mslisaj

Thanks IronWolf. I have had the anvil a week now and have used it a couple of times and the rebound is absolutely perfect. I am in the process of acquiring a steel ball so I can test it without holding a hammer handle it the surface is very lively. I am so pleased and so lucky. Also in the last week I have seen a lot of pictures of anvils and while mine is not perfect it's not as bad as some that guys are using every day. I make the point about the great rebound as I am leaning more not to do anything with the edges as the heat of welding could damper the rebound and I am liking it more and more just like it is. I'm leaning more towards a hardy anvil or cutoff tool and have those edges sharp. But I think I got lucky and got a good buy too. :)

Extremely Nice!!!

What got me interested in smithing? Well it's a kind of long story but when I graduated high school I wanted to go to college with my girlfriends. But my father had other idea's. At the time he owned an automotive repair business and I was to be the one that he passed the family business down too. So he sent me to trade school; had me work for some of the other garages in town to get experience and at the end of all of it I am a journeyman mechanic and can fix pretty much anything. In the course of all this I learned how to weld with gas, arc, mig and tig. Well I have served my time and since gotten out of the business I still have all my tools and equipment in a 3600 sqft building behind my house. For what "smithing" I have done all I had was a rosebud and a big strong old vise to bend and beat on. My father was a machinist and learned his trade when steam was king for the railroad. He could forge and make anything. He showed me how to do some of that trade. I still have some of his old tools. I've always been fascinated at fairs or places like that when there is a blacksmith set up and he is heating on a forge and pounding steel. I had the opportunity to acquire an old rusted solid Buffalo Forge that was a yard ornament. I took it all apart and repaired it, painted it all up like new and now of course I need an anvil to go with it. So now I can stop beating up my good old vise that has been very patient with me and hasn't broken or failed. I can pound on this anvil now to my hearts content. So now you know......................... ;) Well I won't certainly argue as more is better right? I just assumed that it was not 200 pounds as I'm not sure I could lift that. While standing up close to it and it was on a tailgate of my old truck I could just barely lift it. I could not hold it up. So I just assumed it was less. But that "hundred weight" system is interesting. My hoist did have some weight when it picked it off the truck so it could very well be. Thanks Jeremy for offering up the explanation of how that weight system works.

Okay gentlemen, It's mine and home in the shop sitting on the floor now waiting for me to build a stand. Purchase price - $250.00 and the guy was happy and I was too. I looked at it, hit it with my hammer in a few spots, of course criticized it and then I said $250 is the best I could do and he said fine. Almost makes me wonder if I should have offered $200. But I'm happy and he was happy and he even put it in my truck for me. So here is my assessment, first the anvil has a nice crisp ring and what I would consider great rebound. I wish I had the standard 1" ball bearing to bounce on it like the guy on youtube. But with a small ball peen hammer I would almost say 80 - 90% rebound. It's very crisp. The surface is flat and what I kept calling erosion turned out to be just light rust. The surface is very smooth and in very nice shape. Just a few pits but no dings. Absolutely no swayback. I would say this has never had a grinder on it as that top surface is very hard. Now the downside. The top edges on three sides are all chipped away. But I would not say dramatically but there is not a good, clean, sharp edge to be had there. But I would estimate very repairable and pretty easy to do. These pictures are ones I took after wire brushing it by hand and then wiping it all down with a solvent rag. It definitely has 137 stamped in it and I would say that is the weight. I could barely pick it up off the tail gate of my truck. I did have to use a hoist to get it on the floor. It's not a 200 pounder but a very nice anvil. The horn and the first step back on the horn are in very nice original condition. Yes a few dings but it's in nice shape. There you go. First I have to thank ALL of you for taking your time to weigh in and give my your opinions and questioning why I hadn't purchased it yet. Since I started this thread I have been on a cram course on what makes a good anvil. Again thanks to you guys you told me what to look for and gave me your opinions. I used that information to make an informed decision and get a nice piece. Next I will build a stand for it and then send it to an anvil expert for the repair work. Again, thank you all so very much and you will certainly see more of me on these forums. Lisa :D

First off I want to sincerely thank you all for taking your time to give me your opinions and educating me on what to look for. The big question is what is the asking price for this anvil and the asking price is $300. So now based on this discussion and some of the PM's and emails I have received would this be worth that investment. Most seemed to think yes so any more thoughts now that you know the price? Thanks so much for all the feed back as I am much better informed then when I posted here first. The best I can do is keep reading from you men with the experience and continue to learn. Lisa

Thanks to all you gentlemen for your responses as I certainly appreciate your opinions. I purposely did not put the price in the forum becaue, as was mentioned, the value to me is what matters and I am interested in this anvil at the price it's being offered. But with that said I didn't want to pay top dollar for a chunk of scrap. But your enthusiasm about this anvil will demand I go see it and try a ring and rebound test. Another question if I may, the anvil appears to have some erosion spots on it's surface. Does this have any concern for you gentlemen? The "hardy" hole appears to be really worn out, is that a concern also? I am just trying to educate myself the best I can so when I go see it I can make an informed decision to either buy it or walk away and keep looking. I so appreciate you all taking your time to respond to my questions. Thank you so much. Lisa :)

I am a new blacksmith and I just finished restoring my Buffalo Forge hand crank blower and forge and now I am looking for an anvil. Where I live in Oregon they are kind of hard to find so when I located this one I got excited about it. But in looking at the pictures it's kind of rough in my estimation. But then again I am no expert. I have heard that Anvils can be weld repaired and ground smooth and I am a good welder but I would not do anything without studying more. On the side it says: Henry Wright England Warranted Solid 137 It is 24" in total length from the horn tip. The face appears to have some erosion and the corners all seem to have deep chips but I have read that these are just character marks and can be fixed if necessary. I so appreciate the help and I hope the pictures can be enlarged so you can see what I am talking about and give me an opinion on this good old anvil. If you PM me I could send the pictures that way too but I hope this works. The owner say it has "a good ring" to it. Thank you gentlemen for your opinions and helping this lady out. Lisa