Took a wild chance today on a 100# Kohlswa

[picker77]

Thanks, Moose. That’s a novel idea and good inventive thinking, especially the ratchet strap resizing trick. I’ll definitely make note of it for future use. However, it so happens I just yesterday picked up some 11 ga cold rolled sheet, having decided to more or less duplicate the rectangular 2-burner forge on Larry Zoeller’s website, but using tacked-up 11 ga sheet instead of square tubing, and using the pair of Frosty’s T-burners I just finished building. I want to use a version of the slick adjustable/removable front door arrangement Larry came up with, and I plan to also add one of those NC Tool cast iron swinging-door ports that Larry sells in the rear wall. The shell will be 9 x 9 x 16 with a kiln shelf floor and the two burners will have to feed only about 350 cu inch of interior volume, and so should be able to run plenty hot. In return for stealing Larry’s ideas I plan to buy most of my refractory supplies and a regulator from him

I spent today welding up a caster-equipped tripod for my “new” old Kohlswa anvil. It will be ready for paint sometime tomorrow, after I add hammer/tool racks. After that, the forge assembly project is on deck.

[George N. M.]

Picker 77,

I have seen a number of anvils with lots of chisel marks on the sides.  My guess is that previous owners backed up chisel work on the sides of the anvil rather than risk marring the face.  It seems to me easier to use a saddle plate or something similar on the top of the anvil so that you could strike down but if someone learned to do it sideways that worked best for them.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[picker77]

Chris, this guy down near Lawton had three anvils, I bought the Kohlswa 100#, but he still had two others, a Hay-Budden 100# and a 200# that looks like a H-B to me but I couldn’t see any markings. Both priced at $4.50/lb but between you me & the fence post he will take $4. I liked that 200# and it bounced a bb pretty good but the $900 price kinda killed that idea for me. If you are interested pm me for more info, be happy to point you to him.

Thanks George, was wondering about that. Your theory probably makes sense. Not a big deal but had my curiosity up.

[Chris C]

Thanks, Picker77, but his prices are too rich for my blood.  I'll find one.

[picker77]

The stand. Very simple construction, 3/8" plate on 2x2 legs @15 degree angle (might should have gone to 20 deg but I won't be using a striker lol) and steel-wheeled casters. Still thinking about tool/hammer rack setup. It's tall (39" to anvil face, same as my D2 round stock anvil), but that puts the anvil face right at my wrist bone.

[Chris C]

Looks good to me.

[Daswulf]

I don't know about the casters, but the rest looks good. 

[Frosty]

The casters are the real weak point in the design. A hand truck is an easy way to move it around and a good multi tasker for the shop. 

I build my stands with 1/4" x 2" angle iron flange in the wrapped around the anvil foot. I should've aligned the feet like you did to make it easier to move with a hand truck, the way I did it makes an unstable load on the hand truck but it's rock solid in use. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[picker77]

I expect to have to move it around often, would rather be able to grab & drag it around rather than mess with the cart each time. I cobbled up a Rube Goldberg "lifter/dragger" that latches onto the 3/8" plate, and makes it easy to lift the front leg off the concrete an inch or so and lead it around using the casters without messing with all those titanium screws in my 78 year old back. I'll try it this way for a while and if the casters prove out badly I'll replace them with a 2" piece of something and use one of the carts. Wouldn't even have tried this method with a heavier anvil. This little rig including the stand tops out at less than150 lb, or about half or less what many real blacksmith anvils weigh without a stand, ha.

[picker77]

Ok, finally done. I promise this is the last photo of this thing.

[Chris C]

Nice hammer and tong rack.

[Frosty]

Nice rube Goldberg, I like how you think. If I had casters on 2 feet of my stand I could slip a handle in the hardy hole to tip and roll it. A boy's gotta admire a nice bit of engineering though. Nice hammer and tong racks.

Well done all round.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[picker77]

Thanks to you both for the nice comments. Dang, Frosty - I'm embarrassed I didn't think of using the hardy hole for a steering handle.  Sheesh. I overthink everything these days.

[CrazyGoatLady]

That whole set up looks real good! I'm trying to decide if I want a wood or metal stand for mine. Have a lot of wood laying around and access to some stumps. My current anvil is on a metal stand, but it's small.  I can pick up the whole thing and move it. Which means it tends to walk. I'm going to make sure the new one doesn't. Anyway, looks great

[ausfire]

@ Picker 77: I may have missed it somewhere but do you know the age of your Kohlswa? It is exactly the same as mine.

[picker77]

Thanks, Goat Lady. If you go metal, the heavy duty tripod thing does work well (but I'd go for 20 degrees vice 15 on the leg slant if I did it again).

G'day, ausfire, I have no clue on the age. Steve Sells has one of these also, and I believe his copy is marked the same as mine (and probably yours): "45" and "Kohlswa Sweden", no other discernible markings. Steve's version wasn't used for chisel practice all over the sides, either, like mine was. But at least they didn't use the face, so I guess I shouldn't complain. I need to do a little homework on the origin of the Kohlswa brand.

[Frosty]

16 hours ago, picker77 said:

Dang, Frosty - I'm embarrassed I didn't think of using the hardy hole for a steering handle.  Sheesh. I overthink everything these days.

Ahhhh, I LIVE for moments of soul satisfying satisfaction like these.  The only thing that could make it better is if I'd thought of it.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Well the old smiths I have talked to said that they used to check/demonstrate the temper of their chisels on their anvils sides and feet. (Would really impress the customer them not knowing that the older anvils had a dead soft body)...Remember to them an anvil was a tool, sold all over the place for pennies a pound.  The oil field anvils used to dress cable tool bits were considered consumables rather than idols.

[ausfire]

20 hours ago, picker77 said:

 ...marked the same as mine (and probably yours): "45" and "Kohlswa Sweden", no other discernible markings. .

Yes, lettering same as yours but I can't see 45 anywhere.

[MC Hammer]

Well done.  I'm glad you finally found a decent anvil.  Like others have said, the casters are going to cause you problems.  As you know, the weight and each blow is carried through you anvil to the anvil stand down to the floor.  In your case, the bearings and weak wheel supports are going to be taking all that energy.  I would also think it might walk with you while forging.  With that minor criticism, I commend you for being patient and finding a great anvil.  Your stand looks very nice as well.   Now....it's hammer time!   

[Goods]

You could raise the casters 1/16”~1/8” and put steal pads in front of them at the correct height. That way when you raise the hand the stand will tilt back onto the casters to roll around, but still have a solid support for forgiving blows. 

[Chris C]

Good idea, Goods.  That's basically how the rolling base on my heavy table saw works.  It's perfectly solid when I use it, but I can easily configure it to roll effortlessly around the shop.

[picker77]

These are all useful ideas for shops with relatively smooth floors, but sadly 35 years of cracks and settling have taken their toll on the front 25 x25 section of my concrete slab. My shop is 25 x 55 but the front 25 x 25 was added after the original build, and poorly done, probably a DIY job by the previous owner. He cheaped out on rebar, and/or did a crappy job of ground prep before the pour, so cracking/settling has been a problem, and rolling things need a pretty forgiving clearance to keep from hanging up on one of several miniature grand canyons. I have one of those foot pedal hoist up/roll-around bases under my table saw, but it lifts the legs well over an inch, so it works ok.

Looking back, I clearly didn't think this caster thing through, probably because I'm so used to putting wheels on literally everything around my shop, ha. Likely I'll end up just replacing the casters with leg extensions and using a cart if I want to maintain the current anvil height. Of course, should 39" anvil height prove too tall, then the caster problem becomes a non-problem, because I'd simply cut them off and trim the front leg to match, dropping overall height almost 3".

Picked up a pretty nice little Iron City 4" post vise yesterday for a decent price, will post photos in the Vise forum. Still working on plans for the gas forge, been kinda re-thinking the need for two burners for what I want to do, in addition to refractory stuff being a little intimidating to a newbie forge builder like me.

How do I get something to appear with my posts instead of the initial "P"?

[Frosty]

Yeah, do it yourself concrete slabs typically fail because of poor base prep. 

Changing your Avatar pic is easy. Click on the picture, P in your case and follow the menu. It's one of the easiest things to change. The OS will automatically crop it to fit the circle frame so you'll probably have to do like I did: upload, delete, crop, resize and edit a few times to get what you like. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[picker77]

Thanks, Frosty. How's that?  Can't compare to yours, very few moose around Oklahoma, but I could probably scare up an armadillo or maybe a coyote or two.