matt87

You mean... you're NOT that old!?! ;)

Paw Paw's death was truly a waste, but serves as an eternal reminder to us all; you might get away with cutting that corner or disabling that safety device 100 times, or you might die the first. It doesn't matter whether you're a greenhorn or a veteran if you know better, don't do it. Aged 1 or 100 you die just as dead just as easily.

Pocketknife, receipt for a cherry Coke and sack of charcoal, mobile phone, #2/HB pencil, wallet, handkerchiefs (2), key chain with 7 keys (1 to a bike lock stolen complete with bike over a month ago) a braided paracord thing, an LED light and a cheap karabina.

I would venture that you don't need a london-pattern anvil for making small tools. See the guide to anvils on the front page of I Forge Iron for some ideas. LB0005 Blacksmithing Anvils

Well, I'm quite tied down for now. Perhaps in a few years. Certainly better value than living here. And living next to you Frosty would be quite an experience! (Good, I think...)

What fuel were you using, Reb?

Don't tempt me Frosty; that would probably cost a similar amount to a 2-bed flat over here; property prices are through the roof (along with petrol/gas and diesel). Don't you just love imcompetent and greedy politicians?

I suspect there wouldn't be many; I get the suspicion that it's a fairly low-unit manufacturer (reseller?). Brooks on the other hand, there could well be a good few sitting round England, stopping doors, decorating gardens and stubbing toes in garages across the land. Plenty of anvils are put on eBay UK, most of the ones I've seen look like that sort; cast quality steel in the London pattern. They tend to go for a song too; would've picked one or two up if it weren't for the lack of a car.

Dragons, caves and waterfalls aside, right now I'd settle for a roof over my head, a better floor than badly supported concrete, a half-decent anvil stand, a mount for my vice and somewhere neighbours don't care about smoke or noise.

Sounds like work hardening of the face.

Mike, I don't know about how screened your driveway is, or what sort of neighbourhood you have, but I think that 175lb of anvil + say 200lb of sand (sandbox stand) wouldn't grow legs very fast... especially if you could shroud it with bins or cars or something. Besides, garages aren't actually designed to keep cars you know...

I like them smooth, and wooden. (Ooo er, Missus!) I find that even something like a small chip or split in the wrong place can be uncomfortable within seconds. (Smooth down to 0-size wirewool and raw linseed oil for me!)

Perhaps 'forge-drilling' means 'punching'?

Considering it's an Italian coin, I wonder if the 'al fresco' figure is in fact Vulcan (the Roman ripoff of Hyphestus). Cool find!

Ah, well done sir! There is a list of anvils being used as instruments here.

Wasn't there a Beatles song involving a blacksmith, or at least an anvil? Also, I like the mechanics aspects of the factory scenes in Schindler's List.

bp0186 Gives you one guy's take on the traditional oliver hammer. It's basically a hammer on an axle, with a bell-crank at each end. One attaches to a spring holding the hammer vertical when at rest. The second attaches to the treadle, which goes under or alongside the anvil. One in use here.

Thought I'd share this link with y'all from Tim Lively's site. Looks like something one could make with wood scraps and an afternoon. Save a lot of time, money and trouble finding and 'original' one too -- time, money and trouble better spent on hammering iron, on buying coal and on convincing the wife that 'it's not junk it's resources!' Blower Plans

That 'headache' is no worry if you're a man, Paul... looks like a Scold's Bridle to me. From back in the day when men were men, women knew their place, and mysogeny and domestic abuse were not uncommon.

Rkat, Try searching the gallery, there are a few pictures at least. Welcome to IFI.

Frosty has an experiment planned involving forge-brazing a new steel face onto an anvil body, but no one's sure if it'll work. If you can spare the cash, perhaps you can buy the partial anvil and keep it to one side for such a thing, for a doorstop, paperweight for use during a hurricane etc.

I remember a story from a photocopier repairman. Librarian goes into work one day, switches on and uses photocopier, only to hear a hideous shriek and the machine grind to a hault. Repairman turns up, opens phtocopier, turns out a mouse had decided that the machine was a good bed, but ended up repainting his new home personally...

According to Bealer it was two 'boys of colour', two nailmaker's anvils, two forges, two hammers, two hardies, two forges, and a heck of a lot of 1/4" rods...

For such a reactive metal the longevity of iron is amazing. On a dig last summer we were excavating on a manor house abandoned over 300 years ago and we were pulling all sorts of iron out of the ground; broadhead arrowheads where the barbs and socket were still intact; door hinges; over a hundred nails; I found a stick-tang knife in a few pieces in what was once a drain, and later someone found another, just missing the tip, just where I'd been standing a few minutes earlier. Probably the most amazing find was this. And all these finds were in a fairly acidic soil; no wood survived, just building materials like stone, plaster, mortar etc., metal, some shells (only a fraction) and some bones (most quite delicate). A fair amount of coarcoal though.

My archaeometallurgy tutor pronounces it 'twee-eeairrrr', but she has a fairly strong Sri Lankan accent. I pronounce it 'twee-air', but I've heard 'tweer' and 'tue'.