Black Frog

SR, what a nice Trenton you have there! What's the weight on that one?

Yes, pell lake.

I think you should let me have that 700#HB, just think of the absolute fun you'll have trying to find a replacement!!! :)

Yes, I know this is coming. That's why I'm swearing off the smaller ones. The 'bigguns' are few and far between, so I'm not as tempted so often. When I found that 527# A&H earlier this year, that solidified the sickness.

Nope, my anvilitis has been somewhat cured now. I'm swearing off buying any more anvils under 200#...... unless it is an absolute steal. ;)

I will find that somewhere, sometime. That's the fun of continuing to hunt! I see Matchless has a near mint 150# Trenton pushing $800... Unfortunately the person who bid me up to the price didn't really know what he was bidding on. Just a bit earlier he had horribly overpaid for an average , nothing special leg vise. I couldn't believe people bid that leg vise up to $185. I figured $80, maybe $100 tops. I was shocked. I figured if people were willing to overpay that much for the vise, I wasn't going to get this anvil.... I'm sure some were thinking I was crazy for paying this much for just a chunk of metal.

I was hoping to get it $2/lb, but one other person had their eye on it. I had to go to $500 for it. 200+ pound anvils are hard to find. 200+ pound Anvils in really fine shape are even more rare. So not an absolute steal, but considering the exceptional condition, I was ok with the price.

Local auction had this anvil that had several coats of horrible paint on it. I didn't see anybody inspecting the sides or base for manufacturer or weight. I saw a few people lifting the horn side mumbling... "gotta be over 150#"... Through the layers of paint, I could make out the Trenton diamond on the side, and I could see the 225 weight stamp on the foot. I had to wait around over 4hrs at the auction before they got to the anvil.... But it was worth it. I think it is in extremely nice shape, made in 1912. Has a few very minor chips on the side of the face, but fantastic shape for a 100yr old anvil! Here she is stripped of the hideous paint, and a good wipe down:

looking again, I think you may be correct....

...I thought the same.

If the Peter Wright anvil has "England" stamped on it, it means it is after the 1910-1911 (or so) requirement to have the origin of manufacture stamp.

Wish it was closer, what a nice piece..... Interesting that it says the later 'England' stamp on it- yet it has no pritchel hole. Wish it had a better picture of the weight numbers- can't make out the first number, middle number looks like a 1 and the last number looks like a 9. Wonder what it was really weighed at, or is 300 the sellers guess? If the marking is 2-1-9 that would be 261#, still very nice, but not 300.

I'm now up to 8 tool blanks as pictured above. Probably have enough 1.5" stock left to do 4 or 5 more. With a total of 12 tool blanks, I think that'll be plenty to start with. Now the question is welding the S7 to my tool blanks. I was thinking preheating to add to weld penetration depth. Good idea? I only have a 110v in my garage for my welder, so I'm sure I would be outside the desired metal thicknesses for it. Also wondering about forming the S7 into my desired tooling. Grinding or forging?

Any closeup of the side in the 5th picture? Flats on the base are associated with Peter Wrights....

Thanks for the comments! I'm new to welding, and fairly new to blacksmithing, so this was a fun project to incorporate the two.

Redoing my old, run-down deck that never had a railing around it. The framing was still ok to use, so I went with a new deck and wanted a nice rail around the edge for a nicer look. Problem was the way they (poorly) laid out the support posts for the framing wouldn't let me position my railing 4x4's symetrical on the corners. Only way I could keep it balanced was to stay back a good 8-9" from each 45 degree corner. Then the problem became how to do the railing on the corners when I can't plant a 4x4 for support. Well then I had the bright idea of turning this problem into an opportunity to do some artsy ironwork. I made a frame into which I wanted to put some 'wispy cattails and grasses' kind of look to accent the deck. I'm happy with how it turned out, and now love my deck! This little project has turned into lots of new work requests from the neighbors who have seen it....

Had some time in the shop to get some tool blanks made. Four made so far, and then have some 3/4" S7 steel that I will forge/form/temper and then weld to the tool blank. I didn't mill a flat spot on the tool blanks for the set screw yet, that might depend on what tool goes on there. These were made from 1018 steel that was 1.5" in diameter. Turned it down to the 1" shaft and left 1/2" worth of collar on there.

I have a feeling most anyone here would have snagged them just as fast if the opportunity were in front of them for cheaper than scrap price! ;)

Wow, some great ideas I never thought of- which is the reason why I asked..... thanks!

Some 3.25" thick, 16" diameter steel disc plates (two of them) came up on CL. I don't see stuff like that thickness come up too often, so I snagged them immediately as I figured they wouldn't last long at the price being asked. Each disc is about 200 pounds, and I couldn't let them slip by. Now the question is what to do with them for the best use? I was thinking I could incorporate them stacked into an anvil stand, right under the anvil for extra mass and rigidity. Or a separate striking surface, almost like a flat saw maker's anvil that would be 6.5" thick and 16" across, about 400 pounds. If you had a couple of round plates like this, what would you do with them?

If I was within an 8hr drive of that I would have it....

Wonder how course that wire brush is... I've wired brushed 4 anvils so far, and they don't look like that! Maybe a twisted wire cup?

I'm not talking about the actual anvil condition itself, like dings/pits/marks, but more of the exterior finish. All the listings look so similar and clean. Wondering what they do to get the surfaces like that. Acid bath of each anvil?

Could be tough to get a nice 1" shaft with tight 90oshoulder by upsetting? I have a good supply of 1.5" round stock of 1018 steel. I was just going to turn down a bunch of 1" shouldered tool blanks in the lathe, and then weld tool steel to them.

185# for HB for $275? buy it if it is in decent shape, it is better than money in the bank. Green cash in front of them might even get it for a bit less. ....why can't these ever be around my neck of the woods?