Hi, new here

[SHC]

There’s my buildings. Right now I’m set up in the barn because I like the open work area. But I believe I’m gonna move into the shop for security purposes. Yeah I’m out in the sticks, but I’ve been robbed before even while living out in the sticks. The shop used to have a big roll up door on the end, then the original owner stopped working on farm equipment, walled that off and had a big fan in the wall there, and I’m really not sure what he did after that. 

[Chad J.]

On 11/18/2021 at 12:13 PM, JHCC said:

 rail anchors

When I first started, a smith I bought a post vice from pointed to one of those and told me not bother with it unless I had a power hammer.   They're one of my favorite materials to work.  I've made a couple nice wakazashi blades and a kitchen knife from them.  I also thought it was also a great mental exercise figuring out how to best straighten it quickly and effectively.  I can usually get them done in less than 1 heat now.  

[Frazer]

So... zero heats? Impressive.

*grin*

I've made a few knives with them too. They're spring steel of some sort or another so the carbon content is on the low end for blade steel. Still functional though.

[SHC]

It’s Superman!

[Frosty]

35 minutes ago, SHC said:

It’s Superman!

It isn't kryptonite then.

Frosty The Lucky.

[SHC]

I know I said I wanted to buy new, and I still do. But I’m running into a couple very small issues. Nothing that can’t be overcome with some planning though. Emerson’s isn’t open on weekends, so that’ll mean taking a day off work. I can do that, we just stay real busy at work so I’ll have to plan ahead. 
If I order one from an online retailer, I’ll be sending it to my wife’s office for convenience and then pick it up in my truck. “Convenience” means because of work scheduling and the fact that delivery drivers can’t find the house. 
 

But I just got word on something. There’s a big flea market just west of Shreveport. I’ve been there before and found some great deals but it was a couple years ago. My buddy was just there last weekend and said they have a vendor that has a rail car full of old tools and has quite a few anvils of different sizes and shapes. Seems like this is just an opportunity to have fun and look at different options and styles in person.
I’m heading there Saturday armed with a ball bearing and all the reference material on IFI. We’ll see if I find something I can’t live without. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I wish you luck. I love places like that, found some of my best deals at them. Maybe you will come across a good post/leg vise.

[JHCC]

TAKE CASH. One of the basic rules of anvil hunting is that they are surprisingly mobile, and there is no guarantee it will be there if you need to run to the ATM for more money.

[SHC]

Oh I plan to carry a good deal of cash, an anvil isn’t the only thing I’m looking for. I like restoring old guns and fishing reels. I usually resell them for barely enough to cover cost and materials, but I do it because I enjoy it. I stick to black powder when it comes to guns so I can stay on the right side of the law. No reasonable person could say I’m “partaking in business”, but the BATF has a history of occasionally being extremely unreasonable and collateral damage has happened. BP guns aren’t federally regulated and not regulated by my state. 
I’m also keeping an eye out for other tools, such as a vise like Irondragon mentioned. I have a pretty cool Parker, I think the model is 279 or something? It has the rear swivel jaw. But I found it buried behind the shop and it’s seized up. It’s soaking in a tub of oil and transmission fluid I got from a local automotive shop. It’ll need a new retainer for the screw, but until I get it freed up I won’t know what else it might need.
I’m also keeping an eye out for Christmas gifts. You can find some really unique gifts at flea markets, and I HOPE most other shoppers will be at retail stores taking advantage of Black Friday deals. I don’t like crowds, I try to avoid them. 

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Check out the JHM anvils that Anvil Brand sells. I have a 125# Journeyman that I picked up from a retired farrier who had moved into a small complex,  and needed room for his Harley in the small garage he had. Bought the anvil, a single burner forge, folding anvil stand with foot vise, and three small toolboxes full of tools and supplies for $250.

I loaned it to a friend who had just come to Las Vegas from Italy so he could finish up some pattern welded knife orders he had, and he mentioned that it was a nice anvil to work on.

I have anvils made by JHM, Peter Wright, Vulcan, Hay Budden, Soderfors, and Fisher. My main anvil is the 260# Fisher, not because of its size, but because it is quiet. The 306# Soderfors is a dream to use, and was the anvil I had in my fab shop. That was one of the better $200 buys I have made at an auction.  Have not used the 96#/170# HB's yet, nor the 138# PW. The PW has a divot beaten into the face near the horn, and I have seen more than a few PW's with sway due to their soft wrought iron bodies. The 150# Vulcan came from a high school shop class that closed for $50. I use it as a loaner as well. It is still in decent shape,and not horribly beat up like many are. The Fisher was the first anvil I used. Dad bought it up in Lincoln CA when we got interested in smithing back in the late 70's so it has a lot of sentimental value to me when I use it.

Personally I don't get hung up on brands like some do. If it does the job, it is good enough for me. If I was starting out today I would be looking at scrap for a good improvised anvil, because I probably wouldn't pay the going rates for the anvils I have.

[SHC]

Well my starter was a cast iron harbor freight or similar. Gift from my wife and I’ll be keeping it. I currently have a piece of track. 
I’ve looked at JHM online and checked out some reviews and they’re on the list for consideration. I’m pretty sure I’ll be making a decision of some sort this weekend. It’d be nice if I strike gold at this flea market, but I halfway expect a premium asking price. 
 

I don’t know how many members here live in North Louisiana, but we have this strange phenomenon going on here. If something is for sale and it’s old or rusty, then it’s deemed vintage or “shabby chic” and the soccer moms will pay out the nose with the money their husbands give them just to lean a rusty old wagon wheel against a tree and call it “yard art”. 
 

There are people in my neck of the woods who make a living by taking scrap pallets and make a fleur de lis out of the wood, or a small plaque and burn “live, laugh, love” into it. You really get into some money if you burn “live, laugh, love” into some scrap wood carved into the shape of the state of LA. Beating it with a chain can get you a big payday. The Pinterest queens love that kind of custom craftsmanship. 
Ain’t kidding ya, I know a fella that turned scrap pallet wood into an Escalade.

 What in the world am I doing? I’m totally in the wrong business… forget water treatment, I’m gonna go whittle on some wood…

[JHCC]

Considering that burying wood in manure to season it was common practice up until about a century ago, you might have ways to combine those two....

1 hour ago, SHC said:

my starter was a cast iron harbor freight or similar

Before I got my swage block at Quad-State a couple of months ago, I had ground a spoon-shaped dishing hollow in the underside of a 55 lb cast iron anvil a friend gave me. Everything has its use.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

4 hours ago, SHC said:

I halfway expect a premium asking price. 
 

That is where the art of haggling comes in. When we had our business going, I found a 4 burner propane pottery kiln at a flea market. The price was listed as $350 U.S. after some haggling I took it home for $150.

[George N. M.]

Another wheeze in haggling and bargaining is to show your cash.  Sometimes a larger number of smaller denomination bills looks like more money than a few larger denomination bills.  Let's say you are offering $300 for an anvil.  If you lay down 15 $20 bills it can be more persuasive than 3 $100 bills.  Make your offer, lay down the cash, and if the seller doesn't accept pick up your money and put it away.  There are folk who hate to see money disappear.  I've had sellers accept my offer as I have picked up my money.

Also, at a flea market sellers are more willing to bargain late in the day or weekend so that they can take more money home and don't have to back haul their inventory.  That has to be balanced with grabbing something popular early (see "The One That Got Away" thread).

Good luck.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[SHC]

Something I’ve learned in my travels, Americans have lost the art of haggling. Go to some of those bazaars in some middle eastern countries, you’ll buy a Mercedes, some salt and pepper shakers, two goats and a wife without even realizing it. 
All I wanted was the salt and pepper shakers, my grandma collected them. 

[ThomasPowers]

Best fleamarket I used to frequent was in an active Drive-In Movie place. *Everything* had to be packed up and removed at the closing time of the fleamarket so that even's drive-in show could go on.  Strong disincentive for folks to sit on heavy oily rusty stuff!

[SHC]

There’s no incentive like that for these people to haggle, but they sometimes will just to make a sale. I’ve gotten a small bucket full of antique fishing reels and a $150 espresso machine for $20 all together. My wife’s a trained master barista. We thrive on coffee.
But this is a permanent set up, the vendors rent booths at an old rail yard in a big “U” shaped series of buildings with several old rail cars also rented out. These folks are there every weekend. I actually made some money off those reels that time, think I managed about a $40 profit after buying parts. Some parts cost more than the reels are worth, so I sometimes find similar parts and modify them. 

[Daswulf]

After working on fishing reels for a few years I know what you mean. There were some interchangeable parts and some you could modify when not servicable. Funny how some people were attached to some old reels like the old mitchell 300. Ocean reels were the worst for damage. I dug through so many little bins and fought so many little springs all the while soaking my hands and parts in kroil and other parts cleaners.. 

[SHC]

My last project reel for myself was an old Penn surfmaster. It surprisingly wasn’t too hard to find parts for. I’ve recently done a couple of old Shakespeare direct drives and have several of those old Mitchell spinners in my desk drawers. 
I tend to actually use more modern reels but I’ve got some safe queens, including a couple of 1952 ABU 5000’s. 
There’s not a reel or gun in my house that’s stock, everything has been modified. Sometimes just little stuff like reel handles, but the Ambassadeur 5000 I actually still use only has stock frame and side plates. 

[ThomasPowers]

I once found a Shakespeare  stamp at a fleamarket in Arkansas; I wonder if I still have it? (32 years+ ago)

[SHC]

No luck on an anvil. That vendor cleared out. 
I did find a 16 pound cannonball I just had to have. Just because. 
I also found a wooden statue of some obscure fertility god I had to pick up because I can’t look at it without laughing. Might give that away as a gag gift for Christmas. 
 

Back to the drawing board. It’s probably going to be an Emerson. 

[SHC]

I just changed my mind. It’ll be a couple weeks probably before my anvil gets here. I’ll keep y’all posted. 

[George N. M.]

SHC, 16 pounds is an odd weight for an American cannonball.  IIRC the French used 16 pounders in the 18th century but the English and Americans used 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 42 pounders.  At 16 pounds I would guess that it might be a mill ball used for crushing things in a rotating drum.  You might spark test it to see if it is cast iron or steel.  If cast iron it may be a cannon ball.  If steel it is almost certainly a mill ball.  It is not impossible that it is a French cannonball given the French presence in your part of the country but there are a lot more mill balls around than real, honest to god cannon balls.  I think the probabilities tend towards mill ball.

Too bad about the anvil vendor.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

If it turns out to be a cannon ball make sure it is solid not an exploding ball. There have been many found that still had blackpowder inside. Some leading to tragic explosions.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/news/civil-war-2.html

[George N. M.]

An exploding/hollow cannon ball, more properly called a "shell", will have some sort of a hole in it for the fuze to detonate the filler.  Earlier ones (usually fired from a mortar rather than a cannon) will just have a simple, small diameter hole for the burning fuze (like a firecracker fuze).  Later American Civil War will have about an 1.5" diameter threaded hole for an adjustable time fuze.

Also, a 16# solid shot should be about 5" in diameter.  If it is larger than that it may be a shell.  So, check the diameter and weight.

There is a 16 pounder Spanish cannon on display at the Alamo, San Antonio, TX and a French 16 pounder at Ft. Ticonderoga, NY.  16 pounders were pretty large and heavy guns and were used primarily on ships, fortresses, or as part of an army's siege train.  They were too large to be used as field artillery.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."