Anvil thieves !

[ThomasPowers]

Yes but you live in Ohio!

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I had a sign from Lion Country Safari which read "Trespasser's will be eaten", on our driveway entrance. Someone stole it.

[anvil]

One of the best reasons to have a big anvil is that its hard to steal!     

[Daswulf]

I have a "dead end" sign i put on a tree at a side entrance to my field on the hill. I'm honestly surprised it is still there. I did use torx bolts to anchor it, just to deter the lazy.  

[ThomasPowers]

"Anvils in America" has a story in it about a couple of drunks trying to steal a large anvil with a pinto car IIRC.

[JHCC]

Let me guess: it turned into a Chevy Nova?

[ThomasPowers]

As I recall the horn penetrated the trunk and lodged in the asphalt and they tried to lift the rear end of the car and walk it forward till they dropped it making another indentation; repeatedly.   As Heinlein said: " Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss."

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

On the topic of marking an anvil,

 I recently met a guy here locally who had inherited his ancestors blacksmithing tools as well as an interesting story,

his grandfather had ordered a kit from a catalog during the early 1900s, the kit included a 200+ pound fisher anvil, a champion post drill, a Buffalo forge and blower, a big iron city post vise and a big swage block,

apparently the story has been handed down that great grandpa complained about after he ordered the kit the company shipped it one piece at a time by wagon and it took months before he finally got the entire setup and all the parts to put the forge together, 

anyways every generation of family held onto all the tools wether they used them or not, so he inherited the complete original kit ordered all those years ago, 

what I found interesting is every generation has their name and birth and death dates stamped on the side of the anvil, 

I thought that was pretty cool that the complete set was complete and still In the same family and every owner has been stamped in the side of the anvil 

[Frosty]

That IS a cool story TW, thanks for sharing.

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

TW, kind of like a family bible where each new generation is written in.  It would be cool if more anvils had the owners names and dates of ownership stamped in.  I often feel a connection with the previous owners of my tools even though I don't know their names.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Daswulf]

I think you might be starting a new trend. I've been thinking of engraving my name on my main anvils I plan to keep. I might include my birthday, roundabout year I started forging and leave instructions in my will to have my death date added. I'd add the anvil acquisition date if I could remember. Might be cool on a new acquisition.  

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Thank yall, I really enjoyed hearing the story myself and seeing his tools, so I thought y’all might like to hear about it to! 

One of my anvils I was lucky enough to trace back the last two owners that lived here in my county and after hearing about that story ive thought about stamping their information on it as well as mine that way anyone who uses it after me in the future can trace it back a few generations too 

[ThomasPowers]

Sounds like the pieces were drop shipped by the various manufacturers to the buyer!   I know of several instances where an anvil has been used as a headstone; often as the smith was in the waning days and so died poor.  With smithing in resurgence several cases of such anvils being stolen have occurred.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Don't think weight alone is a deterrent. I know a guy whose house was broken into and they stole his entire gun safe that weighed around 800-1,000#.  That is why you bolt them to the wall and floor.

 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I guess you can always be like individuals I’ve hired for help in my shop…

they never picked anything up or put it away so there was extension cords and air hoses everywhere mixed in with parts an tools…

you couldn’t find anything an, you can’t walk through the mess let alone carry an anvil off through it.. 

(One of the many reasons I quit hiring in shop help) lol 

[anvil]

anvil weight might not keep all away, but it does tend to separate the wheat from the chaff.  

[ThomasPowers]

Weak floorboards can then be employed for further sorting...

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

5 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

Don't think weight alone is a deterrent. I know a guy whose house was broken into and they stole his entire gun safe that weighed around 800-1,000#.  That is why you bolt them to the wall and floor.

 

Now you know two guys that had that happen to. Mine was about 1500 pounds loaded, had 300 pounds of bullet making lead in the bottom. Thieves made off with it and a lot of other stuff while we were up here on vacation in '79.

Bolting them to the wall is just a bump in the road for a determined thief.

I knew an attorney when we lived in Miami Fl who had a built in, walk in vault like a bank. While he was on a cruise with his wife, a crew with heavy equipment took out a wall and made off with it. Witness neighbors said the thieves had several trucks with a name like home restoration/remodeling on them. Found out that was bogus. As far as I know the case was never solved.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

That’s wild! 
I mean the average gun safe even a big one couldn’t have more than $20 to $50 k worth of guns an cash an jewelry in it? 
for a whole crew to pull off something like that there must have been something more the attorney had like documents? Maybe I’m wrong I’m not an expert in that field, 

the scariest story I know of happened to a friend of mine, 

his wife was home alone and one car was loaned out to family and he had taken the other to work, her parents lived down the road within walking distance but they were up in Fayetteville shopping so there was no one around but her and it looked like no one was home, 

well she was buzzing around the kitchen and heard a vehicle pull up and didn’t think anything about it, because her husband and parents were due back soon, 

well she just kept on with whatever she was doing and then she heard unfamiliar voices on the porch and the front door opened and she heard three men talking,

lucky for her enough there is a door in the kitchen that leads to the garage so she slipped out there and hid behind a big chest freezer they have, 

well the men went through the house and she heard the door open to the garage but there wasn’t anything out there except the freezer an some shelving with random junk on it so they didn’t go in there looking, 

the guys ended up rummaging through the house and then left, there was a gun vault but it was bolted down and I guess they didn’t have anything to remove it, so they left, 

all the family was back within the hour so those guys were just minutes from being caught but they got away, 

That happened a few years back but she now carries a handgun everywhere she goes and has spent 100s of hours practicing with it,

they were afraid of how that story could have played out differently and I don’t blame them! 

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

17 minutes ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

must have been something more the attorney had like documents?

He was involved with the "cocaine cowboys' and cartels, as a high paid defense attorney at the time. Rumor had it that he had a lot of sensitive stuff and over 5 million in cash in the vault. After the burglary he disappeared. Some said he moved to Columbia.

[George N. M.]

It was said in the Scottish Borders that there was nothing too hot or too heavy for an Elliot to steal of that an Elliot would steal a red hot stove.

Speaking of home invasions I have to tell the story of my late wife, Martha.  In the late '70s we were living and working as geologists in Riverton, WY.  We were not living together at the time.  She had an apartment above a store downtown.  Her back door led out to the alley over a flat roof.  I had been in Salt Lake City over the weekend and when I got back I called her and asked if she had had an exciting weekend.  She said, "As a matter of fact, yes."  She had been at home and heard her kitchen window open and a guy came in.  He attacked her and threw her on the bed.  She drove her thumbnail in behind the corner of his jaw and he released her.  He then picked up a hand mirror from the dresser and broke it over her head leaving a gash in her hair line which bled profusely.  She had 2 guns in the house (1 loaded) but all she could think of is "I have to get to my sword."  I had given her a reproduction medieval broad sword previously because of our mutual interest in the Middle Ages.  She got to it, drew it out of the scabbard with a "schring" and went after the guy.  He left through the kitchen window without bothering to open it first leaving his jacket and a bottle of whisky behind.  I have no doubt that if he hadn't she would have either pinned him to the wall like a bug or taken off a limb.

The police station was right across the alley and he was picked up within 20 minutes.  

I was treating her cautiously in the wake of this incident but didn't see any signs of PTSD or anything and realized that she had won and the attacker was the one who was probably traumatized.

Martha was a small woman, 5'2" and about 110 pounds and was about 25 when this happened.

A subtext is that we had been acting as technical advisors to the local theater group's production of Camelot.  Martha's sword was to be Excalibur.  We had to get it back from evidence so that it could be used in the play.  The cops thought that it was great that this small young woman had put this guy to route at sword point and suggested that she put a sign on the door saying, "This home protected by Excalibur." 

The sword stayed in the corner of our bedroom after we married and I knew which side my bread was buttered on.

Some people, when confronted with and emergency situation, will freeze up or panic.  Martha went full berserker.  Although I never did see her froth at the mouth or chew on her shield.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Well there’s something you don’t here about every day, Home invasion stopped by sword wielding lady! 

[Charles R. Stevens]

So I read some where many moons ago that 80% of pearls panic. This is why military, law enforcement and fire fighters go threw such repetitive training. When you panic the training takes over. 
I can’t swear to the validity of said statement as I appear to belong to the other 20%, as do my parents. 
George, I think all woman are beserkers when properly motivated buy a man ;-)

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

My signature line on a LEO forum is "Train for tomorrow, for you never know what it will bring to the fight".

[Frosty]

That's quite the story George, she must have been quite the woman. It's a perfect example of why training is so important. Panic is a reaction to not knowing how to react to a perceived danger. Fight, flight, freeze, panic. When presented with a situation that pushes panic, the brain will do the closest thing it has on file to cope. 

Studying the martial arts an early lesson that was reinforced regularly is. Everything is a weapon, everything. A sword is a good enough go away or die sign even the most brain damaged tweaker is likely to get the message. If not? . . . Oh well.

Alaska is a concealed carry state and strong arm home invasion robberies aren't so common, it's pretty risky.  The news here has stories about people shooting bad guys dead a few times a year. A couple stories always come to my mind when I think about it.

There is the time a 75 YRO man opened the door and was set upon by thugs. While they were beating him for the location of the valuables his wife was waking up. She came out of the bedroom door with a .357 mag blazing. Killed one on the spot, the second one was dead blocking the door open, the third at the bottom of the stairs outside. The fourth was arrested at the hospital with a GSW in the back. The Woman's comment to the reporter was her only regret was forgetting her speed loader.

No charges filed against the citizen but there was some paperwork. The thug who survived was convicted of an additional 3 counts of 2nd degree murder for the deaths of his buddies. They died as a result of a felony he was committing so it'll probably be another 50 years before he can ask for parole IF he didn't get life without. 

It's good to be able to take care of your own problems and have good back up. 

Frosty The Lucky.