nankbrown1227

Alright guys, so I went back to the gentlemans house that was kind enough to give me the big William Foster anvil, just to chat and see if I could help him with anything. Well he didnt need help with any tasks, so I asked if I could make something for him as a gift, since he gave me a great gift. He said he didnt need anything he didnt already have but went inside and brought his wife back out, we chatted for a couple of minutes and I posed the same question to her, so she thought on it and asked if I could make her something to mount to the kitchen wall to hang a few pots and pans on since, she said her back bothers her alot and she hated having to bend over and retrieve them from under the stove. So i told her that it would not be a problem to make a hanger for her and asked how many pans she wanted to be able to hang and she said that three would be fine. So i have the design drawn and made the hooks for it today, and I am going to make a couple nice mounting brackets for it with some scrolls and I plan on attaching the semi-circle rod onto the brackets with rivets instead of welding them on, but I really want to make the rivets out of some bearing brass that I have been saving, do you think that rivets made from brass would be strong enough to hold up 3 or 4 pans? Thanks in advance, Nank

A William foster just went through on eBay that looked identical to that anvil, it had a very small step on it as well.

Hey guys, added another anvil to the collection, this is the new baby sister to my fisher and William foster, it weighs 100 pounds and rings like a bell, I would say the rebound is a good 75 to 80 percent. I am not sure if I will keep it, I don't really need three anvils......at least that's what the fiancé says ;) got the anvil and the small shop made mandrel for about a buck a pound, so I didn't get hurt even though the edges are fairly worn on the anvil.

Hey guys, I have been on the MOB website, and I am interested in joining, where exactly ate you guys located in Ohio, I think you all are going to be the closest to me! Any and all information on this organization would be a great help, thanks in advance! Nank

That is a good looking anvil, and I see what you mean, that the horn seems to be a bit undersized for the body, the only thing I can figure is that these were made during the transition between the English/colonial pattern with the small conical horn and adding the step of the London pattern.

Thanks gents! And winddancer, I pan on doing that, I had to take another look at the one I copied this after and you can see that the holes are feathered out a little more. And vaughn, I hope to make some adapters for it as I go along and see what I am going to need, right now I am just working on some outside flower pot hangers so it seems to be doing what I need it to do for this project, but I may need to change every thing for the next project that comes along, you never can tell

This is true, at least if you lose a part from my guillotine tool chances are you will see it when it happens under the business end of a hammer...

Sorry for the confusion Thomas, I should have made myself more clear, I just didn't know what the best way to term it would be. I am kicking myself now after Jgirard mentioned those smithing magicians, they seem to have way more versatility than the tool I made, so it looks like I will be back in the fab shop soon to make a smithing magician! I can seen though how much tools like these will/can be used in the shop, when it is just you working in the shop.

That is a beauty!! I have been looking for one of these for a couple of years, I do a lot of tool/knife sharpening including saw sharpening and I want one of these beauties to keep right next to the saw vise to work on the blades!

I have seen old cobblers hammers that looked very similar to this, not saying that's what it is but that is what it reminds me of.

Thanks guys! Jgirard, I do have a post vise, a couple actually but I love making things, more or less because when I make it I can make it exactly how I want it and I do jot have to try and adapt an older tool or even a new tool for the purpose I intended. That being said I will check out that post vise and see if I cannot make one! I may make a BIG BOY just for oppose and giggles. Vaughn, thanks for the welding compliment it almost made me blush haha, but seriously I never even thought about making a loop out of smaller round stock, that sounds like a great way to go! How does it hold up to bending forks?

That is beautiful!

I will tig weld the hardy onto the bottom as soon as I get it forged down to size!

So having just recently aquired a decent sized anvil, I need to tool up, I have never had an anvil large enough to really support one of these, so this was the first tool a made. I saw Bill Epps use one of these in his video and I really liked the concept! I know it is not a forged tool, but it is a tool none the less!

Awesome! Thanks guys! I will keep looking for smiths in my area, but the closet group to me is actually a several hour drive, but if that's what I have to do then that is what I will do!NJ, I I would say you are right about there being more out there than thought, because the markings on them as you well know are very shallow and could easily be "erased" with heavy use.

So I would say that if they used a lower grade WI on these anvils then they would probably be a little quieter than most. For me to knock the faceplate of this anvil off I would purposely abuse it with large sledges I would say, then again it may crack off the first time I forge on it with a 3 pound hammer lol

Thomas, I would gladly swing a sledge and help you do a "face transplant" but you are a little farther than a two hour drive for me haha, I am having a hard time finding smiths in my area as well.

Bigred, is your foster fairly quiet or does it ring like a bell? If you don't mind me askin'

Another thing, the forge date was 1847 so I don't know if this anvil was made during the transition from the English pattern to the London pattern but the step almost looks like it was put on the anvil, as an after thought but there is not a lot of info on these so I'm not sure how its supposes to sound or how it was forged.

Thanks guys! I am sure it will make a great shop anvil, the only thing that bothers me about it is that it is quiet, the rebound is amazing all over it and there is still A LOT of the tools steel plate left, but it reminds me of my fisher, just a little bit louder, so i am hoping there is no crack somewhere inside the body that will effect it, even if there is, it will still bring many years of good use!

Also, the anvil was forged in 1847 not 1848, and the english hundredweight numbers are 2.1.9 which would be roughly 261 pounds. When put on the feed store scale it measured in at 270 pounds so I am not sure where the discrepancy came from. It measures 27" from heel to horn, 5 1/4" width of face, 13" tall, base is 13" x 12'', Hardie hole is 1 1/8" and pritchell is a hair over half and inch.

Alright, I had to switch from my phone to the computer to tell the story. Two weeks ago my fiance and I decided to change up the route we jog in the evenings, this new route takes us on an old back road not far from the house, it is surounded by farm land. I noticed the anvil the very first time I passed this old leaning barn, it was sitting in the far corner of a lean-to built on the side of the barn. My fiance still doesnt understand how I spotted it from the road, but she doesnt realize that when you spend hours looking at these things, you can pick out an anvil shaped object a mile away! Any how, I wanted to go check it out right then but she was a little hesitant about it, so i let it go and figured I would catch the owner of the property outside one evening and talk to them before I just went up in their barn to take a look around. So this went on for two weeks, this anvil haunted my dreams because I could tell from the road it had some ass to it! Today we got run trying to beat the afternoon heat but this time was different! this time the owner was not only outside he was in the barn!!! So I strolled up and struck up a conversation with him, quickly leading to the anvil he had tucked away in the lean-to. So we walked over to where the anvil set and he told me that it had been in that same spot for over 50 years, it came with his farm and he had never moved it, so I wound up for the big question fully expecting to be shot down but I asked any ways, "how much to buy it right now". He looked at me, and down at the anvil and back up to me, smiled and said "f you can lift it you can have it" A shock ran through me and boys I am telling you it gave me chills when he said that, so I grinned back shook his hand and said "sir, you have a deal" . Lucky for me i spent my highschool years throwing hay and power lifting so I knew just how to lift it, I walked over to the anvil squared my feet with my shoulders, squated down grabbed the horn with my right hand and the heel with my left and dead lifted the son-of-a-bitch up to my knees! The old man (whos name was robert btw) said " i'll be xxxxxx I was just joking with you, you are the only person who has ever asked me about it and I was going to give it to you regardless" . So that is the story of my new anvil, sorry for the lengthy response!

Here are some pics of the new anvil!

Hey guys! Picked up a 270# William foster anvil today with the forge date being 1848, over all it is in great condition with 90% rebound judging with a steel ball. Both the horn and heel are still attached and in good condition. I was wondering if any one had any info on these anvils, doing a search on Google only brought up a handful of information. I couldn't beat the price though, it was FREE!!!! there is a somewhat humerous story behind it, I will post picks when I get the old girl cleaned up a little! Thanks in advance!! Nank

There is also a blacksmith that lives closer to coolville in Athens county that goes by the name of Herman, but I cannot remember his last name and I have lost his phone number and don't know how to contact him :( he used to do some smithing around the tri state at some festivals and that is where I met him.