Marc1

So true. However ... why do you think that a place of work is a social experiment where everything is fair and hunky-dory, and if it is not, then it should be or we can appeal to the fair-work-place fairy ? I can believe every horror story you can describe, but my point is a different one. A business purpose is making money for the owners/ shareholders, not to make life pleasant for the employees. It is an unfortunate reality and the reason for people to change jobs if they can. If they can not, they have to wear it. Where is the novelty? What power has the one with no power? There are lot of injustices in this world. Unpleasantries in the workplace are probably number 123 in the list of injustices. The present pandemic rates a tad higher in the list of injustices unleashed on humankind. In my personal opinion only of course.

Yes, George, you are stating the obvious and majority held view. However to repeat what others do with mediocre result and expect different results is not the best way, rather the worse. The alternative to an average system rigged to produce average workers to man the business of the successful, is the recognition that such is the purpose of the education system. Not to produce successful people but to produce useful mediocrity. Everyone is free to join the majority in their average quest for average results. I say, do so knowing that it will not be good for anything past average at best. The genius and the successful are those who develop the ability to see past the average blindfold. There was once a popular book on the subject. "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" ... so long ago.

What seems missing in most of the above stories, is the simple fact that a business exist for the singular purpose of making money. All the other intellectually construed and very peripheral concepts do not address the core issue. A business is there to make money, no money no business. So what really matters is, if the model works to make money. If the workers are happy, the middle management obsolete, irrelevant or corrupt, the owner an ogre, are all irrelevant if the business works. Perhaps even the business failure could not be attributed to the ubiquitous bad/ corrupt/ irrelevant management. If college would hold the key to good business (good as in making money), all college professor would be rich. Never wondered why schools do not teach the subject of how to make money? Money is taboo? Or is it that one's bank account is just too obvious of a declaration of incompetence on the subject ... and pretending falsely disinterest in money and interest in less "dirty" subjects, a way to deflect? If the workplace is supposed to be a happy place of gathering and pass the day, and to collect the paycheque once a fortnight whilst making memorable creations and build up stories to tell ... well ... I never got that particular memo. There is a say, that goes more or less like this ... If you are good at something, it is because of who you are. If you are no good at something, you teach it. Considering that most seek wisdom in business from books and lectures, it seems logic that school and university produces mediocrity, and geniuses come from school dropouts. Or ... if not dropouts, genius in business are so despite their teachers.

Well ... it seems we are over the worse in Sydney. Very few new cases coming up. The deadliest source of virus that lead to numerous dead was that confounded Ruby Princess cruise ship that was allowed to disembark despite medical advice against it. Lots of crocodile tear over this blunder will not bring back the dead. Allin all we are doing well comparing to other countries ... but no complacency. The virus is out there and will be for a long time unfortunately.

Been there, done that. I feel for you. At some stage I found some relief in a 2017 movie called "A dog's purpose" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1p5T5NM1eg Love you Frosty

Absolutely. A basic machinist technique. Reminds me of an aluminium intake manifold (8V )of dubious provenance that did not seal properly so I took it to machine the two faces. The shop cleaned both faces properly by indexing them individually on the shaper. Unfortunately just like the faces were not flat, neither were they at 90 degree to each other.

True, but I believe it was more to compensate future subsiding of the face then improving performance. Crowned face is better than sagging face, however you hear people saying they like a bit of a dip on their face. I rather have a flat or crowned one any time ... We are talking about anvils right?

Very nice both. Love the vice's leopard skin

Thank you Latticino for posting this videos. I had seen them before and they both have value. If you are interested in the various myth around anvils, like the value of ball bearing test and the value of a good stand or ground, I suggest to watch both and comment on them. My take goes as follows. Ball bearing test is useful to test the material the anvil is made of. More bounce, harder surface. Not much to debate there. Paraphrasing a couple of claims made in the first video: "The blacksmith is more efficient on an anvil with better rebound." Considering that the efficiency in question is completely subjective, it is impossible to detach the bias of the said blacksmith who knows in advance the anvil he is using, from some minuscule if even measurable difference. Still, we must concede that the worker must be happy with the tool he uses. If he says this anvil makes his job easier, then that is what it is. But we can not make a religion of it. Yes, there are some force losses into a softer anvil, I question if such losses can even be measured. But for argument sake, be it placebo effect or not, I settle for ... an anvil with more rebound will make working on it that little bit easier. second claim: "After observing how the stand sinks in the mud, it is obvious that some force from the hammer goes into the stand and the ground ... therefore ... a concrete floor, a better stand or both will increase the returned force from the anvil into the work. " or words to that effect ... Unfortunately here we part company. If the stand mass is part of the anvil mass, why do we buy different size anvils? Stands are cheaper by the kilo. Buy a 20 kg anvil and make a 200 kg stand and you are saving heaps! And the ground? Why don't we drill down to bedrock and pour concrete in the hole and call our anvil one that is the same mass as the earth ... or at least the continent we are standing on? Well I am exaggerating to make a point. Both ideas that stand and ground make any difference to the anvil effect, is missing the basic physics of collision that is at the heart of how an anvil works. Yes, there are losses when you hammer an anvil and those losses go in part into the base and the ground, but the important part is that such losses are gone forever never to return as soon as they depart the legs of the anvil. Second video, Claim: rebound is horse poo, worth nothing since the demonstration with plasticine shows the hammer does not bounce off plasticine on anvil or plasticine on wood. No difference. Well ... I said before that the so called rebound or rather return from the anvil is very small and more subjective than anything, but the plasticine demonstration is worthless. We don't forge plasticine, we forge hot steel and if you have ever done this just once, you know very well that the hammer DOES bounce off hot steel, even if it is white hot. So my take is ... Test your anvil before buying with a ball bearing. After all you have nothing else to test it with. Use the right size hammer to anvil ratio and the right size anvil to work size ratio. Consider your efficiency more in line with your skills and endurance than the rebound of the ball bearing. By all means build a proper sturdy solid stand and anchor your anvil down properly, but don't think for a moment that you are adding mass to the size of your anvil because you are not ... unfortunately. Fortunately for the anvil manufacturers who would otherwise be relegated to make 20 kg anvils to be bolted to 200 kg concrete blocks.

Definitely a solid anvil

I believe that I hold the record in highest number of thread ending post Not sure why ... do I intimidate others? or are my post so rotten that they stop anyone else from replying?

"The fallacy of leadership in business is ... that it exists"

Wouldn't that be Helenphobia? THere is no need for a vowel before the ph. You have Cyberphobia for example. Conceded all those long list of something phobia are made up words anyway, and most do have an o before the ph ... still ... it can lead to confusion unless you refer to people named Heleno ... for example some people have Marcphobia. If you say Marcophobia that would be someone else ...

If you intend to make lots of pizzas like in a restaurant and need them to come out nice and crisp in 2 to 3 minutes, you will have your oven at 350C or 660F, however ... you can cook pizzas at a slower pace with your oven at 400f or 200C If you want to incinerate you pizzas and your utensils you heat it up to 1100F and the incineration process will be instantaneous ,,, I am sure the above is a mistake and the OP meant to say 600F not 600C. Furthermore the temperatures people state their oven is at, must be adjusted according to how it was measured. I have a fixed gage on the side of the oven some 6" off the floor, yet is is more for decoration purposes. There is a wide fluctuation of temperature in a wood fired oven, that can go from say 400C in the back and 200C in the front with the door open. The dome can be up to 450C and the floor as low as 150. Then there is the convection movement that adds to the complexity of measuring the temperature inside a cavity that has air circulating, radiated heat from hot coals, from floor and dome. There is one youtube channel I found to be helpful when it comes to cooking, it is "The wood fired pizza oven chef". As for building one, if you want to get a headache and listen to the cacophony of one-oven-experts, go to "Forno Bravo", the noise is indescribable yet a lot of good information if you can find it among the chaff. Otherwise some good books around. I built a few ovens following the instructions of Russell Jeavons book, only because he has built a dozen or so himself and uses one in his restaurant. My previous built made with house bricks and mud from the river, mixed with lawn clippings in a pit by my kids stomping on it worked a treat too and my brother is still using it 30 years later. No refractory slab.

If you want to make a pizza oven that works, ask about how to make a pizza oven, without your own premises. If you want to make a refractory slab for a kiln, you probably need an industrial chemist. Because you don't need any of that for a pizza oven, even the most sophisticated one. 20"x23" is a puny surface for a pizza oven. You need about 40" diameter and not higher than 20". The door dimensions are also crucial but most of all, the efforts into insulation are not on the floor, but the dome. Your concerns about smooth surface and clean, no sand, are noted but misdirected. There is such thing as steel brush to clean the oven floor, and a mop or vacuum cleaner when it is cold. I suggest you ask your local italian pizzeria to allow you in the kitchen to observe how a wood fired oven is used and pizza is made. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Pompey ovens are thousands of years old, made with clay without refractory materials, perlite render or any other modern day technical additions. Oh, and if you intend to heat your oven to 600C and keep it at that temperature to cook pizza ... better call the fire brigade in advance As for youtube "how to make a pizza oven" they are as plentiful as they are wrong and will mislead you. The number of people who pontificate about how to, after building ONE oven is staggering.

A 3HP electric motor will replace a 5 hp petrol engine, so a 3.5 hp electric motor is what you need. Of course if you buy a Chinese motor, all bets are off, their rating has a creative component. otherwise 3.5 should do it.

Wow mate ... you must buy Evaporust by the drum! Are you finding a way to sell the tools?

Nice stump, make sure you work out the right height for you. For me it is wrist height not knuckle height ... but I have gorilla long arms

Seen plenty in use around here. I know of one in a mechanic workshop in Maroota that is easy 700 lb. 3 generations of mechanics doing truck springs repairs on it, not much damage. Is that one in the photo yours? The anvil looks terrific. However ... I wouldn't like to work with that base. There was a guy born in Sweden living in North Queensland doing metalwork and complaining about the heat ... "Platypus gardens" was his nome de plume.

Why not build yourself a striking anvil? All you need is a thick plate say 2"x8" and some 12" long. Build legs as you see fit and Bob is your uncle. Here is a fancy one. https://youtu.be/z4IowHptu9Y

Quaranteen Sydney style https://youtu.be/CiwhfF5X5Jg

That chart is a bit deceiving. What size is "over 1/8" ? 12" is over 1/8 . To try to weld 3/4" to 1/4" plate with 145 amps is possible, if the weld is just to stick them together with not much structural requirement. otherwise you would go with 250 / 300 AMP full blast and 5/32 rod.

Ha ha, reminds me of John Cleese (Basil, Fawlty Towers) who after 4 failed marriages is quoted to say that now ... " I try to bypass the middleman. I date women I dislike and buy them a house"

.. how long can the new coronavirus linger on surfaces, anyway? The short answer is, we don't know. A new analysis found that the virus can remain viable in the air for up to 3 hours, on copper for up to 4 hours, on cardboard up to 24 hours and on plastic and stainless steel up to 72 hours. This study was originally published in the preprint database medRxiv on March 11, and now a revised version was published March 17 in The New England Journal of Medicine