BOB T

was an article in the newspaper(Quad-City Times)about the Stolen Anvil..about 30 or so miles for me ...we keep an eye out for it

Read someplace, didn't come up with it myself.. The difference between a Craftsman and a Master Craftsman does it until he gets it right Master does it until he can't get it wrong

Benton; Think of taking the class a Campbell Folk School this coming Aug Axes & Tomahawks what was your thought on the class?? Was any tooling (drifts)made in the class?? thanks' bob

I think my "Best Tool" all my blacksmith friends, their sharing of Knowledge, Friendship, Companionship. I think of all the hammer-end, workshops, conferences and schools I've been to. How each and everyone of them made a difference in my blacksmithing skills over the years..

Here mine with the rack too

Benton..I will watch for his class, Campbell is only posted thru the end of June. thank`s

Some good videos on YouTube that I looked for ax making, any videos or books?? Someone might recommend??

Taking 4 or 5 of the advanced classes at John C Campbell(Gerry Darnell,Tal Harris)over the years. Active in two blacksmith chapters in the Midwest.. I also teaching blacksmith classes myself. I would travel a long day's drive. Have the experience to build one, but would enjoy taking a class too. Just didn't see anything class list of my searches on the web involving axes . Thinking maybe someone knew of one coming up???

Looking for some information on some small ax making classes coming up?? Preferably the wrapped and forge welded with a bit, or possibly split and drifted would do too. Have quite a bit experience at general blacksmithing but never tackled axes.. Have made a few Tomahawk styles with the railroad spike. Retired now so have some time to take a few classes. Thanks

I totally agree that just because an anvil has rounded corners should be considered "junk" or poor purchase. Obviously depending on the price of the anvil I do on the other side of the coin, caution buyers on anvils that have been repaired by welding... Because if the proper procedure in repairing and or welding has not been followed, even though it may "look nice "could cause considerable problems in the performance of the anvil, having cracking, and chipping on the anvil face if it hasn't been repaired properly.

One thing I've done in the past to locate blacksmithing tools is to find a newspaper that has circulation in the farm/rural community. I placed an ad in the" Wanted To Buy".. Blacksmithing tools.. I haven't done it for a while but when I did place an ad I usually got some type of blacksmithing tools and/or equipment.. You might try this??? Another suggestion, try to locate a blacksmithing group in your area .. Blacksmithing events usually have tailgaters selling tools and equipment for blacksmithing's..

bryan. Did Ragbrai this year, saw the bike the first night in Rock Valley. Very nice job.. pretty impressive.

When to cemeteries this afternoon, went to the one in Rock Island, IL ,Chipplannock which is famous for its on usual headstones, knew there was one there that was an anvil and Headstone is marked, Smith.. There are two more that I found in the same cemetery that had the anvils, pretty neat looking... Two large ones actually had tools of granite laying on top of them.

I agree with everybody that noise is probably going to be the biggest problem in your backyard with the neighbors.. One thing you might consider?? Make certain gifts for your neighbors on the Forge.. Plant hangers, maybe a barbecue tool or fork, roasting fork for the marshmallows or hotdogs for the family that does camping.. They may find you user-friendly and a plus for the neighborhood

To bad your not closer to the Midwest ..I'am sell four anvil ..will be putting them on ebay soon. need to clean my shop area and get some room

Frosty The jig to bend the wires that make of the Clayton knot..that way they are all exactly the same and can make a little faster. Working backwards, made one of the wires and now building the bending fixture for it to duplicated

I saw several different demos on making Clayton Knot. What I'm looking for is some dimensions and/or pictures of the bending fixture/jig or making individual bars that make up the complete knot. Maybe somebody knows if this is been discussed or showed on the forum at some other time?? I saw the one that on SOFA website.. Can't seem to find my notes on what some of the dimensions were for the bending fixture. Thanks for any information

If you're ever in the neighborhood (Havehill,IA) .. Make it a point stop by and see the blacksmith shop. I've been in that shop many times and it's as the videos said "just as he left it"there is a church cemetery just few blocks and in the cemetery are several iron made grave markers that were made in this blacksmith shop. There are monthly Hammer-in and May Event with a demonstrator which are put on by the Upper Midwest Blacksmith Association. The demonstrations and hammer-in are done in shop built next to the original shop so as not to destroy the original condition of the blacksmith shop as it was 70 years ago. Yours (me) truly, will be the demonstrator this May 17th&18th. If you are the area stop by..

Here are a couple pokers I made, the one flat bar is just split and forged out and the other is forge welded onto the bar.. Haven't decided what type I handle yet

Here's what I done several years ago to find blacksmith tools and anvils.. I put a want ad in the newspaper"wanted to buy blacksmith tools, tongs, hammers, forges and anvils.. One piece or whole shop.. Pay cash"...even though I wasn't looking to buy lots of tools or a whole shop full I always picked up some type of blacksmithing equipment a reasonable price... I usually run the ad for about a week or 10 days. I placed these ads before the eBay sellers were hunting down the blacksmith tools, so you may not be as successful??? But definitely I would try... Another thing make sure you tell all your friends and relatives that you're looking for an anvil.. Here's how I found a Peter Wright(180lbs) in very good condition; stop at the grocery store and had a shoulder bag on that had on the flap of the bag a picture of an anvil and our club logo.. I was standing in the checkout line, and the guy behind me saw my bag(anvil picture) he said "got an anvil in my garage, you interested in buying it? he lived about a mile from the store, followed him home and bought the anvil..

Thanks guys on the information on welding up the horn. Sweany.. I agree with you about putting some heat on the horn before welding it.. Very true about keeping the 7018 welding rod hot a lot of the critical welds I did as a certified welder were required to have a portable rod heater/oven with us to keep the rod hot all during the welding procedures

I know for sure one is a Peter Wright.. Has a stone weight marked on it too.. I forget what the other one is thinking Peter Wright or Hay-Budden but definitely an old anvil and not a Fisher, I have too much steel piled around it now to check the identity of it

I need to repair a couple of Anvils; the repair area is on the horn of the anvil.. I've had these anvils for a while, the horns of each one has a V notch (not real deep )that's been put in there for some type of previous projects. The notches are too deep to grind out and need to be welded up. I have done some research on repairing them and the information I come up with that no preheating heating is necessary and that a standard 6010 or 7018 welding rods should work fine on welding them up. Would more than likely use of 7018 Rod.. Do you agree with repaired the horns in this matter. I am familiar with arc welding being in skilled trades(millwright) for 45 years. Thanks in advance

Sorry, forgot to respond to one of the questions how I attached the small branches. Did some grinding to match the angle of the main branch, use my wire mig to weld them on.. And here's a neat little trick, put one of the cutoff wheels in my Dremel grinder and blended the weld to look like tree bark texture. Be sure keep your welds small and right in the right spot to avoid doing a lot of grinding with the Dermel tool

Here are some of the pictures of the dies used to do a tree branch. The sizes 1/2" x 2" x 2 1/2" and the other one is 3/4" in thickness. I made him quite a few years ago, I believe I just heated the blocks of and had a wide chisel to cut in the grooves randomly.. As you can see in the picture no real pattern to it.