TWISTEDWILLOW Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 Well I wouldn’t shoot my anvils off with black power to mark a smiths passing but ringing it with a hammer I think is a nice gesture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 3, 2021 Share Posted October 3, 2021 Shooting ASOs at a safe distance wouldn't make me cringe. Try and shoot my Soderfors and I'll shoot back! And Not at your anvil. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Shooting the cheap grey cast iron anvils would be too reminiscent of Henry Shrapnel's invention in my opinion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Truth. Speaking of shrapnel, When learning how to shoot an anvil on my place we used a forged metal ring to contain the black powder between the anvils instead of clay. Truly that day we all learned that God definitely smiles on Fools and Blacksmiths. Never found the ring or any of the shrapnel it produced,,, and most important,,, no one was hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 I think I'll stick with leaving the fireworks to the pros on July 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 You missed the part of my post that specified a safe distance? Should probably set it up in a pit or sandbagged surround to contain debris. Seriously, how much and what kind of powder are you using to risk blowing an anvil into pieces? How much can you pack into matching caplets, 1/4lb., MORE? The more is better philosophy is a poor one when using explosives. I know of one guy personally who almost killed himself over charging his muzzle loader. It was a nice ball and cap, .64 cal reproduction IIRC or there about I really enjoyed firing it but never let crazy Eduardo load for me. He even tried slipping a 2x powder measure in on me because I wouldn't. While I've never fired an anvil nor watched one, what I've seen leads me to think a TBSP of powder and playing card thickness gasket and powder chamber will put one about 100' in the air. Even an ASO shouldn't have trouble with that. Of course I'D examine both anvils for serious defects before hauling it to the river bar. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Having drilled a HF ASO to make a propane stove from it I would say that the amount of graphite was extremely high and the cast iron very weak in the one we modified. The "more is better" folks are why I took back my falconette from extended loan to the Santa Maria replica on the river through Columbus Ohio. I trusted a friend of mine to fire it; but another "sailor" started trying to see how loud a bang he could make. Soon as I learned that, home it came! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Pre-measured charges weren't just to make loading faster. The older I get the less interested I am in doing or watching folk do some of the things we did pretty regularly as kids. Say under 30. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Ah "the immortal years"; before we learn that pain hurts and somethings don't heal! "Here, hold my spleen and watch this!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Watch this and catch my spleen. I marvel that I've lived long enough the parts are starting to wear out. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 A little more than a tablespoon, but not by much. I filled the bottom depression only and because the bottoms are not too matched of a fit, a clay ring around the depression then squish to fit works well. If one of those old black powder cans was a pound, then a third or less filled the depression. Never figured how high it went, but well above the smoke to be impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 If I get the chance I'll watch. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Watching may be fine, if you can keep a good eye where it is. If not a 2" thick steel umbrella firmly mounted to the ground as shelter might be helpful. As kids my brothers and I did some dumb stuff including shooting arrows as straight up as we could then on smarter days running under the porch till they landed and not looking up to see where they were. A few times the arrows stuck in the porch roof and we hurried to get them out before the parents noticed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 My idea of "SAFE distance" has changed since my friends and I used to shoot arrows straight up and the shot landing closest to our foot prints won. One of the smarter guys suggested we all face the same direction so the guy standing a little distance could call which direction it was drifting. Safe distance for an anvil shoot would be, in my estimation, a minimum 2x the estimated hoped for height away on the ground. For example the shooter thinks it'll go 200', I watch from at least 400' away, probably farther. I have binoculars and don't mind being called chicken. Another tip from the vertical arrow crowd, it it looks like it's coming towards you, do NOT run away, run 90* to the side. Just like a falling tree move sideways. Provided you see it coming of course. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokey07 Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 went to Skunk Hollow Forge school of blacksmithing in 1976 and the graduation from thr class , you got to shoot two 100 lb. anvils. one upside down as the base , both had had a depression in the base, so filled the base with black powder ( maybe a third of a pound or so ? ) a ring of clay around it and set the other base down on top with a long length of cannon fuse to set it off, and to get the xxxx out of the way. the school was down in an old creek bed with a high plateau to the south, so someone could go up on the top and estimate the height of the shot. mine went up approx. 90 to 95 feet. i was told. the school was outside of Denver, Colo. near the town of Morrison ,Colo. Smokey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 I do Not reccomend vertical arrow shooting at all. Forging iron is much more fun and productive. Wish I knew back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 Sounds like Smokey and me deal with shooting an anvil in similar ways. Must be a Colorado thang. Since this is about ringing the anvil for those now striking for Zeus,,,, Remembering Chain Bear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahavati Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 On 3/11/2011 at 3:33 PM, nhblacksmith said: Does anyone have any historical references they could quote on this tradition or is this a product of our modern society? I've been a full time smith for over 30 years and have shelves full of books but I don't recall hearing of this before. I doubt that historically a bunch of people (especially other smiths because there weren't many in an area) would get together to pound an anvil in memory of a blacksmith. Not that there is anything wrong with the practice but if it is other than a recent tradition I would be interested in how and where it started. Thanks. At any time was an anvil used to warn others in the absence of a bell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 There is a story by Jim Paw-Paw Wilson on anvilfire about a legend of why we ring our anvils and the luck of the horseshoe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Not a historical document by any means. I haven't read much on this. There is a tradition of ringing an anvil at the end of a work day to keep the Devil from misusing it over the night. I think this goes back to the ringing of the Sanctus Bell in the Roman Catholic tradition as shown in the legend that the Plantagenet dynasty was founded by the marriage of Geoffrey Count of Anjou to a demon. (a brief retelling is here: https://medievalwanderings.com/2019/05/10/a-dynasty-born-of-a-demon/ ) This story does go back to medieval times. So ringing the anvil stood in for ringing a bell and as a church bell is "traditionally" tolled to mark the death of a congregation member; I think we have conflated things to give us a tradition of our own. John, do other traditions also use the ringing of the bell in a similar way? Note that "Marriage over an anvil" was just a byproduct of UK laws. Getting married in England at one time required posting of the banns and permission of your parents if you were underage (21). However Scotland, besides the "formal method"; had a version of legal marriage where the bride and groom would pronounce themselves married in front of witnesses. And so as there was a major post road leading from London to Scotland and the village of Gretna Green was just over the border and the Blacksmith's Shop *always* had witnesses; it was a "common" elopement spot with the blacksmith's anvil being the focal point to declare your marriage. What better legal witnesses, easy to find and unlikely to move away, than the well known personage of the blacksmith and his apprentices and journeymen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Ahavati, welcome aboard. If you put your general location in your profile info we will be able to give you better answers because the usefulness of our responses may vary greatly depending on where you are in the world. Not always but whether you are Lapland or Australia things may be different. I don't think ringing an anvil would be a viable alternative to ringing a bell as an alarm for several reasons: 1) An anvil is not as loud as a bell. 2) block anvils which were in use for thousands of years prior to the London Pattern anvil which came in about 250 years ago hardly ring at all, 3) an anvil would be located in a smithy which would dampen any sound, 4) I am unaware of any historical reference to this practice. Every church would have had a bell, even if it was a hand bell, to call worshipers or an alarm. So, no need for a secondary audible alert. Shouts and yells would have done as well or better. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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