Deep Adaptation forum

[Catweazle]

Old anvils are often used as garden ornaments and sometimes covered with decades of paint, so it can be difficult to identify a good one from a near useless cast iron ornament. Look for square holes underneath the anvil ends, on the waist but higher than the middle, these are where the anvil was held on lifting poles whilst being forged under a steam hammer, a forged anvil will have hardened tool steel working surfaces and will give you a couple of hundred years service.

Don't be put off if the waist and feet of the anvil have numerous cuts and pop marks, that's where the blacksmith would test the hardening and tempering of tools he made, it's probably a good anvil.

[careful_eugene]

Old anvils are often used as garden ornaments and sometimes covered with decades of paint, so it can be difficult to identify a good one from a near useless cast iron ornament. Look for square holes underneath the anvil ends, on the waist but higher than the middle, these are where the anvil was held on lifting poles whilst being forged under a steam hammer, a forged anvil will have hardened tool steel working surfaces and will give you a couple of hundred years service.

Don't be put off if the waist and feet of the anvil have numerous cuts and pop marks, that's where the blacksmith would test the hardening and tempering of tools he made, it's probably a good anvil.

If you don't want to spend a huge amount of money on an anvil (good ones go for hundreds on ebay) you can make something up from an old fork tine, the steel is hard enough to hammer on. Definitely don't get a cast iron one, you might as well get one made of concrete. The thing is with blacksmithing, it's quite a fuel heavy hobby, I made a gas forge which is clean and convenient but I need to get a propane bottle now and again. If you go with solid fuel you're going to need a supply of coal or charcoal.

[BritDownUnder]

All very interesting about the anvils. We used to have one about 40 years ago when I was a child - rusty as hell and never used. I hope it went to a good home. A fascinating video about how someone made one. He was a great welder that's all I can say.
You can get them in Australia still for $$$. Probably a lot of them in sheds on farms.

I get by with a one foot square slab of 1.5 inch steel plate that I asked to be cut when I was getting some steel tubing for building a lean-to. I got a funny look but they cut off a piece for me with a acetylene torch, charged me $65 and watched me struggle to the car with it. I guess it would weigh about 30kg and I have never used it for forging with hot metal but for reusing and straightening nails mostly and generally bashing bits of cold metal around.

Making glass at home the modern way is near impossible I would guess, as it is made with a lot of natural gas and the molten glass floats on molten tin metal. A process invented by a great British company - Pilkington - now owned by the Japanese of course.

Back to the original post. I think I should have not used the word "affluent" and instead used the words "well-informed and well-connected". The UK's population density simply does not lend itself to this kind of action. Action on a national scale will need to be taken to prevent disaster. The idea of sitting out a UK-wide famine growing your own food with 65 million people starving around you does not make sense. I am thinking of an Alex Scarrow type event and remember the quote of a government minister that the average UK household is nine meals away from starvation.

[vtsnowedin]

I have my great Grandfather's anvil sitting in my basement it measures 21 inches from back end to tip of the horn and the deck is five inches wide. I used to be able to lift it but now being cautious for my back if I want to mount it on a block I'd have to crab walk it up a plank. I have a much smaller anvil of my father's that sits on top of it.That one weighs about 25 pounds so is portable which is handy for equipment repairs in the field. A section of rail road rail makes a good substitute if a real anvil isn't available.
As to growing your own food during a collapse I think there would be an intermediate stage with food rationing and the wartime slogan of "A garden makes your rations go further" would be in play and keeping light fingered people out of your garden would be the real problem.

[Potemkin Villager]

Thanks, Chris.

I haven't looked at their Facebook page yet, PV, although I've tried to register on the Professional page referred to above.

By the way I only realised that what I have been doing all these years could be called Deep Adaptation when I saw Jem Bendell's posts.

Looking about Bendell seems a divisive figure to say the least. There always seems a bit of a cultish feel to these sort of sites.

I have still had no response to join their fb page and wonder if anybody succeeded in joining the professional page? The procedure demanded lots of information and then froze on me.

I am wondering if it is partly a data mining scam of some sort or even a spooky honeypot. This would not surprise me as any interest in this area, or even the slightest questioning of bau, seems regarded by tptb as tantamount to engaging in treason and terrorism.

It certainly looks interesting but maybe in the same way Derrick Jensen's stuff looks interesting.

[UndercoverElephant]

Thanks, Chris.

I haven't looked at their Facebook page yet, PV, although I've tried to register on the Professional page referred to above.

By the way I only realised that what I have been doing all these years could be called Deep Adaptation when I saw Jem Bendell's posts.

Looking about Bendell seems a divisive figure to say the least. There always seems a bit of a cultish feel to these sort of sites.

This one looks different. It is open-minded and genuinely constructive. It is not an echo chamber.

I have still had no response to join their fb page and wonder if anybody succeeded in joining the professional page?

I have joined, and have been invited to join the admin team, dealing with philosophy.

I am wondering if it is partly a data mining scam of some sort or even a spooky honeypot.

I don't think so. I'd say extremely unlikely based on my experience so far.

It certainly looks interesting but maybe in the same way Derrick Jensen's stuff looks interesting.

I was prevented from joining Jensen's forum, because I am not IDpol enough. These people have actually engaged with me, and I wasn't watering anything down.

[Potemkin Villager]

I have joined, and have been invited to join the admin team, dealing with philosophy.

Oh I'd forgotten that was another string to your bow. Will take your comments on board and maybe give it another whirl but not just now as it
has just stopped lashing down and I must get outside.