4748to working speed slowly to
reduce motor strain and
increase safety.- BEST SMALL TABLE SAW
DeWalt DWE7480 $299
We have several years
logged with this compact
DeWalt table saw in the
Popular Mechanics
shop. And it has earned
our unqualified endorse-
ment. The DWE7480 is
surprisingly accurate,
due to a fixed fence that
rides on rack-and-pinion
rails. Weighing just 48
pounds and running off
of a 15-amp, 4,800-rpm
motor, it has a power-to-
weight ratio that simply
can’t be beat.Most of us would rarely use the word “graceful”
to describe an anvil, the hulking block of steel
or iron used to pound hot metal into shape.
Not so professional and amateur blacksmiths,
especially when they refer to a Hay-Budden
anvil, the prototypical implement of the late
1800s and early 1900s. A Hay-Budden—from
petite foot-size models weighing 10 pounds
to 800-pound behemoths—has an unusually
beautiful sweep and an incredible strength
achieved by the manufacturer’s working
knowledge of metallurgy that was quite sophis-
ticated for its day. Today, these anvils are as
sought after as they were back then.
Sadly, Hay-Budden as a brand came to an
end in the 1920s. But it’s a testament to its
peerless design that, in this digital era, a host of
companies, like JHM and McLellan Blacksmith-
ing, carry on its legacy, shaping beautifully
wrought anvils that look every bit the part.
These aren’t toys for the dilettante. Visit the
website of these manufacturers and you find
deep dives on metallurgy, heat treating, and
anvil features that help a smith shape a knife,
say, or form up graceful ironwork that might
become a gate or fence. It speaks to the endur-
ing fascination with forming hot metal that
there are probably as many anvil makers now as
there were in Hay-Budden’s time.The Most
Iconic Anvil
Ever Made
COURTESY JESSE SAVAGE (ANVIL)
March/April 2020 73