Frosty

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Appears to be a cast anvil, the body anyway. Have you done a rebound test on it? Have you joined the local organization? Nothing beats being able to get together with other blacksmiths to further your skills. Frosty The Lucky.

It has to have been a glitch Dave, I'm sure they're reinstate it if they can. Your Dad and family are still on the list here. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Other than occasionally finding something good I buy my steel at the supply yard. Frosty The Lucky.

If you put your general location in the header you'll find out there are a LOT of folk here within visiting distance. The CBA is a great organization, meet up with the guys, you'll learn more in an hour with an experienced smith than you will in days on your own. I grew up in Sylmar, just FYI. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice use for broken horse shoes, I'll bet they'd sell pretty well too. I think something a little nicer for the hinge pin would improve the overall knocker. How's it sound? Frosty The Lucky.

Don't worry about paint, lots of anvils came painted from the manufacturer. Besides it's protecting it. It's hard to see but is part of the face behind the hardy hole broken or missing? It could be the picture itself, the angle from behind the heal looks okay. I can only enlarge them so far before res goes to pot. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. A few better pics might reveal some horrible problem but otherwise it looks to be in pretty decent condition. For the money, delivered, stand and hammer head I'd say you got a SWEET deal, add to that it's a Fisher. Fishers are top shelf anvils and better yet they're about as quiet as an anvil gets. Good for your ears, good for the wife's and good for the neighbors. Keeping close by ears happy is worth a lot. Good score. Frosty The Lucky.

I hear you Bryan, We'll get together when we can. I really like that rhino anvil, comes with built in bending fork. NO, don't tell me where the prichel hole is! Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Devin, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. No such thing as the "best" coal forge. Sure, one might be perfect for heating left handed swivel widgets but worthless for heating swinging gate clappers. Pull up a comfy chair, pack a lunch, something to drink and get ready for many days worth of reading. The IFI front page scrolls down for I don't know how many pages of sections. Everything from shop pest control to home built induction forges and everything in between. I recommend you do a little reading about general blacksmithing to get an idea of what your interests might be or become. (Heck, I don't know where my interests will take me) You'll find a LOT of information coupled with people's experience, problems, solutions, etc. in any section your choose to read. I'm saying get an idea of what's what before you try designing a "perfect" tool, no such thing. We've all done it, it's a new to any craft thing to want the perfect tools so don't sweat it and more important don't feel silly. We've all been there. One thing I tell folk who want me to show them the craft is. "The tools are just highly refined dirt, they don't do anything. It's the clever monkeys with great big brains and thumbs that do all the work." A couple of the truly satisfying aspects of this craft are getting to use tools you make yourself and as your skills grow you find less and less need for "special" tools to make what you want. It's a life long learning curve, enjoy the ride. Frosty The Lucky.

Just wait till you try copper silver. Don't try brass silver unless you WANT to make a silver solder puddle. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. One of the authors we recommend to newcomers to the craft was a sculptor who traveled the world but didn't or couldn't pack his tools with. He became expert at building field expedient smithies and tools from whatever was at hand. Alexander Wygers, "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" is a classic how to for putting together a smithy on a budget. One last thing, we LOVE pics, pics of almost any darned thing so long as it's family friendly. We mostly look forward to seeing your: shop, tools, equipment, work, etc. but the house, scenery, pets, etc. are good too. Frosty The Lucky.

​Yes Jimmy, at least a little something. Most commercial tumblers are 6-8 sided and don't need a lift flange. Round tumblers on the other hand need something to lift and turn or drop the material so it doesn't just slide down the side as the drum turns. Yo don't want a big lift flange though, the idea isn't to drop it against the far side perpendicularly. You want it all just rolling along gently, the lift lug basically stirs it so it has to tumble instead of slide. If your tumbler has a lift flange rather than being polygonal you must keep a minimum load in it or the flanges will pick material up and drop it across the drum and damage it. Enough material must be in the drum drag it off the flange so it can't be lifted and dropped. Or rather than use a piece sticking straight out, a piece of angle iron welded to the inside of the drum so it forms a closed wedge shouldn't be able to lift and drop material. Thanks for the question Jimmy it brought back tumbler characteristics I haven't thought about in 40 years or more. Dad was a rock hound and had more tumblers than any sane person could want but they were almost always in use so I guess it wasn't so crazy. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm in for a doc appt at 1:00 and can't stay long. Deb's headed for S. Cal. for a dog training instructor's class Tue. is flyday so I can't linger. <sigh> I'll have to see what the library can get. Frosty The Lucky.

Michael: Don't start grinding on that little Fisher you'll do more damage to it than good! This is probably the most common way people with good intentions destroy good tools, anvils especially. Repairing an anvil, especially a Fisher isn't something an inexperienced person can pull off. Heck, you may have repaired: HBs, Trentons, PWs etc. and you'll still have to screw up a Fisher or three before you get them figured out. Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks for the recommendation Patrick, I'll see if I can borrow Tristan's (Teenylittlemetalguy) copy if he has one. Heck I have to drive to Anchorage tomorrow anyway, maybe we can hook up. probably be better if I ILL it at the library. That way I won't forget to return Tristan's copy. How close to how diffusion welding works did I get? I really only hung with some of the guys who do it a lot on the old Artmetal list. Deb and I wear Jim Binnion wedding rings. Jim posted a lot on the old AM list, I read it all and have a near eidetic memory for the written word. How accurate my memory is is questionable since the accident, it's all in there the filing system is just screwy. Solid state welding is a high priority space industry as it can weld normally incompatible metals very strongly. It's all in getting the molecules close enough. As you say, the more distance they have to travel or the colder they are the longer it takes. Tristan really gets into things and has turned himself into the Mr. Mokume of the Association of Alaskan Blacksmiths. I'm thinking he should hold a mokume workshop or at least do some demos at meetings. I really should go back to reading and learning from you guys. I just thought I could help dispel a simple misunderstanding and really hoping I wasn't going to make it worse. Frosty The Lucky.

That'd be differential hardening and the term is about all I really know about it. I'm not a bladesmith guy I only mess with tool steel occasionally. I can do the dance I just don't really hear the music. Frosty The Lucky.

​Don't be silly, turn it the other end up. <sheesh!> Frosty The Lucky.

Theyre' very different oils. Motor oil is heavier so chills more slowly which if the quench speed were the only consideration could be addressed by how much it's preheated. The real difference though is toxicity, used motor oil is laden with metal grindings and various engine chemicals, anti freeze probably being the most dangerous. This is toxic smoke so you need to do it outdoors in a little bit of a cross wind so eddy currents aren't as likely to collect smoke in your lee. I took a 5gl. water jug to the local super market and asked if they'd fill it for me next time they changed frier oil. I was hoping to get donut oil but got oil that makes the shop smell like old french fries, burritos and shrimp instead. Oh well, the price was right and it only smells like an old roach coach. The upside is it's not toxic, just makes me smell funny. Being a lighter weight oil and also a heat transfer oil it requires more preheat. check the bladesmithing/heat treat sections here for specifics as to alloy and profile of the tool. Believe me, there's a BIG difference in how you harden a knife than say a turning hammer head. Same process but the details and specific numbers are different. Whatever you use, make sure you have more than you think you're going to need. The 2.5lb pieces of 4140 for my Little Giant dies all but boiled 5gls. I should've had 2x but it was okay, just not ideal. You also want the quench tank to be deep enough to plunge the entire blade beneath the surface quickly or the oil will flash over and you'll have a fire ball. Swirl the blade so the oil can't develop a layer against the blade and slow the quench. I preheat my quench tank with a length of 2" rd. stock I heat in the forge and stand in the tank. A meat thermometer is a good way to check to see if the oil is at target temp if you need to be that precise. Just do NOT use the Wife's meat thermometer! No more than you'd use her oven to temper unless you're using fry oil that is. Frosty The Lucky.

Yes, exactly John, thank you. Frosty The Lucky.

That's a nice looking finial but I think you're giving up too soon on the diamond or pyramidal finial. Do you have an arc welder? If so think about welding a shank on a piece of cut down angle iron. One flange shortened and rounded to make the finial's neck the other left long for the point. A little time on the anvil will close up the die to the desired angle and some file work will clean up the bottom of the angle. Or you could just weld up the die from plate. This die is held in the post vise or hardy at an angle to allow the hammer to strike directly into it against the backer of the vise or anvil with the piece's neck off the edge. That's just my wild brain hair putting pictures in my head were I trying it. Frosty The Lucky.

No pics, they were just burn barrels. It's pretty simple fancy doesn't count. Draw four rectangles around the barrel a few inches off the bottom long dim. up. Cut 3 lines leaving one as a hinge, all oriented the same way and bend the tabs inwards less than 45* +/-. The tabs will deflect the intake air around the drum. Let me know if that's not clear enough I'll try modeling one with an oatmeal carton or something. I tried it the first time on a wild hair and it worked really well.

I had to try hard to hold my tongue. He had an old but obviously doted over Mercedes in the yard and it was really hard not to say something like how I'd use the tools to make a trellis for my convertible Mercedes flower planter. You run into folk like this too often, old=antique is valuable. Useful can't be Art. etc. etc. It's not like I need another post drill and the hammers and such would've been nice in the stock pile but nothing worth raising my blood pressure over. I will admit I looked him in the eye like he was a retard till he dropped his gaze. Then Deb and I just walked to the Saturn and boogied. Not worth another word. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh yeah, no problem. The coal forge I have doesn't have a fire pot at all and it welds, melts or otherwise gets steel as hot as a boy could want. Frosty The Lucky.

I've tried similar Glenn and the vortex burn barrel beat the stuffins out of them. I didn't mention it before I bent the tab inward. We've had two dry winters in a row I haven't lit a trash fire since last time it was raining, the transfer station is only 7 miles from here and no way to I'm going to be THAT guy by starting a forest fire. Frosty The Lucky.

Anvils are heavy so I fully expect picture . . . HEAVY posts about such good scores! Bunch of history there, sure wish they could tell tales. Frosty The Lucky.