MilwaukeeJon

Indeed. The French word for aardvark is cochon de terre or “pig of the earth/pig of the ground”. Maybe that’s what this is!

Here are shots of her feet and snout. The sculptural and artistic skill of the makers is impressive. Clearly they wanted this anvil to look rather animated. It may be that the offset stance of the feet was an accident but it gives the appearance of this little piggy taking a step forward:

Madame Cochonne (piglet)

I wish more was known about the underlying design logic for anvils of this sort. Is the distinctive shape to meet specific needs of French blacksmiths or did they simply have different ideas (cultural, technical) about what made an anvil useful? Interested to hear what you all have to say....

Not a lot of flat surface, but the endless range of curves come in handy. Nice edges on one side and crazy responsive rebound.

Clement & Nicolas Bourg de Peage 1901 198 kilos #1082

...take stock of the aching muscles you feel at the end of the day and think “Man, I can’t wait to do that again tomorrow!”

Mod Note: Link removed. The swage block can be found on line. Price $300 Plus shipping.

OK. Is this to keep it from moving around or to give it a hard, solid surface upon which to sit? Thanks in advance.

Thanks much for the advice and observations about the leg vice.

Where I forge nails...I’m a newbie so terminology may well be mistaken:

Nice old leg vise just acquired from my friend Aaron Cergol. As with my swage and nailing stations, it is attached to an ash stump.

Great post.

Thanks....it doubles as a Minimalist portrait of an elephant.

So for my little striking anvil I made a regular shaped holdfast with the 1045 square rod. Works fine but there isn’t much room because of the short work surface. So I then experimented with a really goofy looking holdfast that leans back to give me a few extra inches on the other side where it holds the work. Seems to secure things pretty well: