Frosty

Is that the orientation you want as the finished anvil? I'd stand it on edge for the greater depth of rebound. Or on end for a striking anvil. I hope you're not planning on trying to stretch it for an inch or so, WAY more trouble than it's worth. It took me a couple re-reads to realize you want to weld S-7 rod ON not use S7 welding rod. So I deleted THAT response. That's more trouble than it's worth and how strong are you? Off the shelf build up rod will stop a D8 dozer cold without a mark, what are YOU going to do to it with a hand hammer? Just run your beads and be consistent the exact deposition depth isn't important as long as it's consistent. Same current, same stand off, same speed, same flag pattern. Do NOT over-amp for a smoother bead, no higher amperage than the high side of the chart FOR the rod. About the only place maintaining depth is a little tricky is on the edges. A piece of copper bar chill plate takes care of any muffin topping on the edges. A piece of copper 1/2" thick say 1 1/2" wide or better and long enough to run a ways is all you need. Just clamp it to the side of the work and the weld puddle will STOP on contact. Frosty The Lucky.

As a bit of conservative safety overkill use something non-flammable, NOT . . . polystyrene! Use backed batt fiberglass or fiberglass pressed board. Frosty The Lucky.

It's a good basic design but old in '92 when ABANA published it. No need to use "pipe" for the body, even Ron and Hans were using old propane and helium tanks by time this was published. All the outer shell needs do is contain the refractory, provide enough strength for attachments, (burner, lets, etc.) and support the work. Unless you're going to be putting pieces weighing over 100lbs. even stove pipe works just fine. The flame orientation is good, it's been proven good for well more than a century. A good door design is a track you can slide the closures horizontally. It's more convenient than just stacking bricks and a nice open track doesn't suffer warpage too badly. Either works just fine. Frosty The Lucky.

If you're making fantasy blades you might consider some of the "damascene" methods to make it LOOK like damascus or patter welded steel. Frosty The Lucky.

What if you sit on it and get unstuck? Frosty The Lucky.

THERE IT IS!! Don't you have an old camp stove somewhere? That's kind of aggressive for boiling patina baths don't you think? No panache either. Where's the shot showing of the blued blade or did I just miss it? I love seeing videos but the sound is poor even when it's good. This video had good sound but it's only okay in reality. Do you or anybody know if they make a remote mic for modern video cameras, Go Pros, etc.? Something wireless would really be good. So many guys are making really good informative videos and posting links here on Iforge but you can't hear anything but the roar of the forge or breezes or traffic unless the camera is right in their face. I'm not directing this at you specifically Theo it's really common and I don't want to miss anything if I can help it. Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks for reposting the pics Billy. That's as beautiful as I remember. Frosty The Lucky.

SWEET! Certainly not for heavy forging but it has a drill press, grinding wheel, side blast forge and I think those are switches for an electric motor. I'd put that Pretty in the living room! Frosty The Lucky.

No matter how careful you are something WILL go wrong someone WILL get hurt. I was a very good feller, I felled tens of thousands of trees and was always careful, very careful. The last tree I cut almost killed me and I took every precaution I could think of except my hard hat. That might even have helped. Have your parents forbid you to teach for money. It might, MIGHT save the house, you're too young to be held legally liable. I didn't say that, the auto correct on this stupid software does the weirdest things. Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty's giving you the look you know. The look that says, "darned two legs, if I knew he was taking another picture I'd hike my leg and lick my butt special." We have a gray tabby looks a lot like Frosty. I named her "Empress Damascus" she earned the title, "Bug's Bane." Cool spider, almost as cool as the cats. (I gotta say that or Damascus will get me, they know you know, they do!) Frosty The Lucky.

A pattern welded billet is sometimes called Damascus and generally used for blades though someone just posted a stunningly beautiful pattern welded hammer. They're actually IVORY keys? Those aught to be pretty valuable, it isn't legal to take ivory anymore but old ivory is grandfathered. Frosty The Lucky.

She's a beauty as she is, hammering hot steel on her will shine her up nicely. Wire brush and oil or wax is all she needs. Good score, at $2/lb in Alaska a Craigslist add would only flicker and she'd be gone. Frosty The Lucky.

If you lick the frosting off a cupcake it's a muffin. Muffins are good for you. Your welcome. Frosty The Lucky.

"Thermal plastic surgeons" Dodgy blacksmith groups would meet in "Anvillages." Hmmm, if you're scaling your volcano is it getting too much air? Frosty The Lucky.

$60.00? Ouch, was it an auction? People can really get carried away at auctions and just the Snap On name drives it up, the company shills see to that. I've stopped going to auctions up here. The auction companies makes no bones about setting prices and upping bids if they don't like what's going. People still get bid happy and end up paying new sometimes better for old used stuff. I see a lot of so-so to excellent Craftsman mechanics carry boxes for very reasonable at yard, garage, etc. sales. My best score was a couple three summers ago when I got a Craftsman Master Mechanics roll away and top box jammed with misc. tools for $20.00 at a garage sale but the poor guy's wife was leaning on him hard, she sold me his brand spanking new engine hoist for $50.00, he had new health issues. Less than two weeks later I picked up a Kennedy machinist's top box at a garage sale for $15.00. I don't even look at tool boxes anymore, a decent parts bin rack would be nice but those are all pretty badly beat up. Sorry for the ramble, I got off track I'm just so devastated you aren't going to use the desk idea. Frosty The Lucky.

I like graph paper it has a built in scaling device. You can transfer your drawings to the floor or a matchbook cover accurately with minimum hassle. Frosty The Lucky.

My recommendation is to learn to blacksmith before moving on to advanced stuff like blades. Once you're proficient at the anvil learning to forge blades is just learning a new material and a couple new processes. Trying to learn both at once is just multiplying the difficulty. Call a farrier's supply or a farrier. If they don't carry or use coal they will know someone who dies. Have you made contact with the local blacksmith organization? The opening page of Iforge has a list at the bottom, many pages down but there. Find one close and hook up. You will learn more in a few hours with an experienced smith than days or weeks figuring it out yourself. Frosty The Lucky.

"Anyone else have tools show up in unexpected places?!" That's such a SWEET straight line I'm not sure how to respond and not get. . . Oh Nevermind. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice key fob Spanky is the hook long enough it won't get knocked off in action? Say snagged by a bush or something similar. I really like the idea though, worth some consideration as a marketable fob. Frosty The Lucky.

You won't?! I'm deeply, DEEPLY wounded. Nice tool box, what'd you have to give for it? If you don't mind the question. Frosty The Lucky.

I didn't figure he'd have to import clay to Ohio. Just garden, ditch, field, etc. variety, nothing fancy you only need a shovel and bucket. Frosty The Lucky.

Uh HUH, that's just your pinion. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, angle grinders tend to be the most playful. A Head Poobah from the office came by the drill shop to straighten me out on how quickly I should answer the phone. He didn't like my response ON the phone. I don't sit next to a phone all day I'm doing dangerous things let it ring. I was using the 9" Milwaukee grinder and told him it takes time to spool down so I can put it down. He INSISTED the rubber pads on the back meant you could just put it down. I told him I'd write him up if he even pulled the trigger but he was a boss and did. He almost dropped it as it came up to speed, (rapid start) then he turned it disk UP and laid it on the table. As soon as he let go of the trigger it torqued itself vertical and started doing a dance on the disk. I'd placed the bench vise between me and the grinder but he was in the open. It chased him into the middle of the shop floor. Did about $40.00 damage to the grinder too. It was a VIOLENT dance especially when the disk started coming apart. I didn't have to write him up and he never said anything about how I ran MY shop afterwards and everybody let the phone ring if they actually wanted to talk to me. At least it didn't hurt him more than a little scaring. Frosty The Lucky.