While we wait for George to find a historically valid source:D...Lets see what benefit there would have been for all that work of running around with big hammers knocking the horns off anvils.

What smithing job is there that can't be done without an anvil horn?

or

How many substitutes can you find or make?

Mike Ferrara wrote:
Mike,

I can shoe a horse without using a anvil... but would I want to?

I use the horn (round horn) exclusively to shape shoes.

I wouldn't miss the heel too much if it fell off!

BPethick wrote:
You wouldn't if you didn't have one. Can you think of other ways to get it done?

There is a lot of guys around here that don't bother to use an anvil. It shows too.

clinkercjf wrote:
Would a better anvil solve their problems? Forget the other guys for a minute, do you think that you could do a decent job of shaping a shoe without a horn on your anvil?

I don't know. I have never had an anvil that was hornless.

clinkercjf wrote:
Without a horn on your anvil wouldn't you use something else as a horn.

A farrier might be stuck but I think a blacksmiths can forge about any shape they want using a variety of methods.

If you set a stout bar in a vice or stump couldn't you use it like a horn? Do a little forging on that bar and you could make it darned handy.

How about bending jigs or forks?

What about an anvil saddle?

If you have help, what about an offset set hammer applied to the inside of the shoe?

The reason blacksmiths were so vital at one time is because they made all the tools, including their own.

If I wanted to slow a blacksmith down, I think I'd take his hammers. Trying to make a hammer without a hammer must be tough.

Mike Ferrara wrote:
Not if you're hard headed and iron fisted.

I wonder if the horn getting knocked off was a reason that most blacksmith shops that I've seen have a cone mandrel in them? Or do you think it was just for a larger radius variety?

Jeremy Rigsby

Tennessee wrote:
I don't think so. The horn on our anvils is kind of "general purpose" and farriers have come to rely on them pretty heavily. I think it's a fairly recent development. Unless you insist on doing everything on one tool, the horn isn't all that necessary.

Tennessee wrote:
Different jobs:
IE if you needed to enlarge a ring,
easier to pound down than across.

That makes sense. I've seen guys use a mandrel and wonder why they just don't use the horn on the anvil...but I guess that goes back to what Mike said. We're used to relying on using the horn pretty heavily.

Jeremy Rigsby

Tennessee wrote:
A cone mandrel lets you form circles in a wider range of sizes than an anvil horn.

For working horse shoes, I sure wouldn't willingly give up the horn but for other blacksmithing I do, the horn doesn't get used anywhere near as much as the face and edges. With a good vice and a few other tools (either purchased or made), I could get along fine without a horn.

Mike Ferrara wrote:See post #66

Is plenty of oral history out there as well as written. You wanted something in print I delivered and it was entirely too much typing. Since you have brought up this antithesis you can do your own research.
George

George Geist wrote:
Apparently not.
I asked for references. In a historical context, "reference" usually means multiple independent contemporary sources but I'd settle for just one. You provided stories with absolutely no support.
I have and I find nothing to substantiate your claim. Face it...it's a not so old wives tale.