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Why do blacksmiths tap their anvils while forging?


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Not only that, but the assumption that tapers are some how less mentally? I get enough of that about bad spelling (no corilation between IQ and spelling) I observe what the steal is doing, as i strike it, but i know from experience in combat pistolry (and your driving manual) that human reaction time is 3-5 thousandths of a second. You can easaly be comited to a swing when you notice the need for a correction. So is i better to either stress your body trying to stop the swing, or just go ahead and hit the steel and make the need for correction worse? Any time I hear a blanket statement condiming or advocating something as the only right way i become suspicious that I am dealing with dogmatic belief as opposed to a reasonable thinking human being.

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I agree with NJ ANVIL what ever works for you Great go for it, if you don't like someone else tapping Tough! unless it's your anvil.

Those of us who "Tap" better keep an eye out for the "Anti Tappers" seem to want to organize and protest in front of our shops, file noise complaints with local authorities, file cruelty to anvil complaints take away our hammers. We will have to move to the mountains far from town work at night, Huh sounds like me already.

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I agree with NJ ANVIL what ever works for you Great go for it, if you don't like someone else tapping Tough! unless it's your anvil.

Those of us who "Tap" better keep an eye out for the "Anti Tappers" seem to want to organize and protest in front of our shops, file noise complaints with local authorities, file cruelty to anvil complaints take away our hammers. We will have to move to the mountains far from town work at night, Huh sounds like me already.

I agree with NJ ANVIL also. Do what you want. But when I say how and why I hammer I get this. "I lack the venom of the Anti-tappers for the most part;-)" What venom? Or that I'm proven wrong scientifically "I wonder what the bio-mechanical and ergonomic engineers wold have to say. Inertia, muscle/skeletal strain, efficiency..." Or as above we're going to organize against tappers. Outside of my shop I don't care what you do. But don't insinuate that I'm just a frustrated tapper wanting to get out. And if I only tapped I would reach my full potential and live in harmony with the world.

It may be that since I didn't have a mentor or teacher but learned most of it on my own I picked up my own way of blacksmithing. Right or wrong. Early on I found I needed to be able to multiple items in the forge at the same stage. Whether it was 2, 4 6 or 8 at a time. I learned what was needed and how to do it. 

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I dont insinuate that your a flustrated "tapper" or are a lesser smith for not tapping, but i do resent the insinuation by some non tappers that, on the occasion I tap (and that isn't all that offen) that I am some how mentaly deffective, stupid, lazy, waistfull or some how a lesser person. Many good, even great smiths occasinaly tap. Maybe they do it to slow down so us meer mortals can see what they are doing? Or its "advertising"?
As to what the "science" would say, I'm serius. Many times I have found that the best (safest, most effecient) way to do somthing is conter intuitive. I can see either argument has validity.
I respect your right to not tap, i respect your right to belive its wrong, waistful, of deffective. But I do not respect anyones right to belitle an other human bein, be it for ignorance, belife, not being gifted with an over abundance of inteligence, melinin content of their skin or the possetion of or lack of a "y" cromazone. Or for any other reason. When one belives their way is the only right way, and eny one who disagreas is "stupid". I have very little use for this kind of thinking or the peaple that are so afflicted.
I stand by my hypothesis that it may be "natural" even ergonomic to ovcasinaly tap the anvil. I am also willing to entertain the hypothesis that it is mearly a waist of energy, time and heat. If you are willing to entertain the oposit view, or have definitive proof, and are willing to share it, i welcome your wisdom.

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Let's get together and hammer. I've often wanted to have a hammer-in where everybody makes an s-hook, leaf or something short and simple. Just to see others and what the've found works for them. Sometimes a motion, stance or where they hammer comes up I've never thought about. Or they ask why I do something and I can explain why or can't explain why and I can improve my process because it's wasted motion.

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Thinking about this some more, this type of attitude is extememely narrow minded. You're telling me that if we found an old video of Yellin or Colnik working and they happened to be tapping their anvil you'd move on to another video? Dismiss the genius over a few taps of the anvil? That is absurd.
.

The operative word there is "if" so unless and until you produce such a video, I will continue to think that tapping is for people who can't figure out what to do next.  I really like the way you introduce a hypothetical situation, then make a judgement on my opinion based on something that has not been established to exist.  Very logical.

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I wonder what the bio-mechanical and ergonomic engineers wold have to say. Inertia, muscle/skeletal strain, efficiency...

I see the folks in the tappers side, or neutral to tapping propose hypothesis as to possible reasons why people do so. Wile the no tap school offers blanket condemnation of the practice, with the dogmatic belife that it is a bad habit and waste of effort. Why is this?

It is because the reality is there is no actual, practical reason or benefit for tapping.  It is an affectation and as such, those that do it like to create lots of really inventive justifications for doing it.  On the other hand, non-tappers recognize tapping for what it is, and refuse to participate in either  a nonsensical practice or nonsensical justifications for it.  You call that dogmatic, I call it reality.  

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Posted · Hidden by Glenn, January 2, 2015 - No reason given
Hidden by Glenn, January 2, 2015 - No reason given

Not only that, but the assumption that tapers are some how less mentally? I get enough of that about bad spelling (no corilation between IQ and spelling) I observe what the steal is doing, as i strike it, but i know from experience in combat pistolry (and your driving manual) that human reaction time is 3-5 thousandths of a second. You can easaly be comited to a swing when you notice the need for a correction. So is i better to either stress your body trying to stop the swing, or just go ahead and hit the steel and make the need for correction worse? Any time I hear a blanket statement condiming or advocating something as the only right way i become suspicious that I am dealing with dogmatic belief as opposed to a reasonable thinking human being.

And yet you are making a blanket statement condemning those who disagree with you, calling them "dogmatic".  As far as your spelling goes, I must admit it is pretty much the most atrocious spelling I have ever seen on ANY forum.  That said I kind of enjoy reading your posts because I play a little game with myself, trying to figure out if your spelling and grammar is actually as bad as it appears, or if you are just putting us all on, intentionally butchering the language for a lark.

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On 1/1/2015 at 6:49 AM, njanvilman said:

I find it amazing that this thread is now up to 50+ replies.  Do whatever works for you.  Why be so judgmental of others?

Why be judgmental? Because tapping is so xxxx annoying and more and more neophytes are doing it because they are learning from less than stellar smiths on Youtube, rather than from an actual proficient smith in a shop environment.

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I dont insinuate that your a flustrated "tapper" or are a lesser smith for not tapping, but i do resent the insinuation by some non tappers that, on the occasion I tap (and that isn't all that offen) that I am some how mentaly deffective, stupid, lazy, waistfull or some how a lesser person. Many good, even great smiths occasinaly tap. Maybe they do it to slow down so us meer mortals can see what they are doing? Or its "advertising"?
As to what the "science" would say, I'm serius. Many times I have found that the best (safest, most effecient) way to do somthing is conter intuitive. I can see either argument has validity.
I respect your right to not tap, i respect your right to belive its wrong, waistful, of deffective. But I do not respect anyones right to belitle an other human bein, be it for ignorance, belife, not being gifted with an over abundance of inteligence, melinin content of their skin or the possetion of or lack of a "y" cromazone. Or for any other reason. When one belives their way is the only right way, and eny one who disagreas is "stupid". I have very little use for this kind of thinking or the peaple that are so afflicted.
I stand by my hypothesis that it may be "natural" even ergonomic to ovcasinaly tap the anvil. I am also willing to entertain the hypothesis that it is mearly a waist of energy, time and heat. If you are willing to entertain the oposit view, or have definitive proof, and are willing to share it, i welcome your wisdom.

Mr. Stevens, what  you are missing here is that no one is complaining about occasional tapping.  If you are talking about truly occasional tapping, well, we all do it. We might briefly tap when we first start out on a heat or at the end of a heat, or even briefly in the middle of a heat while we look carefully at our work to see where adjustment needs to be made.   What us anti-tappers are complaining about are those people who insist on tapping three times for every strike on hot metal, or those who strike three times then tap three times, over and over and over again...... I see it all the time on Youtube and it is just plain stupid.  You can talk all you want about hypothetical ergonomics or what is natural, but that's all hyperbole.  That sort of tapping is unnecessary, inefficient and annoying.   

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And yet you are making a blanket statement condemning those who disagree with you, calling them "dogmatic".  As far as your spelling goes, I must admit it is pretty much the most atrocious spelling I have ever seen on ANY forum.  That said I kind of enjoy reading your posts because I play a little game with myself, trying to figure out if your spelling and grammar is actually as bad as it appears, or if you are just putting us all on, intentionally butchering the language for a lark.

 

BMUS -- You're making me nostalgic for your ornerier days on r/blacksmith!

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Why be judgmental? Because tapping is so damn annoying and more and more neophytes are doing it because they are learning from less than stellar smiths on Youtube, rather than from an actual proficient smith in a shop environment.

 

 

I guess smithing since 1972 doesn't count for anything, and I must have been watching YouTube in my dreams 35 years before it was a reality. Teaching students for 37 years also doesn't count either?  You forge your way, I will forge my way.  

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That sir is a wonderful idea!
Much more comrodery over a forge fire! And small details such as wether one dose or dosnt take an occasinal estranius tap on the anvil become just that.
What part of the World do you hail from, Mt?

North east Indiana. We just visited OK first of November. A surgical vacation to OK City. Best prices around.

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It appears that this subject has been "Tapped" about to death. I believe I'll post a notice at my shop door "Notice, Tapping on the Anvil is practiced here, if it bothers you GET LOST"

64 postings and counting on Tapping or not to Tap. Steve where do we send your book to get the new chapter installed?

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BMUS -- You're making me nostalgic for your ornerier days on r/blacksmith!

Ha!  I never stopped being ornery, but I am not being ornery here.  Clearly, because this thread has been so active, there is a lot of pent up frustration on the part of non-tappers towards those who tap and who make up creative excuses for doing so.  Lots of defensiveness on the part of the tappers as well as really creative justifications for the practice.  

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I guess smithing since 1972 doesn't count for anything, and I must have been watching YouTube in my dreams 35 years before it was a reality. Teaching students for 37 years also doesn't count either?  You forge your way, I will forge my way.  

Yes you are right, if you have been tapping for 37 years then they really don't count for much, do they?  I have not been tapping for 59 years, though I have only been smithing for 22 of them.  What does that count for?  

 

You are, of course, welcome to forge any way that you want to. 

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If folks realign their anvils to north, there is no reason to close the thread. Address the OP and discuss tapping or not tapping. If you can make a project with taps and make a project without taps then neither method is right, and neither method is wrong. We need a trip to the forge to decide which works best for you. 

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