Dan P.

Yes, UK. London, in fact, the capital city! In this country I have only ever seen people do the elaborate hammer signals as a "demonstration", never as something that working people actually do. Re; eye contact- your striker should be watching, should he not, and waiting?

Traditional blacksmiths, in this country at least, traditionally used the traditional method of vocal commands, which they found most effective in communicating with persons sometimes located up to three yards away! Sometimes even eye contact was used!!

Ha! Point elegantly made!

Mr. J.G.Holmstrom, God love him, is to be taken with a pinch of salt. "The smith calls the helper by three blows on the anvil". What was the helper doing? Playing cards? Making a phone call? Doing a little Boxersize? I can't help but believe that the whole smith & striker signals on the anvil thing is only so much guff put about by people who simply must have an opinion on everything, like Mr. J.G.Holmstrom.

It seems a lot of expense to go to avoid making a bolster plate, and there is also the integrity of the anvil that must logically be compromised.

I went to Hereford myself. I did a diploma in blacksmithing & metalwork but flirted with the idea of farriery until I realised that I don't like horses or the the people that own them (no offence, but I understand this is a common complaint amongst farriers; the horse owners). I understand the AFA is well respected here in the UK, and I believe there is not much greater authority then your own Doug Butler, whatever side of the pond you come from. Here's a link to the anvil tongs I was talking about, they're toward the bottom of the page: http://www.handmadeshoesltd.co.uk/exclusives-DG-see-products.asp

It has excellent rebound, but is quite dull sounding, which actually suits me fine.

Yes, it was a pretty ok price, though in all truth it is hornless, which is a big minus no matter what you are doing. Grant- my question was not an "oh help" question. I am actually curious if anyone knows whether there was a standard face thickness or whether they were just dressed as best the forging allowed. And no, I can't always get another if iit fails. The same way my hen can't get new teeth if hers fail, if you get my meaning.

Well, I'll be! Overpowered AND inaccurate! I hope the fellow using those nips has good insurance! And also, I'm not a farrier, but is he not "dobbing" that hoof? If so it is a practice very much frowned on in this country, and I presume yours as well. Speaking of which, and as you will probably know, farriers here in the UK must do a forging certificate as well as a compulsory 4 year apprenticeship before qualifying, which means they can hot rasp like champs, even if they never do it in their day job.

How I learned smith & striker was, on extracting the work from the fire the smith says; "yes please, Mr.X", and then the smith and Mr.X go to until the smith says something like "whoa!" or "that's it!" or "thank you!". As far as rythm goes, you need to have a striker that knows what is going on. They need to be a smith themselves. Also, as a lefty, I can tell you it is also important to have the smith and striker/strikers of all the same handedness, otherwise hammers can clash. Luckily for us, the use of strikers is now mostly obsolete, and I think the tippy-tappy striker signals are essentially showmanship, enjoyable none the less. Dan

As you will probably know, Wesley, one of the big name US farrier's was marketing one of these with a hydraulic action. Here in the UK one of our own big name farriers produces the old style hardy tongs. They are basically enormous tongs, one rein is short and goes in the hardy hole, the other is long and you sit on it while you hot rasp your shoe. You farriers and your hot rasping!

I recently "scored" a bladesmith's anvil on ebay (UK ebay). In wire brushing it it was revealed that it is a peter wright, weight; 2 1 2 (250 something lbs). Needless to say I was quite pleased. It was £72. Anyway my question is this; does anyone know how thick the steel is on peter wright anvils? On mine it appears to be about 10mm at the corners and about half that along the edges. This seems awfully thin to me, or is it that the wrought iron was somehow folded up over the steel at the edges?? Does anyone know? -Dan

Years ago I was upbraided on the anvilfire forums for casting aspersions on the Hofi anvil. I did it in a way that was sort of rude, and I apologized at the time. I still question, however, and will always question the need for four (four!!) pritchel holes. The Ozark anvil is only slightly less outlandish with three. I'm sure the metallurgical properties of both anvils are excellent, but I cannot help but suspect that they are both products of people re-inventing the wheel.

I've used both, but can only really claim knowledge in the field of coke. Suitability for forgework is most immediately dictated, in the case of coke, by the size of the pieces. In the UK they are apparently graded using various quaint terms; beans, peas, nuts, singles, bingles, bananas, coconuts, or whatever. The terms may have meant something in our industrial heyday. If they mean anything now the person on the phone that you are ordering from will almost certainly not know what it is. So anyway, when it comes to forging coke, size matters. Avoid anything over 20mm if you can. Anything bigger you will be fighting to keep the heat up and the oxidation down. If you aren't using your forge for welding, it will obviously matter a great deal less. Ultimately, it will come down to what is available, suitable and expedient to your set up. -Dan PS you may already have read elsewhere that coke requires a stout blast, which needs to be bourne in mind.

I should add that the correct place for it is under or behind the forge, or in the scrap bin, or, if it is still hot, it can be placed into the rubbish bin where it can cause a small fire. Or, if you are using someone else's forge, you can smash it into little bits and mix it in with their coke. Oh, the comedy!

An ancient and deeply obnoxious tradition amongst British blacksmiths is to dump the clinker into the front bosh, especially if it is not their own forge.

I bought a pair of Walkley's clogs. They were truly rubbish. Very flat soles, both inside and out. If you want British style clogs, better to go to one of the people who "downsized to the country and set up a workshop to make clogs" that Sam was so disparaging about. They are more expensive, but some of the makers are very skilled, and you won't end up with Frankenstein boots like Sam and I have!

The logic is clearer to me now, Brian, but I am still skeptical of the idea that the time spent drawing down from square or round stock will be less than that lost in re-heating flat stock due to contact with the anvil.

A "Stiddy" can be more or less any anvil or stake. It's a northern English word, hence the usual association with cutler's stiddies, Sheffield being the main centre of English cutlery.

Orthodoxy is challenged in this statement!

Grant, I understand what you were trying to do. I just wanted to point out that evolution has already taken the anvil down that route, where, in a very specific environment, it found a niche. That environment changed, and the die bearing anvil died out. However, having thought about it for a day or so, I actually I like the idea a lot, but as an anvil height swage, fuller and die tool with real stability and presence, not as an anvil substitute. I also think mattbower's suggestion of a cast base (ductile iron?) is a good one. -Dan

I saw that one and had to think about why I didn't need it! Glad it went to a good home. will you post pictures of it cleaned up? I too was curious about the little tail. -Dan

How do you swage down stock in a hole?

Sam, I don't mean to disparage, but how many time in a decade do you use the holes in a swage block?