VaughnT

Didn't someone say they were going to hard-face one of those anvils and see how it worked out? I've been mighty curious to know what happened to that.

Honestly, I had an anvil with a sway-back when I first started down this road, and it was a pain to deal with. Of course, I was new to smithing and didn't know my butt from a butterbean. What you have is perfectly serviceable, though you might want to grind of that overhanging lip so it doesn't spall off. For the cost of the wire and the amount of work you'd need to do to bring the anvil up to temp for a good bond, I'd be sorely tempted to use it as-is for awhile. After a few weeks/months smithing on it, and you just can't stand the look... then I'd think about repairing it.

Very nice drill, Seldom. That guard might be a bit ugly, but the flat surface would be great for drill-bit organizers and the like.

Rockstar, an aluminum/brass button on the top wouldn't last long at all, and then you'd dance a merry jig trying to get the rivet/bolt out of the sledge. Better to simply remove the temper of the sledge on the impact area by heating it up. With the working face buried in the dirt, or held in a vice (acts as a heat sink), you won't remove the hardness from the working face. Richard, those look great. All of the flatters I see at the flea markets are going for less than $50. A lot less. Maybe I need to start buying them up and auctioning them on ebay!

Go to this link. Instead of using wood for the substructure, use galvanized metal studs and self-tapping screws. Replace the grill with a fire pot or side-blast forge. Decorate the outside with cultured stone or adobe, whatever. http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/intro/0,,20208184,00.html Here's a good link that shows blocks laid up properly. Not hard to imagine that barbeque being turned into a forge, or having a fire pit on the end. http://www.yardshare.com/yard_ideas/2010/06/25/outdoor-kitchens-steel-studs-or-concrete-blocks/

The biggest mistake people make is thinking that they need a london-pattern anvil to forge iron. The vikings were using hunks of iron and boulders of granite.... and they turned out some fantastic ironwork. In the middle east today, you'll see production smiths working on one face of a sledge hammer, the opposing face being bedded in a log. Works like a charm, too! Look into places that fix heavy equipment. The forestry industry might have a shop near you that has some large hunks of metal. Scrap yards might let you buy from them if you tell them what you need. They might not let you wander the yard, but.... I'm not aware of any tooling commonly used on an anvil that can't work equally as well in your vise. With a max of $200 to spend, I'd hunt a post anvil like the fork lift tine, and use the rest to buy fuel for the forge. Scavenged metal for practice can be found everywhere.

Where are you located? Advertise yourself and you just might find a smith nearby that has a loaner or something for sale. Ebay is chock full of anvils in various sizes, and shipping isn't that bad. I'm out $250 to have an anvil shipped from MA to SC, and that's small potatoes in the grand scheme of things!

$100 is only cheap for an anvil is that anvil is in good working condition. An anvil that has a heavily dented face and chipped edges would make it very difficult for you to work on, or very expensive to repair. There are definitely better anvils out there. I saw a mint condition Peter Wright anvil on ebay last night for only $400. That a great price for a 200lb anvil in that condition.

The gift he has given you cannot be measured. You will have to work the rest of your days to earn it. God bless you on your journey.

I'll be the first to say that I've never seen the like. Looks like it was meant to mount on a trailer tongue (with the spike biting into the wood), but the size is miniscule. The 'buy it now' price is a bit high unless you collect vises, but I have to admit that this one is a rarity. http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Miniature-Bench-Vintage-Blacksmith-Leg-Post-Vise-Vice-Black-Smith-Gunsmith-Gun-/00/s/MTAyNFg3Njg=/$T2eC16dHJF0E9nmFS0Q9BQPRCRCmPg~~60_57.JPG

Run away. The picture shows two anvils, and the larger one has some seriously chewed up edges. It's hard to tell what the top-plate looks like, but the edges indicate some serious use and abuse. Looks like a lot of cold work was done on her. The smaller one looks like an early Mousehole anvil, but the quality is impossible to ascertain with the provided pic. My advice, skip on both. Neither looks like it's worth the money unless the provide better pictures. Do like I did and use searchtempest.com to search ebay and craigslist on a daily basis. It works like a charm, and you will probably run into a good deal within the next month or so.

Well, hope that I didn't pay that much for a 120# anvil! Sure does look like they could be twins, though! What are the measurements on yours?

The seller said it is was between 320 and 350. The face is 5" wide and the o/a length is 29"... so I'm guessing it will only be 300#. Update: Another Fisher anvil just popped up on Ebay and it's got larger measurements all around. Looks like my new anvil is going to be significantly below 300#. This seller states that his 286# anvil (which is really nice, btw) has a 5.25" wide face and an o/a length of 32". If it takes that much anvil to still weigh under three bills, there's no way that the anvil I bought could possibly go over that mark. http://www.ebay.com/itm/286-Pound-Fisher-Anvil-Excellent-Condition-/230844450391?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35bf66c657#ht_500wt_1021

Excellent work, Azur!

Sounds to me like you have a good masonry project to plan out. You don't want to simply stack up a bunch of loose blocks.... so get some mortar mix ready. The key is research, research, research followed by planning, planning, planning. A side-blast forge would be rather easy as it's mostly just a large block structure with an air supply coming in from the side through a fire-brick or two. Of course, that's just a basic description.... and that's where your research comes in. Adding a fire pit/ring to the end would be easy.

$537.27 Someone bumped it up with 2 seconds on the clock, but they didn't bump it up higher than my max bid!! Not bad for my first time ever using ebay for something other than a reference site. I can't believe that someone else didn't jump on the deal. All the pictures show this baby to be as close to new as you can get, and the size is just about perfect for anybody. Weird, but I'm perfectly happy believing it was simply meant to be!

:D That's right, folks. I won the bidding and am now the proud owner of a Fisher anvil in near mint condition. She's a right beauty, with perfect lines and a good heft to her. :wub: Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to get her home! Anyone near Princeton care to take a road trip?

Nice handle, Perrin. The last book should be out soon. Building a forge is a lot different than building a fire pot. The big body that surrounds the fire pot can be made of anything, and I've seen a lot of non-portable forges that are build from cinder blocks and then faced with stone or brick to make them pretty. I'd love to have a shop with such a forge as the center piece! The part of the forge that holds the fire needs to be made out of something that won't spall or crack because of the heat. Or, is easily repaired or replaced when damaged. If you're looking at making something that isn't going to be moved, and you want to use blocks for the body, investigate a side-draft forge so you don't have to worry about a fire pot.

Cut the handle shorter and use it all day long! The size of the face is the important part.

Is there a reason you couldn't use that uber-adjustable Hofi jig to hold top and bottom tools instead of just a shop-built fullerer? I love the infinite adjustability of the collar/shaft, and am thinking that the bottom part could have a hole that matches your hardy hole so you could slip whatever hardy you liked in it. Maybe use a set screw to tighten the two together. Then the pivoting arm could have a similar arrangement where a top tool, or an inverted bottom tool could be fixed in an arm, again held fast with a set screw. Am I seeing something wrong? Might just be an awesome option for a shop that doesn't have a helper...

My shop is, in theory, plenty large enough for what I tinker with. The problem is that everything else gets cluttered in there for "storage". The implication being that it's only being stored and will be removed at some point. That point never seems to materialize, though. A pole barn is in the near future!

Thanks for the info, NJA. I hate to think how much this will cost if I win it and have to drive all the way to Massachusetts to pick it up, but if I do you can bet that I'll be stopping by the museum for a tour. Anyplace decent around that knows how to make a pizza? Maybe a cheese steak to tide me over on the way home?

I didn't think they used the English system, but I couldn't be sure. This anvil isn't marked in pounds or tens of pounds, so I'm going to guess it's a date or batch number. She writes, "The end under the horn states that it is FISHER, Patented April 21, 1877. The other end has some numbers. The top number is 1882. The other numbers underneath look like a 1 . 7 . 12. " While I certainly hope she comes home to me, I would love to know more about the markings. A 300# Fisher in my shop would be the bee's knees!!

Stand it on end, on a heavy base made from dimensional lumber, steel, whatever you can find. You want to grind the face of the anvil in a bunch of ways so you have a fuller, cut-off and anvil face all right there. The key is a heavy base that prevents the anvil from bouncing under the hammer. Link removed at the request of Anvilfire.

I'm looking at a Fisher anvil that I'm trying to get. She's real dreamy, with a perfect horn and a face that shines real pretty. My dream anvil.... sigh :wub: The current owner doesn't know about anvils, and I'm relying on pictures to guess the size, weight and age. From what I'm told, the face is 5" wide and the O/A length is 29". That would seem like a larger anvil, but what weight am I looking at? The owner says her hubbie told her it was 350#. And the numbers on the foot of the anvil, she thinks, are in the stone weight and would make it 320#. My questions: When did Fisher start or stop casting bolt-holes into the feet of the anvil? Did Fisher have the Eagle's head looking Right or Left, and did they ever switch it? Did Fisher ever use the old weight system, or are these numbers a date/batch indicator? Thank you for your time.