Most of the trouble you had with the rock comes from not fully stabilising it. For reference you can look at the videos of the channel "primitive skills". The guy managed to get to the iron age directly from stone (I know, bamboo is a giant cheat...)
I feel like the biggest lesson of this series is that you need a community, that the most fundamental technology is cooperation. I love it when you bring in experts and help. You are amazing!
@@n.g.s1mple29 Sure, of course, all kinds of factors contribute. Yet for a long time this sentiment of "war/conflict/competition over resources = motivation for human development" dominated the field of history. And only now are we slowly seeing a change in perspective, that maybe that wasn't the case. You also see it here on TH-cam: many of the biggest history TH-camrs talk almost exclusively about war (Armchair Historian, Timeghost, Oversimplified etc. Not to say they aren't great creators btw, I even have a bit of a crush on Indy Neidel) Which is why I love HTME even more: it's history centered around technology and the improvement of human daily life. That's a different narrative and a really interesting one too. Crash Course's History series also is a good one, with a lot more than just wars.
I’m gonna be that guy relating things to Dr. Stone, but manpower was always a driving force of the series and finding methods to acquire said manpower. That’s why they created things like ramen, cola, and even a money system to help drive that desire and want to get people to contribute.
Which is, in line with the spirit of the project. He's using the premade anvil to speed up the process since he's already cast bronze anvils. The whole process was iterative in history with small-ish improvements leading up to larger ones. With the stake and horn anvil, you can already kind of see how the big anvil came together. You widen out the stake anvil to get a larger surface area to work on bigger pieces, attach the horn which you shape into different angles and boom: you have the big anvil.
The intro to this show asks "Can one man do it all?" and I think the answer to that is a definitive "no", the show is much more enjoyable with the whole team
basalt or granite would definitely be better, and a boulder in dirt would absorb impacts I'd guess. But I'm guessing the logistics of giant boulders would probably be a bit much for HTME, a simple anvil setup like this is probably a lot more practical though. I thought the same though when I saw them smash those poor stones on those logs.
Came here to say this as soon as I realized it was sandstone. I'd like to see them try using basalt. (Note: eye protection is super important when hitting basalt or other igneous rocks, the chips fly off at high speed which is completely different from how that sandstone behaved).
They would also take hammers and hit the stones in certain ways so they could flatten them also Basalt and Granite are very hard stones unlike the soft stones they were using normally a smithing hammer for the copper-bronze age was actually a stone of one of those hard materials that they found was somewhat rounded :p
@@AdriannaDaFox98 polished stonsledges and anvils of basalt is still common in many parts of africa, even though they have modern anvils. they use them for drawing and spreading out
The rocks; looks like you're using sedimentary rocks which will easily break under pressure. You need metamorphic rocks to use as an anvil. Please note that igneous rock won't do well either.
@@crubs83 it "kind of" depends on how felsic or mafic the eruption was. On the felsic side of the scale, the rock forms with too much gasses and silics trapped inside (very rough and will crumble). As you move towards more mafic, there's less gas pockets however, the silica content is still around 50% (makes it brittle). The best igneous rock would be ultramafic, but that is exceedingly rare and the last eruption that could be categorized as such was 2B years ago when the mantle was far hotter than it is now. I hope that helps. Have a great day. 👍🌋
Id just like to share that I am now a blacksmith, partly thanks to this channel. You made me realize anyone can do anything if they just try, so here I am covered in coal dust and burns.
@@nickverbree im happy to say about six months in now, I only notice when those big pieces of scale land on top of a hand or between the finger. Its insane how quickly the body becomes accustomed to the burns
Sounds like you're living a dream, it's always refreshing to see someone pursue a hobby they love rather than stick to the job that's slowly eating them from within :). I'd love to become a writer and publish books one day, and I gotta say, I found this channel due to my research on ancient/medieval technology to incorporate into my story. I want it to be as accurate as possible, and I do believe that understanding where tools, buildings etc. come from allows for a much better immersion, even as a writer, than just "he're the sword, nobody knows where it came from, deal with it". Like I was watching this one and asking myself "ok but where's the anvil?". I'm used to the idea of these big chunks of metal like the one they're working with. But when they said that an anvil was basically something to put under the metal you're working with, something clicked. Inserting a stake anvil and the little hook one into a log takes much less material and working time to create, and both are money. So if it works, it works. That's an important lesson to learn from past ages. A thing I noticed just this weekend, haven't been to a Roman-Celtic museum with an exhibition in crafts like smithing, woodwork, leatherwork, making yarn and fabrics, and much more. The tools on the exhibition don't seem particularly beatiful, and I don't mean like "this thing's old" kinda not beautiful but like "they didn't bother to spend a couple additional hours to make it perfectly even" kinda not beautiful. Also I've been watching several historical sewing channels for probably over 1.5 years now, and if there's one thing I learned, "piecing is period" - you'd run out of fabric, or have to put two fabric pieces together to get one pattern piece all the time, especially since apparently fabrics were historically narrower than today. Another interesting thing that contemporary garment proves is that, even as late as early 20th century higher class garment would often have unfinished edges if they could get away with it because they weren't visible and wouldn't frey. Again, time's money.
@@Severalangrybees Lol the same happened to me when I worked at a steel fabrication shop. Sparks just stopped affecting me. I managed to set myself on fire multiple times without noticing as well lol
I love that this video shows the hesitation and awkwardness of multiple people driving big hammers. Even with experience and familiarity, it usually takes more time and work than it should simply because humans are not perfect. This almost doesn't represent how big of a project even a small anvil is to make. Great Job!
This is interesting and all, but in the name of all that is holy, Secure your frggin' anvil properly to the floor! Seriously, there were several times it nearly tipped over, and several more where it almost made them drop the steel, or ruin the work they had just done.
Exactly my thoughts. I had to stop watching as soon as that anvil started walking around. No excuse for something like that, and certainly not something you put on film for all to see.
I was reading this right when the walking started. I used to work on a sketchy anvil stand but thats just ridiculous. Plus that sucka is easily heavy enough to take a foot should it fall
@@threeriversforge1997 It's not the usual set up for forging in that shop, nor is it my or Joe's personal anvil. Stuff is moved around to accommodate filming, and we don't much have the right to permanently modify a shop that we don't own (said shop being Joe's workplace, not either of our home shops). You have no idea how much both of us would rather it be lagged to the concrete.
To this old man I’m just ultra impressed that any Internet personality would even care enough to try. I am so extremely excited to see a younger generation even try this. I realize there’s a good bunch of great TH-cam smiths and they are fantastic and they have all this old terd’s views. I wish you all the best!
@@jacobt5720 It took forever because they hit like beginners and with no coordination. Real master smiths would have forged it way faster even by hand. But overall, they had fun forging this and that's the goal :)
So you're telling me that Dwarf Fortress was right, and that you do need an anvil to make a new anvil? I am disappoint. I will offer a defense to the stone anvil, if you have a lot of experience working specifically with a stone anvil, that might help mitigate some of the problems with them, especially if you were using a particularly hard stone and could work with the exact same anvil for an extended period, or if you knew or had access to someone skilled enough in stoneworking to shape the stone better for your purposes. Now, I'll agree that a metal one is better, but just grabbing a hunk of what looked like limestone and using it straight up is unlikely to be representative of the stone anvils ancient smiths were likely to use, because while they might not face the comparison of working with a metal one, they'd still see most of the same flaws you all did with it and work on improving upon those, both with technique and improving the tools available to them.
The problem is that the first rock was sandstone, and the second rock wasn't much better with its wonky shape balancing on a small log. They could have stabilized it by having it sit directly on the ground with the flattish surface down (or over some tough material so it doesn't scrape the flooring), and used knapping techniques to flatten the work surface as needed (or just use a flatter stone; anvilstones were chosen and kept in use for many generations of work, after all) to improve the effect, but it can in fact be used to make an anvil just fine. Also as was mentioned, iron blooms are basically anvils in the making, just needing to be hammered down to remove the sponginess from the iron, and provide a dense, flattish surface. Larger anvils like the one they used to make the anvil pair definitely take more work, though.
If there's anything I've learned watching Andy since The Reset, it's that so much of the progression of human history is basically using whatever was laying around to build shitty tools to help you make better tools to make better tools to make better tools... and so on. Like, half of this series has basically been "We need to make this, but first we need to make a rudimentary form of it to make the pieces that will make the actual thing."
@@The_Razielim That's close, but also not even close to accurate. Lemme explain: Tools weren't just upgraded wholesale with a tech unlock, sorta like how it's done in Minecraft or other similar crafting games, where you get a material, make a tool, get the next material, smelt it in an easy to make, all-purpose furnace, and repeat until you reach the end of the upgrading-materials tech tree; it's very much incremental change and teaching things from one generation to the next, with small iterative changes over each generation as they take what they inherited and improve upon it slightly. Sometimes there IS a tech breakthrough where something is discovered that fills a gap needed to upgrade current processes, like the discovery of coal coking did in making the much more common and easily available, low-quality bituminous coal, into a fuel that was on par or even better than that of charcoal or anthracite coal, since that also dealt away with needing massive volumes of lumber to convert into charcoal for smelting and forging purposes, which slowed down things in tree-sparse regions tremendously. However, things like this are still very incremental, with small discovery and experimentation towards solving that problem working towards a final result until they eventually succeeded in resolving it. That's what Andy means when he says that everything is built on centuries of innovation in the title sequence, really; unfortunately, he also has the habit of treating it more like Minecraft unlocks rather than incrementally improving his tools and skills, which is why doing things like he has been in the past few videos, about improving his tools and bettering his tool usage, has been so nice.
I feel like they were underselling the rocks. I mean, those rocks were terrible. Small, round, sedimentary. Did they not have permanent forges with a unit of a rock or did they travel around a lot and have to make use of what they could?
given that after a while a rock would shatter I think there is a limit to the amount of effort it is practical to use in getting a perfect one. (Think about all the work to mason a perfectly flat rock and then have it be chipped by a hammerblow and there is no real way to fix it)
I dont know about other cultures but I read that they have found giant anvil stones in place in Scandinavia. Through archaeology it appears that the smiths that used these just built a shop around the stone.
The bigger thing to me was not securing it at all. Like don't perch it on top of a log with no support. I'd think the best solution would be like a leather sandbag to rest it on. Then it won't travel as much, and it'll mean the impact is spread out instead of concentrated against the flat log surface. Simpler solution would probably be to put it on an earth mound or something?
You made me feel sad for rocks. Although they're not dead, they'll just become many smaller rocks. Sure, it might take awhile to smooth out again, but it'll be like the blink of an eye for the rock. I feel like I eulogized a ROCK. Strawberry Diesel is good shit.
This honestly reminds me of a heck of a lot of lessons between the shop,the garage, the kitchen, and my grandma's sewing room, a flat firm work top, that doesn't slip and can handle changes in force and temperature is as important as whatever tools you are using. Stable work surfaces always create more refined work.
I think that if they had turned that second rock anvil on its flat left side they would have had more success. instead of laying it on a round side and beating on another round side
I did wonder whether the rock would be any better in a pit of sand or something which could absorb some of the impact without it rolling all over the place, but it's never going to compare to the iron anvils on surface finish (and ability to be hammered without breaking)
That rock looked like sand stone! Metal is always gonna perform better but you could also get decent results from stone using a basalt or even granite.
It's amazing the things you think are so simple, they almost never get included in the Grand Story of inventions, and yet they're super important and useful. One such thing is the wooden wedge or shim. Jam a few in under your log to get it to stand level and stable, or under your rock. Rocks can also be placed on the flattest side down, and they can also be hammered - even just with another hard rock - to smooth the flattest part into a level, stable surface. Seriously, stable work surfaces are really helpful, and people have been using them throughout history. The Wood Age and Stone Age still have a lot to offer, that would make your journey much easier.
Given that you're in the iron age now, a clogger's knife might be helpful for shaping timber and giving wood projects a smooth, clean finish! It's basically a larger version of a paper guillotine but the pivot is higher such that when brought down, the blade is perpendicular to the cutting surface with the edge smoothly contacting the surface along its entire length. It's definitely taken a lot of time off my own primitive woodworking!
Once you have the ability to forge theres not much a person cant make... I have always romanticized blacksmithing... Need a new tool? Make it... New set of forming dies? Make them... New knife? You get it... Keep up the great work!
You should look for the opportunity to get the core of a huge tree from people who removes trees from people's yards. The core of a tree is very strong. If you cut it into a block with the anvils burned through, it will hopefully make your setup more stable.
@@eliotdaoust3765 You don't need "permission" from anyone else to have, and express, your own opinions about reality. Please don't let anyone else dictate what you can and can't think and say. We don't need any more authoritarianism in the world.
Big effort! I wish I could have been there to help with the anvil making, which I have studied. In my latest videos you can see me forge anvils start to finish, like they used to be.
Well, I did say I'd like to have a nice stake anvil set of my own, so y'know, if you're ever in Minnesota! Really though, I think it ended up alright for one evening's work. The lil guy's really a pleasure to work on, believe it or not.
If you wanted to use a stone anvil you could make a box, fill it with dirt, make an impression for the stone (using the stone), and pack dirt around the stone to about 2/3 up the side of the stone. That would practically eliminate the movement of the rock as well as giving some limited protection against the stone splitting as easily. I would also start off with a very hard tough stone and peck and grind to make one surface as flat and smooth as possible, though you would have to resurface it periodically. Just something to think about using technology that would have been commonly in use when the first metal was forged.
It is worth keeping in mind that the Neolithic was considered the age of ground and smoothed stone. The mastery of stone shaping was as highly developed as it would ever get. Even the remarkable stone vessels and objects of Bronze Age Egypt and Crete for instance were almost certainly made without metal tools. The biggest drawback to stone, if yo pick the best kind, is that it lacks the mass of iron. You just have work harder, but a well crafted stone anvil can present a flat surface, though it will be easier to damage. There are archaeological examples from Europe that are deliberately hammered to a flat surface. And, stone anvils were used up into or past the Renaissance in some areas of Europe and the British Isles.
My prayers have been finally answered. I'm so happy that you've finally got the tool you need. I'm sure sure this will be a great help to future projects and safer.:)
I've always been enamoured with the idea of being a blacksmith, but I'm trans femme and so naturally that's off the table, but seeing Adri... now I have to seriously consider this cause that's goals right there 😅
@@ZedaZ80 Ngl, ive been binging these episodes the last few hours to find more Adri videos because im also trans femme and I felt a click with Adri and wanted to know more about her.
I might have to look into getting one of these sets. I'm still using a wood open pit forge and a round of mulberry as my anvil. It's hard work because of the lower temperatures; the metal doesn't move as much and if you want to see your heat, you can only forge between dusk and dawn. Even still, I love the challenge and experience. It just takes a weeks worth of clear weather to finish a piece.
This is actually why even in summer, forges were mostly enclosed spaces; they kept them fairly shaded from the natural light, so they could see the fire and the colour of the metal better. Even outdoor forges benefit from some form of enclosure, even if it's something as simple as an awning or other such roofing as can be arranged, like a corrugated metal roof (which doesn't have the same burn risk an awning would, especially a modern one).
@@KainYusanagi My "forge" is literally a hole in the ground and my lungs are my bellows. Sometimes I'll break out a piece of cardboard for a thicker piece of metal or a leaf blower if it looks like the weather is about to take a turn. I use this pit for campfires, cooking, making charcoal and a bunch of other stuff as well. I wouldn't want a roof over it.
@@dhawthorne1634 Doesn't have to be something hard and permanent, like coring holes and dumping concrete in, and then plowing pipes into it. A simple tarp set up over some poles like a tent to shade the area when forging would help, and it's easy to take down at other times, too.
@@dhawthorne1634 That's why I said that you DON'T have to do something hard and permanent, lol. A simple tarp set up on some poles would work just fine to make enough shade that you can see the temperature of the metal much more easily.
@@saltysalt397 This is correct. Coal rakes are used to arrange coal in the forge's firepot for proper insulation of your work, and to pull more coal into the pot from the table as time goes on and your coal burns down.
Well done! I was waiting for this for so long. You are going to make so much more progress and love your work that much more now that you have an anvil.
I'd guess the easiest solution back then would have been either casting a large bronze anvil (as size would help the fact the metal was weaker) or casting a large iron anvil (but maybe casting it would have been more difficult than the worth). A large bloom or wrought cube could work, but you'd need a bunch of people and a very large rock to work with.
There is a tradition in Jewish teaching that the very last thing God made on the 6th day before he rested was a pair of tongs for metalworking. What this story illustrates is the fact that a lot of tools have been made for so long in human history at this point that the knowledge of how to make it without having one already has been completely lost to us. If you were to take the whole premise of how to make everything's reset as rebuilding from a destroyed Society. It wouldn't be that hard to use an old engine block or compacted car or some other large and heavy object as your initial Anvil. So it's not really cheating it just depends on how you look at it
Unrelated but it your blacksmith single cuz he is striking. Straight up dude is red hot. Wouldn't mind doing some intense hammering if he's involved. Really enjoyed his work with those rods. Overall his work with that rock was smashing and I'm excited to see his work further on. (Also he's pretty cute)
Not sure what type of rocks you're using for this but I've done a fair bit of blacksmithing work with a charcoal fired campfire and larg granite boulders that were already partially embedded in the ground. I've never broken one of these rocks, though they definitely suck a lot of the heat out of the projects. When the rock disintegrated it almost looked like the way sandstone or limestone crumble.? I can't imagine a worse rock to use as an anvil, maybe this requires some more research and experimentation. Also wonder if putting a binding around the rock would help it not split.
When you first start working it, and its falling out of the round jaws of your tongs over and over, i find that if the jaws have a v shape they hold round stock much more securely. Also, rebar isnt my favorite material for making tongs, its sort of "whatcha got stew" made up of all kinds of steel, some high carbon, some low carbon, so it makes it difficult to temper it to the correct hardness for a tool you are making, you can see this happening as the round jaws of your tongs flatten out. If your having a hard time holding on to the work piece, you can shorten the jaws of your tongs to give you more leverage, till your hand strength increases. You gotta beg borrow or steal a bigger stump for your anvil stand, havinv it rock around like that is dangerous, but more importantly, its annoying, and will keep you from doing as good of work as you are capable. If you are in the city, and cant just get a bigger round of log from your own place, try "tree guys" in the phone book, ive literally never been turned down by one when i needed a chunk of wood for a project, and was stuck in a city for some fool reason, lol.
You need to up your thumbnail game. I love the channel, I've watched EVERY one of your videos and I eagerly look forward to each new video. BUT... I see your thumbnail and before I realize it's HTME I think, "nah, that doesn't look interesting". Recently I have to see a notification before I realize it's yours, at which point I rush to go watch it! I've heard that thumbnails are super important and now I believe it because yours don't pull me in, even though I LOVE your content.
for a more sturdy anvil (outside) try to get an old telephone pole (or another dried large longer log) and then bury it partially in the ground (to your correct height) - there are several videos of this here on utube
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Wow
Maybe
Didnt you guys have an episode about copper where you used a ball mill?
Most of the trouble you had with the rock comes from not fully stabilising it. For reference you can look at the videos of the channel "primitive skills". The guy managed to get to the iron age directly from stone (I know, bamboo is a giant cheat...)
Could we get links to the blacksmiths? I wasn't able to get it from the screen easily.
That said, great video, and am loving the series.
I feel like the biggest lesson of this series is that you need a community, that the most fundamental technology is cooperation. I love it when you bring in experts and help. You are amazing!
Cooperation and trade are the motors of history. The idea that competition and war drive progress is so outdated IMO.
@@feministadentata4041 there isnt just one thing that drives progress, both war and competition and cooperation and trade are just some of them.
@@n.g.s1mple29 Sure, of course, all kinds of factors contribute. Yet for a long time this sentiment of "war/conflict/competition over resources = motivation for human development" dominated the field of history. And only now are we slowly seeing a change in perspective, that maybe that wasn't the case.
You also see it here on TH-cam: many of the biggest history TH-camrs talk almost exclusively about war (Armchair Historian, Timeghost, Oversimplified etc. Not to say they aren't great creators btw, I even have a bit of a crush on Indy Neidel) Which is why I love HTME even more: it's history centered around technology and the improvement of human daily life. That's a different narrative and a really interesting one too. Crash Course's History series also is a good one, with a lot more than just wars.
I’m gonna be that guy relating things to Dr. Stone, but manpower was always a driving force of the series and finding methods to acquire said manpower. That’s why they created things like ramen, cola, and even a money system to help drive that desire and want to get people to contribute.
War is the reason for cooperation so your point just proves the thing you are trying to disprove even further lol
Step one: get anvil
Step two: Use anvil to make anvil
Step three: repeat
If he were to do this with a bronze anvil which is probably possible he would go through a ton of them to make the iron one.
Which is, in line with the spirit of the project. He's using the premade anvil to speed up the process since he's already cast bronze anvils. The whole process was iterative in history with small-ish improvements leading up to larger ones. With the stake and horn anvil, you can already kind of see how the big anvil came together. You widen out the stake anvil to get a larger surface area to work on bigger pieces, attach the horn which you shape into different angles and boom: you have the big anvil.
The same with so many technologies. Replace "anvil" with "computer" if you want. ;-)
Y e s
Step one: get 3d printer
Step two: print 3d printer
Step three: repeat
The intro to this show asks "Can one man do it all?" and I think the answer to that is a definitive "no", the show is much more enjoyable with the whole team
I reckon Donny Dust could
Dobby and Bill are critical members of the team.
It's so satisfying hearing the clanging noises of metal clashing
sped up it just goes rapid mechanical keyboard noises...
Amogus
Brow you need to grow a mustache.
Finally a man of culture
I love how everyone one has just accepted your everywhere and doesn't question it anymore
Anvils stones that have been identified as such typically weighed 5 or 6 tons. They were HUGE stones. Also made from Basalt not Sandstone.
basalt or granite would definitely be better, and a boulder in dirt would absorb impacts I'd guess. But I'm guessing the logistics of giant boulders would probably be a bit much for HTME, a simple anvil setup like this is probably a lot more practical though. I thought the same though when I saw them smash those poor stones on those logs.
Came here to say this as soon as I realized it was sandstone. I'd like to see them try using basalt. (Note: eye protection is super important when hitting basalt or other igneous rocks, the chips fly off at high speed which is completely different from how that sandstone behaved).
that makes a lot of sense
They would also take hammers and hit the stones in certain ways so they could flatten them also Basalt and Granite are very hard stones unlike the soft stones they were using normally a smithing hammer for the copper-bronze age was actually a stone of one of those hard materials that they found was somewhat rounded :p
@@AdriannaDaFox98 polished stonsledges and anvils of basalt is still common in many parts of africa, even though they have modern anvils. they use them for drawing and spreading out
The rocks; looks like you're using sedimentary rocks which will easily break under pressure. You need metamorphic rocks to use as an anvil. Please note that igneous rock won't do well either.
What's wrong with igneous?
@@crubs83 it "kind of" depends on how felsic or mafic the eruption was. On the felsic side of the scale, the rock forms with too much gasses and silics trapped inside (very rough and will crumble). As you move towards more mafic, there's less gas pockets however, the silica content is still around 50% (makes it brittle). The best igneous rock would be ultramafic, but that is exceedingly rare and the last eruption that could be categorized as such was 2B years ago when the mantle was far hotter than it is now. I hope that helps. Have a great day. 👍🌋
that was bugging me as well
Yeah sure, I totally know what that is
The whole thing would work better if they put the rock in a bucket of sand or something, to keep it from shaking around.
Id just like to share that I am now a blacksmith, partly thanks to this channel. You made me realize anyone can do anything if they just try, so here I am covered in coal dust and burns.
Keep at it! You'll get so used to the little burns that you won't even notice them any more
@@nickverbree im happy to say about six months in now, I only notice when those big pieces of scale land on top of a hand or between the finger. Its insane how quickly the body becomes accustomed to the burns
Sounds like you're living a dream, it's always refreshing to see someone pursue a hobby they love rather than stick to the job that's slowly eating them from within :). I'd love to become a writer and publish books one day, and I gotta say, I found this channel due to my research on ancient/medieval technology to incorporate into my story. I want it to be as accurate as possible, and I do believe that understanding where tools, buildings etc. come from allows for a much better immersion, even as a writer, than just "he're the sword, nobody knows where it came from, deal with it".
Like I was watching this one and asking myself "ok but where's the anvil?". I'm used to the idea of these big chunks of metal like the one they're working with. But when they said that an anvil was basically something to put under the metal you're working with, something clicked. Inserting a stake anvil and the little hook one into a log takes much less material and working time to create, and both are money. So if it works, it works. That's an important lesson to learn from past ages.
A thing I noticed just this weekend, haven't been to a Roman-Celtic museum with an exhibition in crafts like smithing, woodwork, leatherwork, making yarn and fabrics, and much more. The tools on the exhibition don't seem particularly beatiful, and I don't mean like "this thing's old" kinda not beautiful but like "they didn't bother to spend a couple additional hours to make it perfectly even" kinda not beautiful.
Also I've been watching several historical sewing channels for probably over 1.5 years now, and if there's one thing I learned, "piecing is period" - you'd run out of fabric, or have to put two fabric pieces together to get one pattern piece all the time, especially since apparently fabrics were historically narrower than today. Another interesting thing that contemporary garment proves is that, even as late as early 20th century higher class garment would often have unfinished edges if they could get away with it because they weren't visible and wouldn't frey. Again, time's money.
@@Kasiarzynka this is the longest reply I have ever received but I am digging all this info on medieval clothing
@@Severalangrybees Lol the same happened to me when I worked at a steel fabrication shop. Sparks just stopped affecting me. I managed to set myself on fire multiple times without noticing as well lol
I love that this video shows the hesitation and awkwardness of multiple people driving big hammers. Even with experience and familiarity, it usually takes more time and work than it should simply because humans are not perfect. This almost doesn't represent how big of a project even a small anvil is to make. Great Job!
This is interesting and all, but in the name of all that is holy, Secure your frggin' anvil properly to the floor!
Seriously, there were several times it nearly tipped over, and several more where it almost made them drop the steel, or ruin the work they had just done.
Exactly my thoughts. I had to stop watching as soon as that anvil started walking around. No excuse for something like that, and certainly not something you put on film for all to see.
I was reading this right when the walking started. I used to work on a sketchy anvil stand but thats just ridiculous. Plus that sucka is easily heavy enough to take a foot should it fall
@@threeriversforge1997 It's not the usual set up for forging in that shop, nor is it my or Joe's personal anvil. Stuff is moved around to accommodate filming, and we don't much have the right to permanently modify a shop that we don't own (said shop being Joe's workplace, not either of our home shops).
You have no idea how much both of us would rather it be lagged to the concrete.
@@TheElfsmith Could've been at least mentioned on film though..
@@VincentGroenewold I'm pretty sure we've brought up this wonky anvil before, iirc.
To this old man I’m just ultra impressed that any Internet personality would even care enough to try. I am so extremely excited to see a younger generation even try this. I realize there’s a good bunch of great TH-cam smiths and they are fantastic and they have all this old terd’s views. I wish you all the best!
Blacksmithing is gotta be one of my most favorite arts in the world
I have said it before, I'll say it again, as many times as it takes. Anvil: The unsung Hero of the History of Fabrication
Idk those avils are singing pretty well.
Not to mention anvils are more common than we think. Most common example is the anvil on a stapler(the metal plate used to bend the staple close.)
Well said Ahmed you killed it😆
History channel voice:
“Now: ‘The History of the Anvil’ on Modern Marvels!”
*music*
Meanwhile Alec Steele is watching and glad he's got his power hammers lol.
I'm like damn it take forever for them to move the metal around.... guess we have been spoiled with the power hammer.
i feel like a good 50% of modern blacksmiths have some sort of press, power or treadle hammer
@@jacobt5720 It took forever because they hit like beginners and with no coordination. Real master smiths would have forged it way faster even by hand. But overall, they had fun forging this and that's the goal :)
@@opforgeron having their anvil actually anchored to the floor in some fashion would have helped quite a bit as well.
@@tanavast4140 you are absolutely right
As a blacksmith I love how it looks and am excited to see where it goes
So you're telling me that Dwarf Fortress was right, and that you do need an anvil to make a new anvil? I am disappoint.
I will offer a defense to the stone anvil, if you have a lot of experience working specifically with a stone anvil, that might help mitigate some of the problems with them, especially if you were using a particularly hard stone and could work with the exact same anvil for an extended period, or if you knew or had access to someone skilled enough in stoneworking to shape the stone better for your purposes. Now, I'll agree that a metal one is better, but just grabbing a hunk of what looked like limestone and using it straight up is unlikely to be representative of the stone anvils ancient smiths were likely to use, because while they might not face the comparison of working with a metal one, they'd still see most of the same flaws you all did with it and work on improving upon those, both with technique and improving the tools available to them.
The problem is that the first rock was sandstone, and the second rock wasn't much better with its wonky shape balancing on a small log. They could have stabilized it by having it sit directly on the ground with the flattish surface down (or over some tough material so it doesn't scrape the flooring), and used knapping techniques to flatten the work surface as needed (or just use a flatter stone; anvilstones were chosen and kept in use for many generations of work, after all) to improve the effect, but it can in fact be used to make an anvil just fine. Also as was mentioned, iron blooms are basically anvils in the making, just needing to be hammered down to remove the sponginess from the iron, and provide a dense, flattish surface. Larger anvils like the one they used to make the anvil pair definitely take more work, though.
If there's anything I've learned watching Andy since The Reset, it's that so much of the progression of human history is basically using whatever was laying around to build shitty tools to help you make better tools to make better tools to make better tools... and so on.
Like, half of this series has basically been "We need to make this, but first we need to make a rudimentary form of it to make the pieces that will make the actual thing."
@@The_Razielim That's close, but also not even close to accurate. Lemme explain: Tools weren't just upgraded wholesale with a tech unlock, sorta like how it's done in Minecraft or other similar crafting games, where you get a material, make a tool, get the next material, smelt it in an easy to make, all-purpose furnace, and repeat until you reach the end of the upgrading-materials tech tree; it's very much incremental change and teaching things from one generation to the next, with small iterative changes over each generation as they take what they inherited and improve upon it slightly.
Sometimes there IS a tech breakthrough where something is discovered that fills a gap needed to upgrade current processes, like the discovery of coal coking did in making the much more common and easily available, low-quality bituminous coal, into a fuel that was on par or even better than that of charcoal or anthracite coal, since that also dealt away with needing massive volumes of lumber to convert into charcoal for smelting and forging purposes, which slowed down things in tree-sparse regions tremendously. However, things like this are still very incremental, with small discovery and experimentation towards solving that problem working towards a final result until they eventually succeeded in resolving it.
That's what Andy means when he says that everything is built on centuries of innovation in the title sequence, really; unfortunately, he also has the habit of treating it more like Minecraft unlocks rather than incrementally improving his tools and skills, which is why doing things like he has been in the past few videos, about improving his tools and bettering his tool usage, has been so nice.
nah, just use a crafting table
This series has been so intertaining! I’ve been watching for about a year and have learned a lot. Great job with this series!👍😃
Intertaining XD
I feel like they were underselling the rocks. I mean, those rocks were terrible. Small, round, sedimentary. Did they not have permanent forges with a unit of a rock or did they travel around a lot and have to make use of what they could?
given that after a while a rock would shatter I think there is a limit to the amount of effort it is practical to use in getting a perfect one. (Think about all the work to mason a perfectly flat rock and then have it be chipped by a hammerblow and there is no real way to fix it)
I dont know about other cultures but I read that they have found giant anvil stones in place in Scandinavia. Through archaeology it appears that the smiths that used these just built a shop around the stone.
@@davidbucklen-blacksmith5402 Well you are probably a hell of a lot more qualified than me so I will take your word for it my dude
@@lukesanderson7608 ive seen pictures of them where they are worn with grooves and are chipped off from years of use.
The bigger thing to me was not securing it at all. Like don't perch it on top of a log with no support.
I'd think the best solution would be like a leather sandbag to rest it on. Then it won't travel as much, and it'll mean the impact is spread out instead of concentrated against the flat log surface.
Simpler solution would probably be to put it on an earth mound or something?
super impressed with being a blacksmith and keeping those nails on point!
He should actually remove the varnish and cut his fingernails, because it looks terrible.
I'm certainly envious! I can't keep mine looking good and I'm a desk jockey.
Is bro Gay?
You made me feel sad for rocks.
Although they're not dead, they'll just become many smaller rocks. Sure, it might take awhile to smooth out again, but it'll be like the blink of an eye for the rock.
I feel like I eulogized a ROCK.
Strawberry Diesel is good shit.
Strawberry orange and sour all my fav lol northern lights current grow
If you are ever in the Phoenix AZ area and still want a stone anvil, we have a lot of diorite. EXTREMELY hard stuff!
This honestly reminds me of a heck of a lot of lessons between the shop,the garage, the kitchen, and my grandma's sewing room, a flat firm work top, that doesn't slip and can handle changes in force and temperature is as important as whatever tools you are using. Stable work surfaces always create more refined work.
I think that if they had turned that second rock anvil on its flat left side they would have had more success. instead of laying it on a round side and beating on another round side
I love watching the anvil move across the screen as u speed it up. Shows the force y'all put into it
they need to stabilize their bases losing alot of energy but nice work
Yeah just fix it in concrete
I did wonder whether the rock would be any better in a pit of sand or something which could absorb some of the impact without it rolling all over the place, but it's never going to compare to the iron anvils on surface finish (and ability to be hammered without breaking)
@@PKMartin I bet the sand would be good. Like a kinda thick sand to hold it still
Oh hell yeah, Aidri! They're the best!
That rock looked like sand stone! Metal is always gonna perform better but you could also get decent results from stone using a basalt or even granite.
"I wasn't even hitting it that hard" - - - - Is earlier seen one-handing a sledgehammer
I'm getting into urban forging and watching you guys taught me alot
I love watching people blacksmith. I’m not sure what it is about it but it just makes me so happy and it’s so fun to learn what they are doing.
Im happy to see progress being made. This video gives proof that anyone can forge!
It's amazing the things you think are so simple, they almost never get included in the Grand Story of inventions, and yet they're super important and useful. One such thing is the wooden wedge or shim. Jam a few in under your log to get it to stand level and stable, or under your rock. Rocks can also be placed on the flattest side down, and they can also be hammered - even just with another hard rock - to smooth the flattest part into a level, stable surface. Seriously, stable work surfaces are really helpful, and people have been using them throughout history.
The Wood Age and Stone Age still have a lot to offer, that would make your journey much easier.
Given that you're in the iron age now, a clogger's knife might be helpful for shaping timber and giving wood projects a smooth, clean finish! It's basically a larger version of a paper guillotine but the pivot is higher such that when brought down, the blade is perpendicular to the cutting surface with the edge smoothly contacting the surface along its entire length. It's definitely taken a lot of time off my own primitive woodworking!
I absolutely love watching a skilled blacksmith work
Once you have the ability to forge theres not much a person cant make... I have always romanticized blacksmithing... Need a new tool? Make it... New set of forming dies? Make them... New knife? You get it... Keep up the great work!
You should look for the opportunity to get the core of a huge tree from people who removes trees from people's yards. The core of a tree is very strong. If you cut it into a block with the anvils burned through, it will hopefully make your setup more stable.
Anvils are fun, but the most important part is the blacksmith. Keep on pumping the vids out!!
alt title: "an elf and a pirate make an anvil"
Gay elf*
Whois the elf and who is the pirate? Also who is gay? Did you sk adrian if they want to share their orientation before saying that?
@@eliotdaoust3765 nope. don't care either because its just a comment. now quiet down twitter warrior.
@@eliotdaoust3765 You don't need "permission" from anyone else to have, and express, your own opinions about reality. Please don't let anyone else dictate what you can and can't think and say. We don't need any more authoritarianism in the world.
dude i was halving a hard time telling if it was a dude or a girl, like honestly, looks like one who transitioned to the other tbh
Big effort!
I wish I could have been there to help with the anvil making, which I have studied.
In my latest videos you can see me forge anvils start to finish, like they used to be.
Well, I did say I'd like to have a nice stake anvil set of my own, so y'know, if you're ever in Minnesota!
Really though, I think it ended up alright for one evening's work. The lil guy's really a pleasure to work on, believe it or not.
Andy needs to fly to the Netherlands so you guys can make a proper anvil together! That would be a fun video to see
I have recommended your videos to them before. Such fine craftsmanship!
Yes! You need to colab
Nice to see Adri The Elfsmith again.
ugh i love everyone that's ever on this channel :3
Adrian is a fantastic teacher! That was a very informative episode.
If you wanted to use a stone anvil you could make a box, fill it with dirt, make an impression for the stone (using the stone), and pack dirt around the stone to about 2/3 up the side of the stone. That would practically eliminate the movement of the rock as well as giving some limited protection against the stone splitting as easily. I would also start off with a very hard tough stone and peck and grind to make one surface as flat and smooth as possible, though you would have to resurface it periodically. Just something to think about using technology that would have been commonly in use when the first metal was forged.
It is worth keeping in mind that the Neolithic was considered the age of ground and smoothed stone. The mastery of stone shaping was as highly developed as it would ever get. Even the remarkable stone vessels and objects of Bronze Age Egypt and Crete for instance were almost certainly made without metal tools. The biggest drawback to stone, if yo pick the best kind, is that it lacks the mass of iron. You just have work harder, but a well crafted stone anvil can present a flat surface, though it will be easier to damage. There are archaeological examples from Europe that are deliberately hammered to a flat surface. And, stone anvils were used up into or past the Renaissance in some areas of Europe and the British Isles.
My prayers have been finally answered. I'm so happy that you've finally got the tool you need. I'm sure sure this will be a great help to future projects and safer.:)
love adri hope they are in more vids 🥺
I've always been enamoured with the idea of being a blacksmith, but I'm trans femme and so naturally that's off the table, but seeing Adri... now I have to seriously consider this cause that's goals right there 😅
@@ZedaZ80 Ngl, ive been binging these episodes the last few hours to find more Adri videos because im also trans femme and I felt a click with Adri and wanted to know more about her.
I might have to look into getting one of these sets. I'm still using a wood open pit forge and a round of mulberry as my anvil.
It's hard work because of the lower temperatures; the metal doesn't move as much and if you want to see your heat, you can only forge between dusk and dawn. Even still, I love the challenge and experience. It just takes a weeks worth of clear weather to finish a piece.
This is actually why even in summer, forges were mostly enclosed spaces; they kept them fairly shaded from the natural light, so they could see the fire and the colour of the metal better. Even outdoor forges benefit from some form of enclosure, even if it's something as simple as an awning or other such roofing as can be arranged, like a corrugated metal roof (which doesn't have the same burn risk an awning would, especially a modern one).
@@KainYusanagi My "forge" is literally a hole in the ground and my lungs are my bellows. Sometimes I'll break out a piece of cardboard for a thicker piece of metal or a leaf blower if it looks like the weather is about to take a turn.
I use this pit for campfires, cooking, making charcoal and a bunch of other stuff as well. I wouldn't want a roof over it.
@@dhawthorne1634 Doesn't have to be something hard and permanent, like coring holes and dumping concrete in, and then plowing pipes into it. A simple tarp set up over some poles like a tent to shade the area when forging would help, and it's easy to take down at other times, too.
@@KainYusanagi No can do. My septic lines run right under it and there is a 240V 30A cable buried somewhere through there, no conduit.
@@dhawthorne1634 That's why I said that you DON'T have to do something hard and permanent, lol. A simple tarp set up on some poles would work just fine to make enough shade that you can see the temperature of the metal much more easily.
The guy in the brown Apron didn't miss one hit!
He's a better blacksmith than me.
I am so happy that you don't give up and continue making these awesome videos. Thanks a lot!
You can definitely see the difference between amateur blacksmiths and complete beginners with how solid and uniform strikes were in comparison
Its about time. Tis about power. We stay hungry, we devour.
Anvil. Ingredients: anvil.
8:26 Damn, that's some serious dedication to getting some b-roll.
Now that you have an actual anvil, does this mean we get more tools after? :D
i hope
Minnesota sandstone is not known for its competence. Thanks for making this video!
Sandstone is a delight for rough stone carving, because it's SO easy to break with a hammer... but that's not exactly a perk here.
Can't wait till we get to the point where you can make a open bolt smg lol
THAT MAN (maybe i could be wrong) IS ADORABLE
They go by they/them pronouns mainly, though I'm not sure what type of terms they'd prefer (being called man or woman, or something more neutral)
@@lunasills8031 From personal experience, I'd say probably just "person" lol.
And thus the first anvil came to the world from the
The First Anvil to create all anvils thereafter.
What came first, the anvil or the anvil?
Hence forth and forever it shall be known as, The Anvilfather, or respectfully, The Mother Anvil
Some times your videos are super good it scares me
In all fairness, they shaped the stones so they were stable and they also were way bigger, but yeah iron/steel anvil > stone anvil
Ima check out this channel in the next 30 years to see the new Industrial Age tech stuff
I think I have a crush on the guy with black nail polish. He looks so cool and handsome
16:50 "i never want to work on a rock again" .... and then their face!! I laught so hard!!!
pretty sure they didn't have anvils to make the first anvil
Hence the rocks, half-forged blooms & bronze anvils they mentioned in the video. Cast iron would also fair similar to bronze.
Who said this was the first anvils maybe they did the second anvils lol
After they forge the first anvil they probably used it to make other anvils
i was disappointed in this episode for that reason, the hammers too, like he didn't build those and are those even the tongs he forged???
AN ANVIL!!! Finally!!
"Now we're going to make the same thing on the anvil."
Yeah, but what is it?
Adrian said later that it was a "rake". I don't know how it's a rake
I think it’s to move the hot coals around inside the forge
@@saltysalt397 This is correct. Coal rakes are used to arrange coal in the forge's firepot for proper insulation of your work, and to pull more coal into the pot from the table as time goes on and your coal burns down.
oh right the hook is for hanging it I assume.
I love how that man swung an eight pound sledge effortlessly. Bravo
FINALLY. Seeing you pound on that rock was driving me nuts.
The three hammers can be bypassed with a welder and a bottle jack. Nothing like a few tons of force to move some glowing metal.
Great comparison demonstration.
Well done! I was waiting for this for so long. You are going to make so much more progress and love your work that much more now that you have an anvil.
I must've been forged on a rock because I am not straight or stable.
Some of the finest hammer blows ever done by 3 blind men
How to make an anvil.
Step one: get an anvil.
Step two: get a large piece of steel.
Step three: heat it in your forge.
Can you put the smiths who helped you in the video description?
Hey, later in your series could you make a flintlock gun or primitive firearms?
That boy gonna become a menace to society
Is that even legal?
YES PLEASE!
"i probably want one of these things for traveling" ah yes, my favorite thing to travel with, an anvil
My 140lber is, in fact, one of my least favorite things to haul around for demos and classes.
@@TheElfsmith hey, at least you don’t have to travel around with a “portable “ riveter , welder kit , and gunsmith tools
brooo that segue to the sponsor...too clean
ahhh man, would've been so cool to make an anvil without using an anvil.
I was a little let down by the cop out...
Yeah that would have been fun to watch, but they'd probably still be at it RN.
I'd guess the easiest solution back then would have been either casting a large bronze anvil (as size would help the fact the metal was weaker) or casting a large iron anvil (but maybe casting it would have been more difficult than the worth). A large bloom or wrought cube could work, but you'd need a bunch of people and a very large rock to work with.
@@1forge2rulethemall88 I don't think they weren't able to get temperatures high enough to cast iron at the time.
There is a tradition in Jewish teaching that the very last thing God made on the 6th day before he rested was a pair of tongs for metalworking.
What this story illustrates is the fact that a lot of tools have been made for so long in human history at this point that the knowledge of how to make it without having one already has been completely lost to us. If you were to take the whole premise of how to make everything's reset as rebuilding from a destroyed Society. It wouldn't be that hard to use an old engine block or compacted car or some other large and heavy object as your initial Anvil. So it's not really cheating it just depends on how you look at it
yes finnaly another video
Love the forging eps because it means i get to look at aidri and be gay
Unrelated but it your blacksmith single cuz he is striking. Straight up dude is red hot. Wouldn't mind doing some intense hammering if he's involved. Really enjoyed his work with those rods. Overall his work with that rock was smashing and I'm excited to see his work further on. (Also he's pretty cute)
finallly new video
These two blacksmiths look exactly like two blacksmiths.
Elf and dwarf.
"I want one of these for when I'm traveling"
The TSA agents will definitely have a story to tell lol
I did a stone, years ago. Just because I heard you could. Put it in a big box of sand, much better. No jumping around,
Not sure what type of rocks you're using for this but I've done a fair bit of blacksmithing work with a charcoal fired campfire and larg granite boulders that were already partially embedded in the ground. I've never broken one of these rocks, though they definitely suck a lot of the heat out of the projects. When the rock disintegrated it almost looked like the way sandstone or limestone crumble.? I can't imagine a worse rock to use as an anvil, maybe this requires some more research and experimentation. Also wonder if putting a binding around the rock would help it not split.
the last time i was this early i wasnt early
A good modern solution might be a splitting wedge, driven partway into a large log or stump. Portable, too.
When you first start working it, and its falling out of the round jaws of your tongs over and over, i find that if the jaws have a v shape they hold round stock much more securely. Also, rebar isnt my favorite material for making tongs, its sort of "whatcha got stew" made up of all kinds of steel, some high carbon, some low carbon, so it makes it difficult to temper it to the correct hardness for a tool you are making, you can see this happening as the round jaws of your tongs flatten out. If your having a hard time holding on to the work piece, you can shorten the jaws of your tongs to give you more leverage, till your hand strength increases.
You gotta beg borrow or steal a bigger stump for your anvil stand, havinv it rock around like that is dangerous, but more importantly, its annoying, and will keep you from doing as good of work as you are capable. If you are in the city, and cant just get a bigger round of log from your own place, try "tree guys" in the phone book, ive literally never been turned down by one when i needed a chunk of wood for a project, and was stuck in a city for some fool reason, lol.
You need to up your thumbnail game. I love the channel, I've watched EVERY one of your videos and I eagerly look forward to each new video. BUT... I see your thumbnail and before I realize it's HTME I think, "nah, that doesn't look interesting". Recently I have to see a notification before I realize it's yours, at which point I rush to go watch it! I've heard that thumbnails are super important and now I believe it because yours don't pull me in, even though I LOVE your content.
The indecision of right to left reminds me of my family playing Monopoly.
It would be so funny to see Andy attempt to make a good Japanese chefs knife with the things he already has.
Thanks again that was owsom to see keep up the good work we love you
That anvil communal smacking moment was so d'oh
i do blacksmithing as a hobby and i also use a leather apron but i also use leather shin guards
He was smithing in shorts to show what a real man he is.
@@crubs83 um i took red hot steel shrapnel to the leg from a not known void not fun so yep come talk when that happens to you
6:25
"My milkshake brings all the boys in the yard, and damn right, it's better than yours"
If even a sandstone is this useful, I guess other types of stones are excellent as a starter and it's all available material.
Andy need to put some more power in his swings
You don't start trying to hit harder until you can actually hit what you're aiming for. I actually admire the restraint.
You can tell that those other guys are used to working with someone who can keep a rhythm lol.
I like the blacksmith dude. He’s has fun vibe555555
for a more sturdy anvil (outside) try to get an old telephone pole (or another dried large longer log) and then bury it partially in the ground (to your correct height) - there are several videos of this here on utube