VaughnT

Yea, I wouldn't mind having that in the shop, but it's just a bit out of my range. Why would anyone pay that price when you could get several new anvils for the same money? Even as a collector piece, it's just not worth it.

That you can make your own anvil is seriously cool. I can't even imagine what an experience that must have been. Looks great, and if you ever want to make another one, just let me know where to sign up! :D

Air-hardening, huh? I wasn't aware of that. Thanks. Were I you, Claran, I would definitely look into the forklift tine for an anvil. The more mass you have under your hammer, the more efficient you are in moving the metal, and the larger stock you can reasonably work with. Depending on how the tine is shaped, you can have a banger of an anvil for dirt cheap and it takes almost no work to get you there. The D2 is good stuff, but the tine would be far superior. http://www.marco-borromei.com/fork.html

A piece of D2 measuring 6"x6"x2" wouldn't be that terribly difficult to heat treat on your own, but it would take a good bit of oil in order to wick away the heat quickly enough. Having said that, however, I would encourage your to use it as is for the time being. D2 isn't going to mushroom over right off the bat, and will be harder/denser than mild steel which a lot of people are using for their anvils. It should last a good long while before you need to redress the face. Now, you don't have a ton of mass to play with so your fairly limited in the size of the steel you can work on, but a block like yours will be more than good enough to make knife blades and small ironware. Just mount it solidly and be sure to use the 2"x6" face as your top plate.

If that blower is functioning, I'd consider the lot as a good buy regardless of the type or condition of the anvil. I've not seen a good blower on the market for less than a hundred dollars, and you can reshape those hardies and tongs to better suit your type of work, so it's a pretty good deal. Even if it's an ASO, it's still something to beat on and will find some use in a shop.

Couldn't find any Stoody rod locally, so the guy at the store talked me into Stulz (?) Manganese XL rods. $100 for ten pounds! But, at least it's a start. I'm hearing that manganese can work-harden and that worries me a bit, but I don't see me doing a lot of pounding on this anvil as I will be doing very small stuff in the beginning.

Yup, stick. I would love to have a wire-feed welder, but gotta make do with what I could find.... and my welding is sub-optimal so this kind of stuff allows me to learn as I do. Just looked at the rods and they are Stulz (?) Manganese XL. I hope the work-hardening aspect of them isn't going to cause a problem, but don't know. I won't be doing a lot of pounding on the little anvil (mainly blade tangs and small ornamental stuff) so I can't see it getting really bad. If I get that large Fisher, I'll try to find some Stoody rods.

Beautiful! You're very lucky to have something like that passed down to you; the stories it could probably tell.....

If I remember the repair threads, a cast iron base requires pre-heating to 450*, then a layer of nickel rod, than a few passes with a Stoody 2011 rod to equal a rockwell c that approximates a W1 tool steel top plate. The Wilkinson anvil that I have on the list is a wrought iron base that doesn't require a layer of nickel, and only needs pre-heated to 400*, followed by a few layers of a hard-facing rod that comes out to something like W1, as welded. Both are kept at their respective temps during welding and then covered in insulating to slowly cool overnight. Am I missing something? Is there a better rod than the aforementioned Stoody? The guy at the welding shop sold me some hard-facing rods that are high in magnesium and the company rep said they would be good for what I was doing, including hitting a Rockwell C of 55-60 as welded. The Wilkinson I have has a bit of the top plate left, but that's less than an eighth of an inch thick where it exists at all and the rebound is poor. I'm all ears if there's something more I can learn.....

Do keep me apprised of the situation, please. I just got some hardfacing rods from the local welding supplier and hope to get to work on the Wilkinson anvil as soon as life stops getting in the way. Should be good practice for re-working a larger anvil, and I can always buy more rod! :D

What are the dimensions on that body? I've been trying to figure out how many burners to go with as I'm starting with a 3' length of 8" pipe.

I'm just across the river in SC and would be more than glad to take this project on. I have a 120# Wilkinson that I'm in the early stages of doing a complete face replacement on. LIke yours, this one had the face sanded/filed down to next to nothing. I would love the opportunity to have a big anvil in my "shop". Depending on the price, I can be down that way in under two hours. Let me know when and where.

Yea, if that baby has good rebound, jump on it. Or, since Augusta isn't that far a drive for me, I'll be happy to take the worry off your mind and drive down this weekend to pick it up. Just forward me the contact info, please! :)

That is a awesome anvil! The traditional english-pattern anvil that we all associate with blacksmithing is actually more of a do-it-all design and you certainly don't need one now that you have that gargantuan in your shop. Any bending you might have done on an anvil horn can just as easily be done with vise-mounted tools, or you could fab something to adapt to those holes. No matter how you cut it, that's one heck of a find and will bring you years of great service. I'm definitely jealous!

Beautiful design. Any reasons you settled on those dimensions? What are you planning on for making the clinker breaker? I don't think I've ever seen a breaker in action and am curious how you're going to fabricate it. I'm already planning on stealing your pot design.... :D

PIcked up a Wilkinson anvil from a buddy for $30 and a knife. This wee lass belonged to his grandfather who was a smith in the historic town of 96, SC. Goes back a ways, she does, and has seen quite a few things, I'm sure. The faceplate is almost entirely gone and that big chunk missing from the side is going to need something done about it. But, I can't complain. Just bought the hardfacing rod to repair the top and will still have gotten a 120lb anvil for considerably less than $2/lb!

How does one go about estimating the amount of rod needed for a build up? I'm currently planning to repair my Wilkinson anvil ( see here ) but can't figure out how many pounds of this rod or that to buy. The face plate measures approximately 4"x14" and is less than a quarter-inch. I was thinking about building up a .500" surface. Is .500" too thick? Too thin? Would one ten-pound box of Stoody be sufficient? I'm keen to get started and will have the remainder of the paint burned off this evening....

Is the pic of the underside of the horn showing a V-taper near the body? And the numbers on the side look like 1 0 7, not 1 0 1. Note what appears to be a curved stalk on the number on the right and how it's distinctly different from the number on the left. Of course, I'm looking at the shadows cast by the light, not the impressions, and could be wrong. But, the far right number looks very different from the 1 on the left and it stands to reason that they would be two different stamps used on an anvil that size. it's not large enough to warrant a 2 for the first digit, but it is large enough to warrant a 2, or 7, for the third number.

Good points, Thomas. I hope to get this lass cleaned up and mounted over the weekend, so I'll know more about the condition soon. As far as repairs go, I'm still keen to try fixing her if only for the welding practice and story to tell. Any modifications to the face after welding would certainly be better than trying to find a good spot on the existing face. Further examination seems to show that the top plate is well under a quarter inch, so repair might be the best option.

Thanks for the links, Phil. I have read about radii on the edges and I wouldn't have a problem with doing that, but I really need/want to get the face flat enough to work all over it. I'm mainly looking to do light work up to .500" Ø and blades, so I don't need much of an anvil. Still, I would like to fix this one up if for no other reason than to say I did. If it doesn't work out, though, I really can't say anything as I only paid $30 for the anvil!!

Here she is. She's a beaut, but I'll admit to being partial. The markings seem to indicate that it's a Wilkonson from Dubley, England. From what I've been able to read, it's a Wrought Iron body with a steel face. The horn and step are in very good condition, though you can tell someone was working that step pretty well. I'm honestly surprised the horn isn't sliced to ribbons or mushroomed over. The top is flat from fore to aft, but it rounds off over the main body to act something like a bottom fuller. I can't see anything to indicate how much of the actual steel plate is left, if any, but it does have decent ring and rebound. The only other problem is that there is a huge chunk taken out of the one edge. If I'm reading right, this means it weighs 120lb in the American style. Not bad for a hobby anvil, but I'm still on the look out for a biggin'!!!

PIcs posted tomorrow! Hope this guy is a helpful soul... ;)

Mystery is certainly a good way of describing that ASO. I'm thinking it might have been a casting project for an apprentice foundryman. Nothing about that anvil makes any sense. It's too light, and hollow, for serious work. Even as a traveling anvil, I just can't see it standing up to daily use even making nails by the hundred. That conical projection and the cut-outs on the opposite side would seem to indicate, to me, that this was a test piece for a guy just learning how to make molds. In one pour, he gets to show his capabilities making a multitude of shapes, forms and contours. No matter how you cut it, I've certainly not seen anything like it before.

Hello from South Carolina. That's some mighty fine work. Getting such a nice taper on the ends is very tough for me to do, to do it at 9yo is simply amazing. Great skill there! I'll look forward to seeing more of your work soon.

Very nice work. Is it wrong that I spent just as much time looking at the wonderful shop surrounding the horns? Yea, I'm jealous! :D