Glamuzina

250 is a perfect weight to hammer most anything you can imagine. Let the scale clean the work surface, oil and wire rush the rest. Enjoy

I use a magnet as well, I thought I was the only one doing that.

Ahhh, I remember getting my 200# piece of rust home, wirebrushing and find a 250 and FISHER. I nearly pooped. The deal was a dollar a pound, but at 250# it ended up being .80 per. The guy thought it was 200 and knew almost nothing about the anvil. He said it was a ships anvil because of the anchor on the side. I'll " will "this anvil to my children.

Linseed oil, wax , or motor oil.
Wire brush
Do not sandblast or electro chem dip, paint
The anvil took all that time to patina, don't ruin it with paint and sandblast
Oiled rust looks black after a food wire brushing. Let the slag clean the working surface.

250# 1904
From Indiana to Florida

I say 600 tops. I bought my 250# fisher for .80 lb.

Since the blade in "as quenched" state is so stressed and brittle that it can break just laying on the workbench. (Happened to a friend of mine!) I would not then further stress it with a cryo quench. I'd temper it *immediately*; then cryo quench and then temper again.

This is called a snap temper, usually 100 degrees below normal temper temp.i.e. 300F before cryo

my 1904 250# has them

This bad boy is a half in thick face all the way arround

I met a farrier along my pool route. The other day I asked him if he had an extra anvil laying about that he would sell; he said " How big" ? It was then I knew he had a good one that he didnt mind parting with. I now have a 250# fisher in my shop. If I had asked him when I first talked to him a year ago, I might have scored it sooner. The point being ask EVERYONE you can think of, and you will eventually find a good one. F*&% ebay for anvils, 6-7 dollars a # is outrageous.

Good to know. I figured it would clean up with use.
Most of the pitting is only a few thousandths anyway.

You cleaned it best with the wire brush, otherwise leave it alone and just do some hot forging on it. You got a great deal on that anvil. I have a 300# Fisher and really enjoyed working on it.

Great deal, your telling me; I literally begged, he knew what it was worth, but in a divorce situation...
He bought it off some corn-fed Iowa farmer, brought it here and now it will stay with me, hopefully one of my kids will one day get into metal work.
All I know is Im never gettiing rid of it
Even If I loose use of my arms I can still bang my head against it :blink:

That is where a 2x72 helps. We will see how hot working cleans it up.

I will let it be.
I figured the only place I would find a good anvil in Floriduh is from a farmer or a farrier.
I did however use the old wire brush and linseed trick; to keep the patina

I just bought this FN 250, 1904 from a farrier I know.
I am going to be using it primarily for bladesmithing
Ive been looking for a good anvil for some time now, as I already grind knives on a 2x72 and have experience making knives by stock removal, this is the next step for my shop.
My question is should I carefully sand the pitting from the face or leave it be?
The working face is otherwise very serviceable and straight.
This anvil has killer rebound.
.80 a lb for the whos out there