Alaric

John,

I just reread you post and think I misunderstood what you where saying about the hardy and pritchel holes being over the base, If you are saying that you can’t pass say a 36” rod through the top of the anvil through either the hardy or pritchel and pull it out the bottom because it would run into the anvil base then that may be true but I’ve never found it to be an issue.

Richard

If I just needed an anvil to use I would agree that I would be much better off buying one, I have a 158lb Wright and a 108lb Trenton. I want to make an anvil for the sake of doing it and to see how good an anvil I can make.

I was using a Peddinghaus last month and I know the pritchel hole passed through the upper body of the anvil and I'm pretty sure the hardy hole did as well, it was a model 9. I don't care for the Hardy hole out on the heel of the London pattern, not enough mass under it and I prefer it to be to my left. I do like the looks of Jymm Hoffman's anvils but they are a little smaller than I had in mind, if I were to purchase a new anvil I think it would be either a Fontanini or a Peddinghaus.

Richard

When did you take this class? I just took a class there as well.

Richard

Hornless anvils are not necessarily colonial they were available from Hay Buddden new in the 1920's.  A I own a couple of anvils that could be classified as colonial biased on shape and materials used.  To really use that term the anvil would have to be made from wrought iron and have a blister steel face.  Its not just a shape its the materials used to make it.  There is a difference in how a block of modern alloy tool steel feels verse a steel faced wrought iron anvil under the hammer. 

Fare enough, but I needed a term that conveyed the general shape I was referring to.

Richard

Glenn Stollmeyer (sp?) GS Blacksmith Tongs has an anvil much like what you describe.

That is what I had in mind, if he wasn’t overseas I might just order one from him but I also like the idea of making one myself.

Richard

If you set the two blocks together face to face and only weld around the perimeter you will not get the same rebound and the anvil will not perform as well.

According to Anvils in America this is precisely what Trenton did with their later anvils.

Richard

That's the forge I plan on ordering in the next week or two, how are you liking it? where are in Maine are you? I'm a little north of Portland.

Richard

I thought that truck looked familiar, I did some work on it for the previous owner. That’s a nice rig that just needed some TLC from someone with the ability to do the work. The previous owner was in over his head with it, he was not mechanically inclined and was going broke trying to get the work done.  The one pictured in my avatar is a 1961 88" Series II , I also have a 1971 109 Series IIA pickup and 5 Range Rover Classics including projects plus 6 parts trucks, it's a sickness.
  
Back on topic, I’m asking all these question because I have a desire to build an anvil but I don’t want to mess around with welded up faces. I want to do a colonial style about 5” wide, 12” long and 9” to 10” tall and I want to make it out of 4140 and then heat treat the face. If I can source a large enough piece without going broke I’ll do it out of 1 solid piece but I’m all thinking of possible splitting it at the waist and using 4140 for the  top and 1018 or something for the base and arc welding the 2 together. I think the dimensions I listed should give me about 150ish pounds and I’m thinking that should behave similarly to 200 pound London pattern.

Richard
 

If we take this one step further how does the base an anvil sits of enter into this? Or does it?

Richard

I finally caught up with Dennis, He has been have spam issues with his email and loosing things in the flood.

Richard  

I spent a long time looking for my first anvil and couldn’t find anything worth what was being asked, when my grandfather heard I was looking for one he gave me a 150+ pound Peter Wright that was slightly swaybacked and the edges were chipped badly in a couple of spots. He had it in the shop where they repaired heavy equipment, that was about 30 years ago.

My second anvil came from a body shop I was working at, it was sitting in the corner when I started a 108 pound Trenton with only a couple of very minor chips on the edges and a very flat face, when I saw that no one ever used it I asked the boss if they would sell it and he said no. A couple of years later we were doing a major clean up of the shop and the boss came over and asked if I still wanted it, I said yes and he said get it out of here, that was 20 plus years ago.

I think I’m over due for my next free anvil, a 200 pound pristine Fisher would be nice. J

Richard

I have a question about anvil weight,

What part of an anvil actually contributes to its working weight? If you compare a London pattern anvil to a hornless colonial of the same weight would they behave the same or would the colonial behave like a larger London pattern? If you break the horn or tail (or both) off a London pattern anvil does it behave more like a London pattern of the weight it was or one of its new weight?

Richard

Does anyone know what is going on with Diamondback Ironworks? He put a holiday message up that he would be close from May 23^rd through May 29^th, the message is still there and he isn’t answering emails.

Thanks,

Richard