Liveaxle

Very cool. Thanks.

Which was part of the scripting they would put on their anvils?

Picked this up using the "old car speed parts" method. Very faint making for the name, but give what I have and maybe you can help. Pretty sure it's steel due to crisp(for a beat up anvil) "ring" and a spark/grinder test done in a discrete place . something Boilermakers still use. One side says SOLID arched over 0 3 13. The weight. Over this are the words MATEN or MALEN. The EN is the only legible thing as far as the name. The T is questionable and the MA are speculation. There is a second word in the name I believe due to the placement of the first name over the word SOLID.

It does the trick! Found n bought a 128 lb William Foster dated 1848 for $125. Not a lot of "ring", but great rebound. I've been looking for 4 months on line and a lot of over priced cast iron is mostly what i found. I started asking random (Read: craftsmen not in metal working) people and got one. Now the William Foster was waiting for me in a Mom n Pop butcher shop just sitting in a corner. This morning ( not to jinx myself) my Brother called me with news of a friend's dad getting out of smithing after a short stint in it. This guy's dad just made the decision to sell this morning. The same time my bro showed my posted pick on the William Foster on FB. Out of the woodwork the steel wielding gods give their bounty. Prosit!

Great bunch of information all in one place and a very fine job. I know I'm late to this party, but I had a question or two. So as not to assume, is this a wrought iron base and steel top forge welded on? And I've hear that if the anvil doesn't have much of a rind ( I have a William Foster ) it may be because of the wrought iron base and steel top coming apart.It has good rebound. Really goon in fact. With this in mind, is there a repair for that you know of? And lastly, the economics issue some have brought up. As long as the total cost didn't surpass (in dollars) that of a new or in good condition used it was a good investment. You can't pay someone to get that kind of experience.