Big Barn’s Retirement Farm Shop

[Big Barn]

An acquaintance who frequents estate and garage sales had this sawyer's anvil for sale....

so I grabbed it. 72 pounds, 4"x6" face and 95% rebound. It cleaned up nicely ...

I also bought this Craftsman branded Kennedy 7 drawer machinist chest.

and these three vintage dental cabinets ...

 

[Big Barn]

I picked up these two little sheet metal or silversmith hammers a few weeks back.

Today I replaced the handle on the smaller one (zebra wood ) and dressed the heads.

I usually rub the handles with linseed or tung oil.

 

[bigtiller]

Big Barn wrote;
so I grabbed it. 72 pounds, 4"x6" face and 95% rebound. It cleaned up nicely ...

What is 95% rebound?

 

[Big Barn]

@bigtiller rebound is an indication of an anvil face's hardness in conjunction with mass.

Good rebound or "return" is arguably related to less stress for the smith at the end of a long day swinging a heavy hammer.

If I drop a 1" ball bearing from a height of 10 inches and it bounces back to 9.5" that would be 95% rebound and considered very good.

My concrete shop floor affords approximately 20% rebound whereas this 300 pound I -beam records a dismal 10%.

 

[bigtiller]

Thanks for the explanation.
If I had a 1" ball bearing, I know what I would be doing for entertainment tomorrow.

 

[dstig1]

So what is a sawyer's anvil and how is it used differently than a regular anvil? And why is the rebound so poor on that giant slab o' steel?

 

[Big Barn]

The original sawyer anvils were used to forge saw blades but later were used to put a slight surface tension in a circular saw blade.

Tension was put into the saw blade with a hammer while cold.

Poor rebound on my I-beam would be indicative of a lower quality steel.

 

[dstig1]

Just cold working the surface to add a bit of work hardening?

And of course we all eagerly await your first forged saw blade

 

[Big Barn]

I got another hammer today. It's quite unusual. Looks like it could be used as a pipe wrench also.

Ridgid 10" Raprench

 

[goeduck]

My friend's MAC wrenches are no better than my Craftsman wrenches when used as hammers. I do not know about pipe wrenches.

-not serious Ducky