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I Forge Iron

Gravydavy

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  1. The stand is a pedestal design with the 4" pipe being vertical under the center of the anvil to minimize flex under hammer blows. The base is still to be determined depending on what I can drag out of the metal pile in the woods. If I expected to use it on a hard surface, I would give it three legs because a tripod rarely rocks. But I mostly expect for it to live outside on on a gravel surface, so having a broad footprint to minimize sinking into the ground seems to be more of a priority. I'm leaning toward a fairly large plate with diagonal bracing, but I'm open to other ideas. I've even considered a concrete-weighted base. I'm open to suggestions. BTW, the stand project is shoving my nose into the fact that my welding skills are far beyond rusty. I definitely won't be posting any closeups of my weld beads.
  2. Thomas, as it happens, I am a mechanic (retired) and have laying around a broken semi-floating truck axle with a nicely domed end that I eventually intend to cut down for a forming stake. I do want to be able to do some actual blacksmithing, so I'll stick with the Fisher rather than swapping for a smaller anvil.. I also have some jackhammer bits that should make nice tools. I've already made a small ~1lb hammer from one piece. Unfortunately, the scrapyards in my town don't seem to be interested in selling to individuals. I do know some heavy truck mechanics who might let me dig through their scrap pile when I get to the point of needing more material. Goods, that is very cool that you got to do that with your son. I'm a bit jealous of him! I will likely make a hardy block/anvil for the brass/copper work and put a hole in my workbench to hold it as well (if I ever actually get back into that - it's been nearly 45 years). In the meantime, I'm welding up a fairly sturdy stand out of 4" sch 40 pipe, 1/2" plate and 2"x1/4"square tubing for the diagonal bracing. I will solidly secure the anvil to it. Should be plenty stiff for the lighter work that I anticipate doing, and I can always move it with the tractor.
  3. The last few replies have been helpful and gave me the sort of practical information I was looking for to guide me. I am convinced to leave it alone. At some point I will likely find a more suitable anvil/block for work that calls for a flat, smooth surface. Thanks to all, even those who got angry at me. It shows that you care about these things. Now, back to making the stand...
  4. Boy, this has gone sideways, and I have definitely contributed to it. Please let me try again: One part of my question amounts to "How much could I sell it for on this forum?". (Note: I'm not looking to sell it, just trying to get an idea of what it's worth to help me decide how to proceed toward having the tools that work for me). Does $200-$300 seem reasonable? That would be my guess. The other part was "If it's not worth much, and it's not rare, is there a good reason why I shouldn't mill/dress the top?) The universal response has amounted to "Don't you dare do that!" OK, I get that it's agreed that I shouldn't do that, but I'm still not sure why. On all kinds of machine tools it's normal maintenance to resurface working parts. To my mind, by definition the high spots are the parts that aren't being used, so why not skim them down a bit to even out the working surface in order to get more usable flat space, especially for work where surface finish is important? Maybe the question could be rephrased as "How thin is too thin, and how flat is flat enough? I'm leaning toward flatter, but I'm definitely open to other opinions, especially if backed up with solid reasoning. With all due respect, most of the replies so far have run awfully close to "Because we've always done it this way" or "Don't question your elders". Contrary to some comments, I have by no means made up my mind. I won't do anything to the face until I am convinced it's a good idea. I am fully aware that I can't readily put the metal back on. On the other hand, if taking some bumps off and creating useful flat spots makes it work better for me, I'm willing to do that. Please, folks - don't just tell me "Don't do that!". Explain why it's a bad or good idea for the way I expect to use the anvil. Maybe I'm wrong, and it's rare or historically valuable. Maybe there is a history of the faces cracking after dressing. Maybe I'm just one of those annoying people who just has to understand "Why?" Geeze, that sounds like a homework assignment. Didn't mean it that way. Once more, I do not mean to be a troll or disrespect the folks who have replied. I apologize if I have come across that way when questioning or disagreeing. I just have a really hard time letting go of a question until the solution sinks in. And sometimes I miss the answer that's right in front of me.
  5. So, guys, I think I still don't understand how the reply and quote functions work here. I've never run into anything like this on any other forum. It's different here. Please let me reiterate: Just because I may disagree and argue a different view doesn't mean I don't respect your opinion. I've seen too many differences of perspective turn into anger. I don't want that. All too often it's just that folks assumed a meaning that wasn't intended. Good communication can be really hard, and I'm not at all great at it. I tend to be a sarcastic xxxxxxxx. But my wife says I'm OK for a boy.
  6. I don't think I've been highlighting anything, but quotes seem to keep being dragged along with my replies. Probably my error. I'll keep trying. My apologies to everyone for any confusion that may have ensued.
  7. Hey folks, I'm still not used to how the quote and reply functions work on this forum. It looks like some of my replies got rolled into quotes that I didn't mean to quote, if that makes any sense. Hey Glenn, is there some way to fix that? And again, folks, I promise I am not a troll. I clearly have opinions that don't match those of some of the respected posters here, but that doesn't mean I don't respect their viewpoints. It just means that I have a different viewpoint. I hope we can continue discussing subjects that we don't always agree on.
  8. There seems to be a common knee-jerk reaction on this forum to say "Thou shalt not attempt to smooth the face of thine anvil for fear of precipitating the Forge-Demon Apocalypse". Maybe there was a traumatic period when hordes of barbaric fiends dragged pristine Peddinghaus anvils the length of Rte 66, but I'm not proposing that. OK, that was over the top. But in all of the replies to my anvil questions, there has not been one that said it was even OK for me to remove the scale from the face of my anvil. And there have been a number that intimated I was risking ruining my anvil by taking a flap wheel to the face. Some of this seems a bit silly to me. Am I wrong?
  9. Why do anvil manufacturers bother grinding faces flat in the first place instead of leaving the full thickness to maximize wear life? Why do we dress hammer faces? Because we want to control the metal of the workpiece, and not have to fight needless bumps and dimples from rough tool surfaces. It's an anvil. A working tool that exists to provide a suitable surface to shape metal against. Many craftsmen would be rightly aghast at trying to do good work on an abused, dented, pitted and chipped surface unless they had no other choice. There's a reason that we no longer use rocks as hammers and anvils. Sure, such damage can be worked around and sometimes even used to advantage, but come on, guys, it's not the Holy of Holies. It's steel. It's a tool. It's meant to be made use of, taken care of, repaired if it makes sense and replaced if it doesn't. It will wear and get damaged. Respect it, but don't worship it. And Frosty, you are very fortunate to have local machine shops that will give you tool steel drops for chatting with the owner. Around here, we have very few machine shops at all and I haven't found any that hand out free material. Again, is my Fisher so rare or valuable that it would be some kind of sin to dress the working face? Would smiths of 50-75 years ago have hesitated to dress the face of their anvil in order to do better work even if it meant their grandchildren might have to replace or reface the anvil eventually?
  10. Guys, I promise I'm not trolling. But I'm having a bit of trouble. Ever since I started looking at anvils a couple of decades ago, I got the impression that Fisher was a utilitarian "farmer's" anvil, like what might have been sold from the Sears Roebuck & Co. catalog. Reasonably respectable quality, but still a consumable tool, to be used and modified for the task at hand, just like a sledge hammer or a digging bar. I never got an impression that they were collectible, rare or special in any way, and I didn't think they were particularly valuable on the resale market. For perspective, I'm a retired auto mechanic. I view tools as items to be used to complete a job. Use them, modify them, destroy them if the job calls for it and will pay for them. They are just tools, and the manufacturers make more every day. (Or that's what I tell myself. But keep your hands off my 32 oz Lixie bronze hammer). So if the Fisher anvil is worth $200 as-is, isn't rare, and can be easily replaced for the same money, should I worry about reducing it's value 25%? OTOH, if it is actually special, I don't want to screw it up further. History counts for something. Hey George, I appreciate the reply. You bring up another reason to work with the Fisher instead of the RR track. If I have to mill off 1/2" and anneal the steel to do that, I now have a soft, flattish piece of not very massive steel. Or I can mill/grind off 1/2" of arguably work-hardened steel and end up with a not very massive piece of steel of uncertain hardness. Working with the Fisher makes more sense to me unless there's a compelling reason to do otherwise.
  11. According to my cheap electronic bathroom scale, about 114lbs. The anvil is marked 10 (stone? pennyweight? I don't know.).
  12. And I've noticed that nobody has hazarded a guess at answering my original question, so I'll rephrase it: If I were to offer the anvil for sale on this forum, what would be a fair selling price? What would YOU pay for it?
  13. And then again, I've previously tried using a chunk of mild steel for working soft metals, and it dented and rounded surprisingly badly. So I wonder how much a chunk of hard-enough without post-heat treat but easily weldable steel would cost. Say 1"x4"x4". Would 4140 prehard do it? There is so much about this stuff that I don't know.
  14. I have a chunk of railroad iron that I could mill and grind flat after cutting the broken ends off (It was broken for scrap, and so has bent, distorted ends). I would need to take off something like 1/2 inch of work-hardened curved surface. It would probably take several days to do so. Taking about 1/16 inch off the Fisher would likely do what I have in mind in a couple of hours. So the question is, which makes more sense? I'm not some kind of metalworking Philistine. If the Fisher has some particular value, I'm open to leaving it alone. But I have observed a tendency on some forums for folks to advocate *somebody else* spending a bunch of time or money to preserve something that the forum folks think should be preserved. So. How many hours and dollars are you willing to put into making me an alternative anvil in order to keep the Fisher in it's current condition? (Not a real challenge. Just a bit of perspective. We're all prone to armchair quarterbacking, myself definitely included). That's not a bad idea, and I'd kinda forgotten about it. So maybe I should rephrase as "Is this Fisher worth the trouble of my widow trying to sell it?". I'm actually curious about a fair market value. But I'm also not convinced that taking 1/16" off the top and edges would "ruin" it. If it's not particularly valuable as-is, dressing the surface and edges might make it a much better tool for lighter, more detailed work. I wouldn't want to do that if it's particularly rare and irreplaceable, but if it's just another old farmer's anvil, it might be a different story. Just spitballing. BTW, everything I've done with it so far has not removed more than a few thousandths of intact steel. If I were to remove the Fluid Film and leave it in a horse barn again, in ten years it would be hard to tell that I'd touched it.
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