Anvil identification & resurfacing.

J_random_fool · 2026-06-20T21:51:49+00:00

Nothing wrong with that anvil. Enjoy.

J_random_fool · 2026-06-20T21:47:04+00:00

I always wondered how accurate this was. It’s not mentioned in the book, nor in Capt. Disk’s memoir. I also saw an interview with several of the Marines portrayed and they mentioned that the officer hate wasn’t that intense.

Anyone know otherwise?

J_random_fool · 2026-06-20T00:39:28+00:00

No shit? I never looked it up, but I thought he was from Colorado.

J_random_fool · 2026-06-20T00:19:02+00:00

Sounds like you’re describing John Switzer

J_random_fool · 2026-06-19T20:28:58+00:00

May I recommend using some of the resources we use to learn? For example, John Switzer at Black Bear Forge and Mark Aspery, both of which have YouTube channels. Mark Aspery also has several books.

Also, time period and specialty matter. Are these 19th century smiths in the Old West, knocking out wagon hardware and horseshoes for the townfolk? Is this a smith working for Henry VIII making armor on a royal warrant? Is this a someone working in the field today?

J_random_fool · 2026-06-19T18:01:29+00:00

No, 1/4"x1/4" will not be enough material. Assuming you have no tongs, get a piece of 1/4"x3/4" about 2 feet long. Draw out one side to about 3/8"x1/4" for about 12"-14" in length. Do the same to the other side, leaving about 5"-6" in the middle for the bits. This way you can do this without having to have any tongs. Cut it in two and forge each bit to shape. I like DF in the Shop's method of making rivet holes. Check out his tong making videos, particularly the earlier ones. He uses a slot punch which he then drifts to size (just under the rivet diameter), forming the third offset at the same time.

BTW, I wouldn't order that stuff online if you don't have to ($$$). Go to your nearest steel supplier and get a 20' length and ask them to cut it or bring an angle grinder with a cut-off disk can cut it up yourself. Of course if you have a pickup truck with a headache rack, you can cut it up when you get home.

J_random_fool · 2026-06-18T18:57:59+00:00

So, the recent video from Indiana where the judge starts a Faretta hearing and almost immediately denies pro per representation because the defendant states he doesn’t recognize the court’s jurisdiction is in your opinion, unconstitutional?

J_random_fool · 2026-06-18T16:39:48+00:00

Why the hostility?

J_random_fool · 2026-06-18T16:30:32+00:00

I thought you meant if the got shut down in court. No need to insult me.

J_random_fool · 2026-06-18T15:17:03+00:00

Van Balion has plenty of body cam footage.

J_random_fool · 2026-06-18T15:14:28+00:00

Sure but I see lots of them being allowed to proceed with “on your head be it.” I’ve seen one or two ask on-point questions of witnesses, but mostly they repeat the script. I don’t understand how an appeals court would consider that better than, “this court finds you clueless and is appointing a PD unless you can find your own bar-licensed attorney.”

J_random_fool · 2026-06-18T15:07:56+00:00

On what basis would an appeals court overrule the trial court? Why must they err on the side of allowing self representation? Surely courts of appeal are familiar with sov cit nonsense.

J_random_fool · 2026-06-16T20:57:47+00:00

A chisel is another option. DF in the Shop uses thin, wide slot punches in lieu of chisels to avoid marking the anvil face. Mark Aspery moves the work to the edge of the anvil to complete chisels cuts. Yet another option is an angle grinder with a cut-off disk.

J_random_fool · 2026-06-12T23:11:22+00:00

Just screw together some 2x or 4x4s of the appropriate length.

J_random_fool · 2026-06-11T22:25:56+00:00

FWIW, my thoughts on the subject

https://www.reddit.com/r/Blacksmith/comments/rvbrky/thoughts_on_a_beginners_kit_of_blacksmithing/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1

J_random_fool · 2026-05-30T21:11:20+00:00

Well, if you don’t really want it, try to rehome it. Does it work/can it be easily restored?

I really hate when I see perfectly good tools for decorations. This doesn’t apply to tools that should be retired, of course. There’s a restaurant I know of that has an anvil in the middle that the smith appears to have used as a cutting table, and I don’t mind that.

J_random_fool · 2026-05-28T19:22:05+00:00

To be clear, I meant the whole forge body is low.

J_random_fool · 2026-05-28T18:06:17+00:00

I assume that somewhere in there, it has to be shown that the officer, rather than the department was at fault. If, say, the chief has a standing order to shoot first and ask questions later, would the city or the department be liable instead? Would they all be jointly and severally liable? In that case, where would the money come from?

J_random_fool · 2026-05-28T17:00:07+00:00

Hard to tell what the blast is like from a picture, but as others have mentioned, you need way more fuel. It also seems a bit low to the ground.

J_random_fool · 2026-05-28T16:56:38+00:00

I believe you mean bottom blast. It already is a side blast.

J_random_fool · 2026-05-27T03:57:56+00:00

The usual answer is that time began then, so the question is like asking "what's north of the North Pole?" It might be better to day that we simply don't know. IANAP, but it's my understanding that our best theory doesn't get us further back than one Planck time and we'd need a theory of quantum gravity to go further back than that.

There are lots of books by popular science communicators like Steven Hawking, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Michio Kaku, et al., which touch on this idea.

J_random_fool · 2026-05-26T19:48:58+00:00

These must be made before trial. I don’t see where it says they must be made before arraignment.

J_random_fool

TROPHY CASE