Dan P.

Where would Quad State be? If it's in the south west, then probably no. Realistically speaking, if and when a move is made, it will probably be cost effective for me to hire a container anyway. Given the apparent price of old anvils in the US relative to what they are here, I might even pack a few extra in. For sale. At quad State.

Thanks for the answers, chaps. Sounds like they might be one to give a miss? I have had a look at JHM anvils as well, but was put off by the fact that they are cast ductile (if I remember correctly), and are consistently advertised as being work-hardenable (which to my mind is either irrelevant or undesirable). The reason I wanted to know is because there is a fair chance that I may be moving to the US (where my wife is from), and I've been thinking about where I will be able to get an anvil from. I won't have the time or patience to go hunting for a decent second hand one, and I really do not like the "european pattern" anvils which are so popular with youse lot. I may just have to ship all of my junk out there!

Hmmm. I'm not sure what to make of your review! The lack of rebound part sounds bad, as that is pretty much the mark by which quality is judged. I was thinking of the 200lb shop anvil, not one of the portable shoers' ones.

As Glenn said, I'd recommend a Y shaped back strap, putting the weight on the shoulders rather than hanging off your neck. Otherwise I'd recommend two things; first, make it so that it hangs below your knee; you'll be glad of it when you absent mindedly try to "catch" a bit of hot metal falling off your anvil with your knee! Second, make it so that it covers as much of your sides as possible; it'll protect you when you're leaning over larger pieces or pieces in the vice.

Anyone had one or used one? I have done a few trawls of google and didn't find any reports or reviews. Thanks, Dan

Well, I don't do leatherwork, but I was able to make myself a very nice apron out of 3mm topside (is that the right term? The top of the skin where the hair was), rivetted up with copper rivets. I thought it would be too thick but it's not. The welders' aprons commonly sold are usually very low quality suede, and ususally pucker up and go hard and brittle when burnt at all. The thick buff leather used in farriers' aprons is a whole lot better, but topside is the best. I give mine a good clean and oil every year or so, and in return it protects me from weld spatter (both kinds), flying bits of steel, flying bits of coke, flying bits of swarf (which usually end up in my socks instead), burns, radiated heat, flying wire brush bristles, and a whole lot else besides. Most noticeably, on a day to day basis, it protects me and my clothes from a world of nasty, dusty, greasy dirt, and while there are plenty of blacksmiths out there who seem to enjoy appearing as if they just crawled off the set of a Mad Max film, I do not. So- yes, get an apron. If you spend a little money on nice leather, it will serve you well for a long time.

At Mr. Periwinkle's Academy for Young Gentlemen, we were taught not to use gloves, as it indicated a deficiency either in your ability to control your heat, or in your ability to use tongs.

To be found here: Guild Gallery: Works by Tom Latané

There is a smith by the name of Thomas Latane who lives in Wisconsin, though I don't know exactly where, who gives courses. From the little work of his that I have seen, he is a world class artist smith of the traditional sort. Google him for details.

I will take photos next time I haul out my bellows. I'll also draw up and post a basic schematic once I figure out how. I use a apple cube-box or whatever it's called (a cast off from my brother), and haven't found it much cop.

Round swages keep the underside of round stock round when you are working it, and keeps square stock square. Good for making half round section, for collars etc. Good for one hundred and one uses where you do not want to deform the underside of your metal.

Those bellows are quite common in the UK. I am currently (and very slowly) renovating a pair of these. They are actually quite elaborate on the inside, with three chambers and four valves, to the effect that they "inhale" on both the up stroke and the down stroke. When one of the valves breaks (usually the leather is eaten by mice), it is impossible to know which one it is, and it's a serious pain in the fundament to find out. I believe that they were developed as a more efficient system to deal with the switch from coal to coke. I think the estimate of 1850's is a bit hopeful! Probably more like 1930's.

Whatever the preferences of individuals and their work habits, I think that to be able to stand in front of a group of your peers and call yourself a blacksmith, you must have mastered the skills of a blacksmith. I am not saying everyone here, or everyone who uses a hammer and an anvil is claiming to be a blacksmith, but I do believe that blacksmithing is a more-or-less defined and self-contained craft with set of skills required of practitioners. As such, I would argue against defining any blacksmithing process as "traditional" or "period".

I would advise against buying anvils unseen (i.e. from ebay) unless the seller is happy to provide you with a dozen pictures. I would warn the beginner against anyone who makes claims of an anvil they want to sell you, they are almost certainly unqualified. I would also say that if you do buy an anvil that is no longer in its prime, especially if you are a beginner, please just let the anvil show you what it can do before you go and grind bits, weld bits up, etc.

Reading the posts on this thread through, I see a recurring theme- that innovations (electric welding, propane forges et al) are presumed to be more efficient, which is really not necessarily true. In the flurry of change that saw the village blacksmith become village mechanic in one generation, in many places a lot of the efficient methods of using the old (but efficient) techniques were lost. In some places, however, smiths maintained their practices, because they were stubborn or lazy, perhaps because they were ignorant, or perhaps they assessed the new technology and found it wanting. For example; I was extremely lucky to briefly study under a successful and venerable smith who uses leather bellows, because his master used them, and so on, all the way back (I understand they were pretty common in country smithies up till the 70's)! People think him eccentric, but his bellows are not less efficient than a blower. And what does his "eccentricity" cost him? Somewhat stronger shoulders, a somewhat smaller electricity bill, and an unforgettable rythm and cadence unchanged for millenia. Again, it boils down to what you personally choose, and your ability to fully inform those choices.

My problem, to be blunt, is that I've heard the "time and money" excuse from too many "smiths" who just don't have the skills to do it properly, and who, as it happens, are not particularly time or cost effective either! As far as fire-welding being period rather than traditional, well, it depends how good you are at it. I don't know if I'm quicker at fire welding than I am at grinding back and forging over electric welds, I might be, but either way, I see it like this; if it takes me 30 minutes to do it by "cheating", and 45 to do it the old way, the former is a fairly boring 30 minutes, the latter is what gets me out of bed in the morning. I would never say that electric welding has no place in my smithy, and I am neither a lunatic nor a millionaire that I'm going to try and fire-weld crummy security grilles or spend my time riveting up big structural bits of plate, but mine is a smithy first, and the fire is king. Lastly, I would like to add that when I first wanted to get into blacksmithing I was told time and again that I was going to have to realize that the "traditional" techniques weren't feasable, that it was "too expensive", etc. I am very grateful to have since met smiths who have shown me that the techniques used are entirely the choice of the craftsman, whether the customer knows the difference or not. I guess in the end it is a question of what you want for yourself.

It's always been a bit of a touchy subject, the traditional vs. contemporary techniques argument, so as a newbie I'll refrain from elaborating on my opinions for the moment. I will say, however, that I would be surprised if there were many people who couldn't tell the difference between an arc or mig weld and a fire weld! Also to address mcraigl's comment about blacksmiths of old using electric welding equipment- well, yes! But isn't that pretty much who we are? Blacksmiths with welding machines? I'm sure if they'd had them back then some people would have used them alot, and some people would have been snooty about them, just as they are today.

Don- you're preparing the surfaces to be welded, then welding them, then grinding them smooth, then forging it over to make it look like it was forged to begin with? With all due respect, it seems that there is something amiss here!

No apology or explanation necessary, Apprenticeman, I was really just elaborating on what you said. I would also add that expressing criticism, positive or negative, of any particular design is to be encouraged, and there is nothing close minded about rejecting a bad idea.

Not necessarily a PITA to use, just to construct. I think, like everybody else in the world, blacksmiths get excited by the promise of new, exotic and, perhaps, more efficient systems. In this particular case, the exitement seems to be immediately followed by the question "how is this convoluted and inconvenient system better than the one I already have?" Once people get over the novelty of it, they will probably go back to what they learnt on. Similarly, I have worked on a number of home-made bottom blast forges here in the UK, and they never work quite right, because we don't have the know how and accumulated experience, and because they aren't available commercially, so we don't even know what a "proper" one should look like!

Im in the UK, and, like many in the US, it is not very often I have the option of buying a British made power tool, if ever. I have actually never bought a first-hand British made power tool. Now, as a blacksmith, I have the option of buying British made blacksmith tools, but I don't, because those I have come accross are rubbish (in my opinion). It's an example of a difficult position I find myself in, because it is obviously upsetting to see how the industry of production has been so utterly devastated in this country, but why should I buy a sub-standard tool?

John B- thanks for the information concerning solid tues and coal. It had not occured to me that that was why they are so rare. The one smith I know who uses one uses coal. There you go! I made a solid tue myself some years ago, but never used it because I wasn't confident that it would'nt burn up. I have also wondered whether the application of fire clay would preserve a solid tue.

Have a look here; http://www.markaspery.net/Articles_files/Side%20Blast%20forge.pdfe My tue is not tapered as it is shown in the link. It is just a straight length of pipe (around 5" diameter, I think). I didn't really bother to read the article, but I would note is that it is very important, should you want to build one, that the tue does not point upwards at all! The result would be a bubble in the water jacket, a flurry of sparks as the tue burns through, and a lot of steam as the water tank (or "back bosh") empties itself into your fire! British (and Irish?) smiths, of which I am one, do, in my experience, almost exclusively use side blast, water cooled tues. I'm sure there are some who use just bits of pipe, I have only seen this once, but it's not a very efficient system for a professional or serious smith. I do know a smith who uses a very massive solid side blast tue, but that's very rare, and I'm pretty sure solid (aka "dry") tues of that size are no longer produced. Smaller ones are produced for portable forges.

I was tought to weld by judging the appearance of the metal itself, namely that when the metal appears to liquify on the outside, like a melting ice cube, it is ready. Now, being in the UK, we (generally) work with coke on side-blast forges, and when I personally fire weld I have the work right on top of my fire, first so that I can see it, and second so that their is lots of fuel between my metal and the air blast. This means that not only do I not have to look for sparks, but, if things are done correctly, there aren't any. Of course, this may not work at all on a bottom blast forge with coal, so then maybe watching for sparks are the way to go?

I obviously agree completely, Glenn, but the specific point I was making is that burning your material, ie taking it to a sparkling heat, whether wrought iron or otherwise, is bad for it. In my opinion, the 'sine qua non' of a competent blacksmith is good fire control, and good fire control precludes "sparkling" heats, i.e. burning the material!