[TheForge] Buy American?

[RIES NIEMI]

I have been reading a lot lately about czech anvils, the two horned style,
which are being imported into the country by a few different companies. They
are well made, beefy, and reasonably priced.
They are also that cheap mainly because they are built in factories built by
the communist government, in fact the entire chain of manufacturing, from
mining the ore to making the steel to the anvil factory itself was
subsidised by the government.
Then, the workers in the factory making the anvils are paid at most a
quarter of what american workers would be paid to do the same jobs.

Now I am not someone who only buys american, whatever that means nowadays.
I used to have a nice little Ford escort- designed by Mazda, made in
hermisillo mexico- still cant figure out if that makes it more or less an
american car than my Nissan pickup that was made in smyrna tennesee.
But my shop is full of tools from around the world, mostly because they
offered better value. I have a taiwanese milling machine because it cost one
quarter of the cost of the equivalent bridgeport.

I have a friend who makes a very similar anvil in the US- Russell Jaque at
Nimba Forge. His anvils are beautiful- actually better looking and more
carefully designed than the czech ones. Cast steel, machined and heat
treated by high priced american workers who drive new 4x4 diesel one ton
pickups that cost 40 grand. The czechs are eating his lunch.

What interests me is that the same people who will rail at our government
for shipping all our manufacturing jobs to the third world will jump on the
chance to save a couple hundred bucks on a czech anvil.
Blacksmiths in general are probably mostly blue collar, work in
manufacturing jobs, in small town america- exactly the sort of people who
you would think would make the moral statement of paying a little more for
american made. But they aint.

I am not trying to make any moral judgements here, like I say I am as guilty
as the next guy- it just is an interesting point about how our modern world
is just a little more complicated in reality than some people would like it
to be.

Meanwhile, I am saving up to buy one of Russell's anvils. I like the names,
and the way he cast the names right into the anvil in a cool typestyle. Plus
I like the idea of buying locally.