stuarthesmith

the mousehole I have for you is the closer anvil in the pic....

nice, for an improv anvil........

Last night I was perusing craiglist and found a guy with an anvil in close proximity to me. He was selling a 230 lb peter wright for 250 dollars. Of course I emailed him immediately, and he called me this morning. The anvil was a decent peter wright, saying 2-3-0 on the side, which of course is 308 lbs. He delivered it to my door! Out came the cash!

I went to an oil refinery auction, back in the 1980's, where they had a fully outfitted blacksmith shop for maintainance purposes, just south of philly in a town called marcus hook. They sold a nazel hammer, two anvils, a giant coal forge, over a hundred pairs of blacksmith tongs, a swage block, a hossfield bender, and countless anvil tools and hammers for the grand total of 100 dollars. I missed out because my truck broke down, and the stuff had to be removed that day!

These are anvils I missed out on and learned some lessons. 1. The Fisher King: Back in the mid eighties, I was driving down a dirt road near my shop in appalacian pennsylvania. I was passing a farmer's barn and he had the barn door open. As I passed, I spied a 500 lb pristine Fisher behemoth. I hit the brakes so hard, I left 400 feet of dust in a humongous cloud. After asking the farmer the million dollar question, he responded "three hundred dollars cash money" I already had a 700 lb. clean hay budden, so what did I need another big anvil for? I called a guy near me who was a semi retired engineer who had been attending forge-ins at my shop every month. In fifteen minutes flat he showed up with the money, and rode away with the anvil. Now here is the tragic part. He has NEVER used the anvil, nor the three triphammers he purchased subsequently. All of this equipment has been languishing on his shop floor in his pole barn for decades. Lesson learned: not everyone is deserving of favors from me........I am now way more circumspect on referrals. 2. Double your pleasure, double your fun: When I purchased my 700 lb. Hay Budden, back in 1977, I had just started serving my apprenticeship in a tool forging shop. I bought that anvil fully intending to use it in the shop I was buidling in my father's barn while learning this craft. Now here is the rest of the story. I had befriended Jim Keiffer, a wonderful human being and a consummately talented blacksmith, who referred me to this anvil. Lo and behold, when I got to the guy's garage, he surely had the big anvil Jim had told me about. I purchased it for the grand sum(which was a lot of money back in the seventies) for 650 dollars cash. Now here is the rest of the story. The guy also had a 485 pound pristine hay budden, sitting alongside the 700 lber. Stuart the Stupid was so hypnotized by the larger anvil that he didn't realize what a score the SECOND anvil would have been. Now here is the rest of the rest of the story, which pains me deeply. Mr. Bullock, who had the pair of humongous anvils, sold the second one to a guy who owned a houseboat. There was a terrible storm, and the houseboat sank to the bottom of a river. That anvil now languishes at the bottom of davy jone's locker. Lesson learned: always have perspective when doing deals, one can piggyback deals like black frog did with his big anvil and fisher double screw vise!

Thanks guys

My younger brother, who is an engineer for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, visited me at my shop on Sunday. He told me he had spied a "humongous" anvil en route to my shop, four miles from me, sitting in front of a farmer's barn. Needless to say, I went to investigate this rumor of an anvil-beast. Both of my brothers dabble in blacksmithing, each possessing forge and anvil, which Stuart graciously provided for both of them, so I had to take the rumor seriously. Lo and behold, when I rode up on this farmer's barn, there was a PERFECT 400 LB Peter Wright-beast sitting on a wooden stump, just sitting there minding its own business. Phil the Pharmer wasn't there, so I left my business card with his daughter(which has a picture of my big anvil on it). Stuart is hoping like crazy his cell phone rings; if I purchase that anvil, it will free up a 300 lber for someone needing an big anvil on this site.

If I had limitless time(which I don't), i could probably land an anvil in Pennsylvania every day of the year. Yes, I am in Pensy

I just got these two anvils, and am selling them to newbies. The farther one is a 100 lb peter wright...which I have already sold to a newbie in my guild, the closer one, with gloves in front of it, is a 142 pound mousehole....... the small one off to the side of that cart in my living room is a vulcan, which I am donating to alan, the guy who lost his shop to a fire....

I am posting pictures tonight of the wheel that exploded while I was cutting barstock while making very large hardies for anvils. The machine I am posting is a 7 1/2 horsepower Radiac. Take particular note of the lack of cutoff blade in the guard. That guard may have saved my life. I have been running in between raindrops for 35 years with this machine. The Good Lord was with me when I fastened the guard before I ran the machine. Who knows, after that incident, I might even re attach the guard that covers the belts!

I do most of the cutting in my shop with a Radiac 7 1/2 Horsepower abrasive cut-off saw, which takes 16 inch wheels. In 35 years of constant use, I have never had any issues with this machine. Now I know why they have cast iron wheel covers over the blade. I was cutting pieces of 3 1/2 inch round 1080 tool steel for a job I have, and had put on a new saw blade for this purpose. About halfway through the heavy barstock, I heard a "boom", a loud explosion, and saw the brand new saw blade disintegrate, right before my eyes. Now I know why these machines have cast iron wheel covers. Had the safety covers not been on, I would be a dead man! If you calculate the radial velocity of the outside of a 16 inch wheel, you will see why it is imperative that you make good use of the safety guards on all machines in your shop!

Ferris, my good friend divermike lives in leicester, I believe.................do you know him?

UNANVIL is the analog of UNESCO, the United Nations Children's Organizatiom. Divermike and I are UNANVIL members, seeking to hook up children with necessary tools!

I have "hooked up" dozens of newbies in here..................I am the "go to" anvil man in here, lol

This is a fair question, and deserves an honest answer. Had these two anvils come up for sale in his auction, there is a possibility that both of them would have sold to collectors and not blacksmiths. By me purchasing them, and making them available in HERE, there is zero chance of that occurring. I always put my money where my mouth is, and the auctioneer has known me for years. He knows that I buy every last anvil that come up in his auctions. I just saved him some angst, and myself some time. I am NOT a dealer of blacksmith tools, I am a facillitator of blacksmithing ENJOYMENT

I do this because I remember when I was 22 years old, before I served my apprenticeship, I too had to search high and low for an anvil. My younger brother, who was in high school, and I chipped in and bought a perfect 220 lb peter wright. I am now 58 years old, and he is 54. I do this for a living, and my brother is still a hobbyist blacksmith, who still has our original peter wright, as well as other anvils. Back when I served my apprenticeship, in the late seventies, this craft was just starting to get popular. Even then, there were anvil collectors who were thwarting people wanting to hit hot metal I have a suggestion for this organization, I Forge Iron. While public education on this craft is increasing( we see less and less references to farriers being "blacksmiths"), there ought to be a formalized program in HERE to disseminate information, CORRECT information, about our craft. This might include a media guide to blacksmithing, replete with press release info given out to major media, as well as public television. Something along the order of the PBS special I saw on Phillip Simmons and his cousins, or that television byte I saw on Larry the New York Blacksmith. This ought to be done, and organized, under the auspices of I Forge Iron! And one more thing. If we did a video, we should stress the importance of saving anvils from the horde of invading anvil collectors and scrappers, so that this craft can continue. These collectors are a bane to all of us. I accidentally discovered this, two years ago, while selling a perfect hay budden on ebay. Some misfit in a business suit showed up at my shop, taking this anvil "out of the game", for an exhorbitant price, denying some newbie the opportunity to use the darn thing. Sadly, in the back of his van, was a perfect 500 pound hay budden he had just purchased before buying my anvil................another anvil disappearing!

yes

I thoroughly enjoy helping youngsters out

Ever hear of a cornucopoae? An anvilcopoea is a bounty of anvils. I just sold a "brand new" 120 year old hay budden acme to a teenager from this forum. Lo and behold, a local auctioneer calls me yesterday, and tells me that from now on, rather than auctioning off anvils and forges at farm sales, instead, he is going to buy them outright from the farmers and sell them to me directly. He told me he just bought two anvils, a 100 lber(peter wright) and a 150 lber(mousehole), which he sold to me dirt cheap, only making fifteen dollars apiece on the anvils. I buy these things to accomodate newbies and teenagers looking to start off blacksmithing at a reasonable price. Posted below are pics of my new acquisitions. This gets even better! The laborers who loaded these anvils into my van told me that they too have anvils, one of them a 300 lb hay budden! They took my bizness card and will call me, selling these unseen anvils extremely reasonably! Anyone interested should pm me.....

Recently, while I was in the chatroom, a youngster questioned me if I have a starter anvil that I am willing to sell. I replied in the affirmative. I have a beautiful, sharp edged acme hay budden that I bought in 1977. I bought it years ago because the edges were sharp and it rang like a bell. Being spoiled by owning five hay buddens over 250 lbs, I never even struck a blow on this anvil in 35 years, so it is still in pristine condition, if a bit rusty from lack of use. It weighs 120 lbs., which is a good starter anvil for a teenager. Because he is a youngster, I am only charging 350 dollars plus shipping. If I put it up on ebay, with sharp edges like this, and no belly on the face, it would probably sell for 8 dollars a pound, if I sandblasted it or wire brushed it. If he doesn't buy this bargain by sunday, I am going to repost it in the tailgating section!

I wear glasses specifically to see your sweet posts in here!

500 pounds of Hay Budden on the hoof, stuart is in negotiations!

I have owned this anvil since 1976. I bought it from a prince of a blacksmith named Jim Porteus, who was the resident blacksmith at the Cooperstown Farmer's Museum for decades. While visiting the museum, my parents and I related to him that I was serving an apprenticeship in a tool forging shop. Nice man that he was, he invited my family and I to dinner at his house, in nearby Oneonta, NY. After dinner, he took us down to his blacksmith shop, which was in a barn that he coinverted into a blacksmith shop and HOME. He was also an excellent carpenter, and his wife was an expert weaver, who also had her studio in that converted barn. Sitting on the floor was a beautiful "400 pound Fisher Eagle", which he kindly sold me for 300 dollars. I just took a good look at it the other day, 36 years later. There is a "4" on the front leg, and a "5" on the rear leg. Wow, the anvil is 450 pounds, not 400! Below are pictures. How can someone go nearly 4 decades using an anvil and not notice the "5" on the rear leg!

what is happening in peters valley?

I attended a hammer in on friday night, and did something stupid while showing off. I kissed my tongs after finishing a forging, and put a huge burn on my lips....