Hi All, I’m looking at adding a few things to my home studio soon and
would like your advice or thoughts on what exactly I should get.
First is an anvil - when I went to college there were a couple of
anvils there (maybe blacksmiths?) which had a flat section and horn,
with a square hole at the outside end of the flat section. I would
like to get an anvil like this but am not sure what type of places
would supply them. I wish to start doing some cold forging in
silver and raising hollow-ware so I am wondering what anyone
experienced in these things would recommend as the basics required
in the way of hammers and stakes. Also, will commercially available
stakes automatically fit the square hole in the anvil?
Second is a flexi-drive. I have done a fair bit of research on this
and had a look at what is available from suppliers in my city… I
think I will go for something middle of the range - before I go and
buy one though is there anything I should watch out for? Are there
any minimum requirements of the machine for working in metal.
Finally, I am looking at getting a polishing machine. I have heard
that you can modify a grinder available at hardware stores by adding
tapered mandrels and that this should be sufficient for the job.
Again, is there anything in the way of minimum requirements that I
would need to consider, and is there anything I should avoid? Also,
I have heard many times of people using a modified vacuum cleaner
for dust extraction for the polishing process - for anyone who uses
this, how effective is it? Does one need to wear a dust mask in
consideration of the dust that is not collected by the vacuum
cleaner?
Thanks all for your help, I greatly appreciate it!
Tina