john_zxz

Yes Macbruce, I learned that last week :wacko: when I quenched a 1/8 thick plate in water and then bend it cold to a 90 degrees angle... It snapped at 20 degrees and the center looked like carbon steel... By chance I didn't receive the piece on my face.

Well if it started to burn I didn't notice, it was yellow at its brightess.... but I recently changed my bulb light for a brighter one so maybe the color appears different in my shop now...

Thanks

Hi, yesterday I began to forge a new pair of tongs. I started with 3/8" x 1" mils steel and I fullered it with my flypress. When I was drawing the handle, I noticed there was a lot of cracks on it. I never forged it colder than orange color, it was always yellow and I stopped when orange. One rein was correct but the other was definitely ruined by these cracks. What happened? My dies for the flypress is 2 pieces of 3/4 round that act as a fuller so there is no cold shuts...

The first pic is the 2 reins when I stopped working on them because of the cracks. The second is the one that is fine and the others ares the cracks in detail of the other tong.

What can cause that? I'm pretty sure it is not the flypress because it is not powerfull enough to squeeze the metal in one heat, it took several. Is it the repetive heats?

I must tell that I'm using hard anthracite (clean one) as a fuel. I wonder if it can transfer carbon to the steel due to repetitive heats and then becoming brittle?

I noticed that when I put a little piece in the fire several times, it tends to develop cracks too, that's why I'm asking for the fuel... And it never happened with coke or coal.

For now I will have to forge weld a piece for the reins because the cracks are too deep it will shatter when put into stress I guess...

Yes sillicon in tube. It works like a charm to reduce the ring! Just wait for it to dry almost completely before putting the anvil on it.

Hi, you could check on these websites. The first one is where I order my stuff for straight razors, they are very nice and offer a great service, plus the price on the handles are cheap. The shipping may be slow as they advertised but its because they check every products with great care before they ship.

http://classicedge.ca/index.php?route=product/category&path=75_67

This one looks great and their products seems to be more exotic (special woods, etc) I never ordered from them though, can't tell you if it's good.

http://www.classicshaving.com/Razor_Display_and_Razor_Restoration.html

Hope it helped.

John_zXz

It is a beautiful tool but IMO it is more for redressring or for little jobs than for forging. Since there is not much mass under the table, it is hollow, your hammer blows will be a lot less efficient than on a full plain anvil.

Plus these combinations are often cast iron. For that price, I think you should wait and get a real anvil, you'll be better served. You only need something with 70-100 lbs or more and you're good. Look on local ads or craiglist, that way you

can save on shipping if its near you. By the way, I like the stamped "scientific" on the vice/anvil.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

John_zXz

Wow I wish I had that much luck. One day I found an old leg vise in a scarp yard, rusted but it worked, and the guy said: Na! It's antique, not for sold...

Man! Why put such a teaser in the scrapyard when you can't buy it?! I'm pretty the guy returned the leg vise in the back and let it rust again...

Anyway, that Fisher looks flawless, I envy you! :)

I can't see the video. It says that it is blocked for my country by the user who uploaded this video.

Vegetable oil can become rancid with time. It is suggested to use mineral oil or beeswax (soft paste and applied on cold steel) for cooking wares. (I heard that on a tv show, they were telling what to put on wood ustensils and cutting boards) I bet its the same for metal...

I remembered a video where you can see a rather small firepot for charcoal. You can inspire yourself with this forge. I had a similar one when I started to forge with charcoal and it was surprising how you need less fuel than with a regular firepot. In the second video, the guy is welding billet with almost the same setup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TyS2t1fFm0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_709493&feature=iv&src_vid=rV7dFp4IkZM&v=gi1f2dd_dMM

Wow I'd love to get this one for my collection. This anvil is old fore sure!

Here'e my new forge that I built today from scratch, and by scratch I really mean it. I welded many 1/4" plates to make the floor and many sheet for the walls. Took me more time than I thought...

Anyways, I'll fire this new baby probably tomorrow. It should works well because it has the same dimensions as before with my brick forge.

Usually when the forging session is about to finish, I get a smaller fire for small jobs and then I let it burn down to itself. I start big and finish small with charcoal fire.

I tried to water it down one day and whooff!! there was so much steam and ashes in the air that I never did that again lol. I hope someone has another way to stop the fire so I can learn something too.

After some cleanup around the letters, I found that it is stamped SB after 4 1/2 CWT. Anyone know what SB means? It's stamped JB under that.

Yes I'm very well pleased and yes the anvil stake came with it.

I finaly bought the anvil. Got it for 800$ CAD. It's marked 4 1/2 cwt with 88 or 8B I can't read. JB England under the weight. If someone reads better than me, I'd be happy to know the real weight.
The guy said that they weighted the anvil and it said 580 with the metal stand. So I guess 560 would be the right weight...
Overall the condition is pretty good. More damaged that I tought but not too much for me. It seems like they used a cutting torch to cut pieces on the anvil... In the hardy hole I can see a drop of melted metal.
The face is perfectly level. It rings like a bell! I'll have to put some rubber under the feets and bolt it tight to the stump to quiet it down. It came with these 2 tools.

Yea I planned to put a plywood board under the anvil in the minivan and I have some anchor points so I will strap it down to secure it the best I could. Thanks for the advice. I can't wait 2 more weeks to get this beauty... its torture lol.

Nice, I have a friend with a hoist. I'll borrow his.

It's official I'm gonna buy this 580 pounds anvil in 2 weeks. The only thing I'm worried is how the heck am I gonna lift this monster? Anybody has an idea? I never tried an engine hoist. Can it works? I need to lift the anvil high enough to put it in a minivan.

I'm waiting for the owner's answer about the price and I asked her if there are any marking on the side. As soon as I get the answer I'll drive the distance to get this beauty! I'm pretty sure it's a Brooks too because of the small pritchel hole placement and overall shape.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/oj7os

Ok so maybe the weigh is not right. I should ask for the height too. Oh and I forgot to put a picture.

Hi! I receive an email today from someone who wants to sell me a 580 lbs anvil. Its in decent condition but since it is 3 hours drive from my shop, I can't see the real weight.

The dimensions are 36" long and 6" for the table. I don't know the height. Does the weight seems right for the dimensions?

Thanks

That's funny because I have two 100lbs anvils that I'm using the same way for woodworking. It works really nice.

I think it is just a simple chimney. It was very dark under the hood and I couldn't tell for sure. I don't know if there were any steam hammer because the only tool that stayed there was the forge itself and some rusted bolts in a buckets... Not even a pair of tongs. I didn't ask as the guide knew the basic story of the shop but nothing precise on the work they did. The pipes on the front must be for the steam, there was a lot of them everywhere in every building. Yea the geology must be very similir. I went at the mine during a visit organized by the mineral museum of Thetford. There was a lot of gates to open... This is not for people alone who wants to walk in the mines. Very strict here too.