Anvil (found)

[Swingman]

I bought it from a farrier supply in OK when I attended Bud Beaston's Oklahoma Farriers College after getting out of the service in 1972, and used it to shoe horses full time for the next six years, and well after that for our own horses. I pounded lots of hot iron during that time doing gaited horses and later found it easier to use than my paternal, blacksmith grandfather's anvil from the turn of the century. Had a chance to change but liked the feel of the newer one better ( and of course it was a different shape), it weighs about 85lb, about 20 lbs lighter. I suspect it is a good anvil (it was their top of the line at the time, not cheap ... The Festool of it's class, IIRC. :>) ) Dad still has it and uses it on occasion but I haven't laid eyes on it, or thought about it, for a good twenty five years. Next time I go up, I'm going to check it out.

Thanks for the impetus, and memories ... :)

[willshak]

Oh, OK. If he had mentioned Wile E Coyote, I would have gotten the joke.

[Robatoy]

As a kid, I was a blacksmith's helper. I am talking about 7-8 yrs old. The blacksmith in question was a client of my dad's firm and he always got a kick out of my curiosity. Most of the 'work' was wire-brushing grates out of coal-burning space heaters and sweeping. On a lucky day, I would get to watch him putting new shoes on a horse and if I was really lucky, one of those horses would be huge and would be wearing socks (or so I was told). In retrospect those must have been Belgians. I would always cringe and worry about the hot shoes hitting the hooves...and that smell.. I will never forget that smell. The shop was old school back then. Bellows and a huge anvil. He'd start 'smithing' by bouncing the hammer on the anvil then hit the work piece and then bouncing on the anvil again, to keep it going. (I thought he was missing all the time...) Definitely one of my better memories. One horse, called Vesuvius, had an ass so big, it almost completely darkened the shed's door.... and when it took a piss, you better stand waaaay back.

[k-nuttle]

It was better that a dumb cartoon about a car that changes in to a man.

[willshak]

... or the TV series called, "My Mother the Car" I never saw it, but I heard it featured the voice of one of my favorite actresses, Anne Sothern.

[Rene]

Still is;-)

[Upscale]

That reminds me of the "anvil" I inherited from my father. It was a foot long piece of railroad track. I still use it on occasion when I need an unwielding surface to hammer on.

It also does dual duty at Christmas time. Several times I've put it in the same box with some small Christmas present. It's always good for a laugh watching someone trying to pick the box up.

[basilisk]

My Grandfathers brother was a blacksmith and mechanic, he was uptown with a hand crank blower for the forge, powering the blower and the hand crank drill press were my duties.

There was no such thing as scrap iron in his hands, everything could become something useful.

I wish that he had remained healthy enough and lived long enough for me to have learned more of the craft and its finer points.

basilisk

[Robatoy]

I did learn from this guy. His favourite saying was: (and I translate loosely) "When it needs to be done and I have done it, I'm done." Simple, really.

[Marty]

This thread brings back memories of an old skit I saw on the Carol Burnett show long ago... It was a take-off on "Death of a Salesman." Mickey Rooney played the long suffering Willie Loman, and complained of how his job as a door-to-door saleman was wearing him down, and how his cases seemed heavier year after year. The biggest laugh of the skit came when Rooney said, "I guess the world just doesn't need anvils anymore."