newbiesmith Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Just talked to a guy and am planning on going to his house tomorrow to look at an anvil and forge. He offered me both an old 100lb anvil and rivet forge with electric, variable speed blower for $175. The anvil is old and is showing some wear and tear. The forge was also reworked a little to accomodate the electric blower. And the guy is throwing in a bag of anthracite (sp?) to go with it. Overall it sounds like a good deal. But as my name implies I'm a wouldn't know a good deal if it stood in front of me and beat me with hot iron. The guy told me he bought both the anvil and forge about 9 years ago and has since had two kids and has had to lay down the hammer due to time constraints. He's turnning his smithy into a wood shed. What do you guys think? I'm thinking from talking with the guy that I may get lucky and be able to work some other items into the deal. But at the same time I don't want to put the screws to the guy or get screwed in the process, since I am still figuring out pricing and what not. Any advice on things to look for besides the obvious signs of abuse/excessive use? Any help would be great. Thanks. -Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmercier Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 To me, that sounds like a good deal as long as the anvil has a 2 by 3 inch or so good section on the face with a useable corner , that's all the space you really need in an anvil. For the most part these days, decent useable used anvils are going for around 2$ / lb, so 175 for both the forge and an anvil sounds like it'd be great tog et you started and off the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerkid Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 i would snatch it up!;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solvarr Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 As long as the anvil has a little life left in it you should be fine. Here is a page on testing an anvil which I have used in the past with good results.link removed at the request of anvilfire If you don't buy it let me know. I have a few buddies up your way who might be interested. A new rivet forge without the blower goes for 125-350+ depending on the maker and the tuyere. I'd confirm that there is a decent blast of air coming out the tuyere and ask him how he started his fires. Happy hammering. -Solvarr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Anthricite coal is a pain to get started with; can you find any bituminous coal locally? Sewall or Pocohantus #3? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbiesmith Posted October 12, 2007 Author Share Posted October 12, 2007 The guy ended up throwing in a bucket of RR spikes along with the forge and anvil w/ stand. All in all it seems like a descent deal. The anvil is a little rough on the edges and the blower seems a little small. I kicked it on and there was a good bit of air kickin out. Funny thing is I saw a blower twice this size at a local flea market but couldn't figure out how to rewire the harness, it just had 3 wires and I wanted to set it up for a variable flow. Now thanks to this guy I think I have an idea where my next $20 may go ;-). Take a look at the pics and lemme know if I got a deal. -Dan P.S. Should I try and grind the edges of the anvil a little to smooth them out? Or would that weaken it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Good score Dan. you don;t need a tornado of air, a good size blower like that should be GREAT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmercier Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 That blower looks like MORE than enough blower for you, you really dont need that much air. Lets put it this way, a hair dryer will put out too much air if you dont have an air grate to cut down the flow, that blower would be enough for a forge twice that size. Dont replace the blower. My recommendation with the anvil would be to find someone who knows how to weld , and use 21018 or 7018 welding rod to rebuild up the corners, and then grind them back flat with the surface. That anvil looks like it's got a lot of potential life left in it. There are quite a few people up in my area who repair anvils like that and make them look better than new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6013 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Should I try and grind the edges of the anvil a little to smooth them out? Or would that weaken it? Why weld on an anvil to make it look like new again before you use it for the first time? Wire brush the face and start hammering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solvarr Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 NIce. It looks like you got yourself a really fair deal. The blower probably needs a flap over the intake to choke the air for fine adjustments. It's just a piece of metal bolted in one corner you can use to fine tune the air blast. If it ends up being a dead soft anvil try this link. http://www.cvbg.org/tips/anvilrepair699.PDF happy hammering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbiesmith Posted October 12, 2007 Author Share Posted October 12, 2007 The blower is actually connected to a analog light switch knob. So I can actually control the air flow fairly well. The anvil is rough along the edges, and I've read in some articles here that you really want sharp edges on the sides of the anvil for bending hot steel/iron. I personally don't care what it looks like I'm just xxxxxxx extatic to not have to jurry rig a horn and do any more boring into that old 100lb block of steel I was using before for a hardy hole. I guess if worst comes to worse and I really need a sharp edge to bend metal over I can still use that block. It's just that since my "shop" is currently the my parking lot outside my house I didn't want to haul another 100lb block out every night that I get a chance to smith. I long for the day when we own our own house and I can build my own shop. Until then I need to be somewhat portable, which is where the portable forge and smaller anvil came into play. Thanks a ton for the advice and comments guys. I am soo hoping to fire that thing up tonight. I'll keep you all posted. -Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BT Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 I've read in some articles here that you really want sharp edges on the sides of the anvil for bending hot steel/iron. Actually the opposite is true. You want to bend metal over rounded edges to prevent cold shuts in your work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmercier Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 As BT said, you dont want it sharp, too sharp and you'll crease the metal, but a tight radius is good. Anything from 1/8" to 1/4" radius is usualy plenty good, with 1/8" being on the 'sharp' side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6013 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 If you want a sharp edge, weld a hardie post to a piece of steel the width of the anvil face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbiesmith Posted October 12, 2007 Author Share Posted October 12, 2007 Ahh I must have misread the post. I stand corrected. In that case the anvil is fine and dandy in my book. I may take a wire brush to it but thats about it. That is unless you guys recommend putting a coat of krylon on the base and feet? -Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 BTW if the piece of steel is steel you just weld a piece of heavy duty square tubing to the side of it for a hardy hole. If it's high carbon steel do your proper technique. Even with an anvil you may want to do this on the block anyway so you have the ability to have *2* anvils in play at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Looks like a Vulcan to me, is there a raised circle/oval on the side of the body? If so it has a cast iron body and a thin toolsteel face. DO NOT REMOVE ANY OF THE FACE that you don't *absoultely* have to! It should be a "quiet" anvil too. Good if you have close neighbors. Vulcans often have faces a bit softer than some brands of anvils and were the anvil of choice for many school metalshops, (price and the softer face meant less likely to have shrapnel injuries from mis-strikes. If the face is in rough shape I would suggest cleaning it up and then planishing it with a polished 2# hammer. it will smooth it up and harden it a bit as well. With a cast iron body welding up things that get into the CI body are a bit dubious---like the back corner underside. Often better to just live with them. 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.