Jack Evers

Took a closer look at the side of the anvil, and it looks like the remains of a "Trenton" brand stamp. Either way, the anvil looks to be in good shape.

I got the EBAY SITE to open by copying and pasteing to my browser. Seller doesn't seem to know a lot - says there's a round hole and a square hole in it. Gives dimensions and says it weighs about 117 pounds. Seems right for the dimensions. Stand and hardy tool included. There's a second picture from the top. Edges a bit chewed toward the horn end but not bad. Someone back east needs to comment on prices, but I'd say $2 to $3 a pound wouldn't be all that bad. Presently a $65 bid. Won't ship, must be picked up on site. That should eliminate a bunch of potential buyers.

Thanks Jack, a good starting point for this project, the chill form to fix the hardy will come in handy. Now all I need is the will to try it out!

I find it quite satisfying to work on an anvil that I restored.

More detail would be great Jack, the more I can do on my own before I send her off would be great. I have tried drawing on her clip but as thin as it is she rings like a church bell, and that's with ear protection in heheh

To start, here's a link to an anvil restoration article. If you google Rob Gunther - anvil restoration, you'll find more.

http://www.anvilmag.com/smith/anvilres.htm

I wasn't quite that scientific - rather than hard facing rod, I just used a 7018 rod and guestimated at the preheat temperature. Hot enough to sizzle water then a bit more heat. It worked!! Since I'm not the best at controlling my weld puddle, I clamped a copper "chill" strip (flattened copper tubing works fine for this)along the edge that I was building up to contain my puddle. After the face was built up and ground down, I laid the anvil on it's side, moved the chill strip to the now vertical restored face and built up and ground down the side the same way. Since I believe your anvil is solid cast steel rather than having a welded on steel face, you don't need to wory about dissimilarity between the base and the plate.

I didn't do any post heat treatment, but a Vulcan Anvil isn't a cadillac anyway and it's worked for a long time. I had one minor rebuild when I had my son striking for me in a draft shoe contest and he missed with an eight pound sledge and knocked a chunk off one edge.

Jack

The notches I have a problem with are these "blown out" areas on the face and edge of the anvil, not the test nicks on her legs~ The main issues I have with the condition is that as a farrier its not that easy to get a level shoe when your working in a bowl as compared to a flat face, a slight bevel might not be such an issue but I could eat soup from her face... that and there is not one cornered edge on her that I can pull a clip on, much less make a half decent step down/half face blow to say build tongs~

Here's a link to a previous post of mine. Post #6



This anvil had edges as bad as yours, although not so bowl shaped. I preheated by guestimate and built up the edges with 7018 rod. That was 20 years ago. As a farrier also, I know why you need at least some conveniently located square edge. I draw clips off the heel on this one (very thick heavy heel. I can give more rebuilding detail if you want.

OK, I'll be the real maverick (and farrier), my 280 pound shop anvil faces right, my 85 pound truck anvil faces left. The heel on the small anvil is so thin and light as to be nearly useless and I do most of my work on the horn end. The clip horn is also in the traditional place. The big one has a solid heel, no clip horn and straight sides. The easiest place to draw clips is off the heel so I set the heel to the left.

It's been a while since I made the calculations, but the theoretical temp for combustion of propane is around 2400 degrees F. Depending on the lineing and air mix you should expect 2300 plus or minus. As I say, I'm trying to recall, so I don't mind being corrected.

Re. the part about any hotter and effects of super quench lessen, this is something I seem to have read several places, but under torture I would be hard pressed to tell you where.

I have a horseshoeing client who used to want shoes hardened. When using SQ, I just made sure it was plenty hot - often at yellow - and never had problems with it not getting hard. On a very hot shoe, it doesn't seem to really breakdown the vapor layer until it cools somewhat, but they still get hard.

Glad to see you're back, Frosty.

Jack

You might be interested.

Awesome Grave Stone - The Farrier & Hoofcare Resource Center Forums

Very, very sorry to hear of things like this.

In a farrier contest, I once beat one of the best on a forge welded barshoe when he missed his weld -- he blamed the fact that he'd been copper brazing in the forge (gas forge) Don't know if it was a fact, but this guy believes it since he's one to look for solutions, not excuses.

Incidentally 1981 and before pennies are copper. In a pinch, I've used them to braze with.

I've generally estimated all bio mass fuel at around 7000 BTU/lb - born out by the table in post 2. Something as light as dried horse manure wouldn't carry a lot of energy on a volume basis.

Frank,

Back in the 70's (about when I first saw you work) I watched Bruce Daniels punch a hammer head. He talked about sticking the punch and was sprinkling some coal fines into the hole ahead of the punch to prevent sticking. Have you seen or done anything like this?

Right, after all these years it was hard to know it was really the one I built -- just something about it said it had been mine.

Finally got by to take pictures. Crude, but it gave me good service and still gets used. Today the stand would be a lot shorter and a lot heavier. I'd gone to the junkyard to look for RR rail, but that piece of steel was right by the door and it looked good to me.

Friend of mine said his only wound in Nam was working in a ship boiler room. Got too close to a guy with a hammer, got hit in the head on the back swing. Bloody cut, not much else, but the guy that hit him saw the blood, fainted and fell into a bunch of pipe doing himself serious injury. Glad your son didn't do something like that.

That's very cool Jack. How'd it make you feel to see it again?

Frosty

Loved seeing it was still being used.

I had an interesting experience today. Helping a friend with a project and needed to drill some holes. I asked if he had a drill press, He said his neighbor did so we went over there. I needed to straighten someting also and asked the neighbor if he had an anvil or at least something to beat on. He said that there was an anvil in the back corner. I went back and there was my first anvil. I built it from a piece of 3" by 4" steel back in the 60's, gave it to a friend in the 70's. The friend has moved away, but there it was on the stand I had built from metal fence posts, rebar and angle iron. I'll try to go back and get pictures.

Thanks Ken, Make that 5/8ths. (0.625). It would have been a good trick.By the way mine is stamped 25 (250 pounds) and came in about 280 on the bathroom scale, a bit bigger than the OP's.

My plate is about 9/16ths - likely was 3/8 new, before some edge wear and polishing.

That didn't work very well so here's a repost of the picture

As far as a pritchel hole, here's a link to my Vulcan, notice the groove about an inch behind the step. As a farrier, I punch many nail holes - 6 or 8 per shoe - and that groove is easier to locate than the pritchel hole. I cut it with an angle grinder in about 10 minutes.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/attachments/f83/14269d1242779152t-arm-hammer-anvil-weld-img_0256.jpg

Yes, they are. I've not used one, but being relatively close to Cliff's business, I see a number being used and have not heard of any problems and I suspect the heel bending cams would not last long on inferior construction since they're often used to cold shape a shoe.

Gee Frosty, you posted while I was trying to find Cliff's Website

Yep that's a Cliff Carroll Anvil - probably his popular 70 pounder for farriers - nice size to move around., very much still in business.

Cliff Carroll's Horseshoers Supplies, Inc.

Very nice. I agree that they look more classy with the bent shank. Also easier to use than a straight one. I'm just a little lost as to how you split the rasp and forged it. Could you clarify? I have a few horseshoe rasps dying to get used for something to clean up some clutter.

Here's a thread that shows it - about post 18. Suspect jevaccaro is using a similar technique
.
http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/rasp-spurs-9805/index2.html

Straight shank, dropped shank, raised (or gooseneck shank) has much to do with the riders leg and stirrup length. A long legged rider on a smaller horse really needs a gooseneck type spur or he has to get out of position to use the spur. A short guy like me that generally rides bigger horses and likes a shorter stirrup to boot needs a dropped shank or the spur is continually in the horses side.