Fatfudd

There is a pretty decent looking anvil just listed on Ebay in Johnstown pretty close to you. The listing says it is 150lbs but it is 30" long so its probably closer to 200Lbs. Bidding is starting at $250 but you can buy it now for $375. It has a really long thin tail so it could be a Trenton or Arm and Hammer.

I happened to be talking to Dick Nietfeld yesterday, he's the sole distributor for Refflinghaus anvils in the US. He mentioned that he had several of these #58 275lb anvils that he was selling that had cracks in them and I remembered this thread. He said that he doubted that the cracks would ever get worse and that if the shelf ever broke off Reffinghaus would replace the anvil. With that piece of info it would seem that a 30% discount on a Refinghaus anvil is a pretty good deal for someone looking for a new anvil with a limited budget. There is no mention of these anvils on his website so you'd have to call him.

I'm surprised no one mentioned using a wire brush wheel on a drill. You can get some that are very soft and can get down into folds and cracks pretty well. You can also get soft polishing pads that will fit on a mandrel for drills with jewelers rouge. I use those for final polish on small pieces and then tumble them to get the build up out of the cracks. I use a small soft jawed vise to hold the pieces. Seems to work pretty fast and I haven't found any real danger to doing polishing this way. Occasionally I also use a Foredom tool with a small wire brush wheels or pads for polishing too.

That's the first style of base I have several with that hourglass shape. Early 1900's.

Please put in your location and I think the folks here can help you. If you live near NM send me a private message and I'll take it off your hands.

Rhino anvils are seriously good anvils too. They are very reasonably priced as compared to many other makes of new anvils. You wouldn't go wrong with one of those. As for Peddinghaus, several on line companies are offering them at a price between $1400 and $1500 so it would be a good choice for either. Look up toolup or plumbersstock.

I've seen several Illinois Iron and Bolt Co which was also Vulcan anvil. All that I've seen with II&B Co logo are the smaller sized anvils under 100#. Fred Moore has a few in his Vulcan collection.

Make sure that you contact Ebay with regard to the seller backing out and give them full details. When you hit the buy it now button you are fully covered under their policies and the seller not only will pay the commission fee but will probably be banned, which is deserved.

For a few years there were some Trentons with an A serial number stamp. Some have speculated that the A prefix was for factory seconds. I have had one so marked and it was a fine anvil. They seemed to have been in the years 1906-7 to 1908-9.

Out here in New Mexico where the humidity is low I've been using Rustoleum Crystal Clear enamel on my indoor items and bottle openers. I use it on out door items too, but you need to periodically respray it. I've used beeswax and boiled linseed oil heated and mixed which seems to be OK.

If you go to ABE.com you'll find that the book has been reprinted and is available from Powell books in Portland.

Hmm I dunno, kinda like the difference between a Suburban and a Yugo. It does however have a steel bick so its a Fisher for sure.

After looking more closely at the anvil following Josh's comments I think it is a cast iron base/steel topped anvil. What threw me as the gracefulness of the lines as compared to my other Fisher anvils. Here is my 26lb Fisher and here is the scrap yard anvil . Another thing I noticed is there is a fairly distinct line on the horn where it looks like a tool steel insert was incorporated in the casting. . So its not really possible to say who made the anvil but maybe its a Fisher?

Thanks Josh- You might be right, the base is similar to my 26lb Fisher but it does have a pretty good ring, I'll try to drill under the base and see if its cast iron. .

I have a local scrap yard that let's a few of us pick thru for treasures. Usually just find small lots of decent metal but occasionally something cools shows up. I found this little dude yesterday, someone wasn't very nice to it tho. After I cleaned it up I couldn't see any maker's marks but the base has all the characteristics of a Hay Budden. The rebound and ring are excellent so I need to decide if I want to give it to Rob Gunter for a resurface lob or keep it as it is. It weights 38.6 lbs and set me back $8.50. Here's a few more pics-

Here's a repair suggestion I made a while back. You should also do some research about the use of acme threads, they really aren't meant for the kind of strain that a vise can put on them. '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>

The Bay area seems to have a number of anvils available from time to time but they seem to go for pretty high prices. $3/ lb seems to be about the norm.There is a fellow in Santa Rosa that "sells" his anvils for quite a bit more but I don't think he sells many.

If you are interested in selling you anvil give us your location and we can give you a better idea of its value. A decent anvil of the size you have will go for 2 to 3 dollars a pound in an anvil poor state like New Mexico.

Crazy Ivan is correct- with the flats on the top of the feet and the thickness of the those feet It is probably an early German Trenton. very good anvil.

It's later than 1908 but without the full serial number its hard to tell If you could make out an A before what were the other serial numbers then its later than 1917.

Looks fine to me, I'd use it and see how it works for you.

Its a hay budden 3rd style

36 X 6 in Hay Budden- That one weighs 400lbs and I would pay that for it in a heart beat even without the stand. That's a screaming deal, I wish I could find one like that.

The anvil shape looks very much like the 3rd style Hay Budden. If the anvil has a number stamped under the horn next to a square handling horn then its a Hay Budden.

I know this is heresy but I have worked over several of the third style Hay Budden anvils (same as yours) that had pretty yucky faces. Since the whole top half is tool steel you can skim off a few thousands and have a much better anvil and not really lose any of the rebound. That said, it is a good idea to use what you have for a while before doing my easy fix. If it works as is, leave it alone. If the cut marks and depression turn out to be a problem then here's what I do. Get a hand belt sander like you would use for sanding wood and get some good grade aluminum oxide sanding belts starting with about 100 grit. Make sure you remove the dust collector bag. Slowly and as evenly as you can sand the entire surface. Use a straight edge to constantly check the surface of the face. The belt sander will true the face and get rid of the depression. I usually take the face down until I get close to as smooth as I want and then move to a 180 or 220 grit belt. I go after the face with the finer grits only enough to remove the deeper scratches left from the coarser belt and then move to a finer grit. I usually will finish with a 300+ grit wet/dry by hand wrped on a thick piece of FLAT metal which gets my face very smooth. I then start using the anvil. You have to be careful at first, even though the rebound is still good/excellent, hammer marks will easily show if you miss your target. After a few months the face will work harden and you'll have an excellent, like new, anvil. I have one that had almost 1/4" removed and it has been used by 3 successive smiths over many many years and is still one of my prime shop anvils. Also if you have a badly pounded out overhang on the edges you can remove that with the belt sander too. Seems like you got a very good deal!