I was picking up some rebar last Tuesday and heard this younger fella telling his buddy about inheriting a 150 pound anvil from his granddad. Said he was gonna sell it for scrap because it had a chunk missing from the face. I had to step in and tell him not to do that. That kind of damage can be ground smooth or even welded up if you know what you're doing. My own anvil is a beat up old Fisher from the 1920s that I got for 50 bucks at a farm auction ten years ago. It's got a chip on the heel and a slight sway in the middle, but after a little cleanup it works just fine for most of my projects. Made me think about how many good tools get tossed because folks don't know they can be fixed. Has anyone here saved an anvil that looked rough from the start?
Picked up a 150-pound Peter Wright anvil for $200 at an auction near Lancaster three years ago, and after using it every day since, I’ve never seen a tool hold up that well for that cheap. Has anyone else gotten lucky with a find like that, or am I just spoiled?
He said he's been using the same pair of tongs for 37 years because he never lets them leave his hand mid-project - just sets them down in the same spot every time. Made me realize I've been dropping mine on the floor and bending the jaws out of shape like an animal. Any of you guys got a tool you treat like that?
I was trying to stack 1095 and 15n20 layers in my shop in Portland last Tuesday, and after 4 hours of hammering every billet delaminated at the edges. The welds held in the center but blew out on the sides every time. Anyone else fought with scale getting trapped between layers on thick stacks?
I've been trying to push my nail-making speed for months and I finally cracked 500 in an afternoon. Did it with a jig I threw together from some scrap angle iron and an old bolt, holds the nail blank for me so I can work faster. What's your best count in a session? I'm trying to see if 600 is even possible without a power hammer.
I used to think you had to heat the metal until it was almost white hot before you could shape it. That's what some YouTube videos showed and I just went with it. One day last fall I was at a swap meet in Tulsa and this 70 year old guy watched me work for a minute. He said 'son, you're burning up your carbon content working it that hot. Look for a dark cherry red instead.' I thought he was crazy but I tried it on a set of tongs I was making. The steel moved way easier and I didn't have to keep reheating every 10 seconds. Now I'm wondering how many other basic things I'm getting wrong. Anybody else have a moment where a simple tip from a old timer changed how you work?
I was doing a demo at the county fair in Knoxville last month and had a brand new anvil stand made of pressure treated lumber. I didn't realize the wood had a coating that would catch sparks way easier than normal wood. After about 20 minutes of hammering, a spark landed on the corner of the stand and it started smoldering. I had to stop everything and douse it with a bucket. Has anyone else had a close call with treated lumber near their forge?
Honestly, I've been watching guys in my shop argue over this for years. Some say you gotta use borax flux or the layers won't stick, but I've been doing dry welds on my 15n20 and 1095 damascus billets for 2 years now. Last week I messed up a stack because I got lazy and used flux, ended up with inclusions I had to grind out. Am I the only one who thinks flux just traps scale and causes more problems? What's your method and why?
I spent three weeks going back and forth on this. Went with propane because my landlord said no to the smoke and sparks from coal. First fire-up was last Saturday and the regulator gave me trouble at first, but once I dialed it in I got a nice even heat. Anyone else have to switch their fuel source for space reasons? How'd you adapt?
I was trying to be clever and go without borax on a damascus billet, thinking my prep was clean enough. Got it to welding heat, hammered it, and the whole thing just split apart at the seam. Lost about 3 hours of stacking and drawing out. Went back to using my old flux mix on the next try and it stuck perfect on the first pass. Any of you guys ever had luck skipping flux on high carbon stacks?
Last month I finally got my own forge going in the garage, and I had to decide if I wanted to spend $60 on a vintage hand crank blower from a flea market or $150 on a new electric blower. I went with the hand crank because I thought it would be more authentic and quiet. First fire up, I spent 20 minutes huffing and puffing while cranking that thing like a madman before I got a decent heat. Now I'm wondering if I should have just coughed up the cash for the electric one. Has anyone else made the mistake of going old school just for the vibe?
Was having constant scale flaking into my welds on a damascus billet last month. Tried a borax mix like everyone says but what actually fixed it was adding a thin layer of anhydrous borax on top of the regular stuff. Has anyone else experimented with different flux combos for high carbon steels?
I used to think I could just eyeball it. Get the steel looking hot enough and smack it together. Kept having welds fail on me for months. Finally broke down and got a digital thermometer probe for my forge. Turns out I was running about 150 degrees too cold the whole time. That old guy kept telling me to watch for the specific color in low light and I blew him off. Now I check every single time. Anyone else stubborn about taking advice until you proved yourself wrong first?
Last month I drove out to a farm auction in York, Pennsylvania and picked up a beat up 150 pound anvil for only 20 bucks. It had about a 1/8 inch chip on the heel and some rust, but after cleaning it up I found a Trenton brand stamp from the early 1900s. The face is still dead flat and the rebound is better than my old cast iron one. Has anyone else found real gems at farm auctions or is that just a lucky break?
I was reading an old blacksmithing manual from the 1800s last night and it said forge welding works best at around 2300 degrees F, not the 2700 I've been cranking my forge to. No wonder I kept burning my steel on the anvil. Has anyone else been overdoing their welding temps?
I picked up a cast iron anvil from some guy near Tulsa for $80. Looked fine in the photos but the second I hit it, the ring was deafening and the rebound was terrible. Took me three days of trying to quiet it with chains and magnets before I realized the face was already dented up. I could have saved that money and put it toward a proper forged anvil from a supplier I know now. Has anyone else gotten burned buying used anvils without testing them in person first?
I spent 2 years insisting coal was the only real way to forge until I borrowed a friend's propane setup for a weekend project and got cleaner welds with half the smoke, so has anyone else been surprised by a switch they resisted?
I was out in my backyard in Phoenix last Tuesday, working on a damascus billet I'd been stacking for weeks. Got it up to a nice yellow heat, hit it like I always do, and when I dropped it in the brine it literally split right down the middle. Turns out I had a bit of mill scale I missed between two of the layers. Has anyone else had this happen with 1084 and 15n20? Feels like I wasted a whole afternoon for nothing.
I figured any chunk of steel would work for flattening hot metal, but this thing rang like a bell and dented after three strikes. Turns out it was cast iron with a thin steel face, not a real anvil at all. Anyone else get burned by a fake anvil before you knew what to look for?
Guy had no forge, no anvil, just a flat rock and a ball peen he pulled out of his truck, and he had that rim seated in under 10 minutes while a crowd of tourists stared like he was a wizard.
I built it out of white oak and bolted it together with 1/2 inch carriage bolts, but the grain just gave out yesterday when I was working a 2 inch piece of round stock, has anyone else had good luck with a specific wood or should I just weld up a steel stand?
I spent about 6 months trying to forge weld and maybe 1 in 10 actually held. Last week I was talking to an old smith at a hammer-in in Ohio and he watched me work for a minute. He said 'your fire is too clean, you need some scale in there.' I had been wire brushing every bit of scale off the pieces before welding. Now I leave a thin layer on and my welds stick almost every time. Anybody else find something obvious they were missing for way too long?
So I bought this thing that's supposed to turn my anvil into a mini power hammer. It was like a spring-loaded arm with a die on the end, cost me $300 from a guy in Ohio. First 10 swings worked great for drawing out some 1 inch round. Then the spring snapped and the arm flew off, almost took my leg out. Lucky I was wearing my apron. On the flip side, my buddy spent $250 on a hand-cranked fly press from a farm auction and that thing has been a beast for bending and punching. Anyone else had luck with cheap power hammer setups or is it just not worth it?
I was showing this guy at a meetup in Missouri my setup and he pointed out my anvil stand was way too springy because it was just a chunk of pine. He said you need something that won't bounce at all so the hammer energy goes into the metal not the stand. Have any of you swapped out a wood stand for something stiffer and noticed a big difference?
He said my edge quench technique was keeping me from getting a proper hamon line. I've been doing this for like 4 years and nobody ever told me that. Now I'm wondering if I should switch to a full quench on 1095 or stick with my usual oil. Has anyone else had an experienced smith call out a habit you thought was fine?