Sask Mark

Please keep us posted on what Fording in Elkford tells you. There seems to be a void in the coal supply in Alberta and there are few options in Saskatchewan. It might be feasible to do a group buy if Fording will do bulk sales. Or we can all just get induction forges...

You should be able to get metallurgical coal from the mines by Elkford in southeast BC. I have heard of a guy melting his firepot with it.

My wife's anvil is a 135 pound Soderfors. She doesn't has any intent of ever using it. I 'gave' it to her to justify my buying more anvils. It makes my collection seem smaller to her when they don't all belong to me. That's the same reason my 7 year old claims the 450 pound Peter Wright and my 5 year old claims the 350 pound Fisher sawyers pattern.

A local steel mill uses a 60 ton forklift to move it's big coils of steel. I have dealt with contractors specializing in moving big things. They priced moving a 500,000+ pound bridge on Hilman rollers for me. They have moved 1,000,000+ pound structures in the past (lifted with Enerpacs, set on Hilman rollers and moved into place).

Looks a lot like a Vulcan to me. I personally wouldn't pay that much for one that size, even if it was in excellent condition.

If the 'm' is an '8' then the anvil would be made in 1909.

I just checked my copy of AIA and I was mistaken. There was often a letter stamped to the left of the weight (like the 't' left of the '73' on the anvil in question). It is thought that it might be the initial of the anvil maker that made the anvil. Thomas, you were correct. It appears that only the letter 'A' was a prefix of the serial number. Mr. Postman believes the 'A' stood for 'Anvil'. The 'A' wasn't used after 1912-1913.

Thomas, I know that is the case for HB's but I thought that Trentons showed some variations. Like you, my copy of AIA is at home also so I could be incorrect.

The numbers on the left side are the weight. The weight was was probably 173 pounds (I'm guessing the 't' is a '1'). Is it possible the 'm' is being misread and it is possibly a number(s)? I seem to recall that Trenton occasionally stamped a letter in front of the serial number...

Trenton never had a letter in the middle of their serial numbers. Their serial numbers ranged from 0 to 225551 according to Anvils in America.

It doesn't get much better than that! Stellar!

That's pretty cool Dodge!

When you see people asking high prices (at least higher than what you are willing to pay), they are basing it on something they have seen or heard. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with ebay. Bottom line is sellers like Matchless and Ironsmyter DO sell their anvils for $3+/pound on ebay and people see these prices. A lot of people selling their anvils are NOT anvil experts. They don't know the difference between a railroad track anvil and a Hay Budden. They probably don't care either. They have an old anvil in their shed that they should finally get rid of. How do they determine the asking price? They don't know what the 'real' market value (as determined by who???) is as the resource they use to base their prices (likely ebay or Craigslist) do have anvils SELLING for those prices. That is not a fantasy market.

The market will dictate the price. If there are enough people willing to pay $5/pound for anvils, almost all anvils will sell for $5/pound. That doesn't make the buyers or the sellers idiots. If noone is willing to pay $5/pound, the sellers won't get that much for it, even if that is their asking price. The sold price is the price agreed to by the buyer and the seller. Pretty simple economics. If I was selling an anvil, depending on the circumstances I would probably want to get as much as I can for it. If I thought I might get $10/pound I would ask that much. It always amuses me how so many people respect a guy who has made millions through being an upstart entreprenuer. However, that respect rapidly vanishes as soon as it affects them financially.

Awesome! It looks like a character from a Tim Burton movie.

Arm and Hammer anvils made in Columbus Ohio by the Columbus Anvil and Forging Company are high end anvils while Vulcans (cast iron bodies with the same arm holding a hammer logo) are usually considered lower end.

I just got back from a family trip from the Pacific Northwest and I had the pleasure of meeting Grant Sarver. I purchased 7 of his fabulous OCP tongs (6 v-bits in sizes 1/4" through1" and one of his universal tongs).

That's a very nice eulogy Larry.

Grant was nice enough to give me a demo of his own personal induction forge. It was absolutely amazing how quickly he heated a roughly 5/8" square bar. It went from cold to bright orange within about 10 seconds. It is definitely right at the top of my wish list for my shop.

Nice! If I remember correctly, one of those sold for almost $1000 on ebay last year.

Nice toy! Congrats!

Larry, you and your entire family have my deepest sympathies and condolesces. I know it doesn't mean that much coming from someone that you will probably never meet in person, but I truly do wish you the best in a bad situation. Mark

Your entire shop makes me drool every time I see it. I would love to see your large Refflinghaus in real life. I doubt the pictures do it justice.

Thanks Mike. That anvil is the 450 pound Peter Wright that I repaired. I used Junior Strasil's method and the repairs are holding up very well. The power hammer is a 25 pound Western Giant (Little Giant clone). I know of at least 3 different LG clones that were sold in Canada.

If I was 2000 miles closer, I would buy them just to save them...