Heh. Anytime I see one of these vids, I think "*I should get an anvil!*". And then I remember I live in an apartment in the city. I like these vids, man. Keep 'em comin'!
+TheJohn8765 I just recently picked up a 6" length of railroad track. I plan on using it as my first 'anvil'. I would have preferred a length closer to a foot but I got it for $7. It will get me started until I learn if I like hand forging.
LOL! I was using my grinder to resurface a double-ax yesterday and my neighbour popped out to ask if I could tell her where to get new screens... she's so used to me refinishing tools I don't think she even hears them anymore ;) Sadly, my landlord would "have a bird" if I installed an anvil and started blacksmithing. He likes me, but even he has limits ;)
My grandpappy had me practice my SMAW on his old anvil, had me lay 4 beads thick. Then he took it to a machine shop to have it ground flat, had them cut two different size Pritchett holes and one hardy hole. Had one edge chamfered, the other rounded with three inches left sharp squared. My grandpappy had some amazing smithy tools, he did smithing for seventy years. When he was ninety I was sixteen and still could make a nail in less than a minute, in the time it took me to make one horse shoe he would make six, my God he was an amazing Blacksmith.
+konaguzzi1 Yes Sir, I never had the talent Grampaw had. The this day I hear him chuckling when I'm making "S" hooks. He would look at my work and tell me I was the best fishing hook maker known to mankind.
Back in the day there was only Blacksmiths , they fixed and made any and everything. Wagon tyre replacement to horse shoes and their own tools and such, I think it's safe to say a farrier is not a blacksmith...Oh and by the way my brother is a Blacksmith he did his apprenticeship in England and I am a Boilermaker / Welder and I did my apprenticeship in Australia, a Shipyard in Adelaide..
hello mr. Dickinson! don't worry about welding anvils, in my opinion if you cant use it , fix it!on another note, all peter wrights were made in England, all were wrought iron with a forge welled face plate, All OF THEM!you have a perfect anvil there, it obliviously went to the right home. really like your vids.Ethan
HAHAHA! You had me going there till you grabbed that little one. I was thinking, "what the hell happened to it!? It's been ABUSED", then your giant fingers came in shot and I felt quite foolish. Well played good sir, well played!
very nice. bringing an old anvil back even if was a really old one into use is more beautiful than seeing an old one rusted and sitting somewhere not being use
I have the twin brother to that anvil. It is in better shape and I love it. It is well used and has some life left. When the time comes, I want a bro like you to fix it! Good strong work, keeping this workhorse on the job.
Just found your channel yesterday. I am an aspiring blacksmith. Haven't tried to do the first thing yet, AND I have a 100lbs Peter Wright. Got it for $100 at a yard sale. It had a piece broken off the top that was built back up with low carbon welding. Hope that was the correct method. Watching the video was very enjoyable and informative.
i do.. its a song by rolling stones.. my friend covered it his metal band.. i know all about your witting comment, what you clearly don't understand my less then dimmer friend, is my sarcasm when i state, who the fuk paints a anvil!? who!? why?! wtf!? get it now?.. you probably don't still.. so you know, like some person who is more into decor and lawn ortinments and bakes cookies every weekend instead of being a manly man and using the anvil and building some man shiiiit! lol.. ok dempsey, I've said enough, i'll let u go back to your knitting.
I'm a person who loves history and enjoys your videos. I think you've done an excellent job of restoration. I know how you feel when it comes to preservation because I am a steam engine enthusiast and I'm not a fan when they covert a coal fired engine to oil, but you've done an excellent job. I do not claim to know anything about blacksmithing, and I admire your enthusiasm for it. I hope to see more videos.
Beautiful job i think! If you are worried by the possible loss of hardening you can still try to find a Laser hardening shop near you. We did laser hardening on Big press tooling in my last workplace and it worked out perfektly. You can even have it plated with stellites by using this method...
Looks great. I just bought a Peter Wright. Got it home and cleaned her up and looks like someone in the past had welded a metal plate on top. It has a lot of marks and pings on top. Wish I could send you a photo for your opinion.
I bought an anvil from a company called ACME and now all of a sudden every where I go this big X appears underneath me. What can I do about this problem?
Yes, all Peter Wright anvils have a tool steel face forge welded onto a solid wrought iron base. The swayback you noticed in your anvil is very common to Peter Wrights, as they used 100% NEW wrought iron, rather than recycled like most of their competitors. The recycled was more hodge-podge and could potentially lead to unusual fractures. But the NEW was more easily deformed... I just picked up a 246 lb Peter Wright which is also worn in the middle badly. I'm going to weld my face up, though, rather than grinding it flat. My understanding is, best practice for welding an anvil is to use S6 mig wire, rather than an arc welder. You get a lot less heat penetrating into the anvil with MIG than with arc. The S6 is air-hardening steel, so it will get about the same hardness as the rest of the anvil just by air-cooling. Hard facing rod is more about creating an abrasive resistant surface than an impact one, or so I am told. And you might wind up with brittle edges... But, this is all kind of hearsay. I haven't done it myself yet, but I hope to restore my Peter Wright this weekend, I'm enlisting the aid (and bigger welder) of the master smith from whom I apprentice who has restored a few in the past. Not sure how he does it, but I'll find out!
+Richard Connor I used a Mousehole anvil (English) that had been repaired with a mig before I started at that shop, and used it for 15 years with only a couple of chips breaking out of the repairs. And I doubt that was S6 mig wire. It was probably whatever was on the welding supply truck.
@@stevesyncox9893 Oh, I completely forgot about this, lol. While I'm sure there are better ways to do it, with better results achievable, this repair worked perfectly fine for me. I used it that way for 2-3 years without complaint. I picked up a 410lb A&H anvil that replaced it as my main shop anvil. But I still have the repaired PW set up for any guests who might wind up in my shop.
going this weekend to look at 3 anvils, one Peter wright don't know what the others are, owner says there all over 200lbs. Pretty stoked about it, been looking for an anvil for 7 years.
I also have two Peter Wright anvils, about he same weight. Cost me roughly $300 each. I performed similar refurbishments a few years ago, though mine weren't in quite as poor condition. I stripped the rust and welded the edges, then ground the face, edges, horn, base. Used an 8 inch diameter angle grinder to level the face. Tried an Automotive machine shop for resurfacing the face. They tried using their old surface grinder. Said he spent half an hour trying to make that work, but gave up as ineffective. At least he didn't charge me. When completed, I painted both anvils, everything except the Faces, with 2,000 degree primer and 2,000 degree Black Paint to keep them from rusting. I oil the faces but keep them bare. They turned out Great.
NecroBanana Good to know you have zero respect for history and what came before you. I don't know if you need a history lesson or not but these anvils are NO LONGER MADE.
One of my anvils (Peter Wright 1-2-1) needed a tuneup about like yours, except no paint! To repoint the horn we used pikes in the pike holes, turned it upside down with the horn in the fire. Wet mud at the horn base and once a red heat, easily tapped into shape. Anvil horns are just wrought iron, so with a little more heat from a rosebud tip, even the splits in the very tip healed right up. Ain't wrought iron wonderful to work with? We used about 10 pounds of Stoody Build Up rod to line the entire face and edges. A friendly engine machine shop milled the face. We rounded most of the edges to our liking and that was that. Been doing good work with it for about 30 years.
Many years ago I helped a friend with an old, worn anvil which he wanted to be used in a training facility. It was in poor shape through the years of use. He had the face, table, heel and both sides built up and out with weld. This was done over the course of about a week. I then fiddled about and ground the table and face on a large reciprocating grinder. Turned it over and ground the feet parallel to the face. Grinding the sides was tricky but it worked out OK. The heel was ground by hand and then dressed as were the Hardie and Pritchel holes. It did not look new ( in fact far from it ) but looked used and fantastic.
Really enjoyed the video. As with all job's there is always some much more than you first realise. Always learning. I have an anvil,(with a surname like Smith, you have to own one.) Next time I am in my workshop I will perform the ring and bounce test and treat it with a lot more respect.
How strange, I've been thinking about you for the past few days and an old video of yours shows up in my suggested feed. I miss your work and hope you're doing well in life. God bless.
Watching your videos here of late has gotten me back to smithing, and for that i thank you. I have an 1911 peter wright very similar to your new anvil, then again, those anvils looked pretty similar throughout the years. All in all, that restoration looked very good. It didn't look like you lost too much temper at all. But in conclusion, thanks for rekindling my fire for forging and smithing.
Well done I have a very old anvil in my stuido I don't use much but I've often wondered if it was possible to fix its surface. Thanks for sharing this, now I know how.
Great job on the anvil, i'm sure it will serve you well! I just picked up a Peter Wight anvil the other day to replace the railroad track I have been using. It needs some repair also, but It is about 229 pounds and I got a great deal.
Never mind what others think about your ideas and stop apologizing. You work with strong steel and fire, not with panty liners. It is your gig, your time, your fuel, your muscle, your tools, your camera, your show. ;) take care.
Very nice! I have a little anvil like the one at first. I bet people I can pick up an anvil with one hand. Then I pull it out of my pocket.Is that top plate just attached on the edges? Is there no bond between it and the anvil otherwise? I hear the ring (I have a good Bose sound system). There are some variations but as a musician I hear more than I want to.
so, a couple of months down the road, and how is it holding up? i have a little vulcan (80lb?) that's in about the starting condition (without the paint) that this little peter wright was in. probably going to grind it, but not edge it like you did (i don't have the experience you do).
Hey I'm having a hard time finding an anvil. There's a couple with a few gouges and edge chips that these ideas could be applied to. How'd the weld hold up to the abuse? I noticed right away in the video you lost like a whole inch of bounce, so don't know if Id do it to an anvil that was already in OK shape. But there's one or two in the area that are unusable as is, so I'm just curious how it held up after a few months of use.
Chandler, I agree with the comments already posted....piss on what others think, as long as it works no worries. Thanks for the video, it's always cool watching your vids and I learn alot. Please keep them coming!
have one like that passed down from my gr8 gr8 grandpa needs a little work but it's ok it's 120 lbs and came with a cut off tool the steel is amazing every time you hit it it rings like a bell it cool and a family heirloom
since it seems very important to have a truly flat surface on the table of your head what could you not take it like an engine machine shop and have it milled?
masjuggalo most hobbyists are interested in doing it themselves. And it doesn't necessarily need to be flat to the same accuracy that milling would give.
Chandler Dickinson slap an oil pan heater on it for the winter, should keep it from sucking all your heat out as fast should keep your hands and hammers warm too.
Oh fer cryin' out loud, don't worry about a simple thing that we all do! Excellent videography and your narration kept me interested .... and I'm not even a blacksmith.
I just picked up a second PW anvil myself. I had to come back to this video to review my path forward. Still miss your routine video's, hope all is well.
Hey Chandler, I was looking into anvils and I was wondering what you'd say is a reasonable offer for a 120ish lb anvil. About $1.50-$2.00/lb? Thanks and love the anvil, she's a beaut.
+proffesit It depends on the area you live, anvil prices are driven by supply and demand. If there was a lot of agriculture in the area then anvils tend to be more plentiful and cheaper. I paid $2.60 LB for my 154 LB Hay Budden, and felt i had gotten a good deal.
From what i've read, you don't want a mirror finish on your work deck, because it's waaaay too slippery (not a good idea to play knock hockey with burning hot steel). To solve that, I'd definitely rough up the working surfaces with say 120 grit, to provide some much needed traction for anything placed on top.
Shame you didnt have or know someone with an endmill - much more effective way to level the table and remove all the dings. BTW, I think the correct preheat temp for welding is 400F, not 200F, but i'm not 100% sure.
I have a perter wright about the same as the one you have it has a date of about 1875 on the side and there are some pieces missing on the edges like your and and has a sway back in the middle. I need to do what you have done soon. thanks for the video
hi. i flapped the table on mine so it shines and dont like the light reflect from it. same anvil. now, i'd like to get the old black colour as bottom part. any suggestion? im new on this. work on cymbals as a cymbalsmith. thanks!!!
I've been wondering how this might be done. I have what I believe Jock Dempsey told me is a Peter Wright (it was quite a few years ago), originally 306 lbs. He said he would have loved to work on her for me (the table is bowed like the one in your video, and the horn is a bit droopy, and the edges aren't as sharp as they used to be), except we couldn't get it out of the back of my Subaru Forester when I brought her to visit him--on account of it being 306 original pounds and just the two of us. Anvils might lose a bit of weight over time, but not enough to make it levitate out of the boot of my car. She's beautiful, and now rests in my storage room. Occasionally, I put her into service to make slightly off-center Christmas presents and State Fair entries. I don't believe I'll ever give her up.
I found an old Peter wright anvil that weighs about 388 lbs and it has some pretty significant damage on one side that someone tried to grind out. I was thinking about welding a plate of tool steel to it to give it a new face and to repair the damaged area. Is this the proper way to do this or is there a better way?
Thank you for this video. It has been nearly 3 years since you did this restoration. How has it held up? Are the edges wearing or chipping? I'm about to do the same thing on an old anvil I got and would really like your input / assessment.
too funny that I come across this now. I just sat down from about a half day of grinding on my anvil to try and get the pits out of it. boy what a lot of work, it's certainly not flat, but it wasn't to begin with. it's much smoother though. I may go farther with it in the future but I thought it was a big improvement. I really like the idea of fixing the edges by welding them. have you run into any problems with that after working on it? I'm not versed at all in welding but I'm getting into it, this might get added to my to do list.
i found an anvil, but it has a fairly deep belly in the table. probably 1/8 in or more. is it salvageable ? what is a good price? it was marked 225.00 ,. i really want a good anvil but i dont want to buy a pig in a poke ya know?
Really great video. I know nothing of forging (picking locks is more my thing), but your videos are very well put together and your narrative excellent. I respect the values you express in your videos, too. Thanks for your superb efforts and keep up the good work. Also, if there are any channels that particularly inspire you, I'd be interested to hear of them.
I live ear the missisippi Mississippi river..we have tons of railroad tracks running through town..if you look around sometimes you can find a random old one on the ground left behind from a track repair.
Great job on that anvil! It´s better to have an anvil that can be used again, than an "original" old anvil, thats just lying about. Would it be a good idea to dress the edges to 2 different radii? Also, what kind of anvil stand are you planning to use?
Have you used it a lot since you fixed it and if so, how well did the edges hold up. I have an anvil I would like to do this to also. Enjoy your videos.
Shame to wrld on it. Pre heat and hard face if you are going to weld is what you need to do. Those edges were fine, you dont want them sharp anyway. Slight dip in the centrr is great to have as it makes straightening stock much easier. Yes it has a hard plate welded on at the factory. You could see it in the pics just after he wire brushing. I have reforged points onto the end of the horn before a good point is nice to have.
I got a large anvil and 4 more blacksmith tools and a set of scales , just before a D-7 cat tore the building down , the shop belonged to my wife's great grandfather but none of the family wanted any of of , the anvil needs about the same repairs.
Unfortunately the swayback seemed to be an issue with the PW's due to the construction. The body was ductile Iron and the face was a hardened plate that was forge-welded to the cast body..over time and a lot of hammering, the centers got that dip shape to them.
Hi chandler and great video! Where are your shows located and how do i find out when there are gonna be shows?Also,, where do you find all of the forges and anvils you get? Thanks
It would have probably been better if he removed the paint and left it as it was, he ground the surface and lost material, and made it less bouncy by heating it, the anvil's lifespan and quality have almost certainly decreased.
We have about a 150 pound Fischer Norris anvil in my basement, was my grandads. He worked on anything and everything from Cars and Bikes, to Cranes and other industrial equipment.
I'm sure that most people would be glad that it was made useable as an anvil again instead of a 200+ pound lawn ornament. There is respecting an old item but there is also respecting what an old item can do. Usually the older tools work better than new stuff because they were built to last.
Hey, i just found out my family has a 3-4 foot section of rail track with a jagged end. I have no way of cutting that serious a piece of iron. Any ideas? Anyway, i'm not setup where i can try any blacksmithing yet, i'm just taking an inventory of some of the supplies that I might have when I do get started.
It takes a bit longer than 5 minutes, but yeah, you can cut through railroad track with a 4x6 band saw. It takes three rotations to go all the way through. I've done it, so I know.
Josh L they dulled the point because generally they were VERY sharp coming from factory, and people would get stuck with them in their sides i mean... but lol to your comment 😂
Beautiful job. I'm looking to get an anvil for a starting blacksmith learning to make small knives and practical tools as well as short-swords. Any recommendations that give big bang for your buck?
+Devin Street small chunk of railroad track. good for knife making, affordable, easy to store. look up railroad track anvil and you'll get some ideas of what you can do
a litle question. hardening is heating the metal up and then cooling it really fast to get it as stiff ass possible for a better edge-less scratches and a more durability of the edge. tempering "softens" the steel making it less hard and more prone to bend than brake(less brittle). so you want the edge hard and the spine of a knife tempered to deal with and shocks that the blade has to deal with? like how a sword would vibrate a lot but if it where fully hardened it would shatter. what is this "critical" tempreture that you keep talking about? wiki isnt really helping out on that one but i guess its the melting point im trying to get a better understanding of this before i try anything myself so please correct me where i am wrong. also do you have or know a good well explained video about the basics like this?
I see you have some Blaschak anthracite in the background. I have a couple hundred pounds for my forge, and while I don't care for it as much as good blacksmith coal, I like the fact that it doesn't smoke when burned. Do you use anthracite in your forge, and if so, is it nut, pea, or rice size? I have nut coal that works well, but I am curious what others use.
+Chandler Dickinson Did you know that Blaschak also sells bituminous smithing coal? My local stove and coal dealer is a Blaschak distributor, and ordered a pallet of it for me. It's pretty good stuff: cokes up well, not too many clinkers. Definitely better than anthracite.
I have 2 Peter wrights anvils also. One is in much worse shape than your no 2 . I would need 250 to 300$ for it. Its 176 lbs. You got a really good deal on yours. I haven't seen one go on auction for less than 1.50 to 2$ and that was 15 years ago. Yours sounds just like both of mine.
Get a piece of thick glass about the size of the anvil top. Coat it with non-permanent marker on one side. Put it on the anvil top and give it a few rubs. That's how you can get all the high spots and get a pretty close to perfect surface on the cheap.
The anvil was built to be worked on, anything done to get back up doing what it’s supposed to is showing respect.
A great video, thank you.
you are 100 percent right, it should be put back to working order, not sitting in a flower bed somewhere, great job.
Heh. Anytime I see one of these vids, I think "*I should get an anvil!*". And then I remember I live in an apartment in the city.
I like these vids, man. Keep 'em comin'!
+TheJohn8765 I just recently picked up a 6" length of railroad track. I plan on using it as my first 'anvil'. I would have preferred a length closer to a foot but I got it for $7. It will get me started until I learn if I like hand forging.
+TheJohn8765 Do you not have a balcony?
LOL! I was using my grinder to resurface a double-ax yesterday and my neighbour popped out to ask if I could tell her where to get new screens... she's so used to me refinishing tools I don't think she even hears them anymore ;)
Sadly, my landlord would "have a bird" if I installed an anvil and started blacksmithing. He likes me, but even he has limits ;)
tetsubo57 I've seen that, It looks like it works just fine, especially for smaller projects. Good luck and happy hammering!
+tetsubo57 were did u get it from
My grandpappy had me practice my SMAW on his old anvil, had me lay 4 beads thick. Then he took it to a machine shop to have it ground flat, had them cut two different size Pritchett holes and one hardy hole. Had one edge chamfered, the other rounded with three inches left sharp squared. My grandpappy had some amazing smithy tools, he did smithing for seventy years. When he was ninety I was sixteen and still could make a nail in less than a minute, in the time it took me to make one horse shoe he would make six, my God he was an amazing Blacksmith.
when thats your job and you get paid by the work you put out (piece pay)
you get very quick indeed
+konaguzzi1 Yes Sir, I never had the talent Grampaw had. The this day I hear him chuckling when I'm making "S" hooks. He would look at my work and tell me I was the best fishing hook maker known to mankind.
Sounds like some really great memories. They don't make 'em like they used to (anvils, or grandpas).
Farriers make horse shoes, not black smiths.
Back in the day there was only Blacksmiths , they fixed and made any and everything. Wagon tyre replacement to horse shoes and their own tools and such, I think it's safe to say a farrier is not a blacksmith...Oh and by the way my brother is a Blacksmith he did his apprenticeship in England and I am a Boilermaker / Welder and I did my apprenticeship in Australia, a Shipyard in Adelaide..
Nice job,
I like that you saved her from soiling the earth in a flower bed.
hello mr. Dickinson! don't worry about welding anvils, in my opinion if you cant use it , fix it!on another note, all peter wrights were made in England, all were wrought iron with a forge welled face plate, All OF THEM!you have a perfect anvil there, it obliviously went to the right home. really like your vids.Ethan
HAHAHA! You had me going there till you grabbed that little one. I was thinking, "what the hell happened to it!? It's been ABUSED", then your giant fingers came in shot and I felt quite foolish.
Well played good sir, well played!
very nice. bringing an old anvil back even if was a really old one into use is more beautiful than seeing an old one rusted and sitting somewhere not being use
Hey man, you are making it usable again, and you are gonna travel with it, to me that is respecting it
I have the twin brother to that anvil. It is in better shape and I love it. It is well used and has some life left. When the time comes, I want a bro like you to fix it! Good strong work, keeping this workhorse on the job.
Just found your channel yesterday. I am an aspiring blacksmith. Haven't tried to do the first thing yet, AND I have a 100lbs Peter Wright. Got it for $100 at a yard sale. It had a piece broken off the top that was built back up with low carbon welding. Hope that was the correct method. Watching the video was very enjoyable and informative.
The fact your bringing it back to life-is respect.
I see a red anvil and i want to paint it black
+Dempsey Phillips ...No functionality anymore, I want it to sit in some grass...
+Dempsey Phillips So *that's* what happened.
Clearly you dont understand the reference
i do.. its a song by rolling stones.. my friend covered it his metal band.. i know all about your witting comment, what you clearly don't understand my less then dimmer friend, is my sarcasm when i state, who the fuk paints a anvil!? who!? why?! wtf!? get it now?.. you probably don't still.. so you know, like some person who is more into decor and lawn ortinments and bakes cookies every weekend instead of being a manly man and using the anvil and building some man shiiiit! lol.. ok dempsey, I've said enough, i'll let u go back to your knitting.
Both of you need to calm down.
just pick up my anvil this morning , needs a little love but is nice ,and shot for the video,s gives a lot of inspiration
,take care and God bless.
your passion is a credit to you,Look after your tools,they will look after you. well done
I'm a person who loves history and enjoys your videos. I think you've done an excellent job of restoration. I know how you feel when it comes to preservation because I am a steam engine enthusiast and I'm not a fan when they covert a coal fired engine to oil, but you've done an excellent job. I do not claim to know anything about blacksmithing, and I admire your enthusiasm for it. I hope to see more videos.
I like the way you narrate and leave out all the sparks if you know what I mean. Thanks!
Beautiful job i think! If you are worried by the possible loss of hardening you can still try to find a Laser hardening shop near you. We did laser hardening on Big press tooling in my last workplace and it worked out perfektly. You can even have it plated with stellites by using this method...
Looks great. I just bought a Peter Wright. Got it home and cleaned her up and looks like someone in the past had welded a metal plate on top. It has a lot of marks and pings on top. Wish I could send you a photo for your opinion.
I bought an anvil from a company called ACME and now all of a sudden every where I go this big X appears underneath me. What can I do about this problem?
Open an umbrella
Sell it to a big fast bird!
Yes, all Peter Wright anvils have a tool steel face forge welded onto a solid wrought iron base. The swayback you noticed in your anvil is very common to Peter Wrights, as they used 100% NEW wrought iron, rather than recycled like most of their competitors. The recycled was more hodge-podge and could potentially lead to unusual fractures. But the NEW was more easily deformed... I just picked up a 246 lb Peter Wright which is also worn in the middle badly. I'm going to weld my face up, though, rather than grinding it flat.
My understanding is, best practice for welding an anvil is to use S6 mig wire, rather than an arc welder. You get a lot less heat penetrating into the anvil with MIG than with arc. The S6 is air-hardening steel, so it will get about the same hardness as the rest of the anvil just by air-cooling.
Hard facing rod is more about creating an abrasive resistant surface than an impact one, or so I am told. And you might wind up with brittle edges... But, this is all kind of hearsay. I haven't done it myself yet, but I hope to restore my Peter Wright this weekend,
I'm enlisting the aid (and bigger welder) of the master smith from whom I apprentice who has restored a few in the past. Not sure how he does it, but I'll find out!
+Richard Connor
Please follow up with us on how the anvil holds up after your repairs when you actually get some hours on it!
+Richard Connor I used a Mousehole anvil (English) that had been repaired with a mig before I started at that shop, and used it for 15 years with only a couple of chips breaking out of the repairs. And I doubt that was S6 mig wire. It was probably whatever was on the welding supply truck.
Hey man, you never kept us up on the anvil repair.....
@@stevesyncox9893 Oh, I completely forgot about this, lol.
While I'm sure there are better ways to do it, with better results achievable, this repair worked perfectly fine for me. I used it that way for 2-3 years without complaint. I picked up a 410lb A&H anvil that replaced it as my main shop anvil. But I still have the repaired PW set up for any guests who might wind up in my shop.
going this weekend to look at 3 anvils, one Peter wright don't know what the others are, owner says there all over 200lbs. Pretty stoked about it, been looking for an anvil for 7 years.
watching this and got to the point when he shows us the welding rods and heard the HIGHWAY MEN in the background mad respect
I also have two Peter Wright anvils, about he same weight. Cost me roughly $300 each. I performed similar refurbishments a few years ago, though mine weren't in quite as poor condition. I stripped the rust and welded the edges, then ground the face, edges, horn, base. Used an 8 inch diameter angle grinder to level the face. Tried an Automotive machine shop for resurfacing the face. They tried using their old surface grinder. Said he spent half an hour trying to make that work, but gave up as ineffective. At least he didn't charge me. When completed, I painted both anvils, everything except the Faces, with 2,000 degree primer and 2,000 degree Black Paint to keep them from rusting. I oil the faces but keep them bare. They turned out Great.
Whoever gives you crap about doing whatever the fuck you want with your anvil deserves to be treated as a troll and should be rightly ignored.
Including buying as many anvils as you want and melting them down? Is that okay?
xXxBlackwaterXxX It's your birthright to do with your private property as you see fit.
NecroBanana Good to know you have zero respect for history and what came before you. I don't know if you need a history lesson or not but these anvils are NO LONGER MADE.
xXxBlackwaterXxX And I should be telling people what to do because of that? Nigga please, get the fuck out of the Internet.
NecroBanana Lol it's all making sense now.
One of my anvils (Peter Wright 1-2-1) needed a tuneup about like yours, except no paint!
To repoint the horn we used pikes in the pike holes, turned it upside down with the horn in the fire. Wet mud at the horn base and once a red heat, easily tapped into shape. Anvil horns are just wrought iron, so with a little more heat from a rosebud tip, even the splits in the very tip healed right up. Ain't wrought iron wonderful to work with?
We used about 10 pounds of Stoody Build Up rod to line the entire face and edges. A friendly engine machine shop milled the face. We rounded most of the edges to our liking and that was that. Been doing good work with it for about 30 years.
Many years ago I helped a friend with an old, worn anvil which he wanted to be used in a training facility. It was in poor shape through the years of use. He had the face, table, heel and both sides built up and out with weld. This was done over the course of about a week. I then fiddled about and ground the table and face on a large reciprocating grinder. Turned it over and ground the feet parallel to the face. Grinding the sides was tricky but it worked out OK. The heel was ground by hand and then dressed as were the Hardie and Pritchel holes. It did not look new ( in fact far from it ) but looked used and fantastic.
Really enjoyed the video. As with all job's there is always some much more than you first realise. Always learning.
I have an anvil,(with a surname like Smith, you have to own one.) Next time I am in my workshop I will perform the ring and bounce test and treat it with a lot more respect.
This video really makes me think i might one day decide to purchase a sand blaster :) Always a joy to watch Chandler do his thing :D
How strange, I've been thinking about you for the past few days and an old video of yours shows up in my suggested feed. I miss your work and hope you're doing well in life. God bless.
Watching your videos here of late has gotten me back to smithing, and for that i thank you. I have an 1911 peter wright very similar to your new anvil, then again, those anvils looked pretty similar throughout the years. All in all, that restoration looked very good. It didn't look like you lost too much temper at all. But in conclusion, thanks for rekindling my fire for forging and smithing.
I could not agree with you more, if a tool is not useful there is no point in having it. Great job.
I personally think you did right by that anvil ! It looks great and will serve for many years to come.....
Well done I have a very old anvil in my stuido I don't use much but I've often wondered if it was possible to fix its surface. Thanks for sharing this, now I know how.
Good job mate, a bit of history back to working use, that's what it's all about. Well done.
Great job on the anvil, i'm sure it will serve you well! I just picked up a Peter Wight anvil the other day to replace the railroad track I have been using. It needs some repair also, but It is about 229 pounds and I got a great deal.
Never mind what others think about your ideas
and stop apologizing. You work with strong steel and fire, not with panty liners.
It is your gig, your time, your fuel, your muscle, your tools, your camera, your show.
;) take care.
$125?!! Good find! Nice anvil Chandler. Appreciate the work you put into the videos. Thanks bro.
Well I wish I lived next door to you cause my anvil's bust up. Got her cheap but wouldn't dare attempt to repair it without you there :)
well done!!
always a fun watch. I love your videos man. I'm really new to smithing, and you've given me some of the best advice I've received since starting.
Looks like you did a great job repairing it. Thanks for the video
Nice job i have an anvil that needs repaired would you be intrested?
Very nice! I have a little anvil like the one at first. I bet people I can pick up an anvil with one hand. Then I pull it out of my pocket.Is that top plate just attached on the edges? Is there no bond between it and the anvil otherwise? I hear the ring (I have a good Bose sound system). There are some variations but as a musician I hear more than I want to.
so, a couple of months down the road, and how is it holding up? i have a little vulcan (80lb?) that's in about the starting condition (without the paint) that this little peter wright was in. probably going to grind it, but not edge it like you did (i don't have the experience you do).
Hey I'm having a hard time finding an anvil. There's a couple with a few gouges and edge chips that these ideas could be applied to. How'd the weld hold up to the abuse? I noticed right away in the video you lost like a whole inch of bounce, so don't know if Id do it to an anvil that was already in OK shape. But there's one or two in the area that are unusable as is, so I'm just curious how it held up after a few months of use.
Chandler, I agree with the comments already posted....piss on what others think, as long as it works no worries. Thanks for the video, it's always cool watching your vids and I learn alot. Please keep them coming!
Most interesting, man. I mostly do wood and motorcycles, but you make me want to anvil hunt.
Ya fix it the way ya need to fit your needs in this time in history. Good job . Love to have it myself.
Great video and talk through. That anvil looks and sounds top spec. Please keep up the good work. Awesome.
have one like that passed down from my gr8 gr8 grandpa needs a little work but it's ok it's 120 lbs and came with a cut off tool the steel is amazing every time you hit it it rings like a bell it cool and a family heirloom
since it seems very important to have a truly flat surface on the table of your head what could you not take it like an engine machine shop and have it milled?
yes you would
OK I don't know much about blacksmithing I do feel that it it the precursor to my auto mechanic trade so I'm intrested
masjuggalo most hobbyists are interested in doing it themselves. And it doesn't necessarily need to be flat to the same accuracy that milling would give.
I was just wondering if you where that concerned it that was a good rout to take it if it would mess it all up
Chandler Dickinson slap an oil pan heater on it for the winter, should keep it from sucking all your heat out as fast should keep your hands and hammers warm too.
Oh fer cryin' out loud, don't worry about a simple thing that we all do! Excellent videography and your narration kept me interested .... and I'm not even a blacksmith.
I just picked up a second PW anvil myself. I had to come back to this video to review my path forward. Still miss your routine video's, hope all is well.
Hey Chandler, I was looking into anvils and I was wondering what you'd say is a reasonable offer for a 120ish lb anvil. About $1.50-$2.00/lb? Thanks and love the anvil, she's a beaut.
+proffesit It depends on the area you live, anvil prices are driven by supply and demand. If there was a lot of agriculture in the area then anvils tend to be more plentiful and cheaper. I paid $2.60 LB for my 154 LB Hay Budden, and felt i had gotten a good deal.
From what i've read, you don't want a mirror finish on your work deck, because it's waaaay too slippery (not a good idea to play knock hockey with burning hot steel). To solve that, I'd definitely rough up the working surfaces with say 120 grit, to provide some much needed traction for anything placed on top.
Shame you didnt have or know someone with an endmill - much more effective way to level the table and remove all the dings.
BTW, I think the correct preheat temp for welding is 400F, not 200F, but i'm not 100% sure.
I have a perter wright about the same as the one you have it has a date of about 1875 on the side and there are some pieces missing on the edges like your and and has a sway back in the middle. I need to do what you have done soon. thanks for the video
hi. i flapped the table on mine so it shines and dont like the light reflect from it. same anvil. now, i'd like to get the old black colour as bottom part. any suggestion? im new on this. work on cymbals as a cymbalsmith. thanks!!!
I've been wondering how this might be done.
I have what I believe Jock Dempsey told me is a Peter Wright (it was quite a few years ago), originally 306 lbs. He said he would have loved to work on her for me (the table is bowed like the one in your video, and the horn is a bit droopy, and the edges aren't as sharp as they used to be), except we couldn't get it out of the back of my Subaru Forester when I brought her to visit him--on account of it being 306 original pounds and just the two of us. Anvils might lose a bit of weight over time, but not enough to make it levitate out of the boot of my car. She's beautiful, and now rests in my storage room. Occasionally, I put her into service to make slightly off-center Christmas presents and State Fair entries. I don't believe I'll ever give her up.
Absolutely loved the little vise intro😀😀👍👍👍
I found an old Peter wright anvil that weighs about 388 lbs and it has some pretty significant damage on one side that someone tried to grind out. I was thinking about welding a plate of tool steel to it to give it a new face and to repair the damaged area. Is this the proper way to do this or is there a better way?
Thank you for this video. It has been nearly 3 years since you did this restoration. How has it held up? Are the edges wearing or chipping? I'm about to do the same thing on an old anvil I got and would really like your input / assessment.
the word you are looking for is Restoration. Nicely Done.
too funny that I come across this now. I just sat down from about a half day of grinding on my anvil to try and get the pits out of it. boy what a lot of work, it's certainly not flat, but it wasn't to begin with. it's much smoother though. I may go farther with it in the future but I thought it was a big improvement. I really like the idea of fixing the edges by welding them. have you run into any problems with that after working on it? I'm not versed at all in welding but I'm getting into it, this might get added to my to do list.
i found an anvil, but it has a fairly deep belly in the table. probably 1/8 in or more. is it salvageable ? what is a good price? it was marked 225.00 ,. i really want a good anvil but i dont want to buy a pig in a poke ya know?
I had to try blacksmithing with Anvil for one day at my work and my hand hurted for few hours, is it normal for blacksmiths ?
Que electrodo usaste para las aristas y como soldaste, calentaste el yunque???
Really great video. I know nothing of forging (picking locks is more my thing), but your videos are very well put together and your narrative excellent. I respect the values you express in your videos, too. Thanks for your superb efforts and keep up the good work. Also, if there are any channels that particularly inspire you, I'd be interested to hear of them.
Where do you get these railroad spikes from?
I live ear the missisippi Mississippi river..we have tons of railroad tracks running through town..if you look around sometimes you can find a random old one on the ground left behind from a track repair.
Great job on that anvil! It´s better to have an anvil that can be used again, than an "original" old anvil, thats just lying about. Would it be a good idea to dress the edges to 2 different radii? Also, what kind of anvil stand are you planning to use?
Have you used it a lot since you fixed it and if so, how well did the edges hold up. I have an anvil I would like to do this to also. Enjoy your videos.
Shame to wrld on it. Pre heat and hard face if you are going to weld is what you need to do. Those edges were fine, you dont want them sharp anyway. Slight dip in the centrr is great to have as it makes straightening stock much easier. Yes it has a hard plate welded on at the factory. You could see it in the pics just after he wire brushing. I have reforged points onto the end of the horn before a good point is nice to have.
Hey! Just wanted to ask how things are going for you, are you making an okay amount of money doing this?
After using those hard rods did the edges ever break or flatten out??
Good job giving the anvil a new life!!!!
I got a large anvil and 4 more blacksmith tools and a set of scales , just before a D-7 cat tore the building down , the shop belonged to my wife's great grandfather but none of the family wanted any of of , the anvil needs about the same repairs.
Highest respect for what you are doing, the way you are doing it and ... thanks for some Waylon by the way :)
Unfortunately the swayback seemed to be an issue with the PW's due to the construction. The body was ductile Iron and the face was a hardened plate that was forge-welded to the cast body..over time and a lot of hammering, the centers got that dip shape to them.
Better to restore and use an old anvil than to let it waste away. Looks like you did a damn good job =)
Hi chandler and great video! Where are your shows located and how do i find out when there are gonna be shows?Also,, where do you find all of the forges and anvils you get?
Thanks
It seems you lost bounce, maybe got a little too hot. I wonder if 7018 would work at all on the edges or would it be too soft?
It would have probably been better if he removed the paint and left it as it was, he ground the surface and lost material, and made it less bouncy by heating it, the anvil's lifespan and quality have almost certainly decreased.
We have about a 150 pound Fischer Norris anvil in my basement, was my grandads. He worked on anything and everything from Cars and Bikes, to Cranes and other industrial equipment.
I'm sure that most people would be glad that it was made useable as an anvil again instead of a 200+ pound lawn ornament. There is respecting an old item but there is also respecting what an old item can do. Usually the older tools work better than new stuff because they were built to last.
Great job. You continue to impress me. Of course my kids tell me I'm easily impressed, but still damn fine work.
Looks amazing now. We'd appreciate if you let us know how it performs at the next show.
Hey, i just found out my family has a 3-4 foot section of rail track with a jagged end. I have no way of cutting that serious a piece of iron. Any ideas? Anyway, i'm not setup where i can try any blacksmithing yet, i'm just taking an inventory of some of the supplies that I might have when I do get started.
+NortheastTX Permie get a portable band saw from harbor freight and some lenox metal cutting blades, you'll be done in 5 minutes.
It takes a bit longer than 5 minutes, but yeah, you can cut through railroad track with a 4x6 band saw. It takes three rotations to go all the way through. I've done it, so I know.
"It's a little stubby but it's there" I think that's the rule of thumb for most things
Josh L they dulled the point because generally they were VERY sharp coming from factory, and people would get stuck with them in their sides i mean... but lol to your comment 😂
Beautiful job. I'm looking to get an anvil for a starting blacksmith learning to make small knives and practical tools as well as short-swords. Any recommendations that give big bang for your buck?
+Devin Street small chunk of railroad track. good for knife making, affordable, easy to store. look up railroad track anvil and you'll get some ideas of what you can do
+WideEyed Smiles Didn't think of that! thanks so much!
www.ebay.com/bhp/railroad-anvil
Thanks so much
Get a big sledge hammer head, 14lbs or over makes a fine small anvil
What would be you suggestions to fix a bow in the face of a anvil ???
where do you find out about the shows, any way to find ones in different areas.
Beautiful man.
Wish we lived closer so I could come check out the show.
I just picked up a anvil and it has those little dimples like bb dents..what are those?
a litle question.
hardening is heating the metal up and then cooling it really fast to get it as stiff ass possible for a better edge-less scratches and a more durability of the edge.
tempering "softens" the steel making it less hard and more prone to bend than brake(less brittle).
so you want the edge hard and the spine of a knife tempered to deal with and shocks that the blade has to deal with?
like how a sword would vibrate a lot but if it where fully hardened it would shatter.
what is this "critical" tempreture that you keep talking about? wiki isnt really helping out on that one but i guess its the melting point
im trying to get a better understanding of this before i try anything myself so please correct me where i am wrong.
also do you have or know a good well explained video about the basics like this?
the critical temperature is the temperature at which the steel that you are heating becomes non magnetic
That tiny anvil is just so adorable :D
Did the hardy hole open up after you clean up the top?
I see you have some Blaschak anthracite in the background. I have a couple hundred pounds for my forge, and while I don't care for it as much as good blacksmith coal, I like the fact that it doesn't smoke when burned. Do you use anthracite in your forge, and if so, is it nut, pea, or rice size? I have nut coal that works well, but I am curious what others use.
+David Meyer I use nut... takes constant air to keep going but burns clean
Yeah I've found that out. Even my big Tiger blower has a time keeping up with it. Great video!
+Chandler Dickinson She has some pretty serious age to be a Rot Iron anvil, great find!
+Chandler Dickinson Did you know that Blaschak also sells bituminous smithing coal? My local stove and coal dealer is a Blaschak distributor, and ordered a pallet of it for me. It's pretty good stuff: cokes up well, not too many clinkers. Definitely better than anthracite.
I'm in love you did an amazing job of restoring the anvil (or at least I think so)
Where can you purchace an anvil with the 2 ardy holes? Mine has a simple cave in
Nice job restoring that anvil!
I have 2 Peter wrights anvils also. One is in much worse shape than your no 2 . I would need 250 to 300$ for it. Its 176 lbs. You got a really good deal on yours. I haven't seen one go on auction for less than 1.50 to 2$ and that was 15 years ago. Yours sounds just like both of mine.
You did a really good job bringing this great old anvil back to live. Now she will be used right what she was made for. Thumbs up :D
Get a piece of thick glass about the size of the anvil top. Coat it with non-permanent marker on one side. Put it on the anvil top and give it a few rubs.
That's how you can get all the high spots and get a pretty close to perfect surface on the cheap.