murfcabbage

Actually, it is my son's good friends, great, great grandfather.

I have a 280 lb. Northern Star anvil.  I recognize the star and the weight with lbs. after it.  Same as my Northern Star 

anvil.  This anvil does not ring like say a Peter Wright.  Hit it with a hammer.  Quiet, right.  Great anvil.  I forge knives on it.

I went the hard way and it worked real good. I took a file to my fisher which had a dinged up face. The file stays flat on the face and I just elbow greased the bugger. After maybe 10-30 minute sessions, the face came out really nice, no heat build-up, no over grinding. The beauty of the file is that you will not overdo it. Major arm work though.

I have a post of a 260 lb. peter wright, double horn in this forum. The differences i see are, the hardy and pritchel are on the same side on my peter wright double. This one is on opposite sides. Also, the characteristic step in the base is not present on your double. I really don't know, but it is a beautiful anvil yuo got there.

Nice, I like working with 0-1. I use oil to harden it and then stick it in my wife's toaster oven, 3 times at an hour at 450 degrees F to temper. Seems to work well. Needless to say, I temper the blades when she is at work.

The additional hole under the bick indicates that it is a female anvil.

That's a good one. Got a good laugh with that response and then thought about the picture of your museum, and it is a lot !!!!! and I presume those are just a fraction of what you actually have.

How many anvils are there in the complete collection?

Thanks. I've done a lot of machine work and that bolt am am not familiar with as it isn't a hex, allen, etc. BTW, This my second fisher and I have really fallen for them. I have hb's, PW, etc. but I love the fisher. Question, I really want to get a hold of the fisher mini, the 1/2 pound one. Do you know anyone who would sell me one of those? Reason is that if I had one, I would carry it around with me, a good luck piece.......


Second BTW, your collection is AWESOME !!!!!!! Wow, if I had a collection like that, I would spread them out, put a mattress on them at night and sleep on them. Thank you for sharing.

Just got a 19 lb. Fisher anvil in the mail today. It has a hole in the bottom and a large (9/16) bolt threaded in. I can see how this would help on a bench. The hole on the bottom had a deep thread. It almost looks factory. The bolt itself is not a bolt like you find in the hardware section, but has a blunt end, never seen a bolt like that before. Also, the bolt is easily screwed in and out of the hole. Any of you have small fisher's with this bolt hole.

I live in Hawaii where blacksmithing isn't a big trade. So, although anvils are few and far between, when one does pop up, the sellers don't know the value, for the most part. They just want to get rid of it. Around $1.50 a pound for the hay buddens. $2.40 for the double horn.

Correction, the 1910 Hay Budden has a one piece tool steel top half welded to a wrought bottom half, not a solid tool steel face only like the older ones.

That is a good idea. Insurance. I know I plan to drive my Harley off the cliffs when I am ready to leave this earth. Maybe, I could pull the anvils in a trailer behind me....nah, probably not, it would slow down the extraction of my body. they would probably grab the anvils first. Melting may be the best bet. Thanks. I love this forum, great life-altering advice.

A closer view of the double horn.

I was talking to Richard Postman and he said he had over 200 anvils at one time. He got rid of a bunch of them but I asked him about the disease, the love of anvils. He said their is a cure for this disease, it is called DEATH.

I didn't just fall off the turnip wagon Stu, It's called downsizing. When I had the pleasure of having 2 employees it was a made allot more sense.... :)


I laughed so hard I almost fell off my 300 lb. anvil i use as a stool, of course, I padded it. I haven't heard that fell off the turnip wagon saying for years. Thanks.

I agree with Stewartthesmith. Using different anvils, i.e. tools, for specific work is what being a professional is all about. I think a blacksmith who chooses to utilize one anvil with many different tools for that anvil can accomplish the same. You two approach this trade differently, and are both right. To each his own. One anvil? Nah, I'll keep all of mine and use each one of them for the unique qualities they have to make my knives, fabricate parts, etc........

The miniature fisher at 1/2 pound sold for $260. That makes it $520 a pound. Ishould have bought it, so cool.

I also chatted with him and he said that the auction he got it from was real high in price and he is reselling it to get his money back . Sounds like he is changing his story, sounds like it isn't a fisher, sounds like he's looking for that sucker born every minute.

What a great idea !!!!! Oh wait a minute, I have people in Texas, Arizona, Africa, Australia, and a number of other dry parts of the world alredy picking numbers for my anvil retirement plans. But, I will put you on the list, number 287,

As an interesting note, the larger Hay Budden in an 1898 1st style. This one has the faceplate welded to the wrought. You can see some sway on the face. As a contrast the Hay Budden 130, second picture, is a 1910 version or the third style which has a solid tool steel face welded on. The neck of each is different, where the 130 has a longer, almost parallel neck whereas the larger/older Hay Budden has a nicer transition from the bottom to the top of the anvil. I think the baddest one is the Northstar, supposedly one piece of steel forged in charcoal. That's the one you can make out the 280 under the palms. I'm still courting the double horn Peter Wright, taking it slowly. lol

This one went for $260. I wanted it and bid 180 on it but when it went over that I passed. I was going to carry it around with me. It is very cool.

Wow, what a dream anvil. I am looking for a monster also, but in Hawaii, good luck. I think I may have the biggest in Hawaii at 280 lbs. Never seen or heard of a bigger one that 280. Boy I would love to get one over 500 lbs. If I had a 700 lb. anvil, I would put it out in my front yard and keep my surveillance camera on it and record peoples expressions or attempts at stealing it....Nice anvil.