sam

i dont think its cast the broken bit is where the hard steel plate that was fire welded to the soft forged iron body has broken off and the mushrooming is from over use i have an anvle almost identical to this one in ireland mine came from harland and wolf ship yard good luck to you for finding 2 anvels so cheep

lo there folks don't know if this is the right place for this but I am going to give it a go anyway. I am thinking of traveling to the us later this year and am looking for work so if tney one has work or knows of work avalible for a skilled blacksmith + coded welder id like to hear about it my email address is hammerntongs@msn.com i have over 15 years workshop experience a lot of that time was spent restoring antique iron and copper work in Ireland if you would like to see some of my work or know more about me email me and i can send you some photos etc thanks for taking the time to read this

i have often put brass and copper inlay on to steel by chiseling the pattern on to the metal and then melting copper or brass in to the chisel marks you can ether use borax or just sift flux or any brazing flux you have handy then just polish off the surplus hope this helps lady

:D thanks for the help with the photo irnsrgn i dont just know how to work this thing yet but im geting there

lo all this trip hammer is in patersons spaid mill near tempilpatric N Ireland the national trust owns and runs the mill. it is posibly the oldest surviving spaid mill in europ the hammer and 90% of the machenery in the mill run of a water turbine that was made in the USA in the 1870 s the shaft of the hammer is elm but hole pine tree trunks have been used in the past . the hammer is mostly used for plating but is verry versitile