Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2004
- Messages
- 38,499
Tonight, I went to see a man about an anvil he was selling. When I got there,I knew I was in for a treat. His place had a big tractor barn, a blacksmith's shop, and a couple of other out buildings. All about the place were old ploughs, wagon wheels, tractors, farming equipment, ANVILS, wheelwright tools, etc. When he took me into his blacksmith shop, I thought I was on "This Old House meets Antiques Roadshow". It was like a museum of fine blacksmithing tools and equipment....with no electricity. Every tool was completely restored to late 1800's perfection and fully operational. The coal forge was his Grandfathers. There was a complete wall of tongs, and antiques covered the walls right up to the nearly twenty foot high cathedral ceiling. I could spend an hour listing all the goodies in that shop alone.
Then we went to the tractor barn. It is a full machine shop, with many antique tractors he is restoring....and several restored Champion forges and blowers in the process of restoration. There were many old Buffalo and Champion blowers, complete with legs, in perfect condition. He machines new parts for every worn out or missing piece.They look like they just arrived by stage coach in 1890.
Then we went to the storage building...where he had several more forge blowers, buckets of tongs and hammers, many post drills, and several post vises. I am not going to go into the odds and ends sitting everywhere.
He was apologetic when he would say, "That forge took me a long time to rebuild...I would have to get $250 for it"...this was describing a mint looking table forge with a blower and everything. Spin the crank, and it will turn for 15 seconds like there was a flywheel. He had other forges, completely restored and operable, for $150. The post vises ran from $40 to $60, the post drills ( these were really top condition antiques) were from $40 to $85.
The anvil I bought was a nice 100-115 pound English anvil. He is going up to Pennsylvania for an anvil run, and will be letting me know what new things he finds.
When all was done, I had a mint 4" post vise, an antique fullering hardie tool, a blower stand ,and the anvil...for $250.
If any of the Eastern Virginia makers and newbies want to get some really great tools and equipment, shoot me an email, and I will set you up with an introduction.
Stacy
Then we went to the tractor barn. It is a full machine shop, with many antique tractors he is restoring....and several restored Champion forges and blowers in the process of restoration. There were many old Buffalo and Champion blowers, complete with legs, in perfect condition. He machines new parts for every worn out or missing piece.They look like they just arrived by stage coach in 1890.
Then we went to the storage building...where he had several more forge blowers, buckets of tongs and hammers, many post drills, and several post vises. I am not going to go into the odds and ends sitting everywhere.
He was apologetic when he would say, "That forge took me a long time to rebuild...I would have to get $250 for it"...this was describing a mint looking table forge with a blower and everything. Spin the crank, and it will turn for 15 seconds like there was a flywheel. He had other forges, completely restored and operable, for $150. The post vises ran from $40 to $60, the post drills ( these were really top condition antiques) were from $40 to $85.
The anvil I bought was a nice 100-115 pound English anvil. He is going up to Pennsylvania for an anvil run, and will be letting me know what new things he finds.
When all was done, I had a mint 4" post vise, an antique fullering hardie tool, a blower stand ,and the anvil...for $250.
If any of the Eastern Virginia makers and newbies want to get some really great tools and equipment, shoot me an email, and I will set you up with an introduction.
Stacy
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