Not much to show yet, except for my piece of steel. Currently in the process of making a striker anvil, inspired by Brian Brazeal.

 

My hunk of steel is a cylinder, and not a rectangle because it is what I had lying around. 9" in diameter, and 3" thick mild steel.

 

The hole drilled is 1.125" (That last drill bit was $50 local! Luckily my bro needed it too, so we split it), to be ready for a 1.250" drift I will be forging out of some 1.75" 4140 bars I have on order. I need the hardy so large because my PW hardy is 1.25", and I don't want to size down. I also ordered a 2" bar of 1045 to make my first hammer on this baby. Also have a 2.5" or so bar of 1080 that a good friend gave me to make a nice bottom tool out of. Will post more pictures and info in the coming weeks as this comes along.

 

I also have it drilled off center so it is positioned more over the 2 legs of the stand. I will be welding it to a squarish plate more than likely and the legs to the bottom of that.

Very nice!

 

Are you going to heat the plate up and drift the hole, or file/chisel it square?  I would opt for the filework over heating simply because it's generally easier.  Either way, you've got a great striking anvil!

 

Definitely looking forward to seeing it turn out!

very cool start vaughn.

 

what are you doing the base  out of ?

 

if you need any help I am near by , I now work in piedmont :)

I will be drifting the hole to 1.25 square. One of the reasons is to simply say I have drifted 3" plate, another is to have reason to forge more tools. Usually when I get motivated by projects, tools start to fill up my shop! Lol.

 

Base will be thick walled square tubing (3 legs) filled with sand and oil, like Brians.

Looks good, Daniel.  How did you drill that huge hole?  I tried something like that and there was too much chatter in my poor drill press.

Popped it in the mill at a lower rpm and cutting oil.

Very cool! How heavy is a chunk of steel that size?

Things to consider

    Welding the slab onto another nice thick wide piece, say max width as the piece and yet about 15 or so inches long. That would allow the triangular stand to have a bit longer stance while the bottom piece could allow the back legs to be a little behind the main striking area.

    Use a very good material to make your drift from..like H13. You should be able to make the drifting of the hole in two heats.

    When driving the drift into the 3" piece it is very important to align your drift so that it will pass straight through another properly drifted hole of the same dimension. That will help reduce "smearing" as the drift makes its way through.

    Allow enough radius on the corners of your drift.

    Weld your legs on the stand about 8 or 9 degrees off vertical...MAX.

   Use very large feet with 3/4 holes for mounting. 6 in diameter and not square. You will learn why soon enough if you pick it up.

   Make the finished height max 28 inches, but 25 is better. That allows for striking height to match top tools placed onto worked piece that is placed on top of bottom tools. Any way you look at it your sledge will be landing quite high in the air.

   A hardened anvil is not a necessity. Many good striking anvils are made of A36...which helps keep the rebound from that  "missed" strike from returning to the hammer operator!

   Yes to the oil and sand! The oil does not flow so quickly into the sand either, so go slow here, and fully weld up the hole. No leaking should the stand be turned over when transporting.

 

ENJOY!

 

 

carry on

Clamp it back in the mill and do all but the corners of the hardy hole, then all you need drift is to sharpen the corners. You'll still be able to say you drifted 3" steel.

 

I'll be looking forward to more pics.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, if it were not for my young stubbornness and a willing helper, I would probably take that advice! If it were not for the success of Dave Custer, Alec Steele, and of course, Brian Brazeal doing it this way (In 1-2 heats for some), I would probably have it water jetted. I do not have much experience striking with a sledge, save for a few instances on 1" round, or in the construction field. I do have another identical solid hunk of steel in case I screw up. I feel confident though that this will work. If it doesn't, I will learn for the next time for sure.

 

Hope to have this recorded with both picture and video. Had a few more pics of some of the stock I have had shipped in for the tools involved, but my phone is out of commission and I await a new one to upload photos atm.

 

EDIT: Currently I am using these for source material:

 

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Wow Daniel, you sure got into the swing of it there! I hope you bought James a refreshing beverage after watching you work out so hard. Seriously, that was a mean piece of hammering.

 

Well done.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

That is not me that is the great Alec Steele!!

That is not me that is the great Alec Steele!!

 

Oops. Both of you should slap me a good one.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

Started my drift creation. Long story short...1.75" 4140 is a bear to work!

 

I started with a friend holding the bar and I as the striker with a 8# sledge, since it was on my prized large anvil (Even then I was using half blows!). After a few heats and hitting I realized I will have to step up to a 12# sledge (Have one lying around here somewhere). While hitting however, I noticed my equilibrium was off, and I did manage to miss, but not mar my anvil. This morning I woke up with a sharp pain in my ear, and my equilibrium was off because I either have an ear ache or infection! I will not strike like that again until its gone.

 

Any way, a few heats and a 8# sledge has got me some fish mouth. Still trying to decide if I want to use my anvil edge as a fuller to draw out the bottom and top of the bar. I've got a 170# cast steel ASO I could use as a temp striking anvil instead of my good anvils.

 

I would just go ahead and weld up my striking anvil and strike on it all mounted up if I didn't have to flip it over to drive the drift through the other way. Kind of one of those "What came first, the chicken or the egg??".

 

On a good note, it looks like me and 2 other close friends will be doing some striking, and another helper holding the striking anvil when I drift through. Makes the drifting all the more pleasant and straight!

 

BTW, thank you David for the tips, and Frosty for keeping up with it!

One trick to working short stock like this is to tack weld it to a section of rebar, and then cut/grind the weld from the finished tool.  Easier than tongs in most cases, and less likely to get away from you.

Thanks John. I have a lot of scrap rebar (1/2", 5/8" and 3/4") for these types of things, and to have metal for others to be introduced to smithy to beat on. Will have to do this for sure!