Essentials of Blacksmithing | Page 15 | Construction and DIY projects | Forums

Looking awesome!

I'm not very knowledgeable on the topic of blacksmithing so I appreciate all of the info everyone's been providing here. I normally wouldn't have anything to contribute but wanted to share a photo I took today of George Washington's blacksmithing shop at his Mount Vernon homestead.

The blacksmith on duty told me something that I hadn't previously known: due to the availability of steel, most tools were bi-metallic, with an iron body and a steel blade for example. 

Since we're speaking of anvils, anyone interested in buying one should join the "Blacksmithing for Beginners" Facebook page.  The page admin, Stuart Geisler birddogs anvils off craigslist and auction sites.  He posts the available ones, and if no one buys them he snags them up himself and resells them.  

One interesting thing that has happened because of the size of the group, and the daily additions is that the group my have singlehandedly convinced Harbor Freight to add a cast steel anvil to their inventory. They used to carry a Russian-made one, but have carried cast iron ones as of late.  There is also talk of an Australian guy on the group who purchased the specs for some old Hay Buden anvils and is in talks with a Forge to make cast steel/tempered ones from 35# to@300#. He was talking $4/lb brand new, and shipping to the US would be right around $100 for a 200# anvil. This is all happening because of the demand caused by this group. (26,000 members as of today)

Actually, anyone interested in blacksmithing should join the page.  There are some awesome smiths who share knowledge freely and have started Youtube channels because of requests from the group.  The files section alone is worth the hours of reading (top of the page under the backround pic).