nankbrown1227

So far: 60# and 123# trenton, 123# A&H , 225# hay budden, 100# and 200# fisher, several peter wrights and one mousehole of various sizes, and a William foster...... I have been selling my English anvils to make some cash for my American anvils ..... Nothing against English makes but I just love all things made right here in the states .... Next on my list is an American wrought and a Vulcan, although I would like to have an early colonial pattern without the cutting table, around these parts the most common anvils you run into are peter wrights despite being two hours from Columbus, I want to pick up a columbian as well but have yet to run across one within a couple hours drive

Thanks guys! I have been wanting an A&H for a while, I'm trying to collect all the major American brands..... No I didn't even know glenn lived down that way.... I use a mobile app on my phone for this forum and it doesn't show where anyone lives

Drove down into WV yesterday after this little guy, 123 pound Arm and Hammer. I am fairly certain it's an arm and hammer but it is a very early one. All of the markings except the weight stamp are fairly obscured including the last digit of the serial number . The serial number is either 363 or 368.... Best I can tell and it has a forged base with 4 handling holes and a flat bottom. Under the heel it is very rough you can see all sorts of fullering marks. He still rings like a bell from the feet to the tip of the horn despite it's ugly appearance, it has seen some heavy use but the rebound is the best I have ever seen, it even beats the larger hay buddens I have tested.

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder and that anvil to me is a piece of art sitting there! I am a sucker for those old anvils with the gentle curves and thick waist. You did well!!! I have yet to run across an anvil this old yet but when I do I will buy it up, and probably put it on a shelf and talk to it lol

Thanks guys for all the compliments, she has one little problem that kind of bothers me. First off let me say I am not a fan of doing any kind of welding or repairing on an anvil unless it is absolutely necessary. I believe that these old girls have earned their bumps and bruises , I call it character . But, on the face of the anvil right above the body there is a torch gouge, it is only 3/16 wide but it is 1/4" deep. I figured it up and there is roughly 38 square inches of working surface above the main mass of the anvil and my biggest forging hammer is only 4 square inches so there is plenty of space to work around the hole, I am just worried that with good steady use the hole may crack out of bust out even if it is avoided for the most part. So I'm not talking about repairing any edges or cosmetic blemishes those don't bother me , what are your thoughts on possibly TIG welding some took steel into that little 3/16" hole? With a proper pre and post heat of 400 degrees? It is my understanding that this hay budden has a solid tool steel upper half, so the hole may not be in any danger of busting out but you tell me? Thanks

Just cleaned the serial number off and it is A13616, not sure how many hay budden produced but I have a copy of AIA on my Christmas list!

Sorry about that, trying to upload from my phone and was having trouble

Picked this pretty girl up last night, it has a little torch damage in a couple spots but nothing major, great rebound and ring . I can't find any wright stamp on it but judging by it's deminsions I am guessing around 225, it's heavy enough it's uncomfortable to lift. I picked it up for 200 bucks and figured even with the damage it was a bargain , this is my first hay budden .

Here are a couple photos of the bottom of the anvil where I mentioned it looked as though molten metal had melted a hole in it then solidified ? ..... Or it could have just been dropped at some point in time and that is the damage is procured lol

Alright gents if you will, I have a question that is bothering me. The peter wright pictured above if you notice is tilted , not just a little tilt but as you can see it has some seriouse Tilt to the face . After inspecting the anvil I have been able to figure out that at some point in it's life it raved as a major bottom tooling anvil.... The only edge chipping is around the hardy hole and the hardy hole itself has some pretty good wear. So my question is why does this anvil tilt soooo much??? And another question .... If you look at the front of the peter wright you can see a circle indentation, if you flip the anvil over the bottom of the anvil is damaged in line to that indentation.... It almost gives the look that a piece of molten steel has more or less Burned through the anvil and then solidified???? Is this possible? I will post more pictures later today ... Thanks in advance

That is awesome! Are the cut outs to slide bottom tools into? I can see how this would be a better setup for bottom tools than placing them in a hardy hole..... More mass under the tooling..... You could also slide chunks of lead into the cut outs and make files pretty easily! Nice score and beautiful anvil

Nope, the only reason I ended up with the bigger one is because it was an all or nothing deal. I really just wanted the trenton, and tongs ...... But I had to buy the trenton, peter wright, tongs and a forge blower . I already sold the forge blower..... I wanted the smaller anvil so I could start doing a little traveling to some events and take some classes. And yeah! I saw the double stamping on the trenton, to a collector that might be a good thing but to me it's just a nice trenton anvil lol

Found two more anvils today, a 60 pound trenton and a 150 pound peter wright( best I can tell it's a peter wright) the trenton is in better condition then the peter wright but both will make great tools!!

I am right handed but I face my horn to the right of me, I actually stand with my right foot under the horn for most of my forging, this allows me to move from horn to sweet spot to draw out bar pretty quickly. But, that is not the reason I face my anvil that way, I face it that way because I prefer the hardy to be to my left when working at the anvil. So I guess that if I had an anvil with the hardy nearer the horn than the tail I would face my horn to the left!

I doubt that either part of the shaft is bent, these shafts are meant to withstand a pretty good amount of use. If either would be bent it would probably be the outside shaft , but like woolridge stated a little trash can really cause parts like this to stick. If I had this in my shop I would probably shackle it to the welding table and beat the fire out if it with a slap hammer while adding good ole PB blaster . Something is bound to give at some point, after you get them apart check for burrs on the inner shaft and anything out of place on the sleeve, make sure both are clean and add some bearing grease and see if they will go back together.