Meadowgrove

I've seen one or two pop up at huuto and tori. Finnish anvil market is heavy with our national jewel Lokomo around the country, Dalsbruk in the western part of the country and USSR random quality stuff in the east. Of course throngs of I-beams and railroad pieces cut to resemble a London pattern anvil are everywhere, for 10€/kg and up!

EDIT: I just remembered a recent "treasure" I saw at a flea market. There was this tiny, ~0.5kg piece of railroad sold as a "professional knifemaking anvil". The asking price was a modest 23€!

Sweet deal on that anvil. I found a Lokomo 50A from a nearby flea market for 250€(5€/kg), too bad I didn't have the cash at the moment...

What part of Finland are you located in, Jouni?

Terveeksi! Jokos tämän kävit lukemassa? READ THIS FIRST!

Kivaa vaihtelua ainaisen Lokomotarjonnan seassa.

Och samma på engelska,

Welcome! Nice to see an anvil that's not a Lokomo for a change (Lokomo anvils are quite common in Finland). More pics!

If I'm reading the safety sheet correctly, AES wool is exempted from hazard classification based on short term study in a simulated environment. Not sure if REACH demands any other classifications than what the manufacturer provides... Asbestos used to be "safe", too!

So longer fibers are the key. Time to put all that junk mail to good use. Should I worry about the additives? Most ads are coated with a PE film and the paper itself has kaolin added to it during the forming. That's why burning junk mail gives you a lot of ash. I could be overthinking it of course.

Had to go shopping today so I picked up some bentonite while at it(Cheap even in Finland, what is this witchcraft) Have to see about mixing the stuff next monday when I have some home alone time. Could I use wood shavings instead of straw etc.? I have a small mountain after making a kantele body a while back. Of course logic dictates someone would have mentioned using wood shavings before if they were any good for the purpose...

Let's say a person procrastinated enough to let the ground freeze and can't get to the ample reserves of clay and dirt right under their feet. Only things readily available are water, ash and kitty litter. What sort of percentage(by volume) of components would be ideal to mix? 4/10 clay, 6/10 ash, gentle spritz of water? If only the weather would be above freezing...

Use the bearings as water analogue for a waterfall simulator. Kind of like a heavy duty marble run. Would look pretty cool to have the flow bounce off an anvil...

Molded pulp works well, too. Just put your kindling on an egg carton and walla.

Found on an internet flea market. This high quality handcrafted anvil can be yours for mere 35€, or 8.75€/kg!

I've heard a version of that. "When the voices start screaming at you, choose wisely which ones to listen"

What an awful situation. My workshop has electricity once again so excused are going to get even more stupid than before! I was going to work on my anvil for a bit, but... I forgot where I but the hunk-o-steel the last time. By the time I located it again it was "too dark" to do anything... It's like I deliberately forgot the power's running again!

 Am I the only one who's seeing a seal? Looks at those legs, or flippers more so!

Try to do a rebound test on that, betcha it would balance the bearing ball on its nose.

Oh no! Looks like I ran out and had to work on my anvil for a bit.

Let's try to keep this thread jolly and light-hearted, even if the underlying reasons are serious. The moment we stop poking humour out of it, the big D wins! 

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Didn't fill my JAB today 'cause it was already full... Of snow

Egor, you win the most affordable JABOD prize!

Stress eats away creativity, loss of creativity eats away happiness, depression causes even more stress... It can get lethal if you can't get out of the loop.

Your excuses are waaaay too valid, more like... actual reasons!

Yesterday I couldn't work on my JABOD because I had stacked some stuff on it and "didn't know" where to put the random scrap. Today I managed to put said stuff in the garage, but the JAB still lacks the OD, because it's "freezing out there". Temps at -2°C, I had to laugh at myself. Most winters I still check the mailbox barefoot when it's -25°C

It's truly wondrous how one's head can get wrapped around a thought one knows is false...

I'm slowly coming to a point where I can't blame anything else but myself for not getting anything done blacksmithing wise(honestly everything else too, but this is a smithing forum).

Please help me avoid looking into the mirror and tell some of the BEST and most ridiculous "Yes, but.." excuses you've encountered along the years. I'm sure there are many!

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This is a lousy attempt at humor, don't take it too seriously.

Thank you for the valuable info, Hans. I will leave the piece untouched until I find a real use for it. I will also curse myself for not taking all four of the things when I had the chance :S

Something I've gathered from work over the last month or so...

All kinds of random steel from the factory scrap bin. Some discarded axle heads from a winder unit. A pipe flange, long bolts and heavy steel blocks from a PE extrusion unit. Some small rollers and a smallish axle shaft of unknown origin. A bigger roller from a roll core assembling machine, this might make a nice anvil, as would those blocks in the upper left...

I need to apply some degreaser to this slide bearing(?). It's just icky! I had to pack it in a metric poop-ton of paper to not make a mess. The 20mm bearing balls are a nice bonus...

On 30.11.2017 at 9:58 PM, ThomasPowers said:

"Mostly Harmless"

That's the highest rank I've ever achieved in Elite. Milk runs between Ararus and Ensoreus don't raise your kill count a bit!

Yeah, and welcome!

2 hours ago, Kevin Olson said:

direct them to the History channel website for more info on how to get started smithing safely. Of course they would have to do work to put together this info so would it happen?

Sounds like a crowdsourcing project for IFI.

Another day, another piddler. Super lucky no one(barring taxpayers' wallets)was badly hurt. These things really should not even happen in the information age. Nothing is idiot-proof though.

What really surprised me was the felon's age... I don't know anyone in their 50s who doesn't know how to treat fire.