vespdrone

I guess I was wondering if there's interesting "modifications" people have done in place of cracks. But I guess the best modifications depend what you're using it for! Thanks for the advice! Wow, that's a gradual fix alright. I'll keep this in mind, thanks!

That seems pretty sound advice - I agree it's perfectly usable for now. My main worry would be causing new cracks, so I'll keep away from existing ones.

Thanks for this information - I didn't quite appreciate how clean it needs to be! The light blue looks spot on, after seeing one recently! There's tinges of red and dark blue I'm less sure about

Oh great! I'll look for something that mentions hardened steel. That's a great result - I'll stay positive The pitting was much worse at the start, almost felt lumpy.. but with use it's getting better and better. Thanks Rojo!

Hi all, I posted pictures of my second hand John Brooks anvil in the show me your anvil page - I wanted to ask what you would do if you received this anvil - as you can see both sides are chipped, although one side isn't as bad Besides the chips, around the heel of the anvil looks a bit mushroomed, so I need to radius the whole way around for sure. I figure I could do some wide radii around the chips - I'm afraid to put any work near them right now What would you do?

I love to show off my anvils - here's my John Brooks anvil. It's my second anvil - wanted another because my brothers are involved too, and having one anvil sucks! It was a shot in the dark - 350GBP for 50kg but they did me a deal on a post vice. The face was quite course with rust, but that went with some use. I found even running my hammer over the face would leave a reddish trace of the rust, so I did it over an evening and noticed a massive improvement. Simples! I did a rebound test when it got here, and was a bit disappointed - after putting in the offer I read the warnings about shop fires.. but sure look. It might be 30% or so. I keep meaning to test my new peddinghaus, thinking maybe I can blame the ball bearing! All that said, it works well enough for us. The chips are pretty bad on one side, but no one has ground radii into it before. I've heard cast steel JB anvils are notorious for it.. I'll make the cracks large radii. All this said, I'm still chuffed! I use the JB anvil at home as it's 25kg lighter, and it gets moved around a lot

Ah cool, that's an interesting technique. Hope you get back up & running soon. That was lucky! I'm trying to imagine what the most minimalist holiday forging pack would look like now..

That's a great image! It's amazing what's possible even with a blowtorch, I'll have no excuse not to practice!

Nice, that is encouraging That one brick forge sounds cool. I must try something like that. Going to try wedge my anvil in, and have it nice and quiet before starting that

Thanks David, this is wonderful advice. We have a friend in a garage who keeps coil springs now for us. He hasn't had leaf springs in yet. I must call around. Great tip about machine shops and drops / ordering!

Stumbled across this section while browsing the threads I'm Thomas - a newb based in Ireland. My brother acquired a Devil Forge propane forge and can't fire it up where he lives (or at mine) so we fire it up at a family members house. We don't get out as much as we'd like, but very much enjoying it! As we can only setup outside, our forging prospects depend on the weather! I'm preparing myself for disappointment over winter when rain buckets down! I picked up some 1/4" copper to do some cold forging at my own home. For steel stock - we can get black mild steel easily, but tool steel is posing a challenge! The biggest two suppliers don't stock tool steel, and won't order it in unless I want to order thousands. When I found a supplier with some W1 in stock I bought what I could afford since it doesn't sound like they'll order it again Looking forward to getting to know people here, especially in Ireland!

Thanks for your answer! The seller responded, it might have been done by his father after acquiring at an auction. I'll research Brooks and hopefully see something close. Lovely, thanks for the suggestions. I'll try these out on my own anvil for a reference and check online.

I'm very much leaning this way - it looks like a great kit, and I'm just starting out. I do already own an anvil but there's a couple of us and this has a lot of extras. Thanks for the advice.

I'm browsing local sale websites for deals and I noticed this anvil and swage up for sale for a price you'd see for an anvil on it's own. The lots being sold for €500. I wonder if anyone recognizes the make of the anvil? I'm thinking the paint may not be original as the swage and cart has it too. I asked the seller about the weight, any marks or branding and what he knows about it, waiting on a response. Based on the ruler the face is approx 14" long, 4.25" wide, the horn approx 6.5" long, the plate about 2.5". About 23" in length, 4.25" in width? Its hard to tell how tall it would be

If you found this thread and the links aren't working, try searching archive.org for them Practical Blacksmithing by Milton T. Richardson https://archive.org/search.php?query=Practical Blacksmithing Richardson The Blacksmith's Guide by JF Sallows https://archive.org/search.php?query=The Blacksmith's Guide Forge Work by William L. Ilgen (1912), https://archive.org/search.php?query=Forge Work William L. Ilgen