Shwartz

The guy I dealt with at Vaughns thought that my anvil had been 'doing the rounds' on ebay, as he had been contacted by several previous owners. He was suspicious that it was a scrap casting, so he insisted on my taking it to their works for him to check over before he would commit to heat treating it. Apparently none of the previous ownwers could be bothered and had put it back up for sale! Maybe the calls were fron five disappointed owners of the other castings? I bought mine from a steel stockholder near Devises. They did charge me to heat treat it, but a very fair price. No photos of the process I'm afraid.

An update on my anvil. I did get a reply from Vaughans who were good enough to advise me how much material to mill off the face of the avil casting (apparently they are cast upside down, so all the impurities are just under the surface of the face). They then hardened the face for me using a very old machine which they get from the Brooks company when they bought all the tooling for the range of anvils. Very interesting set-up with a multi burner oxy-acetylene flame which traverses along the face of the anvil heating the surface which is then quenched in a continuous process by jets of water following along behind. A good result, as I now have the newest Brooks anvil in existence!

Thanks for your comments and advice, apologies for taking a while to reply, I've been travelling to Montreal! I have e-mailed Vaughns about the possibility of getting them to heat treat the anvil, but no response yet. I guess I'll try to find a heat treatment shop here in the UK who are willing to have a go? If I draw a blank, then I might try the shotpeening as a low risk treatment that might have some benefit? I think that this anvil must have come out of Brooks by the 'back door' before it was finished? Maybe they had stock of castings when they went out of business? It's not cast iron and the casting of the makers name is very crisp, so I don't think it's a copy? Thanks again.

Hi, I'm new to this site and to blacksmithing (got hooked after I completed a short course at Cold Hanworth Forge here in the UK)! I recently bought an anvil on ebay (how many times have you heard this sad story!)which was advertised as 'new', but it turned out to be an un-finished casting. I'm not too down-hearted as it's marked 'Brooks, England' so I think it's basically a sound steel casting? I've cleaned up the face, table and bick with a grinder and it all looks OK and it rings like a bell when struck with a hammer. The only problem is that it marks very easily as it's not hardened. I'm not sure I'll be able to find a company who are equipped to heat treat the face of the anvil here in the UK. Even if I can, I fear they might do more harm than good if they don't know exactly what they are dealing with? I have read references to anvils 'work hardening' so I wondered if it would be worth getting the face of the anvil shotpeened? I think that this may increase the hardness of the face without any risk of doing permanent damage? Any thoughts or advice before I make further enquiries? Thanks in advance.