Blacksmith Tools Shop Tour Part 1 

When I was a kid some 60 years ago my Father and Uncle had a welding shop in a small town. The neighbour next door was an old German blacksmith who still had a shaft run shop. I can remember being fascinated by all the bearings , shafts, pulleys, leather or fibre belts and clutches perched up on the wall and across the ceiling to the various machines. Apparently it was originally run by a steam engine but when it finally became a non-repairable relic he was going to convert over to electrical power until he priced out a big enough motor and realized what power was going to cost to run in and being a thrifty German of the old stock he said "Fick Das" and went another way. Part of my Fathers operation was an auto wreckage and they sold him an old six cylinder Dodge flathead complete with a three speed manual transmission that they built a skid for and set it up like a donkey engine. The skid was mounted on a poured concrete slab outside of the blacksmith shop that had been the base for the steam engine and the main belt was run from the tail end of the skid through the shop wall. The battery for the Dodge starter was inside the shop where it could be kept warm in the winter months and there was a block heater installed in the Dodge engine itself for winter starting. Every morning the old boy would be out to start up the Dodge and then he would go back inside to his living quarters above the shop and have breakfast. When breakfast was over and the Dodge warmed up, he came out, disengaged the clutch, kicked it into first, let the clutch go and brought up the revs, then shifted to second and went back into the shop to start the day making and repairing farm equipment and horse shoes. The neighbours all knew it was time to go to work when then Dodge caught second and many used to laugh about it. It was a common belief that it was the only three speed with reverse blacksmith shop in Canada. One night, when I was about 12 or so, the shop caught fire, probably from a stray coal from the forge, and it burned to the ground. The old boy never managed to get out of bed and he, his machines, and the Dodge all went up in smoke together. It was a sad day for all but in a way somehow fitting. You see, he was in his late 70's and had nothing else in the world but his shop and his work and somehow it just seemed right that they all went together at the same time. One more Iron Man with his Iron Machines gone to Valhalla..............

Now I know why its so hard to find a good anvil.. this guy has every single one

Now I see why I can't find a damned used anvil to use.

Andrew mentioned the AT&SF (Atchison, Topeka & the Santa Fe), and I had to share that all my youth was spent in the city of Atchison. We lived five blocks up the hill from what I understood was in the 1970s, the largest metal casting facility in the world still operating at that time. It was owned and run by Rockwell International at the time, and in my high school years, I was hired to help with computer programming tasks in support of their engineering department. A couple of occasions saw me out on the cast floor which was exciting, terrifying, and humbling. Tough guys worked those castings which included modern railroad trucks for box cars, the turret frame for the XM-1 Tank, and stage rings for Saturn V to the boosters for the space shuttle. And all around was so much stuff like you both show here - it was like common debris! No-one was interested in historical preservation, which I learned when I tried to get interested in the old AT&SF 1860s train station And from elementary through Jr. Highschool, almost every day we crossed the large switching yard the railroad maintained from the 1880s. We found chunks of rail, piles of stakes, and all kinds of switch flags and other old gear. In high school I had friends working in their machine shop, and got to hang out - you both would have loved it. Sometimes in our youth, we don't realize the amazing things right in front of us! Wish I could take you both back and give you a historical tour!!

Holy smokes what a collection ! Now I know why I can never find any good anvals or vices at the flea market.

The Ajax is from Hungary. On the placket is written "Magyar Waggon- és Gépgyár Győr" It is written old fashion but it means Hungarian Railcar and Machine Industry. and it is made in Győr in the Rába Industries.

I love that he plans on making a museum for all of this stuff but man I cant help but feel sad that they wont be ever used again.

Now I see where all the anvils went! It's a shame they are all just sitting there not being used.......

Fantastic! As a blacksmith, I love seeing all that old iron piled up and in the care of someone that really appreciates it. I'll have to make sure I'm never in the same town as that collection or I just might never leave! I just shut down my forge for the day and got on the computer to see what's going on in the world. So glad this was the first video I ran across. Makes my sore arm feel just a little bit better!

Awesome video and breathtaking collection.. I'm devided in my opinion, part of me is happy to see the restoration and preservation but on the other hand, there's alot of us out here that would love to have a quality anvil... to have so many sitting there unused is olmost sad...

Thanks for this one Adam, really relieved, now I don't feel so bad about my vise collection, once you start buying these old Reeds, Parkers, Wiltons etc. even when you lie to yourself and say I'm going to resell it, you never do . IWhen you find one it's like a miner finding a very, very heavy gold nugget. Nice thing about a rare vise compared to gold is you never have to fear theft of any kind or losing your investment so all in all it's a very secure way to waste your money......

Now i know why I cant find any anvils to buy

Good stuff!!! I love all these old machines they are what built America!

These anvils reminded of my childhood. My grandfather Pa would load up a wheelbarrow with two anvils a shovel and a spirit level. Also a can of black gun powder and some cannon fuse. We would go way out in the back yard and bury one with the base facing up. It had about a 2" diameter hole that was about 6" deep. There was a groove ground in it from the hole to the side of the anvil to place a cannon fuse. He would level the anvil with a slight cant away from the house. The next thing he would do was poke the cannon fuse in the hole and then fill it up with black powder. Then he would place the second anvil directly on top of the first one. We would light the fuse and then run far. He called it shooting anvils. The top one would reach an altitude of about 250 feet before returning to ground. The shovel was so you could dig it out of the ground after impact. Growing up in Miami Florida was fun back in the 50's! Have you ever heard of shooting anvils in your neck of the woods?

Well, now we know where all of the old anvils and vices went, that's just an incredible collection.

Great seeing all of this equipment because it brings back great memories of when I was an apprentice in N.O. Right where the D-DAY Museum is now. In the early and mid 70s I was an apprentice in the shop where all of the machines were run by two line shafts and you engaged the clutch on all of the machines by reaching up above your head where there was a piece of 1x4 which ran the length of the lathe or power saw, drill press,mill and the rest of the equipment. The most exciting part was when you wanted to change the speed of the equipment you had to take a piece of 1x4 board put it against your foot and push the board over either way to move the belt over to the next pulley while the belt was running and you really had to watch the alligator clips which held the belt together. Great experiences and you either paid close attention or you worked somewhere else.

That's a lot of awesome stuff sitting around rusting while people want these to actually do work.

Super Collection, Most of the odd ball machines would end up in the scrap plie, But saved by collectors like you guys

fantastic vid adam, all power to Alexandra for putting together such a great collection. for anybody who has any interest in the engineering past THIS PLACE IS HEAVEN !

What a wonderful shop and presentation of Andrews' collection. Thanks Adam

I've been trying to buy an old anvil for two years and can't find one. This guy has more than a WW2 scrapyard!

Amazing collection! Its no wonder no one can find stuff like that, its all there! 700 vice!!!

That material rack at 16:24 is really cool. They put a bit of style into something mundane. I like that.

Absolutely AMAZING! What hit me after about a minute into watching the Rollstone bandsaw segment was that it had absolutely no blade guards! Just a mind blowing collection. Thanks for taking us along on your tour....

I went to High School and was was in Vocational Machine Shop where I went 4 periods a day. We had a huge planer, 48” wide, bed was about 15-20’ long. When we operated it that thing went soaring back and forth like a monster.

Thank you so much Adam !!! This video is AWESOME ! So nice to see that there are people out there who care about history that way !!!

I bought that anvil book shortly after it came out. It was neat to see that my grandpas anvil was sold by Sears. Which makes a lot of sense. Because the house he built was a Sears house.

I'll say you'll never regret a Starrett vise. Grew up using one and thought it was just average until I used others and realized how spoiled I'd been.

That is a mind-blowing collection of old iron wow!

The bridge shaped anvils are specially made to bend heavy rods of iron into u shape and similar forms. And if a rod is arm thick you really have to beat it. Sometimes iron was cold driven on these to make it stronger. This will destroy even the best anvils. So they are purposely made from cheaper and softer material and replaced if needed. They are build to be destroyed if you will.

I love old iron tool's and what a collections. I just saved Wilton Bullet vise from scrapyard.

It's hard for words to describe what you have captured in this Video.. Thanks for posting this collection of Machinery.. Just Incredible..

Wow you did it again. Another great video, thanks for bringing all along with you and now there is part two.

Very good piece of history.Thanks to Mike and Adam

OMG!! I am in love with old machinery of every kind. Thank you for this video and I will watch part two. I really believe the resurgence in interest in these machines is because of their incredible sturdiness, their simplicity, and the ability to restore them is something that is not too difficult. Their capacity too is something you do not see in affordable equipment today. An 18" jointer can be bought, but you are going to pay close to $10,000 for a new one. A 12" by Grizzley is more than $5300. plus the tax. At an auction, you can get an antique18" power jointer for $1000-$1300. My brother has a beautiful 24" antique band saw with a dead flat steel table that is huge. The antique machinery was made to last and to me, they are works of art. I grew up around antique Machines and cars like Packards, Studabakers, Buicks, you name I have seen and ridden in them. My dream is to own a 1938 Studabaker pick up in Burgandy. This machinery and tool collection is incredible!!

Wowwwww, I think Mr Alexander has enough projects to last him at least a hundred years!!👍👍

😍 Wow! How cool is all of that lol! Thanks for bringing us along

Nice to see an Ajax 3 Powerhammer in the US I wonder who dragged it over the big pond. Here in Austria we have them in almost every village workshop. The ram weight is 100 kg and those are very enduring and well made machines. Side note the Ajax 4 has a ram weight of almost 250 kg, a beast of a machine.

What a great video. Thanks Adam and Andrew

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

Sure hope Andrew's building has good floor joists. Man that's a heck of a lot of anvils in one place. Thanks for sharing, Adam!

That’s were all the Anvils went. Alls I can do is cry.

Adam, THIS is “EYE “ candy to the Maximum level thanks so much for sharing.!.!.!.

Who knew? What a collection! Thanks for sharing, Adam.

Awesome video, I sure was impressed with some of the really strange anvils machinery and vises! I have 2 old anviles and one is a reed anvil awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing Adam!

OMG, his collection is amazing, Bloody interesting, thanks for showing.

I would go crazy in that place. Thanks for posting.

Awsome collection, at 09:23 I buy old small drillpresses with artitic shapes if I see one and restore them, and man I like the 2nd one. This just illustrate how artistic all these old stuff is, always a pleasure on the eyes.

Awesome video. Very interesting how Man back in the era custom made tools for specific operations by hand...a very long lost art. Thanks for sharing! Kind regards, Eric Dee.

Thanks for sharing. I'll can't wait until he opens his museum. Living just north of Big D I will one of his first visitors.

Thank you for keeping the history alive.

Awesome place, awesome collection, awesome videos. Thanks!

this is Neat and all, but sheesh, I feel like you're the reason its so hard to find decent anvils anymore. you've already bought them.

I can watch this all day

Some cool tooling my friend. I love to find old tooling and machines that helped make this country. My old WWII Sheldon lathe is still doing its job.

Amazing tour Adam. Andrew is a pure geek for all the right reasons. Fantastic part 1.

my god this place is insane, all these mini machines so cute.

thanks for showing this. those old machines just rule

beautiful old stuff ! Oh if they could tell their story's , Wow !

Saw at least 6 items I would love to have in my shop. Awesome video. That man's collection is incredible

Wow Andrew has some excellent stuff ! my fav tune Ruben excellent

Sweet mother of God, what an incredible collection of anvils! Thank you for finding these cool places to share with us.

Excellent. I just love iron collections no matter what they are. Thanks for sharing this fabulous shop. regards from the UK

I think I died & went to heaven. Your collection is incredible.

Great visit Adam. Many thanks.

21:20 "Some 500 anvils...but I have way more vises". Vices are things hard to keep under control...

WOW....Quite incredible .To even own Richard Postmans collection of anvils is super impressive.That small 10lb Hay Budden would probably fetch more than the 680lb Peter Wright.Thanks for sharing the tour of Andrew's shop..Very cool.

This is an awesome thing to watch. Soon much iron. Very nice.

informative AND enjoyable. thx Abom!

Blew me away , love it.

What a beautiful collection.

Thank you for sharing these tools and information!

WOW!!!!JUST WOW!!!!

THIS IS ROCKMAN..THIS GUY'S SHOP IS THE GREATEST..ANTIQUE RISE..WHAT I WOULD GIVE TO TOUCH THOSE ANTIQUES..ROCKMAN😎.

WOW... I wish I was like you two guys... COMBINED !!! That too at your age !!

Thanks for sharing the tour.

The really cool thing about a collection like thy his. A: nothing will break easily. B: good luck trying to steal something.

I like your new intro music - It sounds like Earl Scruggs & Lester Flatt

That was neat all those anvils and that press or hammer anvil was awesome at the end.

Man this was an awesome video! So cool to get a history lesson seeing these OLD machines and how they worked. Cool to think about how these machines made long long before today’s guiding theory of “planned obsolescence” where shit is designed to break in five years. Amazing to think with a little sanding, cleaning and lube most of this stuff would come right back to life. I doubt people are going to be collecting Harbor Freight machine tools in 120 years.

this is like a dream, I need it all

Just WOW!

Wow cool man👍👍👍👍👍

We are still taught in school how to do everything by hand. Its the FEA thats the new way to reaffirm equations or unkown super complex things. Though, most of what we do is standardized, so we could speed thru designs though we have to confirm that they are designed and built to all safety standards

Adam, the last place i work, they had one of those cones on that page in that book, sitting in a dark corner in the shop...I came back from vacation and noticed it was gone, I inquired about it and they threw it in the scrap dumpster...i could still cry over it...

Great tour. I remember machine tools being auctioned off in CA in the 1980.s and how excited bidders were about the flat bed planers. Nobody had space for the largest ones that came from Mare Island Shipyard. Everybody wants an anvil but nobody wants to pay what they are worth so they end up with a Harbor Freight cast iron model.

To quote Keith Rucker - "it's a disease" :)

Wow, talk about a field of dreams. interesting you went to an anvil on his shelf marked from Boyds Mill, my Boyd ancestors had a number of mills, one in Tenn, the old homestead is still there.

Brilliant tour thanks. I think I could happily spend a day in each room! Andrew seems like a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic chap too. Happy to see the Desmond Stephan vice in the collection: I've got one!

all beautiful stuff

Two experts shootin' the breeze, fun to watch!

This is why no one can find a good anvil for a good price. This guy has all of them. A nice collection for sure..

Wow that was surprising to see the Ajax-Rába hammer was actually made in Hungary (in Győr city probably). Imagine the overseas shipping cost!

Thats a nice storehouse with some cool stuff!

Mind blowing mate

That's a hell of a collection. I'm eager to see the vice pedestal you come up with.

very cool tour ,, nice stuff there ,, thanks

wow that is one amazing collection that fella has---- a few bucks involved there. thx 4 sharing that footage adam that was super kooooollll.

Well Adam, I think if your friend there ever decided to sell off his entire stock there then I think he would be a very rich man. There's a whole lot of money tied up in all that steel. WOW!!!

Can’t even fathom the weight in that anvil room. Very cool collection .