fordmustangbrad

Today I got a phone call from a fellow asking if I was buying anvils, and he had seen my ad about searching for blacksmith equipment. He told me he had cleaned out an old barn and found it in there. He told me he was headed into town to the scrap metal buyer and if I wanted to meet him, he would sell me the anvil, otherwise it was going to be scrapped. He wanted to meet at the scrap facility, so I told him I would be there in 20 minutes, without even discussing a price. When I arrived, he had it sitting on the tailgate beside the iron dumpster. It was a Fisher, that is all I saw at that time. I asked him how much he wanted for it and he said anything over scrap value. I asked him how much they(scrap buyers) would pay and he said $12.00, and if I could give him $20.00 he would be happy. I pulled the $20.00 bill out and shook his hand, threw the anvil in the jeep and drove home(grinning all the way home). When I got home, I saw that it was a 1900 Fisher 120#, in very good condition! On top of that, it has a 90% rebound rate! I am very pleased with it. I was not planning on buying another anvil, but I just couldn't let it get scrapped. I cleaned some of the rust off for the pictures. Enjoy the video, and the pictures!

Vaughn, are you saying the funky shaped small anvil is possibly colonial? I had hoped it was old but there I can't seem to find images of anything similar online. Also, I have some ideas for temporarily securing the small anvil to the stump. I thought about just building a small rectangular frame out of 2x4 lumber that the anvil can sit down into on the stump. That should solve the movement issue.

Does anyone know what the small anvil is that I have pictured? I can't seem to find one like it online. It looks old and rough cast. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

When I go back, I will make a video of the ball bearing test on the Fisher. When it was struck, it felt like it was made of lead almost. Like the anvil absorbed all of the energy. I admit, I am a new guy to forging, but I feel like the metal was too soft to be used. Can't wait to see what the ball bearing test reveals.

Vaughn, I will be returning when the fellow decides to sell the rest of the anvils, so I will for sure pick up the Fisher too. Interestingly, it was the only anvil that was outside when I arrived to the man's house, kind of like he may have known. It had been outside for years too, maybe as decoration. I appreciate the advice on the stump too! The reason I can't permanently secure it is because I do my forging at my land, just outside of town. I leave my stump outside(because it is 500#) and I put my anvil away at night, in the locked shed. I think I will be much happier with this Hay Budden.

Does anyone know what the small 50# anvil is? I thought I could id it myself but am coming up empty handed. Thanks for all the comments! I really appreciate it.

Stephen, when I said thud, I meant that it made a thud sound, but also that it was like I was hitting an anvil made of molding clay. The hammer had no return to it at all. It was like the anvil absorbed the hammer. It must be cast iron or something. The good anvils that have 80-90% return seem to bounce a hammer back at you. I have heard of dead anvils, but this is the first time I have seen it. Too bad, because a 100# Fisher would be a pretty good buy at $100.00.

As some may know, I bought an 80# ACME Trenton and have been using it for a few weeks. I have become unhappy with it. I feel that my 3.5# hammer is too much for the anvil. I am not sure what I am supposed to be feeling, but it is certainly too small, and the way the anvil dances around on the stump is frustrating. I decided to try and find a heavier one, so I located a 100# Fisher for sale, and I contacted the fellow. We set up a time for me to check it out, and I went this morning (with money) to buy it. I looked at it, and other than being rusty, it looked pretty good. I forgot my hammer so I asked him to borrow a hammer to ping it and what I heard broke my spirit...."thud". I told him that the anvil was no good to me, and that I was sorry for wasting his time. Before I left, I just asked him if he happened to have any other blacksmithing equipment, and he said sure. He took me over to a corner in a shed and there were two other anvils sitting there! One was too small but the other was a medium sized Hay Budden, approximately 125#. He wanted $125 for it but since he had me drive all the way for a dead anvil, he said he could do $100. I bought it on the spot. As I was finishing up conversation with him, I figured I would ask if he had anything else. He said he had a few other anvils, and they were not for sale. I asked to see them and he showed me a row of about 5 anvils, from 20# to about 150#. It was a pretty impressive collection. When we were walking out of the building, he pointed at the bench and told me he would sell me that anvil if I wanted, and it was a really old looking (possibly colonial) anvil. I told him I would take it too, and when I did, he said that he had two others just like it if I wanted to pick my favorite. I said sure, and checked out the other two(in other buildings). They were the same, old pre 1820s anvils with no pritchell holes. I was super excited! I told him if he would sell them all, I would buy them. He named a price for the three old anvils, and a pile of 9 sets of tongs that I could not refuse. I couldn't even counter offer. I just handed out the money. $180 for three very old anvils and 9 sets of tongs. I do not plan on using the old anvils, but they are in the hands of someone who will appreciate them. I do however plan on using the Hay Budden. It sings off nicely when peened. I have sold a few hatchets so funding all of these tools is going to soon turn to profit. Totals for today: 125# Hay Budden...........................................$100 120# London style(no pritchell, no hardie)......$75 100# London style(only has hardie)................$50 50# Oddball anvil............................................$15 9 sets of heavy duty tongs..............................$40 Total spent.......................................................$280 Can't wait to research these old guys! They look awesome! I am so thrilled to have them! Thanks for looking friends.

Dan your hatchet is awesome! I was flying solo when I holed the spike. I will tell you that even with gloves, that thing was HOT. I had to heat it multiple times, but finally I got my cold chisel driven through enough where I could start driving a tapered round rod into the hole and bashing it on the anvil to smooth the inside(where I had just run the rectangular chisel). I am really picking up fast on this and learning so much. I think I would learn faster if I had some tongs. Now, I am using channel lock pliers :/. Question: to use a hard steel like a file blade for the tip of a knife, or a hatchet, do I first anneal it so that I can flatten it down, then weld it, then re harden, temper, in that order? Or is it more involved than that? Thanks guys!

Today I worked my tail off trying to figure out how to make a hatchet out of a railroad spike. I am a GREEN novice at all this and wanted to share my finished product. Monday I made a simple knife in my forge/foundry, but I was not satisfied with the amount of heat I was able to get. I went to my land today and built a big fire in a fire barrel and used that to heat my spikes. I am not sure if I did everything correctly but it looks right. It is not perfectly straight or symmetrical, but that finesse will come with experience. My original posting got deleted I am guessing because I linked to the Third party links removed. Check out my pictures! Thanks for looking, Bradley

yahoo I have certainly realized that my foundry/forge is not the best design. The way the folks do it in the videos I see on youtube makes me see that my forge is not up to par. Maybe I will look into making a different design tomorrow. I really appreciate your thorough explanation regarding coal and wood. The charcoal I was referring to was the charcoal cakes folks use in their grills for cooking. That is what I used first and had mediocre success.

Thanks Jake! Good to know!

I have a small forge/foundry that I am using to heat my iron stock in. I called it Santa because it has a tacky scene on the side of Santa Claus. I have seen many plans for forges but since I had already made this one I figured I would give it a try. I had been using charcoal and it gets the iron cherry red but I would like for it to get hotter. I even used wood chunks today and that was a mega fail. The wood burns too fast and shoots embers out of the top, and the iron is only red for about 15 seconds. I do not know where to buy coal, and I looked online today unsuccessfully. Where do you guys get your coal? Bradley

Does anyone know how to get a date from the serial number? ACME TRENTON Z 85 A 42648

I wanted to show my first attempt at blacksmithing. I realllllly enjoyed making this knife. I tempered it in water because it is so thick, I didn't think oil was necessary. (If I am wrong please let me know). This was done on my 80# ACME and my homemade foundry from when I was trying to do some sand casting(failure). Thanks for looking!

Thanks Thomas!

I paid 100 for the anvil and I paid 30 for the vise, 10 for all the hammers, and the other stuff was like 2 or 3 dollars each. I ended up spending $180 total. I am glad to have this anvil, it has a very nice ring to it, like my colonial but higher pitch. Now I need to find a good forge, or learn how to make one. Until then I will practice with copper. @Nankbrown, I am pretty attached to my colonial anvil. I decided against using it for metal work. I think that it would be a shame if I broke a 200 year old anvil that is in that good of condition. I hope you can find one near where you live!

Thanks guys! I had no idea what that thing was.

As some of you may have seen, I got a colonial anvil 135# and wanted to use it for making small iron tools and art on the hobby level. When I was told that my anvil was colonial that changed my thinking. I would hate to destroy such an irreplaceable relic. I had a fellow approach me about selling his ACME Trenton 80# last night and was asking $250. I told him right away that I could not give that much, and offered him $100 which he later accepted. I think it is from 1920 ish but have no idea, if you can help, please do! It has some numbers below the horn(pictured). 80# is heavy enough to do some hobby work right? What is the largest iron I can work with it? I also got some neat large hammers, iron pestle(not pictured), nice free standing tool box(not pictured), few hand tools, an old manual jack(not pictured), an old Wilton vice, and some hand made wooden jig that I also need to get identified. It has someones initials RDP and the number 67 in several locations. Thanks for looking, now my next post will be things I have made!

Geoff, thank you for checking with your expert. I guess that what he is saying is that since it does not have a step it is from the 1770s, but since it has a long horn, that makes it from the 1820s. Honestly, 1770-1820 is a fine enough build date estimate. Again, I would like to thank everyone for being so helpful!

Thanks for the replies, fellas! I hoped it was colonial but now, knowing, I am scared to use it. I also did a ball bearing test with a .700" ball bearing and it had an 83% return rate (18" to 15"). That is passing the test right?

I have an interesting anvil and story to share. I had always wanted an anvil to manipulate iron, copper and brass with but I could not afford one that I deemed suitable for my needs. My other hobby, metal detecting, aided me in the recovery of a very old, very heavy iron anvil. I was detecting at an old farm in the middle of a large cow pasture in central North Carolina and there was an old dilapidated house with no foundation or underpinning. I caught a glimpse of something that resembled an anvil under the house about dead in the center of the house. I put the detector down and knelt down, and using my cellphone as a flashlight, I was able to make out a half buried and very rusty anvil! I crawled up under that house and slowly maneuvered the anvil out from under the house. I then carried it about 1/8 mile to my jeep, which was on the other side of the barbed wire fence. I thought I was going to have a heart attack, it was very exhausting. The farm belongs to a family friend and they did not remember anyone having an anvil. The house was built sometime around 1900. I got the anvil out today and started trying to identify it, but I have been unsuccessful. It looks old, and I would not be suprised if it was 200 years old. There is a handling hole on the front, back and base of the anvil. It weighs around 135 pounds(I do not have a scale, but a simple balance gave me an estimate). Notice in the images the back of the anvil....It almost appears to be crooked. Not sure what that means, but I thought I would point it out. There are no casting marks, stamps, or a manufacturer ID info on the anvil. I would like to know how old my anvil is and what the approximate value is. Any help will be greatly appreciated!