George Geist

Far be it from me to be a pain in everybody's butt about this, but yes we've all been trained that sole pressure is bad. We all knife it out as concave as we can, we all seat out the bearing surface with a hammer, some folks use an angle grinder. Judges at certifications go all around under the shoe with a credit card making sure there's clearance. Problem is when we come back to see that beast again the shoe is always flush on the foot and/or filled under with dirt. Seems our sole pressure relief is temporary at best Then the natural BS folks come along and tell us anything in front of the frog apex is "distortion" and they radically set shoes back till it's riding on sole. Having seen this a few times, as well as people not worrying too much about relieving sole pressure and horses going just fine anyway, I can't help but wonder is this really as important as we've always believed? And yeah guys rim or British concave is great. Should fit the bill for almost anything. George

There will be people along soon enough with far more expertise, but to me anyway it has a Peter Wright look about it. Just an opinion don't hold me to it. I can say with a good degree of certainty that one of the words you're trying to make out is the word "warranted" George

Cast iron is a real tough job even for an expert welder. Usually it works best brazed. Critically important step is bringing the entire part up to a uniform heat. This often requires fabricating a special makeshift forge outside in the ground or BBQ pit. When the piece is hot enough uniformly all around, it's brazed with an oxy-acetylene torch. Chances of doing this successfully are about 50/50. This is how racked manifolds and such can be fixed but due to the uncertain results of such an undertaking most people just dig into their pockets for a new part. George

Great history. If only they could talk. George

What's up with the hole? Somebody been using it for target practice? George

I wouldn't know but I'm sure somebody will come on soon that will.

You're right, a PW it is. Go ahead and buy it. You'll be glad you did. George

Seeing that one photo with the angle grinder I knew would get your attention. If that device is close enough to be in the same picture frame as the anvil it's definitely way too close. Any grinding, welding or cutting equipment needs to be in a different building. George

Nice, good idea George

Oh my word, they sure saw this guy coming. For that pile of rusty old junk? Yeah you got taken allright. However, not to worry. I'm sure there are plenty of guys on here that can help you recoup some of your losses even with all that rust. Is just the kind of big hearted fellows they are George

Here's one done with nails and wire. Another of many methods to achieve the same end result:

Well...... Never having been there I can't say, but I can tell you how to figure out what they ought to be. And if I were going there I'd be able to set prices accurately as soon as I arrived. To find prices in a given area first find a Barber Shop. Look at price of a haircut. Cost of shoeing a horse is about 8 times the price of a haircut. Barefoot trim is about 1/3 the cost of shoeing. Shoeing half a horse about 2/3. Is no surprise to me that prices over there are all over the boards. They are here too. Reason for that is sadly that entirely too many people just don't know the nuts and bolts of their own trade. Barbershop formula works. Is very accurate. George

ACME as I think most folks around here know, was the logo used by Sears and Roebuck. Trenton and Hay Budden supplied anvils to them as well as other Hardware Stores. Looks like a real nice one. George

Not too legible unfortunately. Wire brush it and clean it up best you can. Then rub talcum or baby powder into the numbers. That should help a lot. George

Rockstar with all due respect, that's not logical. Are you implying that somehow or another their education and training somehow makes them less qualified and competent than someone without? XXXX? Yes unethical people can lie, but it's much harder to do if there's compulsory testing. Occasionally airplane pilots crash airplanes. Nonetheless I'd still prefer to fly with one who's tested, licensed and experienced. When it comes to them vs the amateur shade tree mechanic types you really don't want to keep score do you? Guilds are still going strong back in the old world as they have for centuries. USA didn't ever have too many of them anyway but the few we do have do great. American Bar Association comes immediately to mind. Screen Actors Guild is another. You belong to those organizations or you don't work right? Tell me just what is so wrong about that? Many people purchase weapons to defend themselves, their families and their homes. There is nothing wrong with that. I see that as good. Many people wore their country's uniform at some point in their lives to defend their respective countries. That's a good, noble and honorable thing to do. As far as people's trades, work, livelihoods, bread and butter. Their means of feeding their families. Why is protecting and defending that seen as a bad thing? I certainly don't see it that way.( but I am a Union thug to the core) What makes outsiders who are oftentimes no better than the barbarians invading Rome think they're entitled to anything? Certifications, Licenses, Endorsements etc are all about earning one's place. It's really that simple. Unfortunately too many people aren't willing to earn anything. I have no use for such people. George

It's a Hay-Budden. Try to get the numbers off the base and somebody on here will tell you the year it was made Good score George

Actually, it has been done. The late Bill Pieh of Centaur Forge brought together a group of the best top hand Standardbred shoers he could find. He got input from everybody, put all the ideas together and had Kohlswa of Sweden make him a boatload of Horseshoers anvils which are still the standard others try to measure up to. Later, he also had Kohlswa modify it slightly as the first Bruce Daniels pattern. That and GE weren't really much different from the old Hay Budden pattern except for the Centaurs being of that fine Swedish steel. As far as that goes I can remember a pretty well known guy who used to be on this forum and others that used to watch every transaction he could find. If somebody was getting a good deal on an anvil someplace from someone that was pretty clueless and just wanted to be rid of the thing, this guy would contact the seller and tell them what his opinion on the worth of the anvil was advising them not to take any less than $_____. This individual ruined a lot of good deals for a lot of people and quite possibly can be blamed for much of the inflated costs today. He used to claim he couldn't stand to see people not get full worth although other people's buying and selling was none of his business. Post has been edited to meet the site guidelines.

Along with the telltale scars of an angle grinder

Just curious, of all reported and unreported cases of anvil abuse and cruelty, I believe this is an unprecedented butchering of a hardy hole? Can anybody imagine what in the world that could have been done for? Glad to see that good old anvil withstood the torture and didn't break under questioning. George

I'd think so or some varient of it. I thought the OP was from Texas?

Nice one, Thanks for reporting the abuse to the SPCA. Hope you'll give it a good forever home. George

Home Depot, up around these parts anyway, has flatbed trucks available for rent. Last time I checked they were only about $19.00 a day. These trucks have small forklifts on back of them. They work great for things like gun safes so an anvil shouldn't be any problem. I notice they even have off road wheels on them so lack of a good surface shouldn't be any problem either. George

Go to a "we rent everything" place. Rent yourself an engine jack. That and a chain should not only get it out of a truck but also roll and lift it to wherever you want it. George

As I see it, horseshoeing anvils don't usually get any bigger than about 125# or so, which is adequate for shoeing but a little light for heavier hanging and banging. I think it'd be kinda cool if somebody could make a horseshoers pattern in about 200#

I don't know, I've reall never seen any work you could do an a regular smiths anvil that couldn't be done with a decent shoeing anvil but maybe from using them all my life I'm a little prejudiced. Yeah MFC is another POS. His hand tools might make good fishing sinkers though lol!