njanvilman

Unless you can use the cast iron weights for weighing down something, I would scrap them out and use the money to get something useful.

You should have no trouble drilling into the bottom of your anvil. Only the top faces were hardened. Just do a careful layout. I have seen many anvils with extra holes drilled through the feet for mounting with lag bolts. Blind holes from the bottom should be easy on a mill.

The triple threads on my flypress always cause the screw to return to the bottom by gravity alone. No single lead acme screw will ever do that.

Looking at the adds with the listing, my guess is Australia. Definately a railroad track made anvil. Very loud to hammer on.

MUST check photos before posting reply. One photo clearly shows 1919 as the manufacture date. Ignore the question above :rolleyes:

Your anvil is probably 400 lbs. Fisher put lugs on anvils up to 350 lbs. Does your anvil have a date on the base under the heal?

I would hesitate to even call it an ASO(anvil shaped object). Throw it in the scrap pile.

Think of the square hole as a horizontal stake bench. The step on the "back" side was used to drive a wedge between the step and the stake mount. Various shaped and sized stakes could be put into the hole. They were used as needed for bending the rod into rings, and for hammering on when forge welding. These stakes were usually perfectly round. The chain could be made into an elongated link after forge welding. The bigger Fisher chain anvils actually had no horns on the anvil, just two square holes for mounting the various stakes. Biggest Fisher made was a #8, around 1000 lbs.

Fisher anvils that big did not have mounting lugs. I will check the collection tomorrow and let everyone know what the biggest with lugs is. Also, Fisher first put the lugs on their anvils starting in 1892. Nice anvil. Treat it right and it will last for many generations.

If that anvil was in this country, I would own it. Too complicated to bid from across the pond. Nice item.

When I installed a side draft hood in my shop, it was almost like magic to watch the smoke turn sideways into the hood. I have 12" pipe that goes up 14' from the forge. The top 5' are above the roof. Years ago I went to the Haystack school in Maine. They had overhead hoods that barely worked. A recent picture of the forges there showed only side draft hoods. Peters Valley smithy also only uses side draft hoods.

Thanks to Glenn and all that make this site possible. I am a relatively new member, and absolutely love the discussions here. I am on this site everyday. I read other sites, but I am active on this one. Keep up the great work.

A better picture of the whole anvil might help with the identification.

I am sure Glen will speak up soon, but he like to have to location listed in the box on the right. Easy to get to from FAQ and going to User Profile.

I find it interesting how a member showing off a rare anvil digressed into a discussion about collecting vs using. I personally have no problem both using and collecting. Those of you who have read my story of how I became involved with the preservation of the Fisher & Norris artifacts have applauded my efforts. When photos of my Museum collection were posted, I received nothing but praise(and envy). I do not see how anyone can criticize anyone for what they care to do or not do. I see myself as a caretaker for all of the anvils and artifacts. I have not figured out what will happen to it someday, but I hope somehow it can stay together. I am involved with this due also to Mr. Postman's book. It has had an impact much bigger than he could have imagined. True, prices for anvils have escalated in the last ten years. But many rare and unusual pieces have been preserved and given a provenance because of his work. If I had never read his book in 1998, I would never had knocked on the factory door in Trenton. All of the artifacts that I preserved would have been trashed. NJanvilman, resting after a day forging on a 300 lb Fisher.

I looked into getting the pressure supply upped. It cannot happen. The forge is at the end of the line that feeds several hot water heaters, the kitchen and my foundry furnace. They will not put in a separate meter and regulator and run 150' of piping for a relatively small use. I believe that we have about 2-3psi of NG in the line. Does anyone know of a small forge that will run on this pressure, with a booster fan, that will produce the forging heat and is not too loud? I have not found anything yet. I looked into a NG booster pump, but they are expensive, and requires engineering work and a lot of complications. All of this might be a moot point, as the school is in a severe budget crunch. We might not have any funds for this project.

Another idea is to incorporate the flower into a desk lamp. I made a rose with an extra long stem, then wrapped it like a vine up a textured(with MIG and hammer) pipe. Wire to light ran inside the pipe. Even made my own shade. One of my favorite projects. Pictures if I ever figure out how to post them.

Thanks for all of the information. We would like to get away from the blower NG forges because of the noise involved, and the fact that it does not get hot enough. Does anyone know of a commercially made NG forge, 2 to 4 burner, with a blower, that will get to a good forging heat, and is not sounding like a jet plane? Using Natural Gas definately would be the easier way to go. We already have the feed line and if we stay with NG, the bill is paid by the school general account(they heat the school with it) and not by our department budget(for Propane tanks). I really want to replace the old McEnglevan furnace, but I have not found a suitable replacement. I even kicked around the idea of a coal forge, but got rejected because of the smell. All ideas are welcome. Thanks.

We cannot have more than a 100 lb tank. It will be located in an interior courtyard outside of my shop. It will be an exchange setup. They will not be able to drag the fill line through the school hallway. I am going to check into the possibility of getting two 100 lb tanks, manifold them together. That should help with pressure drop in the winter. I figure two tanks should last for a good part of the school year.

We are considering getting a three burner NC forge to replace an old McEnglevan forge in my HS shop. The old forge is almost 30 years old. It has never been able to get to a good forging temperature despite years of fiddling with the mix. My question is: We have to go to Propane. Our natural gas line into the school is too low of a pressure to run the NC forge, without installing an expensive booster pump. We can get a 100 lb Propane bottle and install it outside, piping the gas into the shop. We are trying to find out about how may hours we can expect to get out of this quantity of Propane. We will rarely use it to a welding heat. We just need to go from the present 1900 degree forge to 2100 degree forging heat. I appreciate any comments and suggestions. Thanks.

Your vise is a Stevens Vise. They were made from around the Civil War time till around 1920's. Around 1910, the rights to make them were bought by Fisher Anvil Works. They made 5 sizes of them for a few years around 1911-1915. I have one that is marked their name, and have seen two others. I also have three of the Stevens, that predated Fisher. They are OK in use, but I find they do not hold as well as a screw type vise. BTW, Fisher also advertised a model that extended the handle pivot to the floor, so you could ratched it tight with your foot, keeping both hands free. I have never seen one, just have the advertising picture of it.

I added 500 lbs to the museum this weekend. Went to an auction in NE Pa at a welding/machine shop liquidation. Bought a 400 lb Chainmakers?/Cutlery? anvil. Has a large hole through the side, and a strange top. No horns. I will send a photo to Postman for his opinion. I will try to post one here too. Paid about $300 more than I wanted to, but things balance out. I grow and sell Christmas trees. Today was opening day for cutting/tagging. I have a customer who thought they had an anvil lying around. It took them three years to find it. Today they showed up and gave it to me. Vulcan, 100 lb, never used. I will make them something nice. I will keep that one and trade off or sell my bigger Vulcan. Good shape, but the new one is better. And sold a bunch of trees. The next two weekends are the busy ones.

Thankful for everyday everyone in my world is vertical. Broken leg over the summer reminded me of all the things we take for granted. Like walking. Be safe out there, and don't rush. This is a great forum, and wonder why it took me so long to get involved.

I am sure that many blacksmith shops in the South were burned down, and tools scattered or stolen. A hot fire would certainly anneal the anvil. More likely, the anvils were dumped in rivers or lakes. Or the traveling smith of the North just loaded it on his wagon and kept it. In the years of the Civil War, most of the anvils would have been imports from England. Fisher was in business, but I am sure all made after 1861 went to the Union. That only leave eight years of manufacturing(1853-1860) to produce anvils. Some had to be in the South, but not too many. Fisher & Norris began to expand production after 1871, when Clark Fisher took over the company from his father. I also have doubts about the myth.

The anvil has not broken in a hundred years. Use it properly and it will probably outlast your great-grandchildren.