[TheForge] Re: big anvil

[Mike Spencer]

Phlip quoth:

> Shannell skrev:
>
>> I really dont get it, weve got a nice , large garden and Id never
>> think of putting industrial equipment in it to "jazz" it up, Ive
>> never seen one displayed in such a way either, mabey its a
>> U.S. thing??
>
> Well, Shannell, it's part of a peculiar US thing, .....

Well, not *solely* a US thing. :-) Thirty years ago, it was
commonplace, in my part of Nova Scotia, to see rural front yards
decorated with some flower beds and anywhere from 3 or 4 to a couple
of dozen whirlygigs made by cutting vanes in a 1 gallon plastic bleach
jug and mounting it neck down on a spindle.  Some were painted such
subtle colonial colors as International Distress Orange and flaming
magenta.  Kinda ugly  IMHO but they at least had the redeeming
virtue of being the product of individual handcraft.

In the case of the fad, in the 70s, of store-boughten painted plywood
butterflies tacked all over a house or doublewide, I will happily
ascribe all the guilt to US marketing. :-)

There are two anvils that I know of in NS that are sitting out in the
rain.  One is the 300# Peter Wright that lived for some generations in
the blacksmith shop in Chester Basin.  It is now the centerpiece of a
monument in (what might pass for) the town square and people are very
proud of this reminder of a simpler and more neighborly time.

The other is the anvil from some kind of big power hammer and is part
of an inconspicuous roadside monument to the ironworks that existed
for some years, well over 100 years ago, over on the opposite side of
the province from me.  This one has official government and historical
society approval and a brass plaque explaining its origins.   It's the
only known artifact left from the now completely vanished ironworks.

I kinda hate to see the PW get so rusty but I can hardly object to a
whole village that wants to honor its now long deceased blacksmith.

For my own part, I'm not much into welded junk sculpture but I did
make a couple of feeble attempts once.  I figgered the least bad of
them would be best put where it would rust away and it "decorates" my
garden.  At some point, I left the cast iron flywheel from an old
turnip pulper tilted up against it and it never got moved.  So I guess
I'm guilty too.  An occasional visitor gives the welded junk thing
close scrutiny and then *doesn't* ask any questions.  I can't decide
whether this is a good thing or a bad one. :-)

- Mike

---
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada 
                                 
mspencer@tallships.ca            
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/