rustyanchor

Sunday's entertainment. People like the folk art look, hopefully they ignore the MIG welds...

Frosty, Dumb question: Do you get grass hoppers up your way? Mark

I did some praying mantis from RR spikes and masonry nails, same sort of critter.

I am glad you and Peter found each other. Probably the only guy you'll ever meet that doesn't mind getting hit with a hammer. Enjoy. Mark

It comes down to can you work comfortably with the base. You can always get a stump to mount it on.

I think your "cracks" are probably the original seam between the base and top of the anvil, I could be wrong though. I would buy the anvil in it's present condition without a moments hesitation but price would play a role in that statement. How much does the actual anvil weigh, it should be stamped in the side below the HB trademark. As John points out if the anvil is 400, good deal, anvil and base are 400, not a good deal. Mark

The anvil looks like a dandy, If it is in your price range, BUY IT NOW. The top plate looks clean, from the pic I don't see big chips taken out of it. Hay BUDDENs were not cast anvils, each was forged using big steam hammers so the lines are not cookie cutter perfect. The bottom of an anvil is for support and weight/mass not a working surface, so how it looks isn't a big deal. the S/N dates it to 1904. If those are welds they are not in the working area of the anvil so not an issue. You have ring and rebound so you know the top plate is still attached and it is still hard. If it was me and the price was reasonable and in my range, I would not hesitate to buy it. Mark

Just give in and rehome all three, that way you don't have a hard choice. Get the best condition for the best price. Any of the 3 should serve you well. Mark

I am very sorry to see the horrible defects in your anvil. It needs to come here to be with it's twin for comfort... Looks like you have found the weld seam between the top and bottom. As long as it looks like the "crack" is 100 or so years old, it's OK. As Thomas says, your call on cleaning it, but if you de-grunge it, you will find the S/N and HB logo, or you may find it was made for another company by HB. I got mine painted a nasty yellow color, it had to come off to show the nice patina of almost hundred year old steel. Put it back to work and enjoy it. Mark

The old anvils were wrought and will ring very well if the top plate weld is intact. If it rings well in some places and sounds dead in others, the plate may be seperating from the base in the dead sounding areas, may be something going on in the anvil body itself. Get the paint off first and see what you find under the paint, try your rebound out with the bearing or a ball pein. If you get decent rebound, the plate is hard enough to work on. Correction to my previous dates: HB went to a 2 piece anvil in 1909 and mine is a 1919 manufacture. Pics are a good thing... Mark

Stripper shouldn't be an issue with the anvil, may not be good for your lungs, but paint removal with a wire wheel isn't very friendly either, wear proper PPE for either stripping meth. Mark

Hi SB, welcome to IFI. I am no expert in anything...but If the top of the anvil is covered in paint it could kill the ring and rebound. If the owner is willing to let you clean the face off, clean it to bare metal with a wire wheel and try the rebound again. Also ensure the ball you are using is a hardened one. I have a large soft steel bearing that shaws horrible rebound on anything. Try a bigger ball pein/pien/peen after you strip the paint and see if that gives a better result, does the hammer leave a divot if you hit it pretty hard? The base it sits on can indeed dampen the ring, but shouldn't affect rebound, the paint could affect both though.. While you are cleaning the face, stand in front of the horn and clean the left foot, there should be a S/N there which can give you a date of manufacture. Early HBs had a welded on hardened steel plate, as I recall the rest of the anvil is wrought, after I think 1903?? (Have to look in AIA for the year) HB went to a 2 piece anvil with the top half being tool steel, bottom being steel or possibly wrought, Mine (1918) looks like it has been forged from steel

Nice! Look at the front of the left foot as you are standing in front of the horn and you might find a S/N. I have a 150 HB that may be it's twin. Enjoy it. Mark

Ericjor, Good on you for helping your nephew get started. I saw your posts in the anvil section and will second and third the advice given to wait for a good real anvil rather than getting a junker from ebay. I looked for a long time for my first anvil but I am glad I did. I made do with a cast iron piece of junk but beat the crap out of it before I found a 150 pound steel anvil at a feed store. Tongs: I do most of my work using used horseshoes and the tongs I use the most are what are called fire tongs. They are not ideal but are versatile for the various width and thicknesses of shoes I play with. I also have a couple of pair of wolf jaw tongs that are the Swiss army knives of tongs, They aren't real good for most things, but do alot of things OK. Just my 2 bits NC Tool and Centar Forge both have tongs and other tooling, try looking at places that buy estates and lots of old stuff and you may find some useful pieces. Good hunting Mark

I know of a 120+/-pound Trenton that is for sale in South central Kentucky, I believe it is one of the German made ones looking at the pics in AIA. The anvil looks like it is in decent shape and has a lot of life left in it. I haven't checked ring or rebound because I wasn't interested in another anvil that my wife would ask "Why do WE need another anvil?" "Why do you have 3 horses to ride, you can only ride one at a time" Is my usual reply, but she doesn't see the parallel. Hummm...hot steel on horse's head, swak with hammer, maybe not, I like the horses... The anvil is priced high at 425, which may have a little wiggle room, but not sure.

If you can't find a hardened bearing, try using a small ball pein/peen/pien hammer. Hold the hammer loosely and tap the anvil surface in various locations. If the hammer seems to jump back at you, you got rebound and the face has some degree of hardness. The more the hammer wants to jump back at you the harder the face is. If the hammer kind of thuds on the anvil, the it may be time to try another anvil. Good luck in your search. Mark

My HB is 150lb 1918 or 1919 2 piece anvil branded as H Hudson Tool Co. Face edges are pretty beat up with a few torch gouges, but the face is still hard and flat. I was looking for an anvil and happened on Mr Hudson sitting on a pallet at a feed store. The anvil, a forge, and hand crank blower had been used for decoration in an old store in NC. Prior to that, I don't know. This was my first anvil and gouges and all it is a fantastic anvil to work on, Have never done a ball bearing rebound test, but I know from experience that missing the work with the hammer can be an exciting time. Pic is the day I got it home. It now lives on a stump in my shop

Let me know as well if you want to do a get together.

Scrap yards or recycling places, you may end up paying for it but it shouldn't be much. Good luck

Jim, google 'horse shoe art' and my site should be the first one that shows up. It's markscustomhorseshoeart...(Don't want to get in trouble with the admins for posting illeagal stuff). Mark

Don't name most of the critters I make, they go in the general 'for sale' box and see if anyone likes them. I think I sold the last mantis I had a couple of weeks ago at a craft festival. I do butterflies and dragonflys with spike bodies and horse shoes for wings as garden art. I make sea turtles from horse shoes and that insparation came from the image on a Florida 'Save the turtles' lic. plate. I understand that sea turtles and horse shoes have nothing in common, but a couple of horse shoes cut and bent make a pretty good sea turtle. Insparation does indeed come from strange places. Mark

VaughnT, Looks like bark to me. Nice job. My profile pic was walking on my tractor one day. I like mantis' so I made one from a spike and some cut nails.

I'll give it a try with just paper. The other question is: If I don't have to use pine cones, what am I going to do with the bag full I collected????

I read on here in a form about some of the methods people were using for starting coal: gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil, napalm, etc. and that pearl Frank gave me came to mind but I didn't have a coal forge at the time. I finially got a small forge built and have just started getting the hang of it, but I did remember the pine cones. They have to be dry but work like a charm and I don't have to worry about blowing myself up using 2 gallons of gasoline or a flame thrower to get the forge going.

My blacksmith buddy, Frank Jackson, gave me a pearl that has served me very well lighting my coal. He used pine cones to get his forge lit. Only takes a few good sized ones or a few more small ones. 1/2 sheet of news paper, a few dry cones, some fine coal and a bit of air will get you a good fire pretty quick. Not sure how well it would start raw corn, but the cones burn hot and will get green coal going. I have a little shell corn and may try to get it going with the cones.Never hurts to have an another fuel source. Mark