Yup, that's rust on my anvil and hammer... hopefully my sacrifice of the leaves sitting in my forge will suffice as my sacrifice to the blacksmith god's for this deed

My anvil rusts all the time. Sometimes it gets these strange rust rings. It's ok. Just smash some hot metal over it and all will be ok. 

Good Morning,

Wipe them with WD40 or Diesel fuel (or whatever you have), don't use a clean rag. Give them a warm welcome back with a back and belly rub and then just use them.

Neil

58 minutes ago, swedefiddle said:

(or whatever you have),

yup. dragon blood does well if you have a jar of it handy.

My anvil would be constantly rusting if I didn't apply oil to the face after every forging session. I started using used motor oil for mine, and haven't had any issues whatsoever with it doing the job.

Remember in rust we trust 

I feel for ya bro. Between siding and roof projects on my garage and my daughters broke down car takin up all the space in my shop due to an engine problem I didnt fire the forge all summer. I would look forelorningly at the lonesome anvil shoved back in the corner almost hidden by car parts and my heart would hurt. Finally, all projects got done and when I was pulling my anvil out of its spot of rest I saw that my beauty looked like yours. Poor old girl. Quickly brought her back to life though with a wire brush and sone hammerin and coated her with some Fluid Film protectent.

My anvil got NO use at all from about 1991 through 2015. Don't worry, though: it may rust a bit, but it doesn't spoil.

I have an anvil that was in storage in an unheated shed in a swampy area near a stream in Ohio for 50 years.  Wire brush and hot steel pounded on it did a nice job of cleaning up the condensation rust pitting.

Mineral oil works well.  Down here in hot, humid "sunny" Florida, I use a roughly 50/50 mix of mineral oil and mineral spirits with a good size dash of lanolin mixed in for more rust-prone items.  You can leave out the lanolin in a dryer area or more rust resistant tools.  Straight mineral oil works too, but I found that thinning it works great to leave a thin coat once the mineral spirits evaporate.  Mineral oil also has a nice side benefit of being non-toxic so can also be used on eating utensils if used alone.

When that happens to me (all the time) I give penance to Vulcan by tolling the anvil, then polishing it up with hot steel.

I'm new to this, but I was going to use CLP (gun oil) on the non-poundy parts of my anvil to prevent rust. Anyone see any reason not to?

Other then the fact it is way more expensive then used motor oil or whatever other cheap oil is out there to occasionally wipe it down with.. Nope, no Harm in it. 

That cost would be the draw back for me when BLO works with out having to reapply it so often.

yeah, but I have quite a bit of CLP, and for the non-hammer parts, one coating should last many moons. I like it because it's persistent and non-gunky (that's a technical term). 

I use a scrap block with a rag on the bottom for applying oil to the face. I keep a bucket of used motor oil in the shop, anyway, so whenever the rag is running out (it lasts a long time) just re-dip the rag. It's not messy. You only need a thin coating.

 

Do I see the cupping tool we made in that picture? That's a cool Idea with the rag on wood.

                                                                                                                                           Littleblacksmith 

gotta love your shop chris. I don't think you could take a pic of anything from any angle without the background being full of...clutter.

58 minutes ago, littleblacksmith said:

Do I see the cupping tool we made in that picture?  

                                                                                                                                          

Yippers! 

54 minutes ago, Tubalcain2 said:

gotta love your shop chris. I don't think you could take a pic of anything from any angle without the background being full of...clutter.

You can say that again.... At least it's better than an empty shop.

It's not clutter in my shop but resources.

Well, you could at least keep it organized enough that you could walk through in the dark without taking surprise somersaults.  

I cant even walk in my room safely in the dark with out possibly breaking a toe or cutting a foot open! and for a while I had to be careful not to run into the horn of an anvil...in my room...

                                                                                                                                       Littleblacksmith 

My mom wouldn’t let me take my anvil into my room It lived in the living room for about three days before I made a stand for it. Yes I frequently visited it. This was my second anvil.

Ya'll ever heard of shelves?

Those shelves better be forged if you want to hold an anvil on them! 

But, if the anvil is being stored, what would you forge the shelves on?