Lou L

I'm nowhere near the expert on this but my research and little experience tells me that "it depends". The depths of your firepot matters. You really want to be concerned with making sure the tuyere is on the bottom two thirds of the fire pot. Mine is about 1.5" from the bottom... But my coal pile gets to 8-9" high at max. I do not know if charcoal behaves differently enough to matter. It certainly burns faster.

I'm seriously considering just saving up and buying new for my next anvil. My current anvil has great age and history but I have had a hard time finding anvils in the size range I seek. I have done a decent amount of driving and keep having near misses as others beat me to them. I'm selling a bunch of other people's and ends I own to build up the Benjamins.

I think I would be a much better welder if I had a better welder. Right now I'm using a cheap HF 90amp inverter until I get the chance to run 220 to my garage so I can use my old 200 amp tombstone. I've tried vertical up welding a number of times and it's always a fail. X rays of my welds would look like a Rorschach test.

You could use angle iron to grip the sides the way v-groove tongs hold round stock. Three or four pieces bent outward on the bottom serve as feet. Connect them on a hinge at the bottom where they bend and the anvil's own mass will serve to add clamping pressure on the sides. Your anvil stand would essentially be a pair of tongs! I agree with Charles and Thomas regarding the stability problems with the bucket style base.

Aww...you changed it in a way that avoids hilariously awkward wording! Suffice it it to say, Thomas, that the piece is stout and beefy and is an amalgam of various inappropriate body parts fused into a cartoon character. I sure hope it isn't wedding tackle... There are plenty of people here with casting experience but the backyard metal casting people are experts. You may as well have a go asking in both places and work out the best ideas. Good luck and be safe. Lou

I had to Google it. I can't take this seriously. Fortunately for you I had no good advice beside "try casting it in two halves" but I just can't...I can't... BTW, you may want to edit this post if you can because I don't think that word will pass muster considering the family-safe rules of this forum. On top of that, I would completely enjoy watching you try to use wordplay to describe this project without being inappropriate! Thanks for chuckle. Tell your friend to seek help... Lou

That would look so nice in my shop! Very cool anvil. I'd love to know the lengths you go to find these things.

Funniest thing I've read in a while. Blacksmithing in Jimmy Choo shoes is about the most ridiculous and decadent thing a blacksmith could do and you made me picture it. Formthe price of a pair of those shoes you could get another new anvil.

I've always wondered why people in the SCA are so selective about when and where they will cry, "that's not period!" Duct tape encrusted swords are OKAY because it reduces splintering during combat but glasses on a blacksmith are a faux pas? I used to be a pretty good fighter in the SCA but it was stuff like this that made it easier and easier to stop going to events. My copy of the Known World Handbook had the Carthaginian elephant (going on old memories here) all wrapped in duct tape and it was a humorous nod to the reality of being strictly period. It always seemed like some people didn't get the joke.

That safe is a piece of art. However, it would lead to my divorce if I dragged it home.. I just visited some family in Maine and was able to take a personal trip to Portland visit Bob at Ball and Chain Forge. He handles the fabrication of the tooling for New England Blacksmiths and I had an eye on a mandrel because the bick on my anvil is broken off at the tip. But really, I just wanted to have this as a versatile tooling option. $65 was worth it.

I only know two things about vertical up welding: 1. I am astoundingly bad at it. 2. Jody from the YouTube channel weldingtipsandtricks makes it look easy. Seriously, he is amazing. Ive never heard of anyone doing vertical down stick welding. I assumed it wasn't down because you can't control the puddle. I look forward to learning from this discussion if it goes that direction.

Love it. The tank just looks beefy. It looks like your whole family has caught the bug! Warning, you may all soon be fighting over junk rights at the scrapyard.

I like the design and concept. Let us know how the work upsetting bar stock.

Welcome Matthew. It's obvious you've been reading for a while because you precluded the usual requests for location by adding it in advance and gave a nice, concise summary of yourself. So far you are curmudgeon proof! Let us know the type of forging you do, the tools you use (anvil, forge type, etc..) and post pictures! Oh yeah, what are you studying in grad school. There is a seriously high nerd factor on this site and people bring a whole lot of interesting information outside of smithing almost daily. Lou

JHCC is going to go all Diomedes on you! I don't think you want to be a part of his aristeia...

Cool casting! Expect requests for a step by step with pictures in the casting/foundry section. This is one of them!

Now I'm mad I didn't run out and pick that beauty up that Monday! Seriously! But I'm glad someone here on IFI got it. I knew the seller was clueless about what he had. Congrats on your anvil! Lou

I love this discussion. I have to be honest, one of my major concerns is cutting all the steel to make the stand. Logan steel, my supplier, will cut to specified lengths for you for $10 and that seems like a deal to me considering that I would have to labor for a long time with a cutting wheel on a grinder to get less accurate results. Problem is, I never go in there with a set design. I always go looking for the steel that speaks to me saying, "I want to be an anvil stand!"

Still, I'm MIXED on the ECONOMY of opening two at once. My years of bartending have taught me that booze is a social lubricant similar to grease. It starts off smooth but turns inevitably into a gritty, caustic gunk that clogs the screw on your vise.

I not long ago got to the point where not having the right tongs was a major setback. I did most of my learning using long stock and then cutting off the work. Once I started doing more complex designs it became necessary to cut the project from the parent stock at a certain point in the process. It was then that having the right tongs is critical. Some people say that tong making is a bad early project for a new smith and it may be so; however, at some point early on I think it is important to start making them using long stock, forging a bit on each end, so that you have the ability to make them when the time comes that you can't move forward without the right tool.

Okay, I suffer from "embarrassing stand-itis" and need a stamdecromy. I have hesitated while perusing my favorite steel monger for options because of design doubts. I have read many differing opinions on the layout of the legs and I would like to ask. If anyone posts their steel stand here could they include their opinions on the ideal angle for the slope of the legs? Im aware of the benefits of sturdiness with wider legs but they also get in the way. I wanted to know if legs on a steeper angle (closer to upright) confer an appreciable increase in rigidity or if welding struts between wider legs is just as solid. Finally, has anyone combined a steel stand with a box of stand on top? Apologies if I should have posted this in a separate thread...I just thought the discussion might add to the pictures of the stands. Lou

Did it work out?

I think,it came out darned well. This is the type of patterned steel project that appeals to me. The thought behind the project is even more cool. I'm certain your colleague will treasure it.

So, I bought four of the IFI tee shirts a few months back and Glen wanted my feedback on them. I figured I'd make it public because they provided me some good times. In fact, I try to wear one of them every time I know I'm going to be around larger crowds. My first experience occurred on the last day of a cruise I recently took. As my family and I awaited disembarkment at the end of the cruise a man approached me. Turns out his wife saw my tee shirt "I'd rather be forging" and pointed me out to her husband. Turns out he has been blacksmithing for two years and is currently opening a shop with his sons in Mass. We chatted a long time, shared contact info and planned to meet up. Another time I was wearing the "Caution: do not set self on fire" upside down shirt. That one garnered tons of attention (often just crooked looks from passers by who struggled to read it before I was past them) but I ended up being approached by multiple people (including a juggling clown on stilts) who wanted to know more. I was able to apply TPAAT a number of times in one day! I have two outstanding "possibles" for metal or tools because of it. The Metallica inspired "Blacksmith" shirt (called Heavy Metal I believe) also worked in the same way but with less confused stares. These shirts have opened up a number of opportunities for me to inquire about tools and steel that would have otherwise been weird or inappropriate in the situation. Plus, I've gotten to meet a number of people who were interested to hear the gospel of blacksmithing. If anyone else has had interesting, clothing related encounters (blacksmith clothing you weirdos) please add! I'm going to flaunt my IFI gear relentlessly until it nets me an anvil....

Even better than following me home! A friend of mine works at a Home Depot and knows I am looking for metal. He stopped by my house this morning and dropped this stuff off in my driveway. Tines for a tiller, an old hitch with some ball heads, and two mower blades. Hey, it was zero labor steel...you won't hear complaints!