Sweany

http://www.nimbaanvils.com/ i like,a friend of mine has one he has only good words for it.

Sweet!

i LIKE IT! :D

There is a good article on post vises at anvilfire that may answer your questions, not plans as such... The Arizona plans are good too.

I like that a lot!

take a look at this. http://knifenetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48537&highlight=COLORING+DAMASCUS and http://www.caffreyknives.net/bsteel.htm

For the upset plate I'd leave the center section not welded, more mass under the work there. I'd make that side of the top and middle block even, the little lip where the blocks are setting now might be in the way, when upsetting. Cut a 1/2" bevel on top and bottom block on the upset side. This will give you 1" of weld. On side opposite the upset give the top block only a 1/2" bevel, with the middle block being a little larger this should also give a 1" weld, by the time you fill the bevel and cap it off. The upset block comes in real handy. my .02

Kewl. I like the bird bath quench tank. :)

What I used sounds similar to the Lincoln 15CrMn rod. The rod i used did not need a base coat of another rod type, another reason I chose it. I used a small 1-1/2 lb hammer started down one edge, tap,tap,tap, bounce. Generally 3,4 taps gave a noticeable increase in rebound. this anvil has been used for 10 years or so, no chips no brittleness. I pulled up a chair and some Iced tea and did several rounds of tapping, lengthwise and crosswise. Joseph Szilaski had an article in Blade one time about working for a Blacksmith. The Blacksmith bought a brand new anvil. Before anyone used the anvil Joseph, was to peen the face of anvil until the blacksmith was satisfied, small hammer ,light blows, evenly across the face. Sounded reasonable to me. The stand is a little low and we used it for striker work several times. Two guys 8lb. hammers 1" and 2" iron. I went with work hardening rod instead of the quenchable, because of the difficulty in handling a large piece and cooling it quickly enough. That's my experience. Would I do it again? Yes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+++ Bringing the the face and 4" or so up to 1450 f. Would require some help and a lot of water. There a Youtube video of a guy quenching an anvil with an extension in the receiver hitch of his pickup and backing it into the lake. That might work but I think I'd want some kinda pump for circulation. In your case I think it might be doable to heat and quench the top block ( face of the anvil) before you weld it to the base. Here's my reasoning. 1. We only need the face hard, two pass's of rod are say a 3/8" tp 1/4" thick depending on the size of rod and the pass you carry. Then we grind it smooth. 2. The un- welded portion of the face block isn't going to get hard. 3. The heat from welding such a massive block of steel will probable not transfer enough to the face of the weld to degrade the quench and temper. You could check the inter pass heat with a temp stick and pause the welding if it is getting too hot. You could use a wet blanket to protect the face. 4. Not having to handle the whole mass of the complete anvil would simplify the heating and quenching of the face. Interesting project. That's why I love a good discussion, people see each project differently.

Frosty, maybe I used the wrong term. The rod I used was a work hardening manganese bearing rod, easy to grind flat the way David described it ,then followed by some passes with a belt sander. The I started tapping with the hammer until the face started rebounding. Simply amazing stuff. I dunno the brand anymore it was a rod recommended by my weld supplier after I told him what I wanted to do.

B) B) B) B) I like it!

I would make beveled weld joints of at least an inch. I would not put air gaps between each piece, then you would be banging on three pieces of steel, also with the air gap you will be banging directly on the welds themselves. Here's the big anvil I made the center was two 5" thick full penetration test weld coupons. http://farwestforge.com/Forum/bsgview.php?photo=3441&cat=&by=Sweany You can see the bevel in the top block, the base is 2" thick with an 1-1/2" beveled weld to the base. The horn is a tractor axle and yes I never really finished the horn as I would have liked. Welding tips: Preheat the the blocks to 200 hundred before welding, ( I use a weed burner and a blanket of Kwool) Leave a small 1/2' or so weep hole in each weldment. Use the largest size 7018 rod you can handle with your machine ( 5/32"is good 3/16" is better) Tack weld ever thing especially the ends. (so the welds won't pull your blocks out of alignment.) Put a light pass in all the weldments. (to minimize weld distortion) Put a second heavier pass in each weldment. (to minimize weld distortion) Skip around on following pass's including changing direction of the weld. (to minmize distortion) Post heat the welds with the weed burner, bring them up to a nice cherry and cover with the kwool, arrange the weed burner so a little fire keeps it all warm for few hours and it cools slowly ( to stress relieve the welds) That's not a code stress relieve procedure but in worked well in my case. No cracked welds! That's the way I would do it. P.S. I'd hardface ever thing including the horn and drill several sizes of pritchell holes. ( hardface after the hardy and pritchell holes are complete )

Is it 3",4" thick. Probably not A36 probably a more weldable mild steel, Possibly 516-70 or the like. Cut a a small piece see if it hardens. I'd set up a guide bar and use a 4-1/2" grinder to make the windows use one of these to dress it out. . Unless I had a buddy with a mill. Weld on a tool steel plate? If you just weld the edges, you will leave a dead air space under the top plate, not as good as forge welded plate. I'd go with the hard face rod, preheat to 200F. Check out the weld supply for prices. But first I'd hammer on it a while and see how it works for you. I've built a couple anvils with and with out hardface. My favorite was a block anvil with a stellite face. There is nothing like making your own tools, and a church window anvils are just classy . IMO

I looked up the oring Compatability chart for both gases, both list the same types of material as compatible for both gases, so.. worn out oring,crack, lose screw...?

Ian, I never bucked rivets but I worked with guys that did. When I was a younger I started work in a weld shop, out of high school in 1974. I worked with a man who started bucking rivets in tanks when he was 16. No ear plugs in those days, he said you chewed a good wad of newspaper before you went into the tank and plugged your ears with that. His first welding job was forge welding tanks. They put old RR rails under the seams. The weldor ran the rosebud and told them when to put on sand and when to start swinging the sledge hammer. One weldor would keep two boys hammering all day. Later on he said he ran some of the first Lincoln electric welding rod. He said the stuff looked like it was wrapped in cloth,but hardened. He said when you lit one of those off, you couldn't see the weldor for the smoke...... The old guy retired at 65 that year. He spent a life time working like that. It was a pretty good job of wok for me to keep up with him. Course he knew all the "trade secrets". (BOG)

That my Friends is the Trade secret. Y'all have said it right out here in the open. Listen! By the way Sparky is that the right of left glove? Ahh never mind I'll figure it out. :) Ted, let's get a cup of coffee some time. WE could swap old weldor stories.

Discussions are not Linear. One of my teachers told me. "I can explain it to you but I cain't understand it for you." Young people aren't much different than older people, some have the fire and passion to learn through attention and work, others want to have the same outcome without any effort. Life just don't work that way. Young or old same difference. I suppose now some "old guys" will attack my comments. (BOG) One of the best things my Father told me was to hang around the guys that are doing the job, they can can teach you something. I just learned my present day job from a man 16 years younger than I. He had the knowing of the job,all I had to do was pay attention. trade secrets,trade you secrets? As for the "failings of the younger generation", I once read an "EDITORIAL" on this same subject from Roman times, and subsequently through the ages, I've read similar. I don't post here often anymore but a recent mention of Practical Blacksmithing in another post encouraged me to get out my copy and have a look. Seems to me the "Blacksmith and Wheelwright" magazine from which the book was made, were the forums of its day. Discussions are like brainstorms please don't put limits on them.

Give this some thought. http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/boiling-green-wood.html http://www.woodturners.org/tech_tips/misc-pages/boiling.pdf

I just taper the 1/8" black iron pipe down until the hole is tight enough for a tap to cut threads.

face shield

I've used the acetone atf mix. I put it in a nail polish remover bottle.( nail polish remover has acetone in it) I used real acetone and atf,over time the mix eats up the nail polish remover bottle. The mix works as good as the store bought,but glass or steel storage is the way to go.

Fit the tool to the hand. I always figured hammer handles were thick so you could sand,grind or cut to fit. I usually thin mine a bit , and I do like the ball on the end. I also like to char the hammer handle and brush it down with a wire brush, this raises the grain and makes the handle more "grippy" Thanks to Bill Epps for that one. Here's the best written article on hammer control and fitting, that I know http://www.anvilfire.com/iForge/tutor.php?lesson=hammer/demo

I bet they have a use. If you come at me with any one of those pliers . I'll tell you anything you wanna know! :( :D

Pure Genius!

it's been through several generations Phillip, smithed for 64 years probably used when he got it...