I've had a few blowers and pans before, but I'm not a blacksmith at all.  I do enjoy finding these things though.  

Yesterday, I found an estate sale and found all these things below.   Once we had made a deal on "all" of the blacksmithing tools. I asked if he had the anvil too, and sure enough, he did.

All of these things are so rusty that I now wonder if I should have passed, especially on the anvil, which is a Fisher 200#.   All of the forming attachments were in the bottom of the tool box with the tongs, which are all froze.  

What do you think?  Would you pass or pull the trigger?    

 

 

 

You now have the tools to be a blacksmith

They can be cleaned up. Looks like a Lot of great stuff if you put in the time to clean it up. I've brought rusted solid tongs back to life by heating the boss in the forge to get them working again then wire wheeling the what off. 

Are you planning to use it or resell it?

The quality looks good, even if the condition isn't great. Just about everything there can be restored to working order. 

Well, I couldn't tell you if I would have pulled the trigger or not, because I don't know how much you paid. ...but DUDE, that's a stinkin' gold mine! Don't worry about the rust. That's why they make wire brushes.

I'll probably be forced to sell eventually.  My wife is already unhappy about all of the other tools/stuff I have on the porch.   

 It reminds me though when my dad used to tell me as a kid that I could tear up a lead anvil.  If these are still usable, it may be best for me to resist putting a wire wheel to it and leave them as they are for the next guy.

I was all in at 500 bills for this and bunch of other stuff.

I figured 250 for the two forge blowers, tools, vice,  the two pot looking things with crank handles (don't know what those are).   Then we agreed on 100 for the anvil.

 

 

If you're looking to sell, I'd suggest (A) putting your location in your profile settings and (B) posting some pictures in the Tailgating section of the forum. You'll probably do better on resale if you remove the rust first; a soak in naval jelly will do wonders (I hear good things about Evapo-Rust as well). 

The "pot things with crank handles" are called "tuyeres" and are the part of a bottom-draft forge that holds the fire. 

What's the weight on the anvil? Depending on where you are and how deep the pitting is on the top, you may be able to recoup your entire investment right there. (Note: do NOT grind the top of the anvil -- you could damage it irreparably, or at least shorten its useful life.)

It's right at 200 lbs even.   Would a sanding disk on an orbital sander work?

 

 

It's right at 200 lbs even.   

Excellent; a very marketable weight.

 

Would a sanding disk on an orbital sander work?

Don't use anything more abrasive than a wire cup brush in an angle grinder (and be VERY careful with that!) to take off the rust. The best thing for an anvil is USE: hammering hot steel on the face will shine it right up, and will even out any minor irregularities over time.

Not on the face! Get a large plastic tub put in just enough water to cover the anvil laying on it's side on a couple little stand offs so the solution can circulate under it, then add a couple bottles of Naval Jelly or Evaporust and stir. Put the lid on the tub and let it sit, check it every few hours and give it a stir. It will convert the rust back into iron and steel, it's a chemical version of electrolysis that actually makes the molecules go back to their original positions. 

Electrolysis is easy too, you'll need a transformer the process needs DC current and an electrolyte. Baking soda in the water is perfect though there are other things. Then there's a sacrificial plate. The DC is hooked to the sacrificial plate and the tool. turn the current on and it does it's thing. I'll have to let someone else tell you which pole goes to the work and the plate, I don't remember details well.

Don't do either process on machines like the blowers it has a tendency to weld attached parts together and I do mean WELD. 

That's a great score, just the anvil would put you securely in the black if you resell. Nice Fishers are highly desirable.

Frosty The Lucky.

That would be a big mess; but would remove the rust from the anvil face without much damage. The fine rust dust might destroy the orbital sander innards though.

A wire brush on an angle grinder is what I'd use.

Note that rusty tools sell at a considerable discount to ones with the rust removed, moving parts moving, etc..

Not knowing where you are at I can't say how good a deal you made; but out here where I am at you could probably double or triple your money easily.

We're in West Virginia.

 

the evaporust seems like something I can try first to see what happens.   Thank you all for commenting.

 

We're in West Virginia.

Go ahead and put that in your profile settings, so it will show up in all future discussions.

We have a number of members in WV, and I'm sure many would be happy to meet up sometime. I know that Andrew Rice ( @skyforgemetalworks) teaches classes in introductory blacksmithing, and I can vouch for him as a teacher.

Oh my word, they sure saw this guy coming. For that pile of rusty old junk? Yeah you got taken allright. However, not to worry. I'm sure there are plenty of guys on here that can help you recoup some of your losses even with all that rust. Is just the kind of big hearted fellows they are

George

Yeah I will even pay shipping for the anvil! 

All joking aside looks like you need a wire wheel, some boiled linseed oil and some hot metal to polish that anvil up.

I'd personally be overjoyed to score a full set of tools like that. For someone with the time to heat and free up all the tongs and wirewheel up the hammers, swages, and anvil that's a heck of a score. Very curious to see the anvil cleaned up and tested for rebound. Could easily be a 500$ anvil on my local craigslist 7 days a week. 

I find that vinegar helps loosen seized tongs, I have a 5 gallon bucket that I use for popping the scale off small delicate stuff, I leave the tongs in there overnight.

If you clean all that up, you could sell off what you won't use or need and recoup maybe all of your investment into it - make the wife happy and have a nice set up for blacksmithing. Win-win situation.