well, there you go...

[Dan P.]

I always wondered about this;

[ThomasPowers]

What about it?  Common method.  When I was looking around one of the old anvil manufacture site in Columbus I saw a bunch of the old sandstone wheels that had been rolled into the river when they got too small.  Since they were often turned by water power in the early days they were very slow speed and to get greater SFM for grinding they used very large wheels (as sfm = rpm x pi x diameter and the easiest one to change is diameter!)

For real fun look at the pictures of the knife grinders in old Sheffield that worked on their bellies on a plank over the large wheels!

[JHCC]

Or watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfXYBheE_Fs

 

[Dan P.]

4 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

What about it?  Common method.  

I think improving your manners must not have been on your new year's resolution list, which is a shame, because they are shabby.

And, for your information, it was Thiers grinders who lay on their stomachs to grind. Sheffield grinders sat, and still do, on a saddle, called a "horsing".

I love that video! I was in such a workshop in Sheffield not too long ago, picking up an axle and plates for a wheel of my own. 4" axle! No messin!

[ThomasPowers]

I guess we share the lack in our New Years Resolutions.  My big point is that they didn't specify what they didn't get so people could make a specific explanation; they could have been talking about the workman's cap! 

Sorry I transposed locations; I'm just happy to remember details like that after the TBI.  Thank you for the correction; please Sir may I have another!

[Dan P.]

2 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

I guess we share the lack in our New Years Resolutions.  My big point is that they didn't specify what they didn't get so people could make a specific explanation; they could have been talking about the workman's cap!

"They"?

I posted the photo for general interest; The use of the "handling holes", the way in which the anvil surface is being ground, the fact that the wheel is geared, etc. 

There is nothing I "don't get" about this photo. It's interesting, perhaps in different ways to different people, that is all.

In my language we have a special word for what I have done here. We call it -"sharing"-.

[ThomasPowers]

And how do you construe the lead in from the original post: "I always wondered about this"? 

To me that indicates the poster has a question.  Sharing would be "look what I found" or "Isn't this neat" or similar phrase.  Is this a difference in English vs American?  If I said "I wonder if England ever had a Civil War" would that not indicate a question?

 

[Dan P.]

"I always wondered how they ground anvils before surface grinders."

Wondering about something does not indicate a question, no.

Now you know, you can stop trolling my thread.

Many thanks.

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

2 hours ago, Dan P. said:

I always wondered about this;

I couldn't figure out what you were wondering about, thanks for clarifying it.

BTW, that photo has been shared several times on IFI.

[Dan P.]

Just now, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

BTW, that photo has been shared several times on IFI.

Oh? Where?

[ThomasPowers]

If you ever visit Columbus Ohio I'll tell you where the grindstones in the river are.  I never figured a way to recover one; though levering it up and blocking it and then waiting for a hard freeze and then sledging it to a bridge and having a small crane raise it did come to mind.  When Richard Postman visited that site there were still tongs for anvil work in one of the sheds.

At sometime after the anvil works closed it became a hydrogenation plant and now condos I believe. I had talked to someone who had worked there and he had said when they shut down there was a line of anvils along the top of the river bank and I had wondered if any had made it into the river...

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/51385-my-first-anvil-200lb-fisher-norrisbuyers-remorse/

is one place, July 19 of 2017

[Dan P.]

Thomas, if you'd like to pay for the shipping you can have my old one. 36" x 6".

[ThomasPowers]

These were larger; but thanks for the offer!  Where did you source yours?   I know the ones in the river bed have gone through to many freeze/thaw cycles and wet dry cycles to probably be no good for spinning and grinding anymore; but until I moved 1500 miles away from them I was considering....Unfortunately the riverbed was about 30% old metal in that region or I'd have used a good metal detector to hunt for possible anvil strays...

(Modern Medicine, Modern Refractories and Modern Abrasives are all on my "faves" list!  And power tools!)

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Thanks for the anvil grinding picture Thomas. I may have a slight bit of CRS but seldom forget a picture of old time works and wasn't in the mood to do the research.

[Dan P.]

3 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

These were larger; but thanks for the offer!  Where did you source yours? 

The new vitrified aluminium oxide ones are pretty indestructible and offer very good value if you use abrasives a lot, which I do.

My old one is a cement/slip wheel. It requires a lot of maintenance and is low rpm.

3 hours ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

Thanks for the anvil grinding picture Thomas. I may have a slight bit of CRS

Yes, thanks for finding that picture, Thomas, and thank you too, Ironwagon, for your highly valuable input. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

You are welcome. "Ironwagon"

[Dustin L]

Gentlemen, all bickering aside, it is an awesome photo. I really appreciate modern tools and technology too but I also love history. To be able to even catch a glimpse of how our predecessors lived and worked and built things is awe inspiring to me.

Thank you for sharing.