Abenakis Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Hi all I found this little shoemaker anvil and I thought that I might use it as a base for some tools; but before jumping on this, cutting, grinding, welding and heat treating I like to ask the experienced man what he would want to do with it. I do have some hammers and chisels but don't have any hardy yet (the anvil is about to come). It measures 7 1/2 x 8 inches. Any idea other than door or paper weight is welcome. I know, from some brainstorming sessions, that the best solutions often come from what seemed to be the craziest idea at first! So, let your brain free in its most creative field (you don't have to pay the bill anyway!). Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Abenakis, those shoemakers last anvils are almost always cast iron and so will not take metal work pounding and will not weld either. I would try to find someone in a re-enactment group that wants to try making shoes and sell it to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welder19 Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 or sell it to an antique person and use the $ for tools. welder19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abenakis Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 Holy cow! At least, it can make a great book holder... Or a door stopper... I went to hear if it would ring; no ring at all.. Real cast iron... An it even looks (in the heat treating BP) that re-heating this would not transform it into something forgeable... At least, it can make a great book holder... Or a door stopper... SNIF... I tought I had a good piece of iron to play with! SNIF... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt87 Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Any idea other than door or paper weight is welcome. It would make an interesting paperweight indeed, but I'm not sure it'd make a very good door. Oh no... I'm becoming Frosty! :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chyancarrek Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 What a great range of shapes that has! I have a cobbler's insert anvil that has the "last" shapes on both ends with an hourglass neck in between. The neck fits perfectly in my vice and I use it as a texturing/light shaping anvil for light steel sheet and copper work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveh Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 they are called 3 way bench last,because they sit 3 different ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abenakis Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 "The neck fits perfectly in my vice and I use it as a texturing/light shaping anvil for light steel sheet and copper work" Oh! What a great idea! That is something I will surely try. I have now to find an elegant way to make it stay at its place when I work with it... Matt87, I would have said it in french it would have been prefectly phrased but I wonder if anybody would have understood? :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I have one like that that has been in the family for as long as I remember. Somewhere in those years the small piece that sticks intoi the side has gotten away from me. I use mine as a door stop. And a few times I have used it to set the pointy end down on a nail that has worked up into the shoe. I have always like sthe shape of it and wish it could tell me stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 It would make an interesting paperweight indeed, but I'm not sure it'd make a very good door. Oh no... I'm becoming Frosty! Good, I won't need to tell you to CHILL! then. Eh? :cool: Frosty GCOA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I'd keep it because it's cool and if it'd work for some light non-ferrous shaping, texturing, etc. all the better. I wouldn't risk it's antique value though. It might make good tool money as already suggested. Frosty GCOA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abenakis Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 "I have always like sthe shape of it and wish it could tell me stories." Please, if it tells you some, write them down. Imagine all the anecdotes it must have heard from the shoes that were repaired! It would make for a "juicy" best seller... :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
civilwarblacksmith Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Go to a civil war re-enactment and talk to a sutler (civil war general store in a tent). They would use this to apply heel plates to the heels of brogans and cavalry boots. Basically there are skoeing men. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt87 Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Matt87, I would have said it in french it would have been prefectly phrased but I wonder if anybody would have understood? For what it's worth, your English is far better than my French, by several orders of magnitude. I guess I'm lucky in that my native tongue is the most commonly spoken one on this planet. Also, your English is far far better than that of many people who apparently have it as their native tongue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abenakis Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Thank you Matt. If you find something to correct, just tell me and I'll be glad to learn something more. And as for your luck, (and I don't want to judge in any way, I am not in that situation so I can only talk about what I see from my standing point of view) I am afraid that, too many times, those who speak english don't see the need to learn other language and, because of that, miss a very good opportunity to learn another way of thinking too. Just an example: in japanese, the word catastrophee is the same as opportunity. Incredible but so true. When everything gets wiped out, you have an opportunity to restart from scratch! Now imagine that you're raised with this thinking, your youth long. You cannot look at life the same way as those who have not been raised with this very real connection; you get courage in front of bad things just because you already look at the afterwards. In another language (I think it's gaelic), there are no possesion words. Things can't be yours. When you talk about something, you have to describre the relationship you have with it: the fork I am eating with; the land I walk on; the women I live with and so on. In reality, the only thing that ever becomes really ours is the energy we get when we eat and, even there, it's only temporary as we will give it to something else like a piece of iron we forge! Amazing! When you learn different language, you also learn the philosophy of the people who live and had lived with this language. Being from two different cultures that are very small in North America, I am faced with a third one which brings it's own set of values which can clearly be felt just by the way the people talk. Listen to Italian people when they talk: they are singing; their words have a special rythm that can only bring passion! I could give you multiple examples of those very interesting differences in the cultures. And I can tell you that there are real things, feelings, moods that I can only say in english because there is no word for that in french or abenakis! Impressive isn't it? So, to conclude, I feel that I am the lucky one! Because I am rich of different cultures and I HAVE to be open to the others! Maybe you could feel that I am passionnate about that. That's true. As much as Jake Pogrebinsky when he talks about technology in blacksmithing. Because I am afraid that the trend toward standardisation is going to cut us from all those beautiful and significant differences that we should rather cherish. I believe that, luckily, we, those who work with raw material, have not completly drawn into this standardisation and we still feel the natural energy of things, often more than we think them. But I still want to conclude with Albert Einstein's words : (my own translation) Intuition is a sacred gift while the rational mind is only a faithful servant. We have created a society that honour the servant and has forgotten the gift! Have a very good day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johannes Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Thank you Matt. If you find something to correct, just tell me and I'll be glad to learn something more. And as for your luck, (and I don't want to judge in any way, I am not in that situation so I can only talk about what I see from my standing point of view) I am afraid that, too many times, those who speak english don't see the need to learn other language and, because of that, miss a very good opportunity to learn another way of thinking too. Just an example: in japanese, the word catastrophee is the same as opportunity. Incredible but so true. When everything gets wiped out, you have an opportunity to restart from scratch! Now imagine that you're raised with this thinking, your youth long. You cannot look at life the same way as those who have not been raised with this very real connection; you get courage in front of bad things just because you already look at the afterwards. In another language (I think it's gaelic), there are no possesion words. Things can't be yours. When you talk about something, you have to describre the relationship you have with it: the fork I am eating with; the land I walk on; the women I live with and so on. In reality, the only thing that ever becomes really ours is the energy we get when we eat and, even there, it's only temporary as we will give it to something else like a piece of iron we forge! Amazing! When you learn different language, you also learn the philosophy of the people who live and had lived with this language. Being from two different cultures that are very small in North America, I am faced with a third one which brings it's own set of values which can clearly be felt just by the way the people talk. Listen to Italian people when they talk: they are singing; their words have a special rythm that can only bring passion! I could give you multiple examples of those very interesting differences in the cultures. And I can tell you that there are real things, feelings, moods that I can only say in english because there is no word for that in french or abenakis! Impressive isn't it? So, to conclude, I feel that I am the lucky one! Because I am rich of different cultures and I HAVE to be open to the others! Maybe you could feel that I am passionnate about that. That's true. As much as Jake Pogrebinsky when he talks about technology in blacksmithing. Because I am afraid that the trend toward standardisation is going to cut us from all those beautiful and significant differences that we should rather cherish. I believe that, luckily, we, those who work with raw material, have not completly drawn into this standardisation and we still feel the natural energy of things, often more than we think them. But I still want to conclude with Albert Einstein's words : (my own translation) Intuition is a sacred gift while the rational mind is only a faithful servant. We have created a society that honour the servant and has forgotten the gift! Have a very good day! I couldn't agree more with you on every point, parceque il y a toujour quelqe chosse a etudier dans la monde entier, und wir m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Cut it up and it makes feet for a table, I know someone out there viewing this has got one made like this, so come on, You know who you are, post a pic ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abenakis Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Merci beaucoup Johannes. I know dam well that peace on earth begins with knowing each other and finding out that all human beings share the same desires and needs in life; let just sit together, as we do here, and we will get along very well. Seeing through somebody else's glasses (culture), walking in a man's life with his shoes (living its life) make us understand, respect and even like the other one. Ok. Enough philosophy for today; let's go and beat some iron for God sake! Oh! Also, thanks for the advice. I will surely follow it! John B, I really want to see the pictures of this table, though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrous Beuler Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 I agree with Thomas Powers. Somewhere out there is a chap who is actually looking for one of these specifically, just as many of us here are looking for that first anvil, etc. Doesn't it just drive you nuts to see, for example, an anvil sitting on someone's porch rusting away unused except to support a potted plant and the won't sell it to you?:confused::mad: "Reb", the civilwarblacksmith makes an excellent point- somewhere among the throng of suttler reenactors out there is a cobbler who would love to have this, and who knows- maybe you'll score something in trade that would better fit your smithy. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mende Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Forge shoes.. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abenakis Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Thanks everybody. I just bought this thing; it had been posted for some time and nobody was buying. They had to drop the price and only then did I thought that, maybe, I could do something with it. Shoe makers are disappearing around here because everybody wants to pay either the chineese price or the italian one! So there is more of those waiting for a new life than there are hands that would grab it! Sad...:( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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