JHCC

Oh, you're saying, "Take these earrings, forge them to twice their current length, cut them in half, and make two sets of earrings"? Sure, that would work.

Once you get good at it, you'll have the bottom clean and the diaper changed in less time than it takes to find the mask and put it on.

Most likely no. Anvil shape suggests it was made after 1880's. Civil war was 1861 - 1865. The confederate states were dissolved 1865. This anvil was made at least a couple decades after the war ended. This is probably a badge of a business that bought and used the anvil. A lot of commercial and institutional users often tagged their property. Besides, it still has the horn.

Use as a paperweight would require exceptionally large paper and hurricane-force winds. If I had this beastie in addition to my main forging anvil, I would probably make it the dedicated anvil for a treadle hammer or the like, where you'll be hammering over the sweet spot pretty much all the time. That would put the tail at substantially lower risk of further breakage.

Change is good. I embrace change.

Twice as long and half as thick would be the same weight, Frosty. "Same length, half as thick" or "twice as long, twice as wide, half as thick" would be half the weight.

In the "Never too early to start planning" department, I just made my hotel reservation for Quad-State 2018. (I actually made reservations for both September 21-23 and September 28-30, since I'm not sure which weekend it will be. One of the (few) benefits of frequent business travel is the hotel reward points!) Looking forward to meeting all of you, finally!

Gorgeous.

It's not always the things you know that will trip you up: it's the things you don't know, the things that are deep down, the things you haven't yet learned about yourself. Getting married, having a baby, moving, getting a job, losing a job, losing a parent -- all of these things will shake loose whatever isn't tied down in your head. The bad news is, this can be incredibly painful and difficult. The good news is, it will teach you more about yourself and give you the opportunity to work through the things that are holding you back. The fact that you're already aware of this and willing to put in the time, Das, tells me that you'll be fine. Good luck!

Yes. Unless you're planning on getting deep into casting, I wouldn't even bother. There are some tools that can be made by casting that might end up in your skill zone at some point (brass hammer, for example), but (A) you don't need them at the novice level, (B) you can probably find one at the flea market for cheap, and (C) it's going to take a huge investment of time and money to get to that point. Then pick ONE craft and work on that. If you want to cast, cast. If you want to smith, smith. Starting two different things at the novice level simultaneously is just going to slow you down on both. Don't go chasing down the rabbit hole in pursuit of stuff that's cool or fancy or weird; all that can come later. Assuming that you want to smith, the single most valuable thing you can do with your time is to invest it in learning basic skills: drawing out, upsetting, bending, twisting, punching, etc. The single most valuable thing you can do with your money is to invest in (A) affordable basic tools and (B) instruction in basic skills.

Welcome! We'd love to see pictures, both of your current knives and of those you forge as things progress.

Welcome to IFI, @Col Defender! As noted above, Peter Wright anvils are generally considered very good, depending on their condition. You can learn more from the Peter Wright entries on the "Anvil Reviews by Brand" section of the forum, and please make sure to read the "Anvils: A beginner's buying guide" article by @Everything Mac. But first, head over to the Introduce Yourself section and let us know who you are, but be sure to READ THIS FIRST!

Aardvark is from Dutch aardvarken: aarde "earth" + varken "pig" (by way of Afrikaans). Yes, this anvil definitely deserves to be Lyonized.

Sulfur expands as it cools, locking the tang in place.

It's a feature, not a bug!

Great job, Theo. Undisputed champion! Love the jokes, but what did you do to Doug's arm?!

I just realized what the problem is: using a 42XX series steel.

Fascinating design -- the way the asymmetrically placed horn slopes up is really interesting. How is it to forge on?

I'm guessing a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, but that is (finitely) improbable.

Picture's too fuzzy to tell. Could you post another?

If there's a local college that you can get ILL privileges at, that should help immensely.

Or just get some disposable razors and a can of shaving cream from the dollar store.

I think I recall that the judges determined that the young couple had cut barely enough wood for the winter, but also that they had the strongest relationship and ability to work together. The rich fellow with his "wafers" of firewood was a joke, as was his dismissal of their lack of food stores with "Well, we can hunt." That was a good show; I should go back and watch it again.

There's a violin shop in Fredericksburg that makes and repairs stringed instruments. That could be another possibility: luthiers use hide glue almost exclusively, both for its strength and because it can easily be disassembled and reglued.

I'd go with hide glue as well. There's no pour spout, as one might expect for a crucible, and the mass of the outer pot would help retain heat for a longer gluing job.