rustyanchor

Nice! Small dents and rough spots will wear in as you work on it, so nothing to really do but use it. From what I read a little sway is fine, and is useful in straightening stock. Sounds like you found a very nice anvil at a very nice price. Enjoy

B3NDY, I have a later Mousehole-1920's vintage, and it has a steel plate welded to what I assume is a wrought top. Not sure what the date on the posted ad is, but Brooks and Cooper was an earlier trademark 1875 to 1880 or so, for Mousehole. They eventually went back to M&H Armatage Mousehole. You will only get a real idea of what you are looking at if you can see what trademark, if any, is on the side opposite from the one pictured. You asked if Mouses have any known issues, I absolutely love my Mouse, I don't think I have ever heard any complaints about them. I would guess that Mousehole or PW are the most common English anvils in the US, and English anvils seem to be the most common imported anvils. We didn't start producing anvils in the US in great quantities until the mid 1800s.

The handy thing about the Stephens design is: I can pull the lever partially and slide the jaw closed on whatever I am clamping and it will hold it, then I can pull the lever to apply more clamping pressure. Handy if I am positioning something with both hands, using my body to slide the jaw closed. Sort of like a ratcheting mechanism.

Here is the Stephens 1870 patent and a 3" Stephens vise. My cousin has/had the twin to this one. The pictured vise is my main shop vise and still works like a champ. From what I have been able to dig up on these vises, most were very small and had a swiveling base mechanism for jewelers type work. Stephens vice patent.pdf

Farmall, Well... I know Trenton and AH are reputed to have used the same cast bases, the top half of the both anvils are forged, but I don't know how they handled the upper half of the anvil for the forge welding. Later AH were arc welded at the waist. I have seen one of those, and it looked like AH used a huge welding rod for the process. AIA talks about the switch to arc welding sometime around the time the AH forge/buildings burned down.

Farmall, My guess by the weight and S/N on the front foot and caplet on the base is an early 70 pound Trenton. AH if I remember correctly had either weight or S/N on the side below the logo. In any event it is a nice looking anvil.

Duncan, From what I read on a different form, the blade guides changed a few times over the A7s run, mine has large steel guides, that were very easy to adapt a table to. I will get a pic of what I came up with. It is no work of art but it works for how I use the saw.

Could be, but it would be an awful small shaft for a cute little boat.

Duncan, You did well on the price. I have an A7 made in '75. It has been a good saw for me, it sure beats a hacksaw and busted knuckles. I made a table that bolts to the lower blade guide to use mine as a vertical saw. Enjoy.

No handling holes is a clue of some sort. How is the ring and rebound?

George, Everyone of us started somewhere, most with what you have now: A desire to learn and maybe a few tools. There is so much information on this site, you can spend days or weeks researching something and have a really good understanding at the end. Use the resources available on here, the members on here want to see newbies succeed and will help you and guide you if you have tried to find an answer and it still doesn't make sense. When I was 13, I would ride my bike around and scrounge the odd places people dumped their junk. I would drag all sorts of bits and pieces home. People throw all sorts of very useful stuff away because they don't want to fix it, or don't know how to. Yard sales and such are possible sources for cheap tools. Fill in the location info in your profile and you may find help closer than you think.

Your neighbor sounds like he/she is "silly" and trying to play you like a cheap fiddle. Or maybe they are just ignorant. Send them to Harbor Fright for a brand spanking new, high quality, top of the line, imported, cheap cast iron anvil, in their price range. Everybody knows you could walk into the Trenton/Trexton showroom and buy them brand new for around 20 cents a pound, in 1920 or so. You may find someone that you feel would benefit from your anvil, and maybe you give them a deal, but that is your call. When I finish using my tools for good, I hope they go to someone who will use and appreciate them, but by that time it will not matter to me.

I need to cite the reference for the above post, and clarify what is speculation on my part. Most of the info comes from Anvils in America (AIA) by Richard Postman. Your logo was used from about 1911 to the forge shut down in 1933. The highest S/N RP has seen is 24342 from 1911. Your S/N is 37xxx, so I would speculate a very late production. I hope you enjoy it.

You have a very nice mouse. The Sheffield England stamping and high S/N, indicate it was a late production (1920s/30s) anvil. The forge ceased production in 1933. I have a 100 pound mouse from the same late production era, it is a sweet anvil to work on. I put it on a metal stand, bedded in silicone, with chains on the waist, and the ring is minimal. Enjoy your mouse.

You ended up with a much nicer anvil than the original you posted. The miss on the Soderfors was a fortunate for you. A little wire wheel and elbow grease and she'll be ready to rock.

Will, I understand wanting to Know as much as possible about your anvil. I am a history geek and love to know the misc. stuff that most aren't concerned with. I have a H Hudson Tool Co anvil, there is a one liner in AIA about Hudson anvils. Mine was made by HB in 1919 for the Charles William Stores. I dug into the C W store and I have not found much, but in their day, they were a NY based retail store, that did catalog sales of all kinds of merchandise, like Sears and Monkey Wards. They seemed to die off in the 1920's. Nobody else seems to care, but I find it interesting. There is a pic in AIA of a Trenton anvil with most of the Trenton logo ground off and re-stamped with the logo of one of their other customers. It appears to have been done before the anvil left CFI. There are things about our anvils that we can make fairly educated guesses about, like your U may be an inspectors mark, but then again it could be a something else. Keep looking and you may find someone who has the answer to your question.

AFAIK and remember...A&H S/N or weight was on the logo side of the anvil. American made Trentons, except for the very first ones, have weight and S/N on the front foot. S/N usually starts with an A. I have seen 2 early imported Trentons, one English and one German, had weight on the logo side of the anvil, but no S/N. I still vote for Trenton.

You got a mouse...COOL. I have a later made 100lb mouse and for some reason it just feels good to work on. I need to pay it some attention very soon.

I would agree with Rojo, She be a Trenton (Columbus Forge and Iron) made anvil. Take a good pic of the body with the horn pointing to the right. Look for a diamond with Trenton in it. CFI made anvils with other names on them for retailers like Sears, Montgomery Wards, and some others. If S/N is A 144330, as I read it, it is a 157 pound made in 1916 anvil. Nice quality anvil in good shape !

Cast ... iron, steel, or something? That does not look anything like any of the HBs I have seen. AFAIK, HBs were all forged. Stranger things have appeared in the world of anvils though. TP's advice is always good advice.

I think mine was made in France, it also has the orange handle. I haven't seen many for sale, but I may not be looking in the right places. Thank You for the reply.

Billy B, Sorry for your loss. It is lousy losing a fuzzy buddy, lost 2 dogs and a cat last year. I had my 2 cats advising me on changing the fluids and filters on my tractor. The dogs stayed in the yard and are not allowed to help with projects. Be smart and don't take a cats advice on which plugs to pull, you end up draining brand new fluid into the waste oil bucket. I am blaming the cats, not me, for not paying attention to the manual. I like the look of the doors.

pnut, I have one of the slitting chisels, I bought long ago, where did you get yours and how much, if I may ask.

ID, some people are blessed with freedom, some are tethered to, or are grounded by, their persona....Try wearing some chain mail for the magnetic personality !! Cordless stuff has come so far since the 7.2v Ni-Cd days, the new Li-on stuff has massive power and run time without a cord. So much more convenient than dragging a long extension cord or generator around. Could go old school and use hand tools again...

Die grinder with a burr, small sanding drum on a drill, file, I would try the angle grinder again, with a 36 grit flap wheel sanding disk and a very light touch. A Dremel would work, but would use lots of little sanding drums, you could use the carbide burrs if you have them. Good luck