forging a anvil

[bruce wilcock]

last week two blacksmiths David Goldthope and ,Ian Baxter, came up to Shetland and along with Michel gjerde and myself forged a 1 1/2 cwt anvil
for the boss and feet i used pure iron a sort of low grade mild steel ,as it is easy to weld in the fire ,the only size i could get was 3 ins billet so i cut of 19 ins and jumped it up into a block and got the dog holes in , the feet we forged a triangular section and welded on tutning the ends in and welding them up to form the feet, for the top i used en9 at 60 carbon a 5ins billet 14 ins long ,first we drew out the tail and punched the hardy hole and prichill hole then whilst the other end to make the pike was soaking we made a pair of tongs to hold the tail with a sq to go in the hardy hole and clips to hold the side, we then forged the pike and put a dog hole in the bottom to line up with the hole in the boss and with a pin in the holes got the top and bottom red and stood th boss under the hammer and jumped the top on we then held it down under the hammer and Ian Baxter from Yorkshire welded the waist with the welder we had forged a deep v in the boss we welded the other side in the fire welding bars in the jop took two days finnishing at dinner so only one and a half days .I never have been able to get photos on this site but i did get some on Forgemajic ,,there was only a few photos taken as the man that was going to film it never showed up ,he went of to film a rare bird ,so now we know our scale of importance in the real world

[lazyassforge]

Bruce, I saw the pics at Forgemagic. That is a really cool project.Am I right, That would be 150-160 lb anvil? That is a LOT of hot iron to be working!

Thanks for the pictures, Bill D

[Ellen]

Bruce, looked like a great project, impressive to be sure. Rare bird? I thought those were cooked till pink in the oven. Man has his priorities totally messed up! Thanks for sharing!

[Dodge]

Where can I see pics of this project? sounds Cool (no pun intended ) I an currently working on an anvil I cut from 4" plate on a CNC flame cutting machine. roughed horn with a A/O torch and am finishing with flap wheel-Dodge

[yesteryearforge]

I am currently working on two anvils being cut out of the front plate on a 400 ton pressbrake the material is 7" thick
im incorperating the base into the anvil
the total anvil will be 60" long 34 " tall and 7" thick
dont know how good it will be / really dont intend on using it but its something to do.

[bruce wilcock]

i weghed the anvil today i had it in the van shoing and there were a set of scales new didgital at the yard i was shoing so i put it on 164 lbs .if i get time next week i will put the angle grinder on it .

[gazilla]

Hi Bruce,

I am thinking of a project like yours. Would you mind giving me some details of your work, like heating time needed, equipment used etc? It sure looks like a hellish job. Just great :-)!

Stefaan

[matt87]

Glad to hear you're still doing the big projects Bruce -- what with the prices of coke and iron going up and all. Would be great to get a DVD made up like your anchor-making one. Perhaps next time you should forge a set of shackles for the cameraman before you start on the anvil! ;-)

[bruce wilcock]

the anvil was made 2 years ago the only other job we have done since was to fire weld a new horn onto a old anvil the anvil had been given to us to have a go ,it was a total wreck, so there was nothing to lose the anvil was small around 70 lb without horn ,the job went well , used a floor fire for the anvil and the shop fire, for the horn i used iron out of old chain , we rough shaped the horn welded a handeling bar onto it ,got the anvil end to a welding heat ,pulled it out of the fire and tipped it on its tail , and jump welded the iron on to make the horn we then set it back in the floor fire and took 4 more welds to tidie it up ,i used the same fire i made the anchors on ,if you fancy having a go at some heaver work fixing a old anvil would be a good start as you dont need a power hammer just lots of coal and coke and some handy lads,give it a go.

[John Martin]

Any pictures going to be posted on here?

[bruce wilcock]

these are the only photos i can find of anchor and anvil forging ,and the finished anvil making a pr of shoes on it ,these jobs we just went ahead and did it thers were no bystanders to take photos ,apart from the anchors these were filmed ,

[Frosty]

these are the only photos i can find of anchor and anvil forging ,and the finished anvil making a pr of shoes on it ,these jobs we just went ahead and did it thers were no bystanders to take photos ,apart from the anchors these were filmed ,

That's a serious bit of hand forging for sure.

So Bruce, which one of the gang are you?

Frosty

[matt87]

The one with the snowy beard in the last picture if I remember correctly.

[John Martin]

That is some serious heavy dury hand forging, good luck. One you get that done, are you gonna make more, and use them instead of the ones you have?

[KYBOY]

Thats some awsome pics and serious work..Very cool..

[rustyshackleford]

I'm boggled! that is the coolest thing I've seen in the past 20 minutes (short attention span )


I mean.... good lord. Would still love to see some anvil pics, the anchor is duly impressive, and those are four men i whose fist I would not want to be on the wrong side of (not that us smiths are 'hot' tempered or anything! )

[nett]

Bruce, I really like this black and white photograph of you, it captures the moment wonderfully.

I would like to have been there that day to lend you a hand, but this native Californian would insist on a fire in the hearth to keep my fingers from growing numb.

I'm curious, can you remember the inventory of hammers in the photograph? Are those masons hammers on the bench to your left?

[Quenchcrack]

Bruce, that sounds suspiciously like work....

[gazilla]

Hi Bruce,

thanks for sharing these pictures, they're an encouragement of sorts. Did you use coke or coal for the welding fires? And how big was the hearth for these huge forge welds? I'm first doing some studying on the subject, to see how "do-able" this is, in order to convince a few people in our school. So any technical information would be welcome.

[hammerkid]

Now that is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! You say u made a vid?
Chris

[John Martin]

Was forging the anvil harder or easier than you thought it would be? That big anvil must have taken some serious use during that time. Lol. Did you have to worry about recking the temper on the anvil with pieces that big and that hot?

[bruce wilcock]

Hi Bruce,

thanks for sharing these pictures, they're an encouragement of sorts. Did you use coke or coal for the welding fires? And how big was the hearth for these huge forge welds? I'm first doing some studying on the subject, to see how "do-able" this is, in order to convince a few people in our school. So any technical information would be welcome.

the hearths are made on the floor or around 18 -24 ins high depending on the job we use both coal and coke ,coke is less bother for welding, the hearths dont need to be fancy just a rammed foundry sand bottom fire bricks to hold the fire togeather, and a stainless pipe a yard long to make a tweer, and a big fan ,you need some handy lads that are used to the work ,and one has to be forgemaster ,its not easy if they all want to do there own way ,there has to be control ,to get the best out of the labour ,or some will want to do it all and get nothing done , and other good men will back out and leave them to it, big jobs throw out a lot of heat and hold it for a long time and men soon tire , so you can easily get a good heat and a weld started and the men out worn out if you dont handle them well .it can get into long days ,and the same the day after,

[gazilla]

thanks Bruce. I plan to start on a bickern (about 20" long, 10" high, horns 2" at the base), just to get the hang of working bigger pieces with two hammer men. I'll post some pic's when I get to it. Btw: did you harden the anvil you guys made?