Joshua R. D.

Rocks most certainly arent a problem when I say clay and rock, I mean cobbles you could build a wall out of. In fact, my smithy is built up against a rock wall from the 1800's. Probably all the rocks and boulders they dug up when making the foundation for the house and yard. Anyway, sideways movement isnt a problem with all the clay and rock.

To start, I'd like to apologize if this question has already been addressed before as I attempted to look for a similar topic/comment that answered it but couldn't find one. Anyway, if have several 20 ft lengths of telephone/utility poles (whichever you prefer calling them) left over after building my smithy. (Well, it's more of a small pole barn at the moment, but I'm planning to add 4.5ft cobble "half" walls as wind breaks... eventually. I digress) I've used 6ft sections of utility poles as anvil stands before with 3ft buried in the ground... but that was in florida, where rocks and clay didn't exist. I can't remember where I read/heard it from, but 2/3 feet of telephone pole in the ground helped make a "smaller anvil work like a heavier one" (of course I know there are a lot of factors that go into what makes a proper anvil but this is just a simple way of saying it's adding more "mass" and making it a more solid piece... I think that's the proper explanation... I'm rambling now.) Long post short: how long of a section do I actually need and how much of it do I bury? The type of ground it'll be in is, if you're familiar with gettysburg pa, brown clay, rocks, (specifically: predominantly diabase, granite, slate [red, black, grey], quartz, to a [lesser extent but still present] iron [bog, limonite, hematite, magnetite] and other minerals/rocks I can't remember off the top of my head.) Oh, limestone and dolomite, so lots of calcium carbonate, if that particularly matters. thank you to anyone that takes the time to read and respond to my "long winded" post and eventual question (which I apologize for) Again, thanks, Josh.

Here's an example/reference of someone overpricing anvils. 10lb ~ $140 = $14p/lb 51lb ~ $520 = $10.20(rounded)p/lb 50lb ~ $975 = $19.5p/lb 311lb ~ $3,490 = $11.22p/lb The only semi-reasonable price per pound he's listed so far (but is still pushing it) is for the 162 lb anvil 162lb ~ $760 = $4.69p/lb

Well, it was mainly because they valued hygiene over anything else... to the extent of bathing three times a day. The main reason for the hair removal was because of lice and to reduce heat. They even went as far as shaving their eyebrows and lashes (though I believe that was just the priests) Of course, certain hair styles were status specific, but generally, this was any "everybody" thing.

It might take a long time but you can get some by taking a strong magnet and dragging it along most creek beds. You shouldn't have any problem finding some locally since you live in Casper, which is rich in iron (of various forms) but sand usually contains magnetite to some degree. Heck, if you lived withing driving distance of a beach, I'd just tell you to buy a wide magnet, tie it to your waste so it drags behind you and just go for a 10 minute walk. Since it's casper, you might be able to get away with doing that in a similarly sandy area, but I'm not %100 on that.

Sure All you have to do is go outside and take a picture of a granite cobble (which, conveniently enough, has been listed and shown as an example) or a hardwood stump or log that's been stood up. They had to start somewhere, after all. Even during the iron age, some families or settlements only had so much "wealth". I write it that way because wealth was usually in material value and commodities rather than gold and coin, as is popular belief. Those just had high material value (to put it immensely, incredibly simply), but I digress. When it came to anvils, they usually only had a certain (small) size/surface area to work with and affording a larger sized anvil was... pretty much similar to (if not more out of the question than) today. So, if you've ever worked with fresh bloom iron, you'd know that consolidating it on a small surface is far from ideal, so you use a stump to beat it on because it doesn't introduce any (as many) impurities as a rock would as it would just burn away. Anyway, sorry for the long response.

No idea whether or not this is the proper place to put this but I was wanting an more in depth explanation as to whether or not the transition between the edge bevel and the secondary bevel will effect a blades cutting ability. I'm not talking about a ridiculous 20° edge and a 40° secondary. I'm talking about a much closer transition but one that's not quite as smooth as it could be. I suppose the better phrasing would be "is it possible for the secondary bevel to create drag or hinder the cut in any way"

I've always just kind of had a tarp and two by six on the ground for cutting my charcoal. I set the 2x6 on its side and cut the charcoal over the edge of it. It's not the most convenient or effective but it worked. Now I know I can just make or use a table and bucket but I wanna know what you guys do for reference. Thanks