The Anvil of Damocles

I’ve made a few hollows form anvils as a novelty item and had some fun with them. The first one I made had some defects and recorded some of the difficulties I encountered figuring out how to do it so i didn’t think it was good enough to sell. On the other hand, I didn’t want it sitting around taking up space so I decided to hang it on an outside wall over a door just for mischief. Originally it was over the west entrance and suspended almost invisibly by a length of 10 gauge wire. I thought it was so prepostoursly obvious that the anvil had to be fake that it caught me off guard when a person asked me what special kind of wire I used to hang the anvil.

I got the idea from Roger Denger who brought his hollow form anvil and swage block to a BAM meeting quite a few years ago. He had done a very convincing Job of fabrication and patina perfection but when he chalked on a “$400 Sold” message it was the crowning blow of deception.

Now the original anvil hangs over my east sidewalk by a chain and a still rather obviously inadequate bracket. I suppose now someone will ask about what kind of lag screws I used.

So, have some fun today and try to worry less about the fears we imagine hang over us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damocles

http://www.persimmonforge.com/