feral Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 The anvil is a Trenton I just bought for 425 dollars. The seller said he sourced it from Pennsylvania but I bought it in Asheville NC. I'm not sure of the exact weight because he had it listed as 110 pounds but the number stamped on the base is 100. I took pictures of the serial numbers and such so I'm hoping to find someone who can tell me its age and origin. Anywho, I bought it to start a little knife/sword/armor shop because I'm a sculpture student at UNCA and my senior art show consists of cast bronze and aluminum figures and various medieval weapons and armor pieces and I'm hoping I can continue in this vein and maybe make a living one day. I also wanted some advice on an anvil stand and where to set up because the building I have for a shop is basically one of those carport roofs with plywood walls and a wooden floor suspended over a very ugly and badly poured concrete slab and I'm wondering if I can set up my anvil inside on this floor or if I should make a portable steel anvil stand and move it in and out of the shed every time I need it. The only other option would be to pour a new concrete slab and make an entirely new building but I'm trying to keep my costs down since I still have to buy a slack belt grinder and build or buy a gas forge that's long enough for me to heat treat swords in. I'd love to have any advice I can get, so without further adieu: pictures! Here's the floor situation I'm dealing with: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Greetings and welcome Feral, You got a fine Trenton anvil there.... That is one with a belt line weld that is all tool steel from the weld up... It will serve you well for many years.. You can make a great anvil stand from 4x6s from Home Depot.. I like setting the anvil down with a router about 1/2 inch and a couple of z bracket works just fine.. That's about all you need to get a great start... I wish you well Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 You've got a fairly typical farrier's anvil. The long heel will ring like a bell, and the narrow waist minimizes the sweet spot, but it's still a good foundation to build from. Trenton's are quality stuff and yours looks almost unused. Forging inside the shop? As long as you have good air circulation and no worries about CO build-up, I'd definitely prefer to keep everything inside. As for the anvil stand, I'd cut through the existing raised floor and use pressure-treated lumber to build a "stump" that can sit directly on the concrete pad underneath. The hole just needs to be big enough for the stump to get through, nothing fancy. A forge large enough to heat-treat swords? Methinks you're getting ahead of yourself. Aim small, miss small, as they say. Get a paint-can forge built and develop your skill level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 You've got a fairly typical farrier's anvil. The long heel will ring like a bell, and the narrow waist minimizes the sweet spot, but it's still a good foundation to build from. Trenton's are quality stuff and yours looks almost unused. Forging inside the shop? As long as you have good air circulation and no worries about CO build-up, I'd definitely prefer to keep everything inside. As for the anvil stand, I'd cut through the existing raised floor and use pressure-treated lumber to build a "stump" that can sit directly on the concrete pad underneath. The hole just needs to be big enough for the stump to get through, nothing fancy. A forge large enough to heat-treat swords? Methinks you're getting ahead of yourself. Aim small, miss small, as they say. Get a paint-can forge built and develop your skill level. The concrete pad is REALLY bad. It's nowhere close to level and is basically a bunch of chunky gravel held together by cement so I haven't really decided what would be the best option yet. I'd considered cutting a hole in the floor and building a form in it down to what passes for the foundation and actually pouring a level concrete base for a stand. Think that might work? As for the forge, I have the budget to set up this shop right now. I probably won't in the future. And I've been working on UNCA campus with a cast iron anvil, ball peen hammer, and small coal forge and I think I'm at a level to step my game up. A knifemaker friend of mine has also been pushing me pretty hard to get this all set up too. Here's some of my work over the past year: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 Greetings and welcome Feral, You got a fine Trenton anvil there.... That is one with a belt line weld that is all tool steel from the weld up... It will serve you well for many years.. You can make a great anvil stand from 4x6s from Home Depot.. I like setting the anvil down with a router about 1/2 inch and a couple of z bracket works just fine.. That's about all you need to get a great start... I wish you well Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 That is some impressive work you got there! I especially like that helmet. Good luck getting yourself set up and welcome to the forum! -Crazy Ivan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Welcome! Nice anvil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 I assume you are on the armourarchive.org too? Since an anvil stand sitting on the dirt would be better than an anvil stand sitting on a floating wood floor; you still would be better with cutting a hole in the floor and having your stand rest against the planet. As for doing it as a business---have you been taking all the business classes you can? Often more important than the art classes if you plan to do art as a business! And I assume you are aware of the work in armour done by Ugo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Olivo Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 welcome to this crazy craft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Well, Feral, I gotta say that I'm impressed. That's definitely some stellar work and you appear to have a lot of promise. And you get to go down in history as the first woman to take a "selfie" in a bathroom.... with a battle axe! I've seen a lot of bathroom selfies on the internet (never have understood it), but never one with a rose-d battle axe. As Thomas said, the earth is a better foundation than a floating wood floor of dubious construction. Either make the anvil moveable or cut through the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cross Pein Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 As for the forge, I have the budget to set up this shop right now. I probably won't in the future. A wood floor also increases the fire risk. I have a 20x25 foot barn with a wood floor. I forge outside. You probably won't have the budget to rebuild and replace everything later either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Feral, you are close to the Haywood CC campus in Clyde, NC where there are curriculum knifemaking and blacksmithing classes. (Credit hours while having fun and learning Useful Stuff!) It is also the site of the ABS spring and fall Smoky Mountain Hammer-ins. There are also some blacksmithing classes at Blue Ridge CC in Flat Rock. Also, YOU ROCK, GIRL! I think the Pink Ribbon mace and the Rose battle axe are awesome, and my wife, the gamer, agrees. She wants me to do a bronze pour so she can make a dagger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Geist Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Good score on the anvil. I like it. Is not often you find them that pristine. Looks brand new. Also some very nice work. You appear to have a ton of talent. There is one more option that's available as far as mounting and that's to get or make one of those 3 legged anvil stumps. They're often used by horseshoers who have to deal with uneven ground in the itinerant work that they do. One of those might eliminate the need to be tearing up the floor or foundation? George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 note that mopping down the wood floor with a strong 20 mule team borax solution will cut the fire risk substantially and is pretty non-toxic---they use it for cleaning baby diapers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 I assume you are on the armourarchive.org too? Since an anvil stand sitting on the dirt would be better than an anvil stand sitting on a floating wood floor; you still would be better with cutting a hole in the floor and having your stand rest against the planet. As for doing it as a business---have you been taking all the business classes you can? Often more important than the art classes if you plan to do art as a business! And I assume you are aware of the work in armour done by Ugo? I'm actually not on armourarchive (though I've browsed it a time or two), I haven't had any business classes besides a few workshops, and I have no idea who Ugo is! As for the foundation, another alternative would be to cut through the floor and actually chip away a section of the bad stuff till I hit dirt and then pour concrete, or just put the stand against dirt. Still weighing options. Well, Feral, I gotta say that I'm impressed. That's definitely some stellar work and you appear to have a lot of promise. And you get to go down in history as the first woman to take a "selfie" in a bathroom.... with a battle axe! I've seen a lot of bathroom selfies on the internet (never have understood it), but never one with a rose-d battle axe. It was late and it was the easiest way I had available to get a picture that showed the scale of the axe. I'm not really a 'selfie' kind of girl, especially not in a bathroom and ESPECIALLY especially not when my face and clothes are covered in soot, oil, and sweat. Feral, you are close to the Haywood CC campus in Clyde, NC where there are curriculum knifemaking and blacksmithing classes. (Credit hours while having fun and learning Useful Stuff!) It is also the site of the ABS spring and fall Smoky Mountain Hammer-ins. There are also some blacksmithing classes at Blue Ridge CC in Flat Rock. Also, YOU ROCK, GIRL! I think the Pink Ribbon mace and the Rose battle axe are awesome, and my wife, the gamer, agrees. She wants me to do a bronze pour so she can make a dagger. Yeah, I'm going to try to attend a big smithing event here in the spring, though I think it might be at Penland (I'm going to have to check on that again now, I'm forgetful). The mace is jokingly referred to as the magic fairy wand and I'm still planning on doing a bunch of surface carving on the handle of the axe (and of course actually sharpening it--I decided to wait until closer to my show to do that so as to avoid any of my fellow students lopping of a finger in a moment of curiosity). I'm planning to do at least 2 or 3 bronze pours this semester. Good score on the anvil. I like it. Is not often you find them that pristine. Looks brand new. Also some very nice work. You appear to have a ton of talent. There is one more option that's available as far as mounting and that's to get or make one of those 3 legged anvil stumps. They're often used by horseshoers who have to deal with uneven ground in the itinerant work that they do. Thanks! And yeah, the mobile anvil stump seemed like the most viable option initially and I expect it would be the easiest option, but I'm not super keen on having to pick up my anvil and move it every time I want to do some work. Just have to see what happens I guess. Everyone else I didn't directly reply to, thanks for the welcome and the compliments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 depending on the gap between the top of the concrete and the top of the wood floor you could just cut up a section of the wood and add concrete on to to the wood floor level, would give you a good surface without buying more concrete than you need and without the extra work of breaking up the old stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 note that mopping down the wood floor with a strong 20 mule team borax solution will cut the fire risk substantially and is pretty non-toxic---they use it for cleaning baby diapers! That seems like a pretty good idea, though honestly I wasn't particularly worried about fire risk because I don't think I've ever dropped hot iron on the floor or anything. I know it's not ideal, but it's what I've got right now. Although, I wonder if I could cut out a larger section of floor, say 10' x 10' and pour a pad.... depending on the gap between the top of the concrete and the top of the wood floor you could just cut up a section of the wood and add concrete on to to the wood floor level, would give you a good surface without buying more concrete than you need and without the extra work of breaking up the old stuff Yeah, that was my first thought though a friend said pouring concrete on top of old cured concrete might not adhere very well and could cause problems. ANYWAY, does anyone have a way to date my anvil? It looks like the serial number is 213715. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Greetings again Feral, Your anvil was made between 1943 and 1945.. While your at Home Depot pickup some extra 4x6 treated wood while you are making your anvil base cut out a section of your wood floor and make a wood ground platform for your anvil.... Than if you wish get a simple wood stove floor guard and you are good to go... No Fires .. They are typically about 4ft square... Your work is wonderful.. Forge on and make beautiful things. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 Greetings again Feral, Your anvil was made between 1943 and 1945.. While your at Home Depot pickup some extra 4x6 treated wood while you are making your anvil base cut out a section of your wood floor and make a wood ground platform for your anvil.... Than if you wish get a simple wood stove floor guard and you are good to go... No Fires .. They are typically about 4ft square... Your work is wonderful.. Forge on and make beautiful things. Jim Thanks for the anvil date! That means she was made during WWII and it seems pretty probable that she was made by women! Of course this means now I've got to call her Rosie. :P Also, I think you've just solved my anvil stand problem! Thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Welcome aboard Feral, glad to have you. There are a few options to firming up the floor. One off the top of my dented noggin is to slip 2x4s endwise into the space where you want the anvil till they touch the ground and drive them down solid. Then mark them and cut them off, now you can insert them back in and toe nail them to the floor boards. Repeat till your anvil base is solid as you like. Another way is to mix concrete and water into a thin slurry and pour it over the pre-wetted broken floor. Allow it to set the pour redi-mix on it, right through the floor. Mix it just wet enough to get it through the floor gaps but not so it flows. You want to form a platform mound that will stay there and reach up to the floor boards. You may not have dropped a piece of hot steel but you WILL and hot dropped pieces aren't what burns your shop down, it's the bits of hot scale and such that fall into little dust filled cracks and smoulder for hours that get you. A saturated borax solution is really cheap insurance. Seems everybody just getting into bladesmithing wants a forge large enough to heat treat swords. Just trying to use one to forge the blade will cost you enough in fuel wastage to pay for professional heat treating. You don't need or want to heat more blade than you can forge in one heat, that's about 4-5" unless you're using a power hammer. If you put through doors on a more practical sized forge you can pas the blade back and forth to heat it evenly for heat treatment. Of course if you have room you can make a brick pile forge and rearrange it to suit whatever you need it for. So, a practical 300-350 cu/in for forging the blade, then make a long narrow chamber with several burners to heat treat. About a sooty, sweaty gal taking a selfy in a bathroom. We're blacksmiths darlin most of us find a little soot and sweat just fine if not a little exciting. Well done on the helm. I've always thought they should have a wry smile, like it's amused by whatever opposition may have made the mistake of taking it's wearer on. The axe is beautiful and I like the pink mace, it tickles me, sort of like a smiling helm would. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 Thanks Frosty. I think I'm still going to go ahead and make a sword-sized forge because I don't think an electric heat treating oven is in my budget and I want to be as self sufficient as possible. I can get the artist's special or the 5-burner special from majestic forge for 600-650 bucks or I can build it cheaper if I can find a decent set of plans, but I'm pretty well set on it (unless someone knows where I can come up with an affordable heat treating oven that's long enough for swords. I'm not sure that I've got anyone in my area to send blades off to for heat treating (though I admittedly haven't really looked yet). Now I've got an open question for anyone that has answers: What's the best way to care for my anvil? I was planning to give it a once-over with a wire brush and I saw somewhere that it's a good idea to coat it with boiled linseed oil. Anyone have other or better suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Just an fyi on majestic forge, I have been running the 2 burner knife maker forge from them for a while and while it has never let me down, the fire brick it comes with is quite the heat hog. I am considering making a 2nd forge with kaowool insulation instead of just hard firebrick as you have to run higher pressure to keep the heat up. In the long run it would save some money on LP. Not saying do not get Majestic, just suggesting you look at other optiuons. Chilli forge, while expensive can save money in the long run because from what I hear they run on 2-5 psi for normal forging. Diamondback forge would be a slot in between majestic and chilli forge. Food for thought. -Crazy Ivan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Oh, and on the topic of anvil care, From the looks of the pictures you posted, just use it and it will thank you for it. General use will make the face shine up and smooth out. In my opinion, that weld on the waist is ugly (especially with that huge weld crator and spatter) maybe spruce it up a bit if you desire but all in all it looks perfectly useable the way it is now. Linseed oil couldnt hurt an the body though. -Crazy Ivan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 A Majestic 5-burner? I'll be absolutely honest and tell you that it would be the biggest waste of money you could imagine. Not only is it a bad design (burners shooting straight down on your work, lack of insulation), but they are horrific in their gas consumption. I have the 3-burner deluxe, given to me as a gift, and not only is it far more expensive than you can make yourself, but you absolutely never use most of the forge for 99% of what you're going to be doing. When you fire up one burner, or two, the rest of the forge acts as a heat sink drawing the BTUs away from your work piece. Very bad insulation, bad burner placement, and not necessary for most of the forging process. When I said earlier that you need to aim small to miss small, I wasn't discouraging you from making swords. That said, you have to realize that heat-treating swords is not going to be the mainstay of your work. For every sword forged and sold, there are probably a thousand other things made and sold. The sword-buying market is very, very small and not likely to jump on a new maker with no provenance. If you're wanting to sell fantasy swords to gamers and such, that's a larger market but has far less money and won't pay for a quality weapon. You can easily make a charcoal-fired heat-treating trough forge outside of your shop for that occasional need. Or, you can use a one-burner forge to heat-treat a sword. The one-burner can also be used to cheaply forge hooks, chisels, triangles, knives, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 You can easily make a charcoal-fired heat-treating trough forge outside of your shop for that occasional need. Or, you can use a one-burner forge to heat-treat a sword. The one-burner can also be used to cheaply forge hooks, chisels, triangles, knives, etc. I'm fine with it being a single burner, but don't I need to heat the whole blade evenly at once to properly heat treat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.