[TheForge] anvil pointing

Thu Jul 24 17:21:02 2003

As a farrier I can see his point we turn allot of shoes and having the horn
pointed left is usually the easy way to do this and god know we farriers
hate to work any harder then we have to.
Dan Scheid
"You ask a mare.
You tell a gelding.
You have a conversation with a stallion"
Author unknown
www.home.earthlink.net/~chevalvolant/flyinghorseforge.html
> A farrier was in my shop and said I must be left handed  on account of the
> way the anvil was pointed, that comment didn't mean a thing to me.  I have
> 100 # and a 155#  peter wright anvils , they move all around the shop
> sometimes they are off the block and on the floor, just depends what I'm
> doing and what feels comfortable at the time.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "George Dixon" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 9:08 AM
> Subject: [TheForge] anvil pointing
>
>
> > I can recall playing around with which way the horn worked best, left or
> > right, with my first anvil.
> > When I got to Samuel Yellin's shop some years later, I was pointing the
> > horn to the right....I'm right handed so perhaps that was why.
> > Every anvil in the shop was pointed to the left.   I turned the one I
> > was to use to the right....force of habit.  The shop forman, the son of
> > a blacksmith but a machinist by training, asked "why in the #%$@!" I was
> > doing that.....
> >
> > Maybe a year later, a very old man came to visit the shop.  He had
> > worked for Yellin in the 1920's.  He toured the shop and then paused. He
> > noted one anvil was pointing to the right.  "At least one anvil is set
> > correct" says he.   So I talked to him about what he meant.
> >
> > He stated, in a manner that made clear that he thought everyone knew
> > this......., that industrial blacksmiths set their heel to the right and
> > ornamental blacksmiths set their horn to the right.  Industrial smiths
> > use more hardy tools and punch more holes (pritchel means punch,
> > basically) while ornamental smiths use the horn more for curves and
such.
> >
> > It is interesting to note that he had worked there when only ornamental
> > work was done, so accordingly each anvil horn pointed right.  The Yellin
> > shop shifted from ornamental to industrial work during WW2, ornamental
> > did not come back until the brief period from the 1980's to 1992 when
> > the shop was closed.  So, by his reckoning, the anvils were reset during
> > the war and the break in continuity in blacksmithing had left them that
> way.
> >
> > It seems like there is a lot of what was the tradition in our past that
> > may have been forgotten except for an occasional echo.
> >
> > George Dixon
> > (it no doubt matters more that one knows the step on an anvil is not for
> > cutting, than which way the horn is heading)
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> > theforge mail list group photo site is
> > http://www.photoaccess.com
> > Login:  [email protected]
> > password:  anvil
> > ___________
> >
> >
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  [email protected]
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>
>