February 9, 201214 yr At flea markets, auctions, etc. there are a plethora of tongs, hammers, and even anvils for sale. What folks do NOT usually find are anvil tools, especially anvil tools for large anvils. I recently traded three forge blowers, a 300 pound anvil, and two six inch heavy leg vises for approximately 1500 pounds of 1080 tool steel, in two and three eights diameter five-inch length drops. Perfect for forging hardies, swages, etc., by forging the shanks at both ends, then cutting it in half, then forging the business ends of the tool. I am making three sized shanks, 1 1/8, 1 1/4, and 1/3/8. Pictured below is a large hot cut hardy sample that I made yesterday, and a half-inch round bottom swage sample that I also forged yesterday. These heavy duty hardy-hole tools weigh a minimum of two pounds apiece!
February 10, 201214 yr But what about tooling for Large anvils? My anvil takes a 1.5" hardy shaft. I've found that buying battered top tools and forging them down to fit the hardy hole works well for various swages. It seems like every Quad-State there is a fellow selling a pile of battered rusty tools like this and they get pretty cheap by the end of the event.
February 10, 201214 yr Author my seven hundred pound hay budden has an inch and a quarter hardy hole. Of course, I can forge the shanks slightly larger, since I am starting out with 2 3/8 inch rounds
February 10, 201214 yr My bridge anvil also has a 1.5" hardy hole---makes it handy to share, My 410# trenton is a hair under 1.5 and I have been thinking of converting it to 1.5 so as to be able to use one set of large stem tooling
February 10, 201214 yr I have a 150lb and 400lb Peter Wright. The smaller anvil has a 1" hardy and the larger has a 1.5" hardy. In an effort to keep my tools simple I am making an adaptor plate for the 1.5 so that I do not have to buy or make double tools... I am looking for a good hot cut so if you got'em for sale please let me know what you need for one... thanks
February 11, 201214 yr Author what is totally annoying to me is the lack of standardization of hardy hole sizes. Seven anvils in my shop, four of them have 1 1/4 holes, one has an 1 1/8 hole, one has a 1 inch hole, and one has a 3/4 inch hole. Sheer idiocy!
February 11, 201214 yr I was thinking about making a adapter plate too. My hardy holes range from 7/8" to 1-1/2" . Im not sure if it would be a good idea to use a 7/8 hardy tool in a 1.5" hardy even in an adapter. Im usually doing heavier hammering on my 450lb fisher. What do you guys think? Has anyone tried this?
February 12, 201214 yr Randy posted some pics of his adapter system in the Tool section. Can't figure out how to link to the topic. Topic is "how to make hardy tools?" post #30
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