Kanca vs Holland vs Hoffman

[stringstalker82]

5 hours ago, Frosty said:

But how do you  know which way to point it? 

I have to find someone in the local club who owns one and give it a try, I've never worked on a double horned one.

Frosty, I always have the hardy under my left (tong) hand. On american and London patterns, that puts your horn to the right. So by going with a holland, I can keep my anvil oriented the way I'm used to, and gain a square horn, side shelf, and upset block.

Foundryguy,

Have you considered making a south german pattern in 125-150 pound size? I saw the big one yall made on your Facebook page a while back.

[Frosty]

13 hours ago, foundryguy said:

We have 5 or 6 Holland anvils near you in Ak. We were just up in Alaska and my son attended a hammer in up in Palmer and let them raffle off a 20 lb single horn. Contact me and i can give you some names around Palmer and Wasilla of the owners. 

I heard but I'm in the high risk category for Covid so I'm hiding in the woods instead of making meetings.  I'll put out a request when things get safer for an old man like me.  

13 hours ago, stringstalker82 said:

that puts your horn to the right.

The roll eyes indicates I was joking. I work my anvil from both sides and ends depending on the effects I want. Using the horn to open rings say a bottle opener is more effective if you're hammer hand is driving towards the base of the horn rather than off the end. Which way to aim the horn is another version of the Ford vs. Chevy debate. 

Heck, I use the horn as a bottom fuller most of the time and yes, you have to switch sides or the draw will curve.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Glenn]

Slag, when a member purchased one of their anvils that had a softer than normal face, it dented with both hammer use and a ball bearing test.  There was quite a discussion on the matter and the disclaimer showed up not not only that one anvil and weight, but all the anvils in all the weights site wide.

Read about it - click here Kanca New 165# anvil with a soft face

[stringstalker82]

Frosty,

Didnt notice the emoji. I agree, I often work all the way around my anvils.

 

Glenn,

That was the exact thread I read that turned me against the kanca. 

[Frosty]

They really didn't like photographic evidence of the dents either. It was almost undoubtedly a limited quality control issue but nobody was fessing up so the owner brought it to a more public forum. Here. The pics were posted when a number of members expressed doubt. The disclaimer on Centaur followed in maybe a week or two. 

Nobody gets everything right every time but to claim testing voids the warranty isn't a good thing. AND it won't fly as Slag points out. There's an implied warranty of serviceability in ANY new purchase.

Ah, just messing with you a little, Strings.  

Frosty The Lucky.

[foundryguy]

13 hours ago, stringstalker82 said:

Have you considered making a south german pattern in 125-150 pound size? I saw the big one y'all made on your Facebook page a while back.

We make a 100 double horn and a 125 with an upsetting block and a side shelf, looking at doing something in the 175 lb range one of these days. 

 

12 hours ago, Frosty said:

I heard but I'm in the high risk category for Covid so I'm hiding in the woods instead of making meetings.  I'll put out a request when things get safer for an old man like me.  

Understood on Covid safety. We had a great direct flight on Alaskan Air out of Chicago. We will be back up in May or June chasing fish so maybe we can connect then. Patrick Garleys place is something everyone should see according to my son. What amazing work. Cheers

[Frosty]

Yeah, Pat's studio is pretty impressive. His main interest is bronze casting, he's the go to guy for monuments and such locally and teaches college level casting. He's the reason our club exists, he's the guy who knows how things work and keeps everything legal. I don't know how he pulls it off.

I look forward to meeting up sometime next spring. Though I hope you know I'm NOT trading in my Soderfors on anything, even another Soderfors. We're in a lasting permanent relationship. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Frosty alignment is easy on a double horned anvil: the round horn goes toward the west pole and the square one goes toward the east pole---unless you are left handed; then the round horn goes vertically up and the square one goes vertically down.

Now if you live north of fifty four forty, the round horn goes north and the square horn goes west...or vice versa.

[George N. M.]

The feng shui of a blacksmith shop is difficult and subtle.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[stringstalker82]

Mr. Powers,

Do huh?

[Glenn]

Fifty four forty or fight?  That takes us back a ways. (grin)

[George N. M.]

Just for those who aren't history geeks like some of us here, "fifty-four forty or fight" was a campaign slogan of James K. Polk, (Democrat) in the 1844 presidential election against Henry Clay (Whig).  It referred to 54 degrees 40 minutes North latitude which was asserted to be the proper northern boundary of the Oregon Territory.  This was part of the theory that it was the United States "manifest destiny" to expand across North America to the Pacific Coast.  This line is located in what is now northern British Columbia.  Obviously, the British had a different position on the boundary between the US and Canada.  A compromise was reached settling the boundary at its present location, 49 degrees North latitude.  However, the slogan has survived largely because it rolls off the tongue so well.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."  

[horse]

Strings. Spend a lot of time doing research on Powers post and it will likely make sense. Or a better option is to stay with your original thought. “Huh”?  Keeping up with the pun proficient on this site is best done with your exact response. If you wanna play you better be good. Out of my league but I like it. 

[JHCC]

On 9/6/2020 at 10:38 AM, foundryguy said:

casting our first hornless church window anvil this Tuesday

How'd it go?

[ThomasPowers]

Every once in a while I just like to take a polk at people---feel free to ignore me!

 

[Steve Sells]

the should read poke at people. Polk is a brand of audio speaker, consider yourself poked now

[ThomasPowers]

I guess you missed the reference to President Polk in an earlier post. Poked and repolked!  "A waste is not a terrible thing to mind."

[JHCC]

James Polk favored the annexation of Texas, which may be why he asked George Dallas to be his Vice President.

[stringstalker82]

Ah. Polk... although when I hear that name, I usually think of those long hot mosquito infested nights at Ft. Polk, LA...

Btw, my sn is string stalker, for my love of archery. Although strings talker could also work since I also like playing guitar...lol

[George N. M.]

Ft. Polk was named in 1941 after Leonidas Polk, one of the more unusual general officers of the Civil War.  He attended West Point but became the Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana.  In 1861 he joined the Confederate Army and was appointed a Major General.  He was killed by Federal artillery during the Atlanta Campaign in 1864.  He was 2d cousin to James Polk, the US President previously mentioned.

Ft. Polk is one of the posts that would be renamed if the current effort to rename posts named after Confederates goes through.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[stringstalker82]

I'm not gonna get political about it (this is neither the time nor place) but, unless they want their history and heritage torn down or renamed, quite doing it to mine. I am descended from William Henry Carroll,  Brigadier General, 37th Tennessee Infantry, CSA.

Btw, Mr. Powers, I'm gonna try to get up to the round house this coming spring and see your handiwork. 

[foundryguy]

On 9/9/2020 at 8:57 AM, JHCC said:

How'd it go?

It was great, 140 lbs. Sold it to a very good bladesmith at the Blacksmith Gathering in Pennsylvania this weekend. We should get more rolling in the coming weeks. 

[Balbasarado]

  Hay Budden had nearly the same disclaimer. 

Something to think about maybe.

I'd be happy to have any of the three mentioned.  In fact, I'm happy with my old ugly anvil too.  Then again, all's I do is stare at the old girl, and make leaves out of modeling clay.

[Glenn]

Where is/was the Hay Budden disclaimer posted?

[Balbasarado]

The BAM site has a Hay Budden catalog as a downloadable pdf. I had trouble editing it to make it smaller. If you do an internet search for Hay Budden Catalog, it should come up near the top of the results.