quickest dirtiest forge possible

[JohnBoy]

It was. I don't think I'd have given money for it!

[USMCPOP]

I have an anvil something like that, though it still has a tail. Looks like a sway-back horse with the dip in the middle. Mine's pretty hefty. My brother bought it for about $30 and gave it to me. Mine's 22.5" from tip to tail. The top is maybe 1/2" thick welded to the bottom. The body must be wrought iron to take that abuse.

[LW Hiway]

Wow John, that anvil must have a colorful history.

For several years now, I've enjoyed having a box forge, crucible forge and a typical Smithy's hole. I can use propane, coal and heavy oils for casting or heating etc.

With the oil burner I'm able to do brass and cast iron work/casting etc.

Although, my age is telling anytime I pick up one of those heavy hammers. sigh

FWIW, it's a good idea to give a little heat to your box to drive off a bit of moisture before you go full in. Just my thoughts.

Years ago, a friend made a melting pot forge, let it sit for a year and put heat to it without allowing for moisture to move out of the refractory.

The lid let loose and peppered his garage with shrapnel. Put a good sized hole in his thigh.

[terry lingle]

There is a 250 ,000 Btu waste burner at the fish camp used to dispose of food waste as we are not allowed to dump it either in the ocean (polutioon) or in a ( dump site because it attracts Grizzly bears and thus is an extreme hazard to people in the area.
The fire box is cast refractory so we go to lengths to prevent moisture issues during the closed season.
Start up each season is a lengthy careful process that brings the refractory up to 200 deg F and holds it there by multiple short firings over a 24 hour period.
so far so good.
last year we nearly lost the machine because a returning employee that had been in charge of operating the burner decided to burn a load of kitchen waste as soon as I got power to that float which is by choice sheltered and hidden from customer view.
I saw the steam cloud forming and managed to turn it off before if damaged itself. In addition to what he had just put in the firebox was 1/4 full of wet ashes from last season which Were supposed to have been cleaned out as part of the shut down at the end of the previous season.
That little fiasco cost him his job - not the fire this year but the failure to service the machine properly at the end of the previous season.

[JohnBoy]

After recent building work i had some scrap 9x2s so went with the measure to the knuckles method of getting a height.

Gave the wrecked anvil a bit of hammering. Theres a half decent bounce on the four corners but the middle is really like a sponge with at best half the bounce.

I'm gonna see if I can get a broken/bent pallet fork and cut a new top for it I reckon

[Ironman]

That anvil was rode hard and put away wet. The blocking looks good on it.

[USMCPOP]

I just had a couple large red Oak trees taken down. I have a number of rounds of 16-18" diameter or more and the same length. I'm finally going to get my anvil off the floor.

[midmosandblasting]

Pop you can't do the floor squats any more like your trainers ?

[USMCPOP]

Originally Posted by midmosandblasting

Pop you can't do the floor squats any more like your trainers ?

I can squat just fine, thank you. Getting back up is the problem. Last time I lifted the anvil about 8" to put on a cart was 15+ years ago, and that was a struggle. It has to be at least 150-200#.