Had a retired farrier show me his anvil setup last month

I was at a hammer-in near Springfield, and this older guy named Walt let me peek at his travel anvil he built into a wooden stump. He said he used a 150 pound Fisher anvil and carved the stump himself from a local oak tree. It made me realize how much thought he put into every inch of his workspace. Anyone else ever get tips from the older generation that totally changed how you set up your shop?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_ellis1h ago

Hell yeah, that stump carving is half the battle right there. Did Walt give you any specific reason he went with oak over something like ash or hickory? I've heard guys swear by different woods for absorbing vibration and I'm curious if he had a method to his madness on that one.

julia2861h agoProlific Poster

Oak's actually not great for vibration absorption in stump carving... Walt told me once that oak tends to be too rigid and can actually transfer the shock back up through the handle pretty bad. Ash is what he always used for that reason, because it's got that natural flex that soaks up the vibration without losing strength. Hickory's even better for shock resistance but it's harder to find good straight grained pieces around here. I remember him saying the method to his madness was all about the grain orientation, not just the wood species itself.