Heaviest hand tool I have worked on!

[Bundoman]

Not quite woodworking and only kinda a hand tool but thought I would share before and after son a nice Vulcan anvil I was asked to clean for a friend.  It tips the scales at 209 pounds and really is a dandy with a nice ring!  Makes my 87 pounder look a bit malnourished!  I was going to Etank this one but decided on wire wheeling instead.  This one is coated with linseed oil warmed in with my heat gun to protect the patina and keep future rust at bay.  I have read that this practice was used in the old days for anvils and I am pleased with the results.  She and I are discussing a swap as my smaller one would be more manageable for her to move so this may find permanent residence in my shop but that is TBD.  

Edited October 26, 2019 by Bundoman

[Gunny]

Cleaned up nicely.  

[Artie]

You keep posting pictures like this, people are gonna start sending you things to turn into after photos LOL. Beautiful job. 

[Cal]

Great job on the clean up.  I wonder who, in the old days, bothered to clean up and oil an anvil?  I've never seen one that didn't look like your first pic

[Gene Howe]

Looks great. A real beater.

[Bundoman]

1 hour ago, Cal said:

Great job on the clean up.  I wonder who, in the old days, bothered to clean up and oil an anvil?  I've never seen one that didn't look like your first pic

I wondered the same thing but from what I have read, it sounds 

like it was done as part of maintenance in some shops. All of the ones I have seen also are well covered in barnacles and/or beaten within an inch of life.  

[Bundoman]

I should add that I read about the BLO treatment thing on the internet so it has to be true, right?  It did seem to work well enough, though.

[Smallpatch]

I don't think BLO was meant for metal. At least you won't have any termites eating on your anvil!

[John Morris]

49 minutes ago, Smallpatch said:

I don't think BLO was meant for metal.

Actually it is and has been. For a very long time!

Metal workers use it to coat their metal work, I used it per the teachers instructions in my Junior High School shop class for coating some castings we made as part of our assignments. Preservationists of metal artifacts use it to preserve and stop oxidation of the metal they are working on.

And, here is a cool video on the subject, hey, we learn something new every day!  

 

 

 

 

[Bundoman]

49 minutes ago, Smallpatch said:

I don't think BLO was meant for metal. At least you won't have any termites eating on your anvil!

I had long held the same thought but have read so many articles to contradict my belief.  An internet search of boiled Linseed Oil for metal protection led me to do this.  There are a number of blogs and posts out there, supporting  BLO as a viable option.   It is a different and newer look for an item which is not everyone’s taste to be sure, including mine.  And, there are potential downsides if done incorrectly, the biggest of which can be a sticky surface if excess is not wiped off while wet. The upside I read is that the finish is tough and durable.  This anvil is planned to return to smithing so giving this a try. It is too soon for me to have formed a final opinion of whether I like the end result or not as a long term option, but I am pleased with the initial results.  The finish has been on 3 months now and seemed agreeable to high heat and humidity this summer.  Time will tell on this little experiment.  And the termites are angry!  Lol

[Bundoman]

4 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Actually it is and has been. For a very long time!

Metal workers use it to coat their metal work, I used it per the teachers instructions in my Junior High School shop class for coating some castings we made as part of our assignments. Preservationists of metal artifacts use it to preserve and stop oxidation of the metal they are working on.

And, here is a cool video on the subject, hey, we learn something new every day!  

 

 

 

 

Thanks John for sharing.  Haven’t figured out how to share these links.  

[John Morris]

For videos just copy paste the YouTube url into your topic, and it'll automatically populate a video.

[Bundoman]

5 minutes ago, John Morris said:

For videos just copy paste the YouTube url into your topic, and it'll automatically populate a video.

Cool! I tried it with some blog posts and while put put the link in the post, it didn’t seem to activate them.  iI will have to try again .  Thank for the help.

[Smallpatch]

John that's the dumbest thing I ever heard of... I can just see my aunt whos husband had a blacksmith-welding shop for 40 years or more.... and she would keep asking Clayton why he was always so sticky when he got home from work....I can't even get all that sticky substance out of your clothes even with two or three washings.. explain yourself!!!! And he says one of my workers keeps a can of something he rubs on all the equipment and I keep bumping in to that stuff by accident. Honey he is a good hand so I don't want to say anything to him for he might quit and go somewhere else. 

[John Morris]

30 minutes ago, Smallpatch said:

John that's the dumbest thing I ever heard of... I can just see my aunt whos husband had a blacksmith-welding shop for 40 years or more.... and she would keep asking Clayton why he was always so sticky when he got home from work....I can't even get all that sticky substance out of your clothes even with two or three washings.. explain yourself!!!! And he says one of my workers keeps a can of something he rubs on all the equipment and I keep bumping in to that stuff by accident. Honey he is a good hand so I don't want to say anything to him for he might quit and go somewhere else. 

Jess, we can't help the fact that one of your uncle's workers is the dumbest blacksmith who walked the earth and didn't know how to apply a tried and proven method to his metal work correctly. You are not supposed to use BLO on equipment and machinery, that is for sure without a doubt the dumbest thing I have ever heard.  You only apply it to finished work as needed and tools and implements to stifle rust. When done properly, it dries to hard sheen, and protects the surface.

[Smallpatch]

John I believe California has got to you and is starting to show......Do they sell and one way tickets out of that state or is it mandatory to stay there forever like the Governor tried to pass a bill stating that very thing???

[John Morris]

30 minutes ago, Smallpatch said:

John I believe California has got to you and is starting to show......Do they sell and one way tickets out of that state or is it mandatory to stay there forever like the Governor tried to pass a bill stating that very thing???

Jess, California has most definitely gotten to me, in 7 years I retire, and we are outta here. No plane ticket, we are filling our rigs up with very expensive California gas and heading out across the Colorado river never to return.

I still don't see though why your apprehension to using a tried and proven technique on metal work by using BLO. The proof is there, smithy's been using it for eons if you do a search and see the history of it all. Remember, it's not supposed to go on machinery with moving parts, only the end product and works to be preserved. Did you watch the video?

 

You need to use BLO with driers in the formula, pure Linseed Oil is not ideal as it does not harden. But the off the shelf linseed oil from your home center does harden very well. And it's an excellent preservative for metal.

We can also circle back to the world of woodworking too, woodworkers use BLO to coat their chisels with and turning tools, plane irons etc.

[Bundoman]

Feeling pretty honored to have sparked such spirited discussion!  And on a Saturday, no less!  Debate, discuss, and learn from each other!  That is why I pop in here now and again.  

 

[John Morris]

1 minute ago, Bundoman said:

Feeling pretty honored to have sparked such spirited discussion!  And on a Saturday, no less!  Debate, discuss, and learn from each other!  That is why I pop in here now and again.  

 

Me and Ol Jess have some great disagreements that usually get reduced to fun punches in the gut, it's all in great spirit, just like a couple guys sitting around the work bench and harassing each other.

[Bundoman]

12 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Me and Ol Jess have some great disagreements that usually get reduced to fun punches in the gut, it's all in great spirit, just like a couple guys sitting around the work bench and harassing each other.

I understand!  Differences make us greater!  As timing would have it, I just stepped in from the shop to grab a bite and saw this. Cleaning up the small anvil today in hopes ofputting together a trade for the big one and thinking it is getting the same BLO treatment.   The finish on the first is showing zero tack.  I can wipe the shop dust clean with the swipe of a shop towel.

 

 I was experimenting and I went a similar but slightly different way than the video on the anvil I did.  I applied a coat of BLO to the anvil at ambient temperature with a disposable brush and then warmed it in a bit with my heat gun.   The warm air nicely thinned the BLO and pushed it into the really rough areas of the anvil.   The heavy areas would sweat out and be runny and I rubbed those in with a blue shop towel.  After warming, I buffed the entire surface to get the excess oil and set it in the sunny shop door to dry.  It dried quickly because of the warming and took a nice sheen.

I must say it was easy and quick and it has no stick!  

Edited October 26, 2019 by Bundoman