Pr3ssure Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 So after someone suggesting my anvil looks like a Peter Wright I was able to identify it as such. This is exciting finding out the history of my anvil. I believe it to be pre 1911 because I'm not seeing the England stamp on it that was required after 1910. Also after figuring out the hundredweight system it's 161 pounds. Does anyone have any recommendations on anything I should do before I work on it, such as removing the paint, which I would like some tips on how to do. Probably gonna get a wire wheel attachment for my drill to do so unless someone has a better way. Any other suggestions for maintenance or whatever would be greatly appreciated. Here's my last post to see all the pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 13, 2017 Share Posted November 13, 2017 What that anvil needs is several hundred pounds of red hot (and hotter!) steel worked on it's face ASAP! In 36 years of smithing I don't recall doing anything to an anvil except removing loose rust. It's your anvil you can do whatever you want to it to make it suit yourself---all of which takes away time from actually learning to use it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pr3ssure Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 On 11/12/2017 at 10:29 PM, ThomasPowers said: What that anvil needs is several hundred pounds of red hot (and hotter!) steel worked on it's face ASAP! In 36 years of smithing I don't recall doing anything to an anvil except removing loose rust. It's your anvil you can do whatever you want to it to make it suit yourself---all of which takes away time from actually learning to use it... I always find the best advice I get on here is the simplest. I did get some wire cup brushes and remove as much paint from the face as I could and some off the side so I can see the stamps in it. I want to get it all off eventually because I don't really like the yellow but who knows, I may grow to like it. I'm already in love with it, especially after figuring out the maker and a general age. I'm pretty sure it's from 1860-1880. So around 150 years old! I may be wrong but I know it's at least pre 1910. I also got some steel handle wedges so I can set all the hammer heads I found in my dads shed. He said they were his grandfathers and great grandfathers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 There are a number of threads here on setting hammer handles. When I moved from damp Ohio to *DRY* New Mexico I had to reset *all* my wood handled tools. I used the linseed oil method and have been kicking myself that I never used it when I lived in AR, OK, OH, NJ, VA; etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pr3ssure Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said: There are a number of threads here on setting hammer handles. When I moved from damp Ohio to *DRY* New Mexico I had to reset *all* my wood handled tools. I used the linseed oil method and have been kicking myself that I never used it when I lived in AR, OK, OH, NJ, VA; etc Yeah, I need to get some different wood to do it because I just want to do it right. I don't think the 2x3s I have would work well. I never understood why people used linseed oil but I see a lot of people do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Greetings Pr3esure, If you wish to remove all the paint from your anvil just get a quart of water soluble paint remover. There are several out there but I prefer the orange one. It’s easy apply than wait an 1/2 hour than scrub into the cracks with a hand wire brush. Rinse off with a hose than do it again. When your happy with the look finish with tung furniture oil or equivalent: This will make it as new.. Have fun.. I have done several. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Wood "moves" with differences in humidity---forever; at least the furniture from king Tut's tomb still moves with several thousand years of air drying. So a handle that is in solid during a humid summer may become loose during a dry winter. (the old method of soaking it in water just makes it worse over the long term.) However if you can replace all the water in the wood with linseed oil; then water can't make the wood move anymore. I take a small metal baking tray and put a bunch of hammer heads in it handle sticking up and pour about 1/2" Boiled Linseed oil in the tray and let them soak till I see the oil wicking up over the top of the metal. Then I take them out wipe both the metal and the wood down with a rag and let everything dry and use---Note linseed oil soaked rags can spontaneously combust! I generally just toss them in the forge and burn them before they can surprise me. (I know a guy who once burned down a building redoing the floors with BLO... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pr3ssure Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 8 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: Wood "moves" with differences in humidity---forever; at least the furniture from king Tut's tomb still moves with several thousand years of air drying. So a handle that is in solid during a humid summer may become loose during a dry winter. (the old method of soaking it in water just makes it worse over the long term.) However if you can replace all the water in the wood with linseed oil; then water can't make the wood move anymore. I take a small metal baking tray and put a bunch of hammer heads in it handle sticking up and pour about 1/2" Boiled Linseed oil in the tray and let them soak till I see the oil wicking up over the top of the metal. Then I take them out wipe both the metal and the wood down with a rag and let everything dry and use---Note linseed oil soaked rags can spontaneously combust! I generally just toss them in the forge and burn them before they can surprise me. (I know a guy who once burned down a building redoing the floors with BLO... Makes enough sense now. I keep seeing people say that linseed oil rags can spontaneously combust, I thought it was a joke and that it was just super flammable or something but I just looked it up and it just heats up as it evaporates and catches fire. That's wild, glad I found out it wasn't just a joke before I tried it. But you take basically a cookie sheet and fill it with linseed oil with the metal on the tray and handles up. So it soaks through the end of the handle basically? Then when it starts accumulating on the part of the metal not under the oil it's good and soaked? I think that's what you mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Yes, while the standard wood for handles in the USA tends to be Hickory nowadays; a lot of different woods have been used over the years. Often if you talk to the old times you can find what was used locally. You want something tough and flexible. I've used Osage orange before myself but generally buy "seconds" handles that have issues places I will be cutting off---the handle HAS to suit YOUR hand not some general one size fits nobody. Having a handle too fat for your hand makes you squeeze to hold it and damages your tendons faster. "Blacksmith's Elbow" is no fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 The oily rags do not evaporate much oil. The oil slowly oxidizes, ("burns"), and heats up. The heat increases until it reaches the flash point of the linseed oil and then those oily rags burst into flame. Approved rag containers are air tight and have air tight lids. The oxygen is thus limited and it is used up long before the rags can reach the flash point temperature. Most oils are not usually "super-flammable". Linseed oil that is left in the air can slowly polymerize. (not dries). That is what happens to oil paints on an artist's canvas. SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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