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I Forge Iron

My rough freebie


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It's pretty rough but it was free....and free goes a long way in my book. Is this repairable? 

I imagine I could learn to repair it, I have a little fabrication knowledge, but I think that's way over my head....for now.

Any info would be greatly appreciated the extent of my anvil knowledge is, they're heavy, and you pound on them. :D

Time for my silly question. I love watching videos of blacksmiths working on their anvil to watch different techniques and things. A lot of them that I see hit their work a few times then hit the anvil, is there a reason for hitting the anvil?

(It's the smaller one in the first pic..also I couldn't get them to rotate sorry!)

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You have a well worn 90 lb FISHER.  These have a steel top that was welded to the iron base when it was cast.  They are notoriously hard to repair.  Do not start welding unless you have real knowledge of how to do it.

You have nothing invested in it.  I would just use it as is.  Maybe put it on the floor and use it for upsetting long bars.

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It might look a bit battered but that anvil has character ... it's a survivor, and well worth a place in any shop.

As for the anvil tapping you mentioned, there have been lengthy discussions on this site on the merits or otherwise of tapping the anvil between blows. Some find it necessary, some do it for show, others find it intensely annoying ... I don't tap but it doesn't worry me one way or the other. Whatever suits you.

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This was supposed to show what NJ anvil man said but somehow I screwed that up....

Thank you for the information! You really know your way around an anvil. You also have a very good point, I plan on using it quite often. 

 

It might look a bit battered but that anvil has character ... it's a survivor, and well worth a place in any shop.

As for the anvil tapping you mentioned, there have been lengthy discussions on this site on the merits or otherwise of tapping the anvil between blows. Some find it necessary, some do it for show, others find it intensely annoying ... I don't tap but it doesn't worry me one way or the other. Whatever suits you.

Thank you for the insight on the pounding.  It's kind of interesting really, It don't bother me I was just curious. I'm just happy to have an anvil to pound on! Haha

This one will stand tall and proud in my shop that's for sure!

Edited by Tolate24
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If you find you need good "clean" edges, you can always make yourself up a block to stick in the hardy hole. The pict is of a partially finished block sitting in my "portable hole". Eventually it will get the edges radiused for a specific project I have in mind when I get a chance. All it is is simply a piece of heavy stock I drew down and tapered, then upset in hardy hole on the anvil and kept dressing the sides as I went along. It's a pretty simple project to do, but does require some muscle if you choose to upset rather than simply draw down larger stock. Top of the block is roughly 2" x 2" ( top plate it's sitting in is 4" x 4") , maybe a bit larger. Certainly large enough for most stuff you'd be doing on a 90 lb anvil.

 

 

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If you find you need good "clean" edges, you can always make yourself up a block to stick in the hardy hole.

I really like this idea, this will have to be a project down the road after I get a good forge set up. That's something I haven't read into yet, the tools for the top of the anvil. I can't wait to start making tools. Thanks for the idea!!

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You use basically the same techniques to make bottom tools ( and top tools if you want) for working stock on the anvil. here's two I just made for mine. 1st had a  piece of 1/2" round  driven into it about 1/2 way, then I welded the beads to make a "bark" die for vines for my wine rack. 2nd I drove in a piece of 3/8" square to make a 3/8" x 3/32" die to convert 1/4" round stock to rectangular to make collar stock for the joints on my wine rack.  Shown is the die with a piece of the collar stock that was made with it. ( It usually sits flush with the top of the anvil like the one shown above, but I wedged it that way to be better able to take the pict) The applications are endless. I eventually need to make some small half round and V notch dies as my big swage block doesn't have anything smaller than 3/4". I "cheated" on these and welded a piece of 1" square to the top stock for these because I didn't have enough heavier stock to use to make what I wanted. Last is the hot cut I forged a few years back using pretty much the same techniques.

 

 

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Edited by DSW
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Man that rack looks awesome. I cant believe how smooth those rings look. Your tools look good to. 

So I got a little anxious and was messing around with some 3/8 square stock and my rosebud on the torch and made some duck bill tongs on the new anvil just for fun.... I need to get a forge of some sort up and going haha. 

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Thanks. Rings were bent around a jig to keep them as consistent as possible. A simple piece of pipe will work for that. Wrap around the pipe and overlap the ends. Trim thru both pieces, then heat the ring and flatten because it spiraled when it got overlapped. For that I simply used a long piece of wide flat bar as my "flatter" and flattened it on the anvil face. A blacksmith can make his own "tools". they don't have to be neat and fancy, just work well. As you go on in this, you'll constantly build and collect tools, jigs and so on.

 

Plenty of info here on building a forge. Again it doesn't have to be fancy. Plenty of great simple ideas like the 55 gallon drum forge or some of the simple brake drum or sink forges. For fuel if you can't find coal, lump charcoal will work just fine. It's been used for centuries.

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I'd say you did great for free. Here is what my free anvils look like... Still need to cobble together some sort of horn... 

These were given to me by a local quary owner. the first almost triangular shaped one is half of a rock anvil that is used in the rock crusher. The rocks are thrown at these anvils that are in a ring around the machine. The rocks hit the anvils and shatter. The second is the "bit" of a rock breaker that mounts on an excavator. it puts hundreds of tons onto the rock to split massive boulders into manageable boulders for the other machinery. It's what I have, and it will do for me just fine for now.

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Plenty of info here on building a forge. Again it doesn't have to be fancy. Plenty of great simple ideas like the 55 gallon drum forge or some of the simple brake drum or sink forges. For fuel if you can't find coal, lump charcoal will work just fine. It's been used for centuries.

Yeah that's today's plan hopefully, I have a good drum in the shop. Still scrounging around for an air supply, I'd get hung out to dry if I took the hair dryer haha. May rob the blower off my wood stove for the time being. I was trying to come up with a way to use my wood stove but Im not sure I can get air to it the right way but I'm going to look again. I picked up some charcoal last night to use for now.

I've been scouring the site learning everything possible, some of you guys on here are amazing. I'm thankful for the opportunity to learn from all of you.

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I tap my anvil in order to feel it is still there and not stolen:D

I hit as hard and fast as I can in order to make use of the heat. However after a few blows I need to look at the result and perhaps turn it. To do that takes about the same time as one blow. Since it is very awkward to stop the hammer in mid air I let it bounce off the anvil without putting any force behind it. It is also supposed to relieve the muscles and joints in the shoulder.

Göte 

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Yes it is a rythm thing. It comes very naturally when trying to hit as fast as possible. The faster you hit, the better you use the heat but the "frequency" depends upon the weight of the hammer used. I am amazed how slow some of the youtube demonstrators are.

Göte

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When I framed houses, especially putting down decking on the roof or such I used to do the same. The "tap the anvil". It used to drive my co-workers crazy. I used this tap as a time to flip the next nail into my hand or move to the next position.  I can see this being a "stop and think" moment when forging and actually noticed myself doing it today.  Guess old habits die hard.

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Yes it is a rythm thing. It comes very naturally when trying to hit as fast as possible. The faster you hit, the better you use the heat but the "frequency" depends upon the weight of the hammer used. I am amazed how slow some of the youtube demonstrators are.

Göte

 and how far from the forge is the anvil ...and in spite of that, how long a heat lasts...

 

that anvil tapping will come naturally, do not force yourself to do it. I was asking myself what's about that tapping when I started blacksmithing, and, even without thinking, it arrived to me, it didn't come consciously, when I became aware of it, it was there already.

 

 

 

Edited by matei campan
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 and how far from the forge is the anvil ...and in spite of that, how long a heat lasts...

 

that anvil tapping will come naturally, do not force yourself to do it. I was asking myself what's about that tapping when I started blacksmithing, and, even without thinking, it arrived to me, it didn't come consciously, when I became aware of it, it was there already.

 

 

 

Yup it comes naturally and if it does not, forget about it.

They also have anvils so low that they will damage their backs in the long run. And they will not use the handle of the hammer but hold it close to the head. the handle is the atlatl of the blacksmith so why not use it.

Göte

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I really like this idea, this will have to be a project down the road after I get a good forge set up. That's something I haven't read into yet, the tools for the top of the anvil. I can't wait to start making tools. Thanks for the idea!!

Not sure if someone has already posted this, but if you need clean edges before you get a block set up, it looks like you have some sections of in tact edges on there. Keep in mind "clean edges" aren't the same as "sharp edges". My anvil is pretty beat up along the edges (not as much as yours, though!), though I do have 2" sections on either side that are pretty clean. It looks like you may have similar patches. Just use those!

 

Awesome score! Fishers are great since they don't have a ring. I'm sure your ears will appreciate it :)

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  Hey Thor, that crusher anvil looks exactly like the ones I have seen in a crusher we retired before I started.  It is called a Canica, made by Terex.  Just figured you might find that interesting.  I like that drilling rig rod end sitting on top of it too, I have a couple laying around just because they're really hard and tough, they look pretty useful, and they've always got a twisted rod laying around the yard somewhere.

  How does that breaker gad compare to a "real" anvil?  I have a few of them in my pile at work, and one of them is broken at the flats just like yours.  A bit of grinding on that end (not a perfect break, but pretty close) and I'd have a nice flat face, and about 2-3 times the weight of my PW, all right under the hammer.

  If you run into that quarry owner again, ask him if he has any big shaker screen springs that have been replaced.  I have a couple of them that are about 2 foot long 1.5" tight coil spring, each one is at least 8 feet worth when straightened out, probably more.  I'm thinking I'm set for hammer and hardie stock for a while.  They also use a lot of through hardened bolts, that can be heat treated even harder, sometimes with very usefully shaped oversized heads.

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I'm going to pay him a visit again soon. I need to come up with something to make him as a proper thank you. The bolt (sitting on top of the rock crusher anvil) I turned into a bottle opener was REALLY rough. But it was literally the first thing I forged. I'm thinking maybe a knife out of that spring pack you see behind the breaker tip.

Both the crusher anvil and the breaker tip have great rebound. to the point I'm worried about getting my head to close to the work piece while forging on the crusher anvil as it'll launch a 2 lbs cross peen back at me with as much force as I'm putting into it, even with hot metal under the hammer.

I mounted the tip just like you see it in the picture. Didn't even bother with trying to grind the bottom flat. I liked the thought of the radius edge as it will serve at least some of the purpose of a horn, which I'm still working without at the moment.

I did weld about an 1 1/2" worth of 1/4" plate to the side of the crusher anvil to act as a pritchel hole. Still don't have a hardy hole of any sort, So I'll be making bottom tools that will mount into a vise.

Edited by ThorsHammer82
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