Bozious Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Hi, I got lucky and picked up this 104 year old white oak trunk for my stand. I've heard of treating with antifreeze, boiled linseed oil, qp underneath for drainage. Any trick for making the rings stand out. The age is very impressive to me. So I heard a blacksmiths tale that you put 2 pieces of rebar in a cross design underneath or inlayed into the side to ward of evil spirits, the devil. Has anyone else heard of these tales? I love the myth and lore of blacksmiths. Thanks y'all for any input! Box Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Nice stump. Keep in mind that it will be messy with forge scale and eventualy with burn marks once you start forging over it. It think it is impressive as is. The cross thing is one I haven't heard yet. I've heard everything thing from putting a quarter under the anvil for good luck to passing a sick baby over the anvil three times in hopes to heal it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Rebar isn't that old of stuff to fit into most superstitions. I have not heard that one either. Do you know where you heard it at? As for making the rings stand out: they should take up stain at a variable rate. The should erode at a different rate sandblasting or wire wheeling and they should char at a different rate---experiment on the bottom and chose the method(s) you like best. Of course as mentioned a good happy anvil will have a well worn stump face pretty quickly. Most smithing myths wrt the Devil involve ringing the anvil 3 times at the start of the work day and end of the work day. And of course the "lucky" horseshoe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozious Posted April 12, 2018 Author Share Posted April 12, 2018 (edited) Yep I've heard those. Another one I heard was open tongs as a cross and laying them on your cold forge overnight so the devil can't come up through the hot coals! Lol! Yeah I may just do the 4 inches of qp at the bottom and treat with boiled linseed. Thanks for the info! Boz Thomas Powers... I said rebar, i should be said just any metal. I've heard those and other superstitions from my grandfather who was a blacksmith all his life. The devil ones I heard on a podcast on Spotify. Boz Edited April 12, 2018 by Bozious Addition Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Mind sharing the name of that podcast? Sound interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Sawicki Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 I don’t listen to it on Spotify but there is a podcast called “The Blacksmiths Pub Podcast” LANGUAGE ALERT and they talked about blacksmithing superstitions. You can find the podcast on their website and on ITunes. Might be the same podcast., Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozious Posted April 12, 2018 Author Share Posted April 12, 2018 The Blacksmiths pub LANGUAGE ALERT you can just search Blacksmith too. Great group of guys. I've learned a lot of interesting info and it's fun. They discuss CMA a lot and it's nice to hear. Yup you got it buddy! Boz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Sawicki Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Yay! I like listening to it as well. It’s nice having a blacksmithing podcast to listen to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozious Posted April 12, 2018 Author Share Posted April 12, 2018 I totally agree! Even just to here what beer they're drinking this week. They find some interesting brews!!! A little too addicted to fly presses imo but everybody has their thing. Boz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAnotherViking Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Oh yes, the ancient saga of the rebar cross... I remember this one well. It was first introduced in iceland, in a small viking settlement, around the year 1056, when the first Icelandic bishop was consecrated, and went fourth to spread his message. Upon crossing the threshold of Ivar the hairy's home, he tripped over a piece of rebar tangled up in the hay. Angrily he kicked the rebar, where it flew across the room and landed in the fire. Seeing how it glowed in the dim light, he was struck by a vision, the rebar taking on the shape of the midguard serpent and swiftly instructed Ivar to forge the hot rebar into a cross and display it proudly on his anvil stump for all to see and to prevent it taking the form of the serpent ever again. From this day hense, the vikings were more careful with the scrap re-bar sitting around, and ensured that every piece was accounted for, and installed into anvil stumps to ward off the evil spirits that tripped the bishop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozious Posted April 12, 2018 Author Share Posted April 12, 2018 Haha very cool! Always love hearing another myth with the story. Thanks! Boz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAnotherViking Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Yup, myth. I totally didn't just make it up on the spot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Almost makes me want to listen to that podcast channel to hear where the venerable old Viking rebar story goes. I don't know about you passing secret blacksmith legends on to the uninitiated like this. We might have to take a vote to see if you should retain your sacred smoke badge maybe penalize you with a stinker clinker! Oh well, can't put it back in the dark where it belongs everybody's all seen it on the internet now. The secret's out. Don't tell him about the bridges I have for sale! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozzy Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 The only similar myth I have heard is a coin placed face up under the stump (when it aint gunna be moving) to bring either good luck or prosperity..or both. Face up is important--face down is bad luck in certain circles. As to bringing out the grain, I don't think that's going to be a great long-term goal. You might get it to show more early on but the dust and scale over time will likely obscure most of your efforts at beautification. If your heart is set on it, use a low angle block plane--the kind that was designed to cut end grain on butcher blocks--for preliminary smoothing. Follow that up with a properly sharpened cabinet scraper (that's a VERY simple tool which is not in everyone's knowledge wheelhouse so you might need to look it up along with how to properly sharpen and draw the edges). Follow that with whatever finish you feel heightens the contrast of the grain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAnotherViking Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Maybe it is true, who knows... Perhaps the saga of ivar the hairy fell out of Snorri Sturluson's prose edda in 1223 as it was being copied... We shall never know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozious Posted April 12, 2018 Author Share Posted April 12, 2018 Haha too funny! They used to hold weddings over anvils for being prosperity to the couple. Not sure where I heard that. Yeah I may just leave the grain alone and just treat it for a longer life. Thanks for all the input! Boz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 12, 2018 Share Posted April 12, 2018 Actually "being married over the anvil" is a special case: Back a couple of hundred years ago english law on marriages was quite strict: you needed a license, the Banns had to be posted multiple times, if you were underage (21 IIRC) you had to have permission from your parents to wed. etc. However the law in Scotland allowed for a legal form of marriage where the two people would stand together in a public venue with witnesses and "declare their marriage". It just so happens that the main coaching road from London to Scotland (think of it as a modern interstate) after it crosses the English/Scottish border goes through the village of Gretna Green and right on that road is the blacksmiths shop that *ALWAYS* had enough people there to serve as witnesses. So "being married over the anvil" was a term for elopement . and many a couple too young and without their parents' permission made the hurried trip to Scotland and grabbed the chance to be legally married before anyone could catch up to them and forbid it. If you have good documentation on *any* other examples of blacksmiths marrying people over the anvil I would like to see it! And I invite folks interested in this to search on Gretna Green on the net or wikipedia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanglediver Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 A colonial pattern, Mousehole anvil? That would be pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 The cross under the anvil is the same as the cross under the left heel made with two nails bent over each other to stop the devil following you. There Is an easy transition from the symbol of christianity, to use said symbol to fend of evil spirits or the devil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Hammer Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 When I found my stump, I counted the rings and found it was a sapling the year Pearl Harbor got attacked. I counted it two more times just to be sure. I lovingly call her Pearl now and someday may chisel that name on the side of it. I thought about finishing mine, but the more I used it the more it got burned, etc. and I realized it won't matter what I do to the top because in 10 or 15 years it will have a character of its own. I kinda dig those old anvil stumps you see once in a while that are just about black on top from decades of forging scale & burns. That's the look I hope mine has in the years to come. Before clean-up at the end of forging, I rub the scale into the surface to help it get blacker sooner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 I often demonstrate "Blacksmith Cold" at denos and in classes by touching "cold" steel to a stump and watching the flames and or smoke shoot up. Impresses the folks watching and hopefully helps the lesson sink in for students. If I'm using a metal stand I try to have a piece of wood handy for that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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