Thief_Of_Navarre Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Shame about the lack of history of It. Lovely anvil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 A slant or slope isn't particularly useful or harmful or you could just tilt your anvil to the angle you like. If we're talking about swale, the dip some older anvils develop at or near the center of the face that can be used to help straighten work. Failing a little swale you can do well straightening over the hardy hole. If the steel isn't trapped between the hammer and the anvil any moving it can do is bend. So, if you use a hammer near or even a little smaller than the hardy hole and strike over the hardy hole the work can't forge, it has to bend. A little practice and it works well. Myself I like a wooden mallet over a wood block. The mallet used to live at a yard or garage sale as a wooden baseball bat. The wood block lived happily in our yard as part of a birch trunk. A mallet and wood block won't damage the texture or sharp details of hot work making it easy to straighten, curve, scroll, etc without messing it up. I've never gone to the extreme and say tried scrolling a long basket twist but years ago I tied a knot in a piece of rope twisted stock that came out tight and undamaged. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Again with the birch trees.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeDrew Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 57 minutes ago, Frosty said: A slant or slope isn't particularly useful or harmful or you could just tilt your anvil to the angle you like. If we're talking about swale, the dip some older anvils develop at or near the center of the face that can be used to help straighten work. Failing a little swale you can do well straightening over the hardy hole. If the steel isn't trapped between the hammer and the anvil any moving it can do is bend. So, if you use a hammer near or even a little smaller than the hardy hole and strike over the hardy hole the work can't forge, it has to bend. A little practice and it works well. Myself I like a wooden mallet over a wood block. The mallet used to live at a yard or garage sale as a wooden baseball bat. The wood block lived happily in our yard as part of a birch trunk. A mallet and wood block won't damage the texture or sharp details of hot work making it easy to straighten, curve, scroll, etc without messing it up. I've never gone to the extreme and say tried scrolling a long basket twist but years ago I tied a knot in a piece of rope twisted stock that came out tight and undamaged. Frosty The Lucky. Yes, it's a swale we're talking about. Nothing too serious, but certainly obvious that it's been a working tool and not just a conversation piece. It's otherwise in great condition given its age ... or any other measure. I'll certainly give thought to keeping a wooden block and mallet around as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patman Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 Here it is just picked it up today, fresh from the wire wheel with a coat of oil brought it inside for some pics better lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lionel h Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 good looking soderfors pat have fun beating it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.C. Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 Spent this week moving the shop..So figured it's a good time to get pics of the collection. Top to bottom, 125# GE, 148# Columbian Soderfors, and a 90# Trenton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTF Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 5 hours ago, Patman said: Here it is just picked it up today, fresh from the wire wheel with a coat of oil brought it inside for some pics better lighting. Love the idea of putting in the lounge room Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 I love the idea of having a lounge in the shop for breaks and lunch. There's plenty of life in that sorely abused old lady. What does a rebound test say? Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rendoman Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Hi! That's my first anvil, 150kg - 330lb , I don't know the brand unfortunately I used a cedar stump, maybe I have to put some blocks. Now anvil is really a nice diapason, should I use it like an instrument? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeDrew Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 On 19/08/2016 at 8:56 PM, Frosty said: A slant or slope isn't particularly useful or harmful or you could just tilt your anvil to the angle you like. If we're talking about swale, the dip some older anvils develop at or near the center of the face that can be used to help straighten work. Failing a little swale you can do well straightening over the hardy hole. If the steel isn't trapped between the hammer and the anvil any moving it can do is bend. So, if you use a hammer near or even a little smaller than the hardy hole and strike over the hardy hole the work can't forge, it has to bend. A little practice and it works well. Myself I like a wooden mallet over a wood block. The mallet used to live at a yard or garage sale as a wooden baseball bat. The wood block lived happily in our yard as part of a birch trunk. A mallet and wood block won't damage the texture or sharp details of hot work making it easy to straighten, curve, scroll, etc without messing it up. I've never gone to the extreme and say tried scrolling a long basket twist but years ago I tied a knot in a piece of rope twisted stock that came out tight and undamaged. Frosty The Lucky. Yes, it's a swale we're talking about. Nothing too serious, but certainly obvious that it's been a working tool and not just a conversation piece. It's otherwise in great condition given its age ... or any other measure. I'll certainly give thought to keeping a wooden block and mallet around as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patman Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 On 8/21/2016 at 2:19 PM, Frosty said: I love the idea of having a lounge in the shop for breaks and lunch. There's plenty of life in that sorely abused old lady. What does a rebound test say? Frosty The Lucky. IT passed well was a 100%+ on rebound from one end to the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.baum Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 400kg (about 880 lb) anvil from an old smithy in a salt mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 On 23/08/2016 at 6:33 AM, Patman said: IT passed well was a 100%+ on rebound from one end to the other. Perpetual motion???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Olson Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 Hey c.baum. Whats the dimensions on that and what did i cost you. That thing is Awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewayforge Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 9 hours ago, c.baum said: 400kg (about 880 lb) anvil from an old smithy in a salt mine Ah c'mon! You're just trying to make us jealous!!! You could forge my anvil (75lbs) on that monster! And what a beautiful beast, too. I've been looking for a church windows anvil for a while, but have not found much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 What a beautiful BEAST! I too would like to hear the tale of how you found it. Was the smithy actually in the mine? (There were a few like that in the USA back in the day---copper mines in Michigan IIRC; but more common on the surface.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.baum Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 @Kevin_Olson the anvil face is about 195mmx890mm incl. horn. price see following story. @ThomasPowers Well, i'm a mining engineer in a former potash mine. The mine exists since 1895, and till 1990 it produced about 1.5 Mio tons potash a year. As you can imagine it is a pretty large mine, and so they had almost everything subsurface. So the smithy was subsurface too (2 coal forges, 2 anvils, a 165 lb air hammer) cause they made nearly every tool theirself. After the german reunification the mine was about to be closed completely. To cut a long story short they fortunately managed to build up a production of rock salt for road deicing. Nowadays where you can buy anything no one needs a smithy in a mine. And given that the smithy hasn't been used since 1990 the maintenance supervisor decided to dump the smithy full with salt. A good friend and coworker of mine heard of that and we could convince him to "sell" the anvils and the air hammer to me. I paid in summary about US$500 to the supervisor and the maintenance brigade could pay their christmas party. A good deal in my eyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeDrew Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 12 minutes ago, c.baum said: @Kevin_Olson " I paid in summary about US$500 to the supervisor and the maintenance brigade could pay their christmas party. A good deal in my eyes " I'd say more of a steal than a deal at that price! I'd love to get my hands on something like that! ....Then again, where would I put it? My work/storage/smithy area is a little crowded as it is! It's Beautiful piece of history, and a great treat to work on I'd imagine. Happy forging! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.baum Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Many thanks! It's been a really really good deal. I have the Anvil for about two years now, so you can imagine that the whole thing is still worth a story among the pitmen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Yes I would consider that a good deal; excuse me while I pound my head on the desk, WHOMP, WHOMP, WHOMP! I've been down in one of the old mines near Salzburg before; I have a degree in Geology and De Re Metallica is a well used book on my shelves. Now have you got the hammer back working? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.baum Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 Yep, good old russian quality made in 1978. Just replaced some sealing, new electric switches an so forth an the baby worked!! Most work was to build the foundation (my smithy is situated in the middle of a small village) and mounting the hammer on it (no possibility to lift it with a crane or so and it weighs 3.2 tons). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.C. Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 C.BAUM....that anvil is possibly THE most beautiful thing I've ever seen on this site. Feel free to post more pictures...lots more...from all angles.. Add to that the power hammer, and you got the deal of a lifetime. CONGRATS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thief_Of_Navarre Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 That's incredible. Thanks for showing us. It wouldn't look out of place in low of the rings that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddawgchuck Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 My "coleslaw" picked it up at a flea market last year way better than the little vise anvil combo thing I was using before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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