Mark Ling Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 All of us suffer from anvil envy, but look at these guys. They have a very nice (large-ish) anvil, but have decided to go with the smaller round block of steel to do almost all of there forging (well, at least in this video). The anvil that all the guys were striking on looked to be almost the equivalent of a sledge hammer head. Now, what's stopping you from forging? if its that you don't have a "adequate" anvil? well, I bet you do! now get hammering! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2a1pLVF8kk Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 You should see the video of those guys In Nepal making kukris. Amazing work, and it's all done using actual sledge hammer heads at floor level for the anvil. It's not what you make in on. It's what you make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Also a good display of traditional smithing process: You don't have *1* guy smithing you have *5*! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frozenforge Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 You can really see the gentle blows to set the weld and the increase in force afterwards. Maybe mentally the hammer accuracy improves quicker when you have a smaller target? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Hmmm... I generally aim for the piece that i'm forging, not the anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frozenforge Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Yes and if you cant see the anvil all around the target area you focus on the target without being distracted. Alot of eye hand coordination is training the eyes. In autosports you never look where you dont want to go only where you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I've seen a lot of those types of videos. In the third-world, labor is cheap and supplies are expensive, so they'll figure a way around things. That anvil might have been the end of a long shaft, the majority of which is buried. Saw one vid where I'd swear they were using a round from a 155 howitzer as the anvil. The ogive of the chunk of steel sure looked bullet-like, and there was some kind of groove that looked like a cannelure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Shoot a lot of folks are using the penetrator tips of ballistic missiles as cone mandrels after that fellow brought a flat bed of them to Quad-State one year. I have one myself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Whalen Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Thomas, I would love to see pics of that mandrel in action! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Thomas, I wonder if somebody at the NSA read that post and decided to open an investigation into cone mandrel ownership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Probably be a couple of weeks before I'm up at my shop, it looks like a nice cone, a couple of feet tall. Much nicer steel than the cast iron cones more typical of a smithy I really wish I had bought several of them now. I'd like one at each shop... The fellow worked with their manufacturer and said that these had failed Q/A (I don't know how they look great!) He had a nice load on a flatbed. They are just about perfect for the trivets I forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 I found this interesting, sort of sad for me anyway. Reminds me when my master passed away and his smithy was sold to a developer and all his gear sold for scrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy98 Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 On November 1, 2016 at 11:07 PM, C-1ToolSteel said: Hmmm... I generally aim for the piece that i'm forging, not the anvil. Why am I just getting this advice now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 you never stop learning......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beech Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 And an OSA (Object Shaped Anvil) can work just fine . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Anvil questions aside, this is some nice footage (especially the closeup starting around 3:17) of a bellows setup very similar to the Indonesian one that Alexander Weygers describes in The Complete Modern Blacksmith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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