’ll be checking out some machine shops next too. I’ll start asking for truck axles too, I didn’t even think of that! It’s hard to get scrap steel, but honestly if you ask around enough places it seems like your bound to find one place that’ll help you out. Just keep at it. Have some fun with that axle! Lucky you! I’m trying to start my stockpile now, hope I can catch up. I’ve been looking around and it’s not too much trouble if you talk face to face. I was looking in all the wrong places, only finding mild steel, which I’ve been practicing with. I still need time to peruse the site for more info and I’ll look for those threads, thank you.

Amazing, I don’t know if puns were popular here, my family hates them, but I’m all about them so it’s good to hear. I’ll definitely practice forging the little dents out, didn’t even think of that. Your explanation helps tons too. It’s hard to find anything other than mild steel on this side of Canada. The US seems to have much easier access, but I’ll try getting some of the bar stock and round stock you suggested. I have some 01 tool steel and some 1095, both flat bar. Plus I have lots of 1/2 mild steel bar stock, I’ll put some work in with that. I just wanted some practice and had some rebar laying around rusting so I used it, but it does seem inconsistent. I think making some leaves is on the menu. Plus I still need to make myself a pair of tongs. I’ll stick to the basics for now then, I’m not sure where to start since I’m still quite new to this, but I’ll keep learning. The local blacksmiths I found (one shop with two bladesmiths who are business partners) do classes on making knives and teach lessons starting with knives so I assumed it was where to go if I wanted to be a bladesmith. That’ll be something for the future, however. Thanks once again for all the help and advice. I’m gonna get to work and plan out some other projects for sure, just simple stuff. Oh, and you better call an ambulance for the steel I’ll be forging, it’s gonna take quite the beating. (Lol) Thanks, Chris. I’ll send some positive vibes your way, hope you find yourself a baby like mine sometime soon ❤️!

Glad to find a community like this, and happy to be here! I’ll make sure to read over the “read this first” a few more times. So just using the anvil will help with the face? I’ll make sure to keep at it then! I’ll probably go to work on the sides by hand, but I saw someone used a Wirebrush on a dremel tool to clean up the sides of their anvil, could that damage it? I was thinking of using beeswax and turpentine (I have a beehive in my yard so it’s easy to acquire) but I’ll look into more options and see what’s best. Thank you for the solid advice. I’ll be making a post of some of my work, but here’s a pic of what I made already, just a simple rebar knife, didn’t want to put too much work in so I left it rough.

I didn’t know the marks on the sides we’re from a chisel or punch, so I learned something new there. But that wasn’t what I was referring to. Below I’ll put a detailed photo of the pock marks on the side of it. It doesn’t ring too loudly but the rebound is around 80%, so it seems to be in good working order. I have done my reading on how to treat the anvil, don’t worry! I won’t be doing anything to ruin the steel face. The guy who sold it to me was just “about to mill the face half a inch down, so it’s flat” for me though, I told him to leave it as is. I almost xxxxxxxxxx when he told me that. Thanks for the info on it, I’ll still be doing more research to confirm, so it helps a ton!

Sorry, didn’t add enough details of locations, thanks for the suggestion I edited my profile, it should have my location info now. Unfortunately it’s not the anvil you know of. This is from a hospital in the lower mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Sadly, my anvil was being used as a pellet gun target for the past decade. I am in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Money anvil was purchased with is in CAD. So it’d be around $300 USD

I bought this anvil for around $400 from a guy working in a hospital. They cleared out the old machine and workshop, and decided to sell this anvil. There weren’t many others for a price as good as he offered, so I ended up making the purchase. However, I can’t seem to figure out what the make of this anvil is. I originally thought it was a Trenton, but now I’m leaning more towards it being a cast steel Swedish, but I could be wrong there too. I have only been blacksmithing more seriously for about half a year, and I need an expert’s opinion. The anvil is 135lbs, and was acquired by the hospital in the early 1950’s.