Anvils, Swage Blocks, and Mandrels

What would it say? Mine......OH NO here he comes with that hammer again:o Dave

It's that time again to move across the ocean and was wanting to get some ideas. Nothing heavier than 150, so maybe just make a box or small pallet or something? I was thinking of cutting up my benchtop which is a piece of 2'x8'x1" pressboard for box material. Also have a bunch of 2x4 wood scrap and flat bar to use. Any info is appreciated... Thanks, Dave

Hello! I'm new to the forums, but i've been here quite a few times researching. I've been getting into historical armor and metal working has always been a hobby of mine since the 7th grade where we made a steel shovel ourselves. I've made several metal sculptures and tools myself using my school's workshop (which has an anvil) aswell as a chainmaille shirt! But i would like to finally have my own anvil. Anyway! I'm looking to buy a beginners anvil and was hoping for some good advice. I'm looking to put no more than 200-250 dollars into a decent anvil right now, and i've looked all over here and in shops and scrap yards and even on the internet! But nothing works.…

Hey, after my father died 9 years ago i have had a friend of the family storing his old anvil. all i really can remember about it is that its too heavy for one person to lift and 9 years ago it was in really good shape. I know very little more about the anvil. I have decided that i will never probably ever have need of a anvil, so i was going to offer it to our friend storing it. unfortunatly he is a car dealer, with me knowing very little about the anvil and what its worth gives him the upper hand. Im going to go see the anvil but first i need to know how do you price one? and what to look for? so i was hoping for someone to lay some knowledge on me in hopes that i g…

I found this picture posted on the Shorpy.com site: Anvil Chorus: 1905 | Shorpy Photo Archive If you look real close in the back left corner of the shop, you can see a young Frosty peeking through the door window. There is a "View full size" link in the description. The detail you can pick up in the picture is amazing. Interestingly, everybody is using ball-piens. Don

I've just been prompted into an uncharacteristic bout of cleaning things and found some markings on the side of my main anvil. It's one of those common wrought iron ones that seem to be everywhere. It's 30'' long and one side has stamped into it: &Co (1/4'' high letters) twice, RRAN (1/2'') the stamp fades towards the left, and 7 8 (3/4''). Does anyone know what this all means?

Picked up my first anvil yesterday !! Its seen a fair bit of use, and has had some work done to it. It weighs in at about 55kg, 22'' long 10''tall. Unfortunately one of the feet has broken off, but that just adds character Im very happy with it. Looks like an old english anvil to me - I tried the flour trick but cant find any markings other than the small round dimple in the front foot. It has got 3 handling holes, and a shallow depression in the base (it is hourglass shape, but then so is the base) I read that anvils with this style of feet stopped being made after 1895? Any ideas on anvil identification? Im looking forward to trying it out - first I'v…

So far in my (hobby) smithing career I've had two anvils. One was a piece of 3/4" plate MIG welded to the end of a chunk of largish I-beam. The second I cobbled together from some railroad switch plates with my then-new stick welder cranked up to about 180 amps, plus a bunch of 7018 and some hardfacing rods. It's heavy and puts plenty of mass under the hammer, but it has its limits. Well, no more of that for me. My Easter present was an anvil -- a real, 120.8 pound (by my scale -- 124 pounds by the hundredweight markings on the side), London pattern, made-in-England, Wilkinson anvil that's probably a hundred years old, if not more. Mom's neighbors (well, a couple …

This old (mfg date 1907) Hay Budden is for sale. Has a great ring to it. I'm in the Los Angeles CA area. I will try to attach photos.

Hi everyone i'm new to the site and blacksmithing. I live in Syracuse and was looking for an anvil. Just curious if anyone might have one for sale or know of someone who does. Thanks.

Im keeping my eyes peeled for an anvil (it will be my first ) I cant help looking on ebay, and my watchlist is full of anvils both current and ended listings. So I thought I'd try to work out an average

Picked up this today for welding teacher as a thank-you for welding my forge up with me, and teaching me free. He said he wanted like an 80lb anvil, and he's been looking for a while, so I went out and got him this one. I would like to keep this one for demos, its really nice and easy to move around. From what I can tell it's cast steel. Please correct my if I am wrong. Horn: 10.5 inches Height:7.5 inches Face Width: 3.5 inches Total Length: 22 inches Base: 7 inches Hardy: 1 inch Both Pritchels: 1/2 inch Weight: 74LB Paid: $100, about 1.39 a pound i think Farrier's Anvil, Little Tex AP, One Horn Leaving in a little bit to go give it to him. :)

Scored this cast iron stand a few days ago. It is a stand off of an old stone wheel grinder, grinder was scrapped (old thing, poured Babbitt bearings), but I managed to atleast save the stand. I set my anvil on top and it is pretty nice. It is a bit high, so I might end up setting my KMG grinder on it instead, I will have to see. The stand is about 100+ pounds of cast iron.

I have been a lurker on this site for a couple of months as I am new to forging I never had anything to say. A friend of mine found an old abused bridge anvil on a ranch he worked on. I wanted to ask the experts two questions 1) Can this anvil be fixed? 2) What will it take? I will give you a list of what I have at my immediate disposal or can get from friends or the father in law that I think could help me fix this thing. Three large coal forges, a 2003 model Licoln Ranger welder, several grinders, sanders, cutting torch and any kind of welding rods I might need. A fairly reasonable selection of thick plates of steel for shoring it up. I hope the list helps…

I'm new to this forum and to blacksmithing. I am gathering items and making a forge. Just yesterday I purchased an anvil at an auction. After getting it home I found that it was a Peter Wright. I've done some research and believe that it was made sometime around the middle of the 19th century. Could someone confirm or deny what age this anvil might be. The anvil is marked with "Peter Wright Patent". Below it is "1 0 7" which is spread out from the left side of the base to the right side. My research shows that "1 0 7" means it is a 119 pound anvil which is fairly accurate according to my bathroom scale which shows 117.5 pounds. It does not have England or Solid Wrought…

I was at the weld supply shop, where I buy metal, today. The owner and I started talking about anvils. He has one and wanted to know if I could tell him anything about it. I found Trenton, on the side and on the base, under the horn, it has A26964 stamped on it. It also has W325. Is the W325 the weight, and can anyone with Anvils In America look for that serial number and tell me when it was made? Thanks for the help, guys. Sorry, I didn't have my camera. So I don't have any pictures, right now. But it's a BIG sucker!!:confused::D

I was thinking of buying a cast iron (ASO) from harbor freight. And was thinking of then taking it to a welding or mechanist show and having it ground down and/or a tool steel plate added to it. is that a good idea or economical.

I tried a search for this but with so many results for anvil table I hope you will forgive me if it has already been asked and answered, but: I have seen an anvil for sale with no table between the face and the horn/bick. So far I understand that the original idea for the table was to have somewhere on which to use a chisel without damaging the face - but it seems that using a soft plate on the face is is now a more popular practice. Are there any other uses for the table? Am I going to regret spending my pennies on one that does not have one? Thanks. Bob

I recently talked to a blacksmith who had rebuilt an anvil face with thermite. Anyone ever do this or hear of it?

To those people who do not currently own a good anvil but wish to do some serious forging - you should definitely study the tools that the Brazeal Brothers developed. Their demo anvil was a piece of 2 inch thick plate, about 16 inches square, set on edge in an angle iron stand, with 4 different working surfaces available for use. One surface was a butcher or side set, one was flat and the other two were different bottom fullers. A small leg vise and small anvil completed the setup but these guys were able to work wonders with non-traditional tool designs. Enjoy your London or European pattern if that is what you have or can obtain, but do not ignore unusual surfaces…

Whenever I'm bang'in iron, I tend to use faces, edges, and surfaces of the anvil that clearly were not intended for such a purpose. Since only the face is typically hardened, most peeople assume that that is the only surface to be pounded. Obviously the face, and bic are the easiest to work on for most effects, but there ARE other surfaces on an anvil. Also, what was the intended use of the holes typically found in the body of anvils? Were those holes strictly intended to aid in the handling of such a weighty piece? I tend to think they were put in there to aid in grabbing the anvil with special tongs during fabrication, but does anyone know of any other specific purposes…

This is more of a brainstorm that a problem. I was looking into buying a bigger shop anvil towards the end of this summer, and I did some research, and I could make one for little money compared to buying one that is the same size and model. This anvil is going to be a combination of a euroanvil, hofi anvil, and the german pattern. It will have three pritchel holes, and a 1" hardy. Once I have some extra money for this project (this whole project should cost around $700), I am going to buy two 12"x12"x5" A-36 plate drops from the local metal supplier. I am also going to buy a 1"x5"x36" piece of 4140. I will use one of the 12x12 pieces as the main part of my anv…

I have a really old shop Hay Budden Anvil that I'm trying to find out some information on. The overall size is 33" x 5" wide. It weighs 188 lbs. On the horn end front, up about 8" from the bottom, is a stamped reading #8. On the same side at the bottom, on one of the legs, is the number 138520. On the front side of the anvil is the word Hay Budden. Underneath that are the letters ATUIAI-LORN. Down below that are the words Brooklyn New York, and below that there is three numbers, 2 8 5. If someone could identify this anvil and let me know what it is I would appreciate it.

There's a gentleman in the area that has an anvil for sale. I've taken a look at it before but I'm still up in the air about it. I believe it weighs in around 120lb - it says American Wrought on the side along with horse shoe which might have the words 'made in' in the center. I cannot see any serial number, it's seen a little wear and the one edge has a 4" long chip. Still rings and has good rebound. I believe this anvil is from American Wrought Anvil Co from Brooklyn, which, iirc, sold their anvils through Montgomery Ward catalogues. The gentleman that has it thinks its a real gem and should be worth $4 a lb. I nearly spit when he said that, but he's in his 70's so I wa…

Has anyone used the 250# version of Steve's Anvil. I'm about to purchase one and thought i should ask around before I sell my Grandson to pay for it. Bob