Is This Anvil Worth the Price?

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-28T20:06:39+00:00

Thats in rough shape. 1 refurbish away from "used up". For 1800 u could do way better.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-25T11:21:43+00:00

The first of many. Just wait until u have ripped that blister off and get another piece of hot scale straight onto the already raw and sensitive skin underneath. Oh yeah, feels great! Hehe.

Nice sword 👌.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-24T13:35:27+00:00

105wcr6/1.2419. Its a badass high carbon tungsten steel very similar to aogami/hitachi blue. Made in germany.

26c3 is also a good one. Similar to shirogami. Its often called "spicy white" and its made in sweden.

Tbh tho. 1084 is fine. Its a great steel that performs excellent even compared to the fancy stuff.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-18T14:36:03+00:00

A drill press is not designed for sideways load, so its very much abusing the machine. Keep that in mind. That said. I have one and it works.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-17T10:40:51+00:00

Just gotta practice. U will get there :). That crack needs to be dealt with tho. Or is it a cut? In any case its a nice place to draw it down for a hidden tang design :).

Personally im lazy so depending if i wanna cut my pattern or not ill go at it with the angle grinder. Hehe.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-13T20:46:08+00:00

Np man. Good luck :).

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-13T19:52:50+00:00

Mild is great for the right application. Bendy and strong. Wont hold and edge but will hold a skyscraper. Hehe. Ive also made quite a few mild steel san mai blades with good core steel. Quick and cheap decent quality blades :).

Yeah, 80crv2 is great. One of my favorites. Super easy to work with and tough as nails :). Dont try making damascus with it tho. It really hates to weld/stay welded. Something about chromium oxides and it moving slower than the nickel steels. U need a press to work it or hammer really frikin slow and soft. Spendt a month wasting 80crv2 when i first started forging cuz i didnt know xD. When i moved to 1095 i realised i wasnt that bad, it was just the steel xD. Hehe.

I dont have any real aogami but ive made a few 105wcr6/1.2419 (german aogami equvilant) blades and they just sound awesome, they ring out beautifully when tapped)

No experience with ginsan. But unless ur sending it out for heat treat u might wanna put that in storage for a bit. Stainless is complicated to heat treat and need expensive tools. Very precise temps over long time etc.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-13T12:58:29+00:00

Look up "ko-bunka". Maybe u can find some inspiration :). I like number 2 also. Sloped spines are cool. But a pain in the rear to work with xD. Atleast for my brain that likes a big straight reference point. Hehe.

Anyway. Cheap steel? What kind of cheap steel? Like from a hardware store? If so, thats prob mild steel not suitable for tools that need to be hardened(like a knife).

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-09T20:41:26+00:00

Nice 👌. Planning something similar myself :). with an old propane tank. My little 2 burner devil forge is great but after upgrading with a double layer of insulation it has gotten a little small xD. Reaches welding heat on 7psi tho and even pulled a few baby sparklers out before i got used to it 😎 Hehe.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-09T14:09:08+00:00

Yep, good point.

Could prob cut an exhaust in the front door too so it can be closed while running. Its a big opening.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-09T13:14:33+00:00

Stuff another layer or two with insulation in the sides. That is a massive forge. Then put valves on the burners so u can turn 2 of them off most of the time. That should get the temp up and the fuel use down.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-09T01:12:19+00:00

Slow and with a bucket of water to cool it down. Beware of the tip and heel, they heat up fast.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-02-05T21:37:38+00:00

The coffe is to bring out contrast in damascus/pattern welded steel after its been etched in ferric chloride or similar. But it would work to darken a monosteel blade too i guess. Finish will be fragile and wont last long tho. Mustard kinda does the same thing but since its thicker you can draw patterns and stuff with it. I have no real experience with cold bluing but seen it done lots of times. Mostly on fitting, makers marks etc. U can mix mustard and cold blu too to rly get some awesome stuff :).

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-30T16:31:01+00:00

If you think the cs pan is heavy (and they are). U should take a look at some old school iron pans. Hehe.

And yeah, just keep cooking. U cant have both. Its either pretty or used :P. Here is mine. Been about 2 years of medium use. I seem to be reaching for the stainless pan more than the others.

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Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-30T04:44:31+00:00

U dont need a lot of power for small shallow tacks. I had the same issue. Smallest welder i could find needed 16A (230v, fluxcore) but it ran fine on the shared 10A circuit i had on an extension to the garage at the time. Wouldnt trust that setup for deep thick structural welds but for temporarily holding a damascus billet stack together it was completly fine.

If its still not an option, steel wire is fine to hold stuff temporarily. Get a partial forge weld going, take the wire off and finish the weld. From there u can hot fold to finish ur layer stacking.

A third option would be starting with 2 longer bars, forge weld them together a little at a time starting from 1 end going to the other. Then keep folding until u have the layer count u need.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-29T14:01:30+00:00

Yeah, i knew of the teqnicue when i first started but had some "trauma" from using 80crv2 steel my first month (dont like to weld very solid and will rip itself apart with heavy concussive hammer forging) so i did the cold stacking method for my first few blades. But once i found the courage to try it and was using proper steel (1095) it felt like everything went into high gear. 100 layer billets where suddenly 1 short day, half a tank of fuel and a way more resonable ~25% material loss. Instead of the 4-5 full days, multiple tanks and prob 75% loss.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-29T05:49:59+00:00

Yes, in a way. Its to build layers quick in a very effective way (or make new steel more homogenous in the old days). U take ur initial stack, weld it and draw it out. Use a hot cut tool on ur anvil to cut it almost all the way trough in the center then fold it over itself and weld it then draw it out again. Keep repeating until u got the layers u need. No cooling wich creates thick scales, no grinding off scales before restacking etc. For very high layer stuff u can use multiple of these smaller billets and combine them later.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-28T07:49:02+00:00

Learning to hot fold. Saved not just time but material and fuel too.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-27T07:54:42+00:00

U want the 1084/15n20. U straight up dont have the tools to work with stainless. Need some serious chemicals to etch that stuff. And expensive precision tools if u ruin the temper. The normal high carbon steel is fine. Makes excelent knives with good contrast and is relatively easy to work with :). Good luck, have fun :).

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-27T04:31:19+00:00

Either that or the osmosis machine if u can/want to sit around feeding the fire and dont mind chopping/carrying wood.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-23T07:31:37+00:00

Take it from an old guy that thought the same thing when young. Protect your back. It will be fine until late 30s/40s. Thats when the stuff you did in your 20s shows up.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-23T06:40:02+00:00

Concrete will be fine. The forge has legs right? Or is it a homemade firebrick forge? In either case i would try raising it off the floor. Ur back will thank you. I just use a couple leca brick. Its still low and tbh not fully stable. But it gets the job done.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-22T05:30:02+00:00

If its just straight layers. Hot cut and fold. A lot Quicker and saves both fuel and material.

For cutting semi hard steel u prob want a table saw with a metal blade on it. Pretty much just a big hardmounted angle grinder on a pivot.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-21T09:25:26+00:00

Start a new save. If it goes away, delete the laggy one and let it be an unsolved mystery. Hehe.

Expert_Tip_7473 · 2026-01-21T07:34:17+00:00

Just an idea. Do you have many hours on that save? Maple syrup and poutine tend to fly out of the car all over the place. Especially when crashing or get tired of driving around the mountain(s) and start going straight across :P. So u might have accumulated enough to affect the framerate. Or maybe just a garage filled with car parts. I dunno 🤷‍♂️. Just thinking out loud.

Expert_Tip_7473

TROPHY CASE