Gday im warrick. New

[Warrick]

Hi guys/ ladies

I am from central queensland Australia.

Reading your site and posts very informative.  Alot of knowledge here that is being shared to keep an artform alive.  I took up blacksmithing as golf is not my thing.  I have recently purchased a wilkerson anvil.  I know it old and heavy.  I struggle to pick it up.  If any body can help tell me it age i would be grateful.  I have already told my sons not to sell it ever

 

[Glenn]

1-2-20 should put the anvil at 188 pounds.

[Warrick]

Thanks glen.  I think it is a great anvil has the ring like a bell.  That get better as you approach the horn.

[Glenn]

There are many suggestions on how to lessen that ring. One of them is to bed the anvil down in about 2-3 inches of sand,  another is to secure it to a base. Anything to deaden the vibration of the anvil (think tuning fork) will work. I like the sand method as you purchased the entire anvil, so why not use it, the whole anvil and all the surfaces. The curve between the feet, the curve between the waist and horn, the heel and horn, and etc. 

[Warrick]

Glenn .

Mate thank you.  All of this information is most helpful.  I needed a hobbie as i work in a coal mine.  I can get coal and for a carton of beer i can get used grader cutting edges.  Which i imagine should be very good steel.  I have also been offered a REALLY BIG excavator tooth which also good steel.  I am going to get the edges cut in blocks.  The tooth i am going to use it for banging for different corners and as a chisel.  I dnt know what it is like where you are but here in oz beer works wonders

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Warrick, glad to have you. Nice anvil, Wilkensons are high end and 188 lbs. is a good shop size. If you put it on a scale don't be surprised if it's a little lighter, wear and tear over the years lightens them up. Forget grader cutting edges they're not very useful for anything else. They don't forge for  mere human muscles and they even eat hot saw blades. They're typically a very high carbon steel used as a matrix to hold tungsten carbide sand for wear resistance.  

I know it's tempting stuff to bring home but don't do it!  About the only thing I know of it's good for is grader edges and yeah, I have a few feet out by the shop. Who knows maybe someday someone will come up with something to use it for. 

However people who own and run heavy equipment have all sorts of useful broken pieces to dispose of. Bucket pins are typically 4140 steel and make excellent hammers, dies and tooling that needs to be moderately hard and tough.

Frosty The Lucky.

[VaughnT]

Beautiful anvil.

 

As Frosty noted, be careful with what you try to sink your teeth into.  It's really easy to get "free" stuff that takes up far more time, effort and energy than it's worth because it was designed to be worked by machines and not humans.

A lot of the alloys out there are absolute nightmares to deal with, especially when you're trying to make a tool that you can use safely.  

Simple carbon alloys like 5160 and 1095 are a dream to forge, all things relative, and you can do a proper heat treat on them without fancy tools.

I'd start with working mild steel in small sections.  Make hooks, scrolls, tapers and such until you get the motions down pat.  Then branch out into the more complicated stuff.

A good book I recommend is Bent Ironwork by Hasluck.  Really fun projects that won't get you in over your head, but will give you some solid stuff to try out and a finished product at the end that isn't another bloody hook.  

Between Dr. Blake's Mysteries and Miss Fisher Murder Mystery, I'm really enjoying some Ozzie cinema of late.

[ThomasPowers]

Grader blades often have square holes in them and can be used as adjunct hardy holes.  Cut with a torch or large plasma cutter as for some reason items made to resist abrasion tend to be a pain to cut abrasively.

[Warrick]

19 minutes ago, VaughnT said:

Beautiful anvil.

 

As Frosty noted, be careful with what you try to sink your teeth into.  It's really easy to get "free" stuff that takes up far more time, effort and energy than it's worth because it was designed to be worked by machines and not humans.

A lot of the alloys out there are absolute nightmares to deal with, especially when you're trying to make a tool that you can use safely.  

Simple carbon alloys like 5160 and 1095 are a dream to forge, all things relative, and you can do a proper heat treat on them without fancy tools.

I'd start with working mild steel in small sections.  Make hooks, scrolls, tapers and such until you get the motions down pat.  Then branch out into the more complicated stuff.

A good book I recommend is Bent Ironwork by Hasluck.  Really fun projects that won't get you in over your head, but will give you some solid stuff to try out and a finished product at the end that isn't another bloody hook.  

Between Dr. Blake's Mysteries and Miss Fisher Murder Mystery, I'm really enjoying some Ozzie cinema of late.

Thanks vaughn

I am still trying to get my head around the metals.  My 2 sons are as keen as i am to have a go.  I will get the book 

Thanks warrick

[VaughnT]

21 hours ago, Warrick said:

I am still trying to get my head around the metals.  

 

Metals are pretty easy to sort out.  As a beginner, you don't want "free" metal because you don't have a clue what the alloy is and how much it will take to work it into something practical.

I use what I call the "dumbness scale".  I can mail you a 5-kilo hammer head so you can forge it down into some wire and make nails with it.... but that would be pretty dumb.  By the time you forged that huge chunk of steel down into wire to make nails, you'll have burned up hundreds of dollars in time, fuel and effort.  

Similarly, I can send you a few pounds of nails that you can forge-weld them into a solid block and make into a hammer head.  Again, it would be a real dumb idea since you can buy brand new stock big enough to make hammer heads for just pennies.

As a beginner smith, especially with kids, it's important to realize your limitations and the limitations of the metal that's handed to you.  Having not bashed steel before, you don't want to start out by trying to make knives and axes.  This will only frustrate you, so keep things simple and buy new steel that you know the quality of.

While the allure of "free" steel is like the Siren's Song, you are better off resisting those dulcet tones.  

[Dale Russell]

G'day Warrick ,

Welcome to IFI .

Might I recommend you look up your local smithing group , they'll point you in the right direction with what metals to use .

You also should bung youse name in this " https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/7176-oz-roll-call/?tab=comments#comment-69293 " , you never know , might be another smith just around the cnr from you .

 

Dale Russell