Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Show me your anvil


Recommended Posts

John: try rubbing it with chalk or charcoal then lightly wiping the surface clean. Then position the light at an oblique angle, a shallow angle increases shadows from features making them more visible. The chalk, etc. will fill the depressions highlighting them. Light coming straight in from the camera reflects directly back at the lens and glares out definition.

Shooting pics of steel isn't easy without knowing the tricks.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, John in Oly, WA said:

Thanks Frosty. I'll give that a try.

Now why did that show up twice? I didn't think I hit Submit more than once.

We took a vote this morning and decided to mess with you today. :rolleyes:

You're welcome, spending so many years taking photography classes has to be good for something. Taking pics of steel is an exercise in diffuse lighting and takes practice.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I sometimes wonder, where do those disappearing posts go? Do they wander aimlessly in a featureless white room, stuck between the Enter key and the screen? Do they float bodilessly and isolated through an imperceptible ether? Are they shooting craps in a boiler room somewhere, drinking beer and ignoring the faint cries of outrage at their non-appearance that drift down the air shaft? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

here's the Arm and Hammer i use when i get the chance to  weighs out at #172  on a scale got good rebound and a nice ring it toned down a little when the chains were tighter but the stump is starting to split on me so i am gunna hit the scrap yard they have a 12x12x 24 peice of solid i want that would work as a nice solid mass under it  but i wont  get it set up till i get my garage done  so i only have to move it three times i am going to copy three leg design for  i-beam i saw on here till then 

 

IMG_20160406_160029_415.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Noob here. Acquired this Trenton today. 219 lb, nice flat face with some minor chipping on the edges. Looks like she fell on her nose, and someone tested out the cutting torch on an edge. Should be good for my first "real" anvil. Rebounds a lot nicer than the hunk of rail I was using.

anvil%20007_zpsrayhuu1c.jpg

anvil%20017_zpsgsz4lfav.jpg

anvil%20008_zpsqqhx7hmp.jpg

trenton%20012_zpsk13sadi3.jpg

anvil%20013_zpsag9mvncm.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boondoggle, Nice anvil, I can't think of to many operations that the torch cut would interfere with. Just adds a little character...battle scars common without bothering performance. What part of the planet is she casting a shadow?         Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/6/2016 at 11:41 AM, JHCC said:

I sometimes wonder, where do those disappearing posts go? Do they wander aimlessly in a featureless white room, stuck between the Enter key and the screen? Do they float bodilessly and isolated through an imperceptible ether? Are they shooting craps in a boiler room somewhere, drinking beer and ignoring the faint cries of outrage at their non-appearance that drift down the air shaft? 

Lost in the Pet Roms like so much of my stuff.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just picked up (figuratively speaking) this Fisher yesterday. The guy I bought it from also gave me a bunch of steel from his equipment (he's got 3 excavators, a couple dozers, etc). Got it unloaded and cleaned up the face a bit to better test the rebound, and it's just above 90%. Being that I'm in a residential area, I'm thinking the neighbors are going to really appreciate me not banging on a piece of rail road track... which you can see behind the anvil stand. The stamp on the foot says 20, and I didn't have a scale to weigh it, but it's 200 or better, plus the stand.

DSC_0440.jpg

DSC_0442.jpg

DSC_0443.jpg

DSC_0444.jpg

DSC_0445.jpg

DSC_0446.jpg

DSC_0447.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, Kaylee said:

Just picked up (figuratively speaking) this Fisher yesterday. The guy I bought it from also gave me a bunch of steel from his equipment (he's got 3 excavators, a couple dozers, etc). Got it unloaded and cleaned up the face a bit to better test the rebound, and it's just above 90%. Being that I'm in a residential area, I'm thinking the neighbors are going to really appreciate me not banging on a piece of rail road track... which you can see behind the anvil stand. The stamp on the foot says 20, and I didn't have a scale to weigh it, but it's 200 or better, plus the stand.

Nice! Did it come with the stand?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It did indeed come with the stand! 23.5 inch long, 9" outside diameter, 1/2" wall thickness pipe, welded to half of a (tractor???) wheel. The pipe weighs in at 86 pounds based on some math... and I'd wager that the wheel is pretty close to the same, because of how thick the darned thing is. The anvil on the stand has got to weigh almost 400 pounds, it's definitely a bit to move it around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is a NICE anvil, good score. How is it's height fit you? That's probably the most common problem using a hard stand made by and for someone else. By hard stand I mean one that's not easy to adjust.

Now you have the important stuff inside you can move that old Mustang out and make some room for the smithing action. What's your cat's name? I'm sure s/he will appreciate how quiet a Fisher is. Can't be disturbing the household's lord and master you  know. ;)

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks! I was super excited to find it... and it was linked to me on Craigslist by another user here, we had just gone to the local tack sale and rotary auction / garage sale looking for one, but struck out. The stand seems to put it a tad tall for me... but we'll see better when I start hitting hot steel... the face is maybe half inch above the wrist joint. I'm 5'9" so fairly tall for a woman, but it's definitely something I've thought about how to compensate for. I'll probably make something for me to stand on, a fairly low platform that goes around all sides (like 2 semicircles).

Haha I didn't even notice she got in the picture! That one's Luna, and we have 2 others here. Tiamat and Stryfe. Stryfe is the "grumpy old man" as we call him, the other two are girls. Once the mustang drives again (reinstalling the transmission I rebuilt), then that's an option.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1/2" is close enough in most cases. If a person can't compensate for half an inch this isn't the craft to practice. A lot depends on what you're planning on doing, if you use a lot of top tooling or work thick steel it's probably too high. Smaller or thinner say blades and it's a sweet height. A nice cushiony rubber floor mat is a good way to boost yourself maybe 3/4"-1" depending on the mat.

Okay: Luna, Tiamat and Stryfe. Is that from a Jo Clayton novel? Or maybe David Weber's Lord of the Isles series? I recall the names together as characters in a novel or series but don't recall which. Do you like to play puns?

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ooh, the rubber mat sounds like a perfect solution! Thanks Frosty! Nah, I name all my cats after dragons, hence Tiamat. My girlfriend named our other cat, Luna (like the moon), and Stryfe is the roommate's.

Oh, and I love puns.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luna is common enough to hear and Stryfe is phonetically common as well but I'm not a dragon story kind of guy so I'm wondering where I've heard Tiamat. Oh well just another funny connection closing a circuit in my head.  We name our cats on themes. Empress Damascus Bug's Bane is our grey & black tabby and Mokume Gato is the orange tabby, now living with my Sis in law in S.Cal. He got shipped down when I had my accident and has his own labrador to wrestle with and a swimming pool to swim in. Both named for metal work of course. Our newest boy is a tamed feral Deb named quiviut after Musk ox wool. Deb took up spinning and quiviut is really high value fiber. Makes us a steel wool couple.

With all that. Contestants star your vocabularies and let the punnishment begin!

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎4‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 6:55 AM, Black Frog said:

John In Oly, 

Can you take a closeup of the side logo stamp of your red Trenton anvil?  I'm cataloging a database of the different Trenton logo stamps vs. the serial number ranges, would love to add yours to the list!  Thanks!

 

Sorry that took so long. Didn't have any chalk around the house. This is the best I could do on that logo. You can just almost see the top of the first E and maybe some of the leg of the R, if it's not just my imagination. Which it could be!

 

TrentonAnvillogo.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...