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I Forge Iron

New to the hobby. Advice on this ASO.


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Hi IFI! This is my first post after signing up but I have been reading as much as I can over the last couple of weeks. I am just starting getting into blacksmithing as a hobby and I have a question about the anvil shaped object I have acquired. I asked a buddy at work if he had an anvil he wasn't using and he didn't but he suggested I use some I-beam. We have that kind of stuff at work & he said he could have one of our steel guys cut me a piece to get started. My plan was to turn it on its side & weld a 1.5-2 inch steel plate to the top. Well, when he brought it by for me I was surprised to see that he took it upon himself to "hook me up". He welded supports on it & ground an angle on the front of it. As I was raised to no look a gift horse in the mouth, I happily accepted it and decided to make do. I am looking for suggestions as to how to modify it. My new plan is to add a couple more supports to the rear area and to add a rounded section to act as a horn of sorts. I have a couple of pieces of 1 inch steel(pardon the blurry pic) that I plan to weld together & then grind the top down to a rounded shape. I will then weld that onto the top of the ASO, probably towards the back. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Turn it on its back, use the center of the short section (at the narrow end of the angle) right where it meets the central web as your main hammering spot (greatest combination of mass and rigidity), and grind a fuller and a hot cut into the edge of the other flange. Then, as @Charles R. Stevens suggests, keep looking for your next upgrade. 

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When I told my grandpa I was thinking of starting blacksmithing he walked out into his shop and brought back a cheap 20-ish lb cast iron ASO from Harbor Freight or similar. "Here this will work great" he said. It didn't work great, it had very little rebound and was soft under my hammer if I missed. But it was free, and got me started at least tooling around. Also, that soft face showed me EVERY time i missed a hit. A dent clear as day. Later I received a piece of RR track, turned it on end and tried that. Then I got a nice old power hammer base that works for a decent post anvil. Now that I have these better tools as well as a proper anvil I appreciate the rebound increase and better work surface I have, and I'm better trained not to miss hits and scuff up my anvils. 

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2 hours ago, JHCC said:

Turn it on its back, use the center of the short section (at the narrow end of the angle) right where it meets the central web as your main hammering spot (greatest combination of mass and rigidity), and grind a fuller and a hot cut into the edge of the other flange. Then, as @Charles R. Stevens suggests, keep looking for your next upgrade. 

I will try that. Thank you.

2 hours ago, Glenn said:

What does it not do now that needs changed? Why not use it for a month or more before you change anything?

I actually don't know haha. I'm am going to try it out this weekend for the first time. I guess I should just give it a go and move forward from there.

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Only thing I would do is add a hardy hole. Easiest way might be to drill a round hole and then weld in a piece of sq tubing the correct size.  If you have access to O-A, you could drill a hole undersized and then heat and drift it square. Use the heck out of it while looking for a more solid anvil...

How noisy is it?

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10 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Only thing I would do is add a hardy hole. Easiest way might be to drill a round hole and then weld in a piece of sq tubing the correct size.  If you have access to O-A, you could drill a hole undersized and then heat and drift it square. Use the heck out of it while looking for a more solid anvil...

How noisy is it?

 It rings pretty loud. Although I haven't mounted it yet. I'm getting a stump this week and will be on it throughout this weekend. 

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