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Old 03-26-2017, 03:50 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Decatur, IL
Posts: 2,612
I've used a 66 lb anvil and even though they're better than a railroad track anvil they are pretty underweight for forging knives. The reason for this is that that most of the mass of the anvil is not underneath the work. The common advice for a London or like style of anvil is to get one at least 200 lbs. Another option is to get a block of steel or a post anvil which, even though they are lighter, put most of the mass under the work and therefore are more efficient.

As far as the forges go those that are advertised are built with horse shoeing or general blacksmithing in mind. With the flame coming right down on the floor of the forge one runs the risk of burning the carbon out of high carbon steel and it's not good conditions for heat treating. For knife making you need a forge that has the flame coming into the forge at a tangent above the work and swirling around the forge . You can also build a forge for much less than those listed. I don't have half the money tied up in both the forges that I built than some of those listed.

Doug


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