Sask Mark

I was browsing some local online classifieds today and a guy had 2 rivet forges listed for sale for $25 each. I thought I would pick them up for spares or pass them on to anyone else that wants to get started. I show up at his house to pick up the forges and he gives me 2 part bags of coal, an old beat up anvil, a section of track and a fire tool he made, all for free. I just gave him $60 and told him to keep the change. He was very happy with that and said he has a few more things that he will find while spring cleaning and call me when they are available.

Yep, I would say Hay Budden based on the hourglass depression.

Based solely on the location and style of the serial number I would guess Hay Budden, probably manufactured for someone else (like a hardware store chain or...). Do you have any pictures of the underside of the base and heel?

Please post pictures if you have a chance Ted. I think Trentons are the best looking anvils.

I just picked up this 280 pound John Brooks anvil at a farm auction today for $425. It's not flawless, but it is very nice. On top of it is a 100 pound Peter Wright I picked up a couple of months ago.

Thanks Frosty. Patience sure does have its rewards. I thought long and hard about spending the $300, but I compared it to buying handled tools (thanks for the more correct term Thomas) indivdually on ebay and having them shipped. That would run at least $40/tool range, so I think I got a fairly good deal. Many of the swages are Athas so they are quite good quality. The sawyer's hammer is particularly intriguing to me. I haven't seen many of them.

Sam, yep I'm aware that a majority are to be struck. I just used the term 'hammers' for convenience. I don't intend to use any under my power hammer, but I will have to try to find a striker to work/play with me. Thanks Bob. I bought all the hammers in the picture as a lot from a guy who was selling off his duplicates and hammers he doesn't use. I paid $300 for the lot. I have 7 or 8 other hammers, cold, and hot cuts already, so this will over quadruple my collection.

I just received these hammers. I found them on Craigslist last October quite far away from where I live and the seller didn't want to ship them. A cousin picked them for me. I just visited him last week and shipped the hammers while I was visiting.

I would think that based on the small size and the backwards 'FISHER', that anvil might be worth quite a few dollars to some collectors. Too bad it is beat up.

224976 would be made between March 1952 and June 1953 (this is when Columbus Forge and Iron company stopped making anvils). The anvil is a Trenton. It's believed that the 'N' in the Trenton stamp may have washed out so they stamp maker put an 'X' in the stamp by mistake (page 359 from anvils in America). Edit-Dragons Lair beat me to it...

I have called this gentleman in the past regarding some of his tools. I feel he is asking a lot for the condition of the tools he is selling. I already have a trip hammer, so I can't justify spending $1200 for one that looks like it might need a fair amount of work.

The fact that it has 'England' stamped on it would make it manufactured in 1910 or later according to Anvils in America. Apparently many of these post-1910 anvils also had letters stamped between the feet like yours.

I'm actually a little disappointed that Roy doesn't make use of these tools. Based on his history and what Larry was told about him, I would assume he can produce some pretty amazing work. In an email he claimed that there is no appreciation for his craft. I told him about IFI and said there would be MANY people here who could appreciate his work, but it didn't seem to phase him. I thought if he found a group with similar interests it would encourage him to start forging again. Anyway, I will be going out to B.C. next week to visit relatives. He invited me over to check out the anvil (the largest anvil I have ever seen was a 250 pounder, so seeing a 500 pound Brooks should be pretty cool in it's own right).

I don't think you should look at the oxy/acetylene as a cost for doing 1 job (cutting the fork). You will probably use it many times over the years, not just for cutting, but for doing quick heats on small pieces etc. Maybe it's just the tool-geek in me talking...

When I spoke with Roy, he seemed willing to split it up. He would prefer to sell as a package, but I highly doubt he will for those prices. I asked about his anvil and he said 'make me an offer'.

I spoke with a gentleman named Roy from Coquitlam, B.C. that knows Renato well. Roy is a journeyman blacksmith from Germany that moved to Canada some years ago. Renato patterned his anvils off of Roy's 1889 German anvil. Roy is trying to sell off much of his equipment as he has lost the passion for blacksmithing. I told him I would mention it here. http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/bnc/tls/1654086324.html Sorry for the thread hijack. I noticed Renato was mentioned and it reminded me of Roy.

I would assume that Hay Budden (or whoever made it) would stamp whatever the customer would want on them since it was not marketed as a Hay Budden. Zig, did you look on the underside of the base? If there is an indentation, it can provide clues as to the manufacturer as well.

I'm going to guess it is a Hay Budden & made for Keen Kutter or J.E. Pilcher with the BlackJack stamp. If the SN is A12879, it was made in 1919. If the SN is 212079, it was made in 1914. In his book Anvils In America Mr. Postman recorded a HB made for Keen Kutter with a SN of 210796 (=1914) and one made for J.E. Pilcher with a SN of 48023 (=1900).

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode, are you the master of 'Your Domain?' (and that doesn't mean you have your own website...)

I deal with a local crane company a lot. A 600 ton crawler crane with a non-luffing jib and full superlift requires about 30 semi trailers to bring it to site and 2 200 ton cranes to assemble it. The 1375 ton crane requires about 58 semi trailers to haul it. I regularly see semi trucks hauling 2 tires as a whole load for the Cat 797 dumptrucks to the oil sands. Most of these trucks are hauled to site in pieces on rail cars from the factory.

Apparently Brooks have been made since about WWII. They used 2 different foundries to do the casting. They are still being made (as of 1995) under the name Vaughn. They are handled by Vaughn's (Hope Works), Baker House, King Street, Lye, Nr. Stourbridge, west Medlands DY9 8UT. http://www.anvils.co.uk/ All of this information is from Richard Postman's 'Anvils In America'.

Would it be hard to fit the front end with air shocks? Just pump a few more psi into them when you have a heavy load on the front end. For normal driving you can drop the psi for a smoother ride. My father-in-law does this with his truck when he tows his race car trailer, and I believe Larry (Monster Metal) does this with his truck too.

Apparently they are high quality cast steel anvils made in England. I'm hoping to get a nice one in the next month myself.

I seem to recall Frosty building a nice one for his Little Giant. He posted a picture of it a while ago. Hopefully he will chime in soon with another picture for you.

This is the same picture as on the Soluquip website. Are they the same company? I think Soluquip is in Quebec.