lary

That's good advise about the drill bits. As far as the ring, when I first put one of these anvils on a wood stand I caulked the bottom and anchored it down with angle iron and 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch lag screws. It was pretty quite. But I'm working on uneven concrete, so there was always a little wobble to deal with. I built a steel tripod stand. caulked and bolted it down. Now it was obnoxiously loud. Speaker magnet didn't help. A 3/8 chain, and turn buckle (to tighten it down) did the trick.

If I wasn't confident in my ability to fix that ridiculous round hole it probably would have been a deal breaker for me. Plus the the second "132" lbs Acciaio I purchased that actually weigh 126 to 127 lbs was only $226.00 shipped to my door. Hard to beat that price. This might just be a sale that pops up my area, and it seems to only be with the 132lbs/60kg model. Vevor is a different kind of company, the purchases have to be done on line. I paid with Paypal. I was able to place an order in just a few minutes. Prior to that my wife wasted several hours trying to pay with a pre-paid debit card and it just would not go through. The problem was on Vevor's end. The advice I see given by the old timers is get a chunk of steel and make an improvised anvil. Great advice indeed. Because if you are still a little green when it comes to smithing, and your hammer control isn't so good, and your forging something a little to cold. and you get tired, and your smashing something with a 4 pound hammer useing all your might and you miss a blow it will dent these anvils. They aren't horrible, there is that sweet spot between the holes that gives pretty decent rebound. Hickory Forge has a video and mentions there possibly made from c45 / 1045 steel. I don't know where he gets that information, but I've made a few hammers from 1045 and the characteristics seem similar. I for the most part have been using hammers in the 2 pound range, and I've missed a blow or two along the way, the face is holding up well, after about a year of forging on it ounce or twice a week, there are some minor depressions in the surface. Nothing bad enough to transfer into the work.

Everything Mac- Thank you for the write-up. Very informative.

That's a cool idea Mothman, thanks for sharing. I don't know for sure if its your brain trying to figure out what the lyrics are of a song, and that's why it keeps getting repeated in your head. But I was told that looking up the lyrics helps.

I would be looking for one with three pulleys/shivs two belts. The two pulley set up spins to fast for steel. I sometimes burn up drill bits with the later mentioned, I think they are more suitable for a wood shop.

Thom, thank you for the updates. The possibility of hospice was mentioned earlier, has this happened? I don't know how to word this tactfully, but I get concerned when their name is mentioned. My wife worked in adult foster care for several years, she told me that she witnessed patients being over medicated by those people on several occasions. Sometimes the patient would get re-evaluated and found that there condition was not terminal. This may just be an issue in my part of the country, but under the circumstances of Thomas's care or lack of it, its one more thing for the family to keep an eye on.

In Oregon you can salvage roadkill, Elk/Deer. A permit has to be filled out within 24 hours of picking it up. Now that I think of it, haven't seen that many dead deer on the side of the road since the that law was past 2 years ago.

Get more and more of them every year. My wife figured out they like a mix of about 1 part sugar to 3 parts water. The mix available in stores doesn't work so well. Just don't make eye contact when you get this close, they don't like that.

arkie- I was looking at Pinterest for hummingbird forging ideas an the first picture in this post came up. Wondering if its OK to borrow some of your ideas.

So far it works good for drifting holes up to about 3/8 inch. Sent the other one (anvil) I worked on to an aspiring blade smith family member as an early Christmas present a couple days ago. This way it will get treated to a different style of smithing. So maybe get a different opinion. It's a small enough area off to the side so doesn't see heavy forging.

Made this hook and crummy tongs The color of the hook doesn't show up well in the picture. Not satisfied with either one. Some days everything go's great, others I can't make a rivet turn out wright.

Not mine, just wondering if anyone has knowledge/experience with stands like these. Are they factory built specifically for a leg/post vise?

The first one I did 8 months ago I used a piece of 1 inch shaft bored out 1/2 inch lengthwise. A lathe is needed for this method. The second one I slid a piece of 1/2 inch into a piece of 3/4 inch thick wall black pipe. Long enough to poke out the bottom of the horn, and slightly above the height of the face. The method with the pipe did a better a job of filling in the hole. And then weld peen, weld peen, I think it was 4 or 5 layers before getting it built up enough to flap disc it level with the face.

Yeah adapters, I thought about that too. Every hardy tool I have is 1 inch as with where this anvil will wind up when I'm done with it. Typically you would see a hardy hole this big on a larger anvil. Not saying you guys aren't bringing up a good point, it's probably a more common way to deal with a hole that's nearly a 1/4 inch too big. Besides, if the need for a larger square hole repeats itself it give me an excuse to start bringing home swage blocks. Speaking of size, there advertising for these things might be a bit misleading...

It was 1 3/16". It's now 1 1/8", I used 1 1/2 x 1/8" angle and cut it lengthwise to fit. Had to do a little die grinding / touching up for a 1 inch hardy to fit.

I've done that, was surprised at how well it works. Copper pipe being so thin made me skeptical, but it does work.

Sounds like the welds are breaking away from the cast iron part of the anvil? May have used the wrong type of rod or not enough preheat. These Acciaio anvils are cast steel except for the occasional patch of plastic body filler on the bottom. Which was a little annoying when welding the hardy hole. As far as critiquing don't sweat it. I'm glad somebody's paying attention. Just a little FYI, anybody considering fixing damage to the face of an old anvil with 7018, I was able to cut into the welds easily with a file when dressing things up.

I reduced the size so a 1 inch hardy tool can fit with just a little play.

I used an air chisel to smooth out the rough casting down inside the hardy hole. I cut a piece of angle iron long enough so I could get two weld beads on the top and bottom of the anvil. Used a die grinder with a carbide bit just inside the hole on top to put a bevel for welding in the angle.

Goods- Sorry my post was pretty vague on details. For the pritchel hole I laid down short beads of 7018, then peen then air needle. Repeated this several times to build up the area. Used a flap disc to smooth it out. The ice was mostly to keep the heat treatment from being affected between the two holes. These anvils do have that sweet spot where there is good rebound and are sort of hard in that area. As far as separation/cracks, the horn does get pretty hot from the repeated welding. Pictured below is the same make model 132 lbs 60kg. I did the same to it back in February. I've been forging on it ounce or twice a week ever since. But I used a mig welder for that one. Its not perfect, there is some pitting. But I can use it to drift holes. I figure it wont likely see any heavy forging in that area.

Acciaio anvils have some really large hardie and "prichel" holes. Worked on making this one a little more user friendly. I did lay blocks of ice on the face while welding. Cool idea for a broach Shainarue.

Sounds good. Thanks for the update.

That bowl looks nice. Very symmetrical, and no cracks from work hardening. Attempting to come up with the "perfect" set of tongs for a small wood stove. Was planning on wrapping the tapered ends but didn't have enough material. So last minute change was to scroll the ends of the handle, didn't get them to match.

You are one busy guy Alexander. Impressive as always.

Dragon I've been working on. Starting to think I did a better job of making an image when we did it on film.