It followed me home

[ThomasPowers]

It's Friday!

[Chad J.]

Those are flat bars.   It's a solid piece, just louder than my anvils and it sits a bit too tall, I'll find a good use for it.  My real challenge is going to be the forge.   It was only getting orange hot over a 10 minute period cranked to full and I suspect that it's internal volume may be too much.   The burners work well but with the 2 it's only getting as hot as my turkey fryer burner.  The internal measurements are 6 x 12 for 72 cubic inches.  I'm planning on halving that volume to see if I can get a hotter burn with less propane.  I'm also curious if anyone has used baffles in their forges to spread the heat out a bit better?  I'm getting uneven heat from the burners.   

 

Thomas, the most amazing revelation to me was when I spent the money on a good hammer that was properly dressed.   I'm still working on dressing mine and developing the different angles for different uses.  I'm getting to the point where I'm picking my hammers like golf clubs.

[ThomasPowers]

Exactly!   I have hammers with different amounts of dressing and will grab the one that has the curve my project needs---like working right up to a change in cross section using a hammer with a more "precise" edge. 

I guess I was lucky in that my first hammer was used, bought at a flea market, and was dressed well when I got it.  I've used it enough that now it's beginning to show a dip in the center from wear!

[Dax Hewitt]

Das be prepared if you decide to open that roll, I bought one for strapping at work and put it in the dispenser upside down. When I tried to flip it over it got away from me. 

Took the apprentice hours to wrap it back up again. 

[Frosty]

That's what apprentices are for isn't it? 

Frosty The Lucky.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Never had to rewind a roll of strapping but I have to rewind recoil springs a couple hundred times a year from people that try to replace their own pull ropes and get carried away,

funny thing is nine times out of ten they never bring the handle to the shop just the recoil Ive never understood that, I came to the conclusion that they get aggravated and throw it? 

[JHCC]

A perfectly reasonable assumption.

[Dax Hewitt]

I bought a second hand milling machine for work and they threw this in foc. 

It's welded up all over the place, had to fix the drop control and every Bush is worn out but she cuts well enough for smiting projects, well she does once I put the blade in the right way round

[KMADDOX]

Dax, looks like a heck of a score if it does what you need!

[Daswulf]

Hey Dax, nice score. 

On the strapping, I don't have a dispenser but plan to use tie wire to keep it rolled as I cut what I need off. I do not need a giant bundle of strapping letting loose in my shop. I have enough of a mess as is.

[Chad J.]

And today,  this anvil followed me home.   I actually found this and 5 others last weekend but this was the best buy.   I'm estimating it's about 150 to 170 pounds and It cost 500, 250 after the gf decided she would pay for half as an early birthday present.   30 inches from heel to horn, 4 inches on the face,  12 inches tall.  No makers mark that I've found.   Looks like it's hardly been used. 

[JHCC]

Nice. How are ring and rebound?

[Daswulf]

Looks great Chad!

[Chad J.]

Ring and rebound are great.   I'm especially happy with the face, it is completely intact.   My old anvil was missing some chunks on the sweet spot.   I'll have to get the paint off it too see if a makers mark is hidden and it could use a good sanding on the work surface. 

[Dax Hewitt]

Very nice find. 

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Looks to be a cast anvil. Some have very faint markings stamped into them. My Soderfors is stamped that way.

[Frosty]

Nice score Chad! How about more pics, lighted from a shallow angle to make details like stamped markings stand out. Dusting it with chalk or flour and wiping off lightly also makes textures and features more visible.

It does look like a cast Swedish anvil. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

23 hours ago, Chad J. said:

a good sanding on the work surface.

All it needs is hot steel hammered on it to shine up the face. A wire wheel with an angle grinder will take off the paint without removing any steel.

Good find and present to boot.

[Chad J.]

I was at an UMBA Other Side of the Anvil event today and learned it's a 200 ish pound anvil from Columbus with an estimated date in the 1930s.  I'd weigh it but my scale has a tempered glass top.  That's my badly damaged Peter Wright 127lb anvil.   Over the next couple days I'm going to be cleaning the paint off and I'll get a better idea of what's going on.   

 

IronDragon, there is some pitting from rust on the face of the anvil.   I'm going to start with only a wire brush and then maybe sand paper. 

[Frosty]

Forging hot steel on her will smooth out and put a shine on her face without harsher treatment than a little wire brushing. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Chad J.]

That'll start right after I build the stand for her.   She's gonna get some love and use. 

[ThomasPowers]

From Columbus Ohio; Trenton or an Arm and Hammer. Trentons may have a caplet indentation in the base; but a few A&H have them too.  A&H often can be told by undulations on the underside of the heel, they tended not to dress the steam hammer marks there.

There are also Columbian anvils, cast steel, made in Cleveland

[Chad J.]

This just kind of occurred to me and it seems like I may amuse some of you by asking a questing with an obvious to you answer but with the increased mass of the new anvil will I also see a change in how the anvil works the metal.   Am I going to see an increase in reflected energy into the metal or an I overthinking this?

[ThomasPowers]

My experience is that I get the same amount of work done with less effort on a larger anvil as compared to a smaller anvil.  Some of this might be due to how securely it's mounted a larger anvil's inertia making up for a less secure mount.

[JHCC]

The question of the degree to which rebound affects actual forging is hotly debated. However, leaving the rebound issue aside, the following is certainly true: (1) since the force of the hammer blows will follow the line of least resistance, (2) and since some of that force will be dissipated on making the anvil move around if the anvil is not securely fastened to a rigid base and/or has insufficient mass, (3) less force will go into the workpiece, diminishing forging efficiency. On the other hand, (4) if the base of the anvil has sufficient rigidity and the anvil itself has sufficient mass to resist the force of the hammer blows, (5) all of that force will go into the workpiece, increasing forging efficiency. 

However, once sufficient mass and rigidity are achieved to resist the force of the hammer blows, there is no additional such benefit to be gained by adding even more mass. That is to say, the amount of force that will go into the workpiece is limited by the weight of the hammer and the strength and the skill of the smith, not by the mass of the anvil.

Getting back to what followed me home, I ran up to Airgas during my lunch hour to grab another 120# cylinder of oxygen. Guess I'll be able to finish that bowl order now.