http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhQ4dE_RGnQ

Wow! And I thought that our tennis-ball cannons back in high school were over the top!

That's anvil abuse!

I kind of have a thing for anvils.

Wow, that was great. As you may guess from my AVATAR, one of my greatest loves in life is Blacksmithing and all that goes with it. The Anvil shooting was a great tradition in the "old days" when villages celebrated the 4th of July with great pride and traditions. The sad thing was that a lot of fine Anvils were broken in half by the process.

Anyway, thanks so much for posting that. I'll be sure and send it to a lot of my friends.

Regards,

Keith Williams (AnvilmanCo) Anvilman in Colorado.

Hey Keith another blacksmith. Great! I think there are a few blacksmiths that are members of this site.

I have never seen an anvil shoot in person, but when I mentioned it to my wife. Her comment was "who would shoot a poor innocent anvil".

I love a big bang as much as the next guy but all I had was visions of that anvil plumetting into the pick-up 20 feet away.

Yes, Daryl, I suspect there are several of us "Smithys" lurking around here. I have an 85 lb Haybudden Anvil left from my big shop back in Illinois, and those two in the video sure looked a lot like mine. Maybe we should have a "hammer-in" rally sometime? I was one of the very early members of the Illinois Valley Blacksmith Association and it has grown to a huge very active group. There is also a very active group here in Colorado and Indiana. The IVBA has an annual gathering at the Threshermen's Reunion in Pontiac, Illinois in June. Perhaps we could organize a Fiberglass Rally for that????

Love to make some slag with you someday.

EKW / AnvilmanCO

Hi: All... That's way cool. Evil Kenanvil would be happy to see it!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

I got to watch an actual anvil shoot a few years ago at Dan Boone's pasture party. It was pretty cool to see and hear. You are definately looking to see where the thing is going to come down. (grin)

There were only two of our fiberglass trailers at the NEB meet in September but we made at least one convert among the blacksmiths there. Steve G

Keith, I enjoy hammer-ins, it won't likely be to long before we see more FGRVs at them, I had been looking for a trailer for some time when I saw another blacksmiths Bigfoot at a conference and decided it had the layout I liked the best. June is a poor month for me to get away but I have always wanted to go to Quad States, which I think is in September.

Steve I hope you mentioned to Dave that the U-Haul is for him to sleep in, not for hauling the 3B

We know the reason lots of folks purchase lightweight molded fiberglass trailers is because then they have available weight to load em up with cast iron (DOs). Little did I know the same would apply so other folks can carry anvils

Hi Keith, my first summer job was helping out in a blacksmith shop where they made log boom chains. The links were 1 1/2 inches in diameter, probably wieghed arounbd 5 pounds each and the blacksmiths forged and hammered each one together to make the chain. My job was to drag the chain out of his way (with a long metal rod with a hook) while he pounded away on each and every link, then I stacked the finished chains in a pile.

The blacksmith that I paired up with told me when he first started the job he kept tennis balls in his hands at night to prevent his hands from cramping up so tight he couldn't open them in the morning.

I have a real appreciation for that line of work.

Mike

Correct on the respect for that line of work. There's a wonderful story in the Bible about King Solomon, when his temple was finished, he had a great feast and invited everyone who worked on it to come. However, he didn't invite the "dirty old Blacksmith" The Blacksmith confronted him a said that if it weren't for him, the others wouldn't have been able to do the work. He made the tools for them. King Solomon made him the "honored guest" at the banquet. I'll dig up the refereences and post them.

EKW