[TheForge] make shift anvil

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

Awright guys, my comment was, with the big anvils, the ones you're talking
about make my back hurt. They do, because I am usually taking my smithing on
the road- I started as a farrier, and with the teaching I've been doing,
I've continued on the road. Big anvils are for shops, not the back of a
truck or a trailer. I do have Johan's 170 Mousehole in the
garage-that-will-one-day-be-a-shop-if-my-roommate-ever-cleans-the-junk-out-o
f-it, and a couple of nice stumps, but I seldom do big and heavy work- I'm
of the opinion that if I can't get pissed at a piece and pitch it through
the window, I don't need to be whanging on the damn thing in the first
place. (Pollyanna-prim-n-propers beware- I'm NOT in the mood to put up with
you). What I need and use is light and conveniently portable anvils. I've
used the big ones, and there's no advantage for what I do. I seldom have any
use for anything bigger than half inch square.

And don't tell me I'm not a real smith because I don't suffer from anvil
envy. I'm rather wondering why a real production smith would be making
knives out of ball bearings- isn't that rather time consuming, if you're
trying to produce knives in any quantity? Much easier and more efficient to
buy the steel in a reasonably close size to what you're making.

I also seldom play with the exotic steels- no point in it, unless I have a
particular project in mind, although I'll be mangling up a fair amount of
stainless stock soon for some hangers I intend to make for my smithing
shelter.

Each of us who smith have preferences for equipment that helps us do what we
want to do. Johan uses a very modern set-up in our Medieval recreations-
propane forge, rr track anvil, on an angle iron stump- but that's because he
wants to be able to smith at all in a fire hazard area- shall I knock him,
because what he's doing isn't what I'm doing? Yes- but that's because he's a
loved and trusted friend, whom I enjoy teasing ;-)

So, use youyr big-ass anvils, and I'll try not to laugh (OR HELP!!!) when
you hafta move them...


Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....