Hello All,

My name is Ken, I've been making knives since the late 80's by the stock removal process using ATS-34, but nothing in the last 15 years to speak of.  I retired the first of July and I've had the blacksmithing bug since helping a friend forge 2 billets of 500+ layer pattern welded damascus back in the early 90's, but work got in the way.  I've been trying to find a decent anvil for years and everyone I ever found was beat to pieces or they wanted an arm and a leg, plus my first born for it.  So 2 weeks ago I followed the advice I found on this forum and I called all my friends and started putting out the word I was looking for an anvil.  Then I called the Florida ABA, one of their member was having a few guys over to do some forging at his house that Friday and he had a Peter Wright he wasn't using anymore.  Long story short, I made 2 new friends, I got to forge a knife from a railroad spike, and a Peter Wright anvil followed me home.  It's had a repair done on it a long time ago where a small section of the top plate broke out.  It goes from the heel up to the hardy hole and over to the side of the anvil.  The crack has been welded and filled back in and if you look at the bottom you can see where three 1/2" round rods extend down through the area next to the hardy hole.  The top of the anvil rings true, even the section that has been repaired.  In my estimation, I think it has a 90% rebound everywhere except the repair area, and that is about 80% just slightly less than the rest of the anvil.

Now I'm trying to figure out how I want to build my forge and gathering materials for that.

Edit:  If anyone knows where to find refractory materials locally, give me a shout.  Other wise I'm probably going to order some Mizzou.

Edited August 6, 20178 yr by customcutter

Hi. I’ve only been smithing for less than a year but I have built a propane forge and I have plans for the burner I made. You are welcome to it.  I live on the border of Oldsmar and Tampa if you are in the area and would like to stop by. 

Greetings, customcutter and Ricktfl.

Welcome. Glad to see there are other smiths in the Tampa area. Good luck to you both.

Mitch