Xavier F-C Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Hello iforgeiron! I started forging around summer 2016 at the age of 17 years old and I still am a total newbie at it. Luckily for me, with the help of my family, I recently bought a nice old anvil for a very good price. (It replaced my 20 pounds ASO. ) According to the writings, I believe it would weight 94 pounds: After looking at the third hole, which has a bottom, I do not really know its utility. If anyone know something about it, I would be very curious. As far as I see it, this hole easily traps all kind of dusts so it does not seem practical. (I had to clean it a little to see the inside) Thanks in advance! BTW English is my secondary language as I live in Quebec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisPTF Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Hello Xavier. If the anvil reads 0 3 10 then it would weigh 94lbs like you said. It is a Peter Wright Anvil made in England sometime before 1910. When the Peter Wright anvils have the word "England" on it they were made after 1910. That third hole on top looks to be a second Pritchel Hole! That is a fine looking Anvil! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier F-C Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 Thank you for responding Chris! If I understand you, the third hole is called a Pritchel Hole even if it has bottom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 the round hole is the pritchel, someone may had added another one at some time, does the hole look like it is plugged with something, what is it like on the underside of the heel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 I vote for retrofitted or an attempt to retrofit a second hole. If it's been plugged I would unplug it. An anvil that size is easy to weigh on a bathroom scale, even one that's in kg and not stone... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier F-C Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 Thank you responding the iron dwarf and ThomasPowers! The underside of the heel has a normal curve and has no visible deformation. Roughly, the third hole shape looks like this: The cylinder in the picture has a smaller diameter than the normal Pritchel hole. Do you see any advantages to drill it to make a second Pritchel hole? (Of course dust would no longer accumulate.) The reason I have not measured the anvil's weight is because I was too lazy to detach it from the tree stump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 My guess is that they tried to drill another pritchel and gave up before completing it. But they used it and wore it to current shape. Double pritchel holes are more common of farrier's anvils which tend to the smaller size too for portability; so it might have been done for that reason---however that anvil doesn't show the typical use/abuse of a shoeing anvil---so it might have been a project that was never finished; or something else. If I owned it I would finish the second pritchel hole and use it for holding special tooling----like take a 3/4 to 1" thick disk and drill a center hole that matches that pritchel hole and set a bolt through the disk and anvil and then drill a series of ascending size holes in the disk that map to the hardy hole to make a bolster plate---and shift punching and drifting forces a bit more inboard from that heel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier F-C Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 I agree with you ThomasPowers that making a disc tool would be a great project to be more effective at these tasks and being better for the heel. Would you suggest drilling the cylinder diameter or a bit larger to remove some of the above curve? Of course right now I do not really need such a disc nor do I want to make an important change to the anvil so early. But the project is definitely something I could do in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 I would match the unworn section of the hole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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