Hatriot Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Howdy, Newbie here from ATX. Just recently took an introductory blacksmith class over at Pioneer Farms with instructor Philip Waters. Philip was a great teacher and I had so much fun and will be signing up soon for more classes. Eventually I want to make blades but for now I want to keep expanding my knowledge and basics before I move on to that. The bug bit me pretty darn good. I knew this was something I wanted to explore more of so I immediately reached out to my cousin who now owns and lives on my grandparents old farm. I asked if my grandpa happened to have an anvil or forge or any blacksmithing equipment. Sure enough, he had an anvil that was passed down to him from his grandfather as well as a forge table. Both needed some work… the anvil was pretty eaten up, lots of pits on the face and horn, but the rebound with a ball bearing was perfect and rang like it should with no delamination in the plate to the body. I did a little surface grinding to clean the face up a bit but could still use a little more work but since I’m just starting out it’ll work great. I’ve already identified my anvil as an old Peter Wright 94lb anvil. The forge table wound up turning into a pretty big project. Since this piece has actual family history I didn’t want to cut into it or weld to it etc. especially in case I ever happen to stumble across parts that could actually restore it. From what I can tell, it looks like it was the Buffalo Forge model #0 table but it was completely missing any kind of fire pot and most everything else that would come with that table. It had some sort of cement pot that I’m assuming my grandpa made for it at one point and was cracked into 4 chunks. I knew I was going to have to come up with something to use as a fire pot and get rid of the cement. Initially I was considering just buying a fire pot from Centaur and just slapping it in there, but those things are like $500 and I knew I could build something myself. I had almost convinced myself I was just going to drop a brake rotor in there and just call it good, but then I thought, what if this really takes off and I wind up wanting something that actually works properly and efficiently. After tossing that around in my head I decided to build myself a true fire pot and that is what turned this into a much bigger project. Thankfully, my late father owned his own construction company and so just about every tool under the sun was passed on to me so there was 0 need to go buy and spend money to complete this project. I went to my shop and found me a big 1/2” steel plate where I keep all the stock and scrap metal and built a pot that would just set into the forge table without cutting, drilling, welding etc to the table. If I ever find the parts to restore the table I’ll just have to cut off the blower intake tube and then I can just pull the whole pot right out of the table. I just finished my build yesterday and figured I’d share some pics with my intro. I don’t have any coke yet so I just tossed some lump coal in for its first fire test and it worked great! Can’t wait to finish setting up my forge space and seeing where this hobby takes me. I took pictures throughout my forge build in case anyone is interested in building something similar, just DM me or maybe I’ll post the whole build somewhere else in the forum. I haven’t welded since I was in my late teens so don’t make too much fun of my welds Glad to be here, thanks for having me, and I’m sure I’ll have some questions for you vets in the future. J.C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. Everything in the photos looks great. I might have made the fire pot a bit smaller but that is personal taste. Now, get it all set up and start hitting hot steel and making stuff. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Welcome aboard JC, glad to have you. Sounds like you caught the bug alright, welcome to the club! Please don't do any more grinding on your anvil, the pits and such will smooth out beating HOT steel on it. Grinding removes steel forever and there wasn't that much there new, MAYBE 3/4". If you need a pristine surface to finish projects on, say a blade, make a bottom tool from say 3/4" or 1" plate x 3"-4" on a side that fits the hardy hole but rests closer to the center of the face. You can grind various radii on the 4 edges and keep it shiny and smooth for finish work. Make sense? As she sits there is still a couple generations of good work in her. Nice job on the fire pot though it looks kind of deep from here but that may be the photo. What are it's dimensions? You've done a nice job on the forge all round though the fire grate will burn out distressingly quickly. When It does, hopefully a couple years from now, I suggest you replace it with 1/2" dia. round bar bent in open hair pin shapes, about 3/8" of space and lay enough of these to cover the tuyere. They're effective as an air grate and very easy to clean best of all cheap and easy to replace. Not being attached to the flange where the tuyere is bolted (another suggestion) they're free to move when you rake them to clear clinker, just rattling them back and forth does a good job of breaking stuck on clinker loose so it can drop through or be raked out. Might want to shorten the ash dump a little, it looks like you could hook a pants leg or apron on it. You may not need to, you'll find out these little details as you use it. So, what else did you get? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatriot Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 (edited) Thanks ! Can’t wait to make my first piece on my own forge and anvil! Still need to make a stand for my anvil so got a little time before I’m fully set up so need to decide what I will make first. Yeah I didn’t want to grind much at all on the anvil. I don’t think I even took off a 16th of an inch and stopped. Creating a face plate that drops into the hardy hole… why I didn’t even think of that. Will definitely do that as well. Thanks for the tip on the fire grate, I will definitely try that out in the future. I originally wanted to try and make my own clinker breaker set up with it but wound up just going with the holes. The dimensions on the opening of the pot are a little bigger than the dimensions of the one centaur sells at 14” long and 10” wide but the depth of the bowl is just under 3”. I also have more of that 1/2” plate I used so I figured if it does seem like it feels too wide or long at any point down the road I can just lean another plate on each side needed in the pot. It was just easier for me to use the dimensions of the bowl already in the forge table to get my measurements for the plates. I’m pretty good at visually building something in my head but not so great at knowing how or the best way to get certain measurements, especially with the angles of the bowl etc so I played with cutting pieces of cardboard until they sat and lined up right inside the bowl then used those pieces as my templates to cut the steel plate. So far the anvil and forge table was all I got from the old farm. My cousin knew right where those were but is pretty sure there is more stuff but needs to clean up the barn and air hanger to look around for more. My grandfather would’ve only used this for farrier work, so not like we’re gunna find an old power hammer or anything, but hoping we can find a hand blower and tools, hammers, tongs etc. Again, thanks so much for the tips! Greatly appreciated and can’t wait to see where this all goes. Edited March 26 by Mod30 Remove @name tag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 This is how I mount anvils now, it's solid as a rock, being dissimilar steel it damps the anvil's ring and it is stable on almost any surface. I won't go back to a wood block. Below is my Trenton on it's tripod stand, I have pics of my Soderfors on t's tripod stand but can't seem to find it. <sigh> The first is the stand and anvil, it wedges tightly enough to lift it into the pickup with the engine hoist as it's rigged in the pic. The second pic is a detail of how the hammer / tong racks wedge the anvil in the stand snuggly enough to lift with the engine hoist while damong the ring of my two dangerously LOUD anvils. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florida Man Metals Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Speaking of sound I've seen a jeweler use essential a tall, big box full of sand for his anvil stand. He said it helped with dampening reverberation. Not sure how big of an anvil you could go thou. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatriot Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 That is a nice stand Frosty! I think for now I’m going to go with wood. I have a huge stack of 10x10 timber I’ve been sitting on forever. Will just cut 4 pieces and wrap a chain around it and cinch it together with a turnbuckle if I’ve got one laying around in my shop, or just a long bolt with nut and washers. Should be a pretty quick and easy solution to get me started. If I ever upgrade to a bigger anvil though I think I’ll build a good stand for it like that. I’ve got a engine hoist/trolley attached to the beam in the shop so would make it super easy to move around if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 A sand box makes an excellent anvil stand and damps the ring nicely. If the anvil wants to shift because you used alluvial sand rather than crushed, stapling it to a plywood base solves the issue nicely. It also prevents dropped tools or small pieces from disappearing in the sand. A sand box stand is surprisingly easy to move, pull the anvil out and dump the sand into buckets, load it in your rig and reverse the process where you're going. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Hatriot, I hope you've done some reading on how high to mount your anvil. If you haven't, about knuckle high is the classic level but some folk like theirs a bit higher or lower. You want your hammer face to hit parallel to the face of the anvil. A sand box base makes it easy to adjust by adding or removing sand. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatriot Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 Thanks George, I have done a bit of reading as well as advice from the instructor at the class I took. I read the sticky on anvil height too which gave the tip about putting a piece of wood on the face and looking at your hammer strikes into the wood so probably gunna try that out to see what height seems best for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 When you read about the knuckle height recommendation bear in mind that is for shops where strikers and top tooling was an every day practice. For the single smith and or hobbyist wrist height is more ergonomic. Striking on an anvil that doesn't fit YOU will eventually cause elbow issues. Once in a while, say at club meetings I can work on almost any height but the anvils in my shop are at MY comfortable working height. Testing by striking a piece of wood is a good indicator. You may need to adjust if you use a lot of top tooling or do lots of fine work. Wrist height is a good rule of thumb but it is not set in stone everybody is different and your jobs and tooling all need to be taken account of. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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