2 Questions 1. What happens when you dont clean your anvil? 2. Can you make a video of how to upkeep an anvil? LOVE your lessons here. I am so new and you are teaching me sooo much.
1 it wil rust but wont affect it in any ither way. Just brush the rust off and carry on. 2 i use a flap disc on my mini grinder to occasionally flat out any dents. If you know someone with a large surface milling machine that woukd be better.
Very helpful tutorial, I'll say that from the start. That said, is there some secret to getting these nice, clean, centered shoulders when doing a stick tang? I've tried this method you show where you strike just before the edge of the anvil with the piece lined up on it, but this just gives me a single shoulder and pushes my tang way down to one side. It's like I hit it once and the piece is immediately determined to only have one shoulder no matter how much I try to correct it from the other side.
So quick maybe stupid question is the tang supposed to be the same thickness as the Ricasso as a general rule or is it thinner at the tang and a line where it’s thicker where tang meets ricasso at the junction assuming there is no guard
I usually forge in shoulders for the guard to fit up against. This makes it marginally narrower than the ricasso. Then i apply a distal taper to both thickness and width. You always need shoulders if you want to fit a handle
