njanvilman

The antique ones that I have are center edged. I would think that if making one for a specific type of wood, a little experimenting would reveal the optimum bevel location and angle.

I just realized that I went the whole months of September and October without adding to the collection.

I guess I have a terminal case of Anvilitisis...soon to have enough to use a different anvil/bick for each day of the year. Ever wonder why compasses do not work in Central NJ? Forgot, no one uses them anymore since GPS.

Visits always welcome, after 12/25. Christmas tree season is fast approaching and I still have many to prune.

Uhh, Sweden. Nice looking anvil. Good quality cast steel.

I visited the buildings on Henry Street in Brooklyn a few years ago. The building numbers are still the same as are listed in the catalog. The left section was occupied by a welding shop. The back area was where the hammers were. Nothing there, except a curved track along the ceiling that was for a hoist to hang the anvils from as they were being forged.

The right building was occupied by a travel bus business. No other remnants. Not suprising since they have been gone from there for 80 years.

Copies of the photo I took were sent to Richard Postman. Maybe they will be in his next book.

Help! I am still missing something. Are you doing one direction, then reheating and twisting the other way? If so, how are you locking onto the twisted section for the second twist? I have watched the video several times and cannot figure it out. Anybody...

I think there was a fisher who was an admiral in the navy or something like that. He steered the governments business to his relatives company from what I understand.

Clark Fisher took over Fisher & Norris upon the death of his father, Mark Fisher, in 1870. Clark was a top Naval Engineer for the Union Army during the Civil War, and stayed active in the Reserves after the war. He left service to run the Eagle Anvil works.

Fisher Anvils were the only large manufacturer in the states at that time. Most other anvils in this country were English. Clark Fisher was able to write the GSA specs for anvils so that Fisher anvils were the "prefered" ones. Every naval vessage large enough to have a machine shop had a Fisher anvil for the next hundred years. Fisher owes their survival to Government contracts for 50 to hundreds of anvils in one order.

It is not suprising that a Fisher anvil is still on a historic vessel. I am sure that there are still many floating around the world.

Once i cleaned it up i could clearly see a 1 and a half inch steel plate that was cast on top.

The actual steel top plate on an eighty pound Fisher will be about 3/8" thick. It might appear to be thicker, but that is from the post-casting grinding at the factory.

Fisher's never had an 1 1/2" thick top plate. Even on my 800 lber, the top plate is only about 5/8" thick.

Peter Ross. Tom Latne(sp?).

Interesting story. I must visit both of your shops someday.

I would love to have a video of that repair. I have an old english anvil that needs the same repair. If he could do another, I would record it.....just thinking.

Now I just have to figure out how to get it out of my van ...???

Sam

If you don't mind driving to Ontario, its up for auction, apparently. Bit of a trip from Seattle, though. :-)

Any links or information about the auction available?

Somebody didn't consult IFI before they "restored" their battered anvil.

That anvil was made that way. No 'restoration' here.

Tim

Got any photos of it done? A neat piece. I appreciate great craftsmanship and the creativity it took to think this up and put it together.

Will it have brakes? Street legal, or just for off road fun? Nice, creative work. Looks like a nice Chevy? pickup behind it. 50's?

Very creative use of a wheelbarrow. Just wondering how one fits into it, or is it for a kid?

The last Fisher anvils were made in 1979, by Crossly in Trenton. There is no film of this.

I have slides of the last Fisher pour in 1961. That is about it. I would also have loved to see how the whole process was done.

I have figured out he details of the process, but subtle details are lost to history.

Things like this mini-altered roadster

I have a 180 lb Continental pattern anvil that has the 45 degree table down the entire length of that side. It does not have that full face block on the horn end. Again, I am also puzzled as to the design. I will try to get a photo posted.

Definately pre 1800. Dating early anvils is tough. But it looks like early engravings of images of armor makers and their tools.

I have done this and it is not worth it I would like to say trust me but I was told by others who had done this not to do it so I will just tell you what I did, and you can go ahead and give it a shot. I was given a 6 inch thick piece of plate it was A36 I paid to have an anvil shaped object cut out of it, it is about 300lbs then I milled and ground a horn on it. The anvil was looking sweet and I only had a couple of hundred in it then I milled the top and took it to a place where a friend of mine worked and we did the hard face on a big machine designed for hardfacing machinerey for the mines. I then ground the surface on the mother of all surface grinders to a mirror shine and milled all the sides of the anvil and polished the horn, this thing was beautiful I then did the ball bearing test and it goes thud, this anvil is so dead it has no rebound it is like hitting a sand bag. I bought a Buddin and a Pedinghause and use my anvil shaped object for a stand to spray paint stuff on.

It sounds like your 'anvil' got annealed from the welding and cooling. Perhaps it needs to be brought up to a red heat and quenched in rapidly moving water? What do you got to loose, except a spray paint stand? Just thinkin...

Right or left....the answer is....YES. Try both ways and see which way works for you. Easy.

Hello,

I am new to this forum. I am interested in old tools and line shaft driven metal working machinery. I have a forge but only dabble a little in that art. I also have a sawmill in storage, if I live long enough that is a future project or dream.

This week acquired an anvil. It has a rectangular top 12x6 inches, 12 inch tall and 12x15 at the base. it is marked "Fisher", "1906" and has an eagle on the side. I see this described in a book as a Fisher Norris saw makers anvil.

I would like to find a Fisher catalog reprint and learn more about this anvil. Weight, use, other sizes and option.

Ah good - I was able to link to a photo. I would also like to ask about the base and wood log?

Hello fourbore

Your Fisher sawmakers anvil should be about 250 lbs. It could be more/less. A difference of an inch in a dimension could change the weight by 20%.

1906/1907 was the era when Fisher produced the most anvils on a yearly basis. They were being marketed all around the world.

Your anvil looks as though it was well cared for and used properly. Proper use meant that no hammer ever touched the anvil. There was always a saw blade laying flat on the anvil. The blade was struck with special saw hammer to tension the blade, and to do minor staightening.

Fisher listed over 60 stock sizes of saw anvils available. They would also create a pattern and do a custom size if ordered.

Some people like the size of the face of the saw anvil for blade work. It obviously lacks a horn, hardy hole, pritchel hole. This might or might not be a problem. The base looks like a heavy steel base to make sure the anvil did not tip or move much. The log 'might' be nothing more than a shelf to put the hammer down on.

Private message me for any more details. Send me an address for a copy of literature. And if you ever are interested in selling/swapping let me know.


I also run a hundred year old sawmill here. And have a shop full of line-shaft driven equipment waiting for a building to set it up in. Adding your location to your profile would help.

"Anvil content: I am sure that iron from the ranges is in most of our American made anvils. And most of the domestically made steel we work with."
Ya got that right. Actually all those steep ridge-like hills that run for 100 miles across the three ranges are low grade ore waiting for a process to be free!
The same Iron Ore is a commom driveway surface up there in da woods.

There are actually a few pilot projects underway that are re-processing the 'waste' material from the last 100 years of mining. They are finding that there is still enough ferrous material in the waste to be profitable, 'maybe'. If these new processes work, they have an almost unlimited supply of material in the rock dumps. Just have to haul it.

Yeah, I did see some guys going to town, One on a swage block with an angle grinder. I did see what looked like a blasting cabinet and another guy loading an anvil into it. So I'm pretty sure he's using a blasting medium to clean them up, and lightly grinding any surface that is supposed to be flat. Taking wire wheel or an angle grinder to a body of a wrought iron anvil would be a little rough in my opinion, especially if you just were removing rust. I don't see any tool marks on it. Plus the wrought iron is normally pock marked with high a low points, so a twisted wire brush would leave some marks no matter how careful you were. I would expect to see wire marks left on the high points while trying to get the rust from the low points.

Its kinda pointless to get into an arguement about how Steve does his anvils. But, I have been there twice, and have never seen a blast cabinet. He does have hundreds of flat twisted wire wheels in boxes. He told me this is how he preps all of his anvils. I also use twisted cup wheels on my 4 1/2" offhand grinder, and have never left any marks or scratches. This is on any type of anvil, whether cast, wrought, forged. I follow up with a light oil after degreasing and washing. A light wipedown once a year on the display anvils is all that is needed.

Steve uses twisted wire wheels to clean the anvils, then coats them with boiled linseed oil. Best way to stop rust is to use them, as said above, or just lay a lightly motor oil soaked towel over the anvil when done. Do not use boilded linseed oil, you will have an unintended fire.

So are you MNanvilman now also? My Dad grew up in Virginia, Minnesota. The family farm is now an open pit mine. Overall the area has changed drasticly in the last 25 years.

Not MnAnvilman. Back in NJ now. Amazing that almost everywhere in that area, the landscape has been altered by humans. Soon Rt. 53 will have to relocated so the mines can keep spreading. Hibbing already moved their town once.

Anvil content: I am sure that iron from the ranges is in most of our American made anvils. And most of the domestically made steel we work with.