Sluicebox

Thank you all for checking out my anvil and your great comments. I appreciate it.

Thank you JHCC

Sad that Grandpa passed this year. I did inherit the anvil. Very sad I didn't have more time to share with him. Strange I remember that anvil as a kid being quite large, turns out it weighs in at 160 lbs. I guess to a kid that's pretty big. I miss you Grandpa. Pretty bummed out we lost DSW too, he offered some great advice above. BIGGUNDOCTOR, I took your advice as well, thank you.

Just a little more on this. My Brother brought it out to me from Montana. He had it in the back of his truck for two weeks while he was working a hitch in Seattle. I was terrified someone would snag it for scrap. I tried to tell him that people with the fever can smell an anvil as they drive by, He thought I was crazy. I'm just very happy to have it home. I pulled my Peter Wright out and this will be going in the shop instead, on a nice hardwood block. My neighbors are going to love the ring lol, glad I'm out in the country. Did you notice that well seasoned coffee cup? Coffee and Grand kids are the meaning of life. You let them munch on some coffee beans and s'mores then send them home to their unwitting parents. lol Thanks for looking.

My Grandfather passed earlier this year and I inherited His Anvil. I'm Blessed beyond words. I'm pretty sure it belonged to His Father as well. Great Grandpa had a shop but mostly did mechanics. Grandpa was a real Montana Cowboy, you'd be hard pressed to meet a better Man. One of my earliest memories was of Him having me straighten these huge nails on that as a kid. He did His own Hot Shoe for His horses which I loved to watch. I'm leery about dressing the edges. I don't intend to do any heavy work with it, I'm not a smith. I'd use it on the farm for repairs and such. I built a brake drum forge years ago. This is my prized possession now. I'm very honored to have it and hope one of my Grand kids will appreciate it when I'm gone. The ring and rebound are amazing, I can't wait to get it hot and shine it up. Is it odd that this doesn't have an oval depression in the base? I'd love to know any history on it if someone could run the numbers please. Serial # 15237. Thank you Sorry it's so pic heavy.

Here's one of the Ser # 15237 I'll start a thread on it, don't want to steal your thunder. Thanks for looking.

That's a very nice Anvil. Amazing thing is I just inherited one that has Serial # 15237, our Anvils are Kin! I'd love to see your base as mine does not have an oval depression in it. Same stamp on side though. Mine is stamped 160 so I'm guessing that month they ran medium sized anvils? Your post made a great day even better, thank you. I'll post up pics soon.

I just inherited one like this with the same style base, does not have an oval depression like I've seen on others.

You are all right about us new guys being quick, hostile experts. I am sorry that I demonstrated that fact the other day. I will try harder in the future to learn more before I offer advice. I will try not to argue with someone who is real world experienced in this art. You all know BS when you see it as you have learned the difference. That is a sincere compliment. Best....

Just curious if the new top plate would just be perimeter welded then and would it also require heat treating after it was attached? Thanks for the input.

I'm real sure that one will pass any test you give it. I had no idea that it was in such great shape. That's a getter and a keeper for sure. Nice anvil.

I never tried to use it as I was afraid I would only make it worse. I have too much respect for it to ignore that it has issues needing addressed before use. I'm no expert nor did I ever claim to be one. I screwed up when I bought mine and was only trying to save someone else from the same mistake. Though it is only a tool one would think that at an average of $4-5 per pound now days one should look for quality. Given the choice of hammering on a delaminated anvil or a flat rock, I would use the anvil. I was pretty bummed out shelling out a significant amount of cash for an anvil with serious issues. If you would like to swing the hammer harder to accomplish the same task than have at her, enjoy lack of rebound. If you want to shell out $500 for a 100 lb anvil with a delamed top plate and use it for two weeks and have the top finish coming off, by all means enjoy yourself. I look for anvils that will provide me years of service and will also be something that I can proudly pass on to my heirs. Not at all trying to be rude here with you, but I have seen many anvil lately that are in need of serious repairs. These are being sold to newbies like myself who don't know any better and buy the first thing that comes along. I will continue to read the old posts in this forum and maybe next time I offer advice I will know what I'm talking about. Good day

I know it doesn't look too bad but that's where that ball bearing or light hammer tap test comes in. This thing has two dead spots in it that comprise over 60% of the face plate. Broke my heart. I will repair it someday but for now I like to look at it as a reminder to do my homework and really check things out first before paying for them. The guy that sold it to me said that it was "cherry and worked awesome". Nearly 400 mile round trip and I brought it home not knowing any better. I really hope you do better and get an awesome one. Please post an update as I would love to hear and see how you did. I have a dedicated place in my heart for Old Peter Wright Anvils. You can tell in the above pics that it has been crushed by a heavy hammer. Your anvil can have dings and such on the body but the top plate HAS to have good action and give a lively rebound. Look hard for cracks in the plate, also where the horn attaches to the body as well as the tail. A Peter Wright should ring when struck if it's not bolted down or muffled with chain. Try to do a sounding (ring) on it with the owners permission. Make sure that there are no tools in the Hardy hole or Pritchel hole. If you can't find a ball bearing then take a small ball ping hammer with you. Lightly tap the tail and the horn, should ring. Then gently hold hammer about 6" above top plate and let the hammer swing on it's own to strike the top of the anvil. A good or great Peter Wright will give you 80% rebound. Try this all over the face plate, you should hear a high pitched ring or ping that is good. A thunk or hollow sound is bad. Hope this helps you, some may disagree with my test but that test right there would have saved me some serious coin when I couldn't afford to waste it. 4th and 5th photos above are of a very decent Peter Wright for contrast.

Wish that I'd known that when I got my first PW. It was my first anvil actually. Delam baby. I'll post this pic for you. If it looks anything like this one, walk away. Good luck on the hunt.

Bath fan with light and heater, those used to run about a hundred bucks. I hope you can put a timer on it, My Wife would leave it on all day long on accident.

I have trouble lighting my coal too. It looks wet but I heat with wood. I just take some hot coals from wood stove and put them in bottom of forge. Turn on blower and pile on wet coal. Inside of 5 min I can forge.

A pile of coal, teacher.

I'm going to wire a light switch to that bath fan,and mount it on leg of forge. As soon as I pull iron out roof of coal pile lights up. I spend more time wetting down roof to keep pile from burning up. With switch I think I could pull out iron and kill fan till I return to forge. That air gate is a good idea, I think that I will try that too. I know this has all been suggested in other threads but I guess that I had to experience the problem first hand before I took the advice.

Hello, I had a quick question on the Robb Gunther repair method. He claims that on a wrought iron anvil use Stoody 2110 for the base or butter rod and weld unlimited passes to build up repair. This should be done until repaired area can be finished in 3 passes using Stoody 1105 1/8" three layers deep. My question, is that all your going to get for a new thickness in the repaired area of a top plate? What I mean is, if you have to do a full repair and grind out the broken delaminated top plate all the way down to the wrought iron base that is under it. Now you use the 2110 and build up but your finished top in this area will now only be 3/8" thick of 1105. Do I have that right? Actually less than 3/8 as you have to over build it then grind down flush with the rest of the top plate. Mr. Gunther also quotes a preheat on wrought iron of 400F, at what temp do you lose temper in an existing top plate particularly on a smaller Peter Wright anvil? For some reason I thought temper was compromised at 375F. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you can make sense of these questions.

Thanks everyone, that's what we will do. Weld up what has been ground out and leave it be. No light shines through hole so probably L bolts as mentioned above. I have some of that nasty heat sink grease that wont wash off no matter what you do. Will post pics after repaired. Thanks for all the input everyone. Glad I didn't cut out that bolt. Best to you all. PS that repair was started before I acquired it.

The down side to that however is that few of us would would have the historic anvils we own today. So I guess that it really wouldn't bother me if a stranger sold his family anvil to me. I would rather see that happen than some fool shoot it up in the air or use it for target practice. I know this sounds crazy but do you feel any kind of presence when your working with that anvil? I have heard that certain supernatural instances have happened, or have been attached to older items particularly cherished items. These are much more common in inherited items. An old anvil might qualify. Don't laugh, but try to keep an open mind. We never really know, do we?

Lucky Dog, My Grandpa has a huge anvil he's 94 and still uses it. He got it from his Dad. I would love to buy it from the estate when the time comes rather than see my Aunts sell it at auction or worse scrap it. If I am lucky enough to get it, I want it to go to one of my Grand kids and so on. I'm real happy for you that you inherited your family's anvil, pass it down with any history you can. Would be wise to write it down and explain that it is priceless, with stern instructions to never sell it. So sad seeing anvils like yours sold by families that do not know any better. I hope that ALL of our heirs hang on to our anvils even if it means dragging them around when living in the cities. You never know when a Smith will emerge from your lineage. Best of luck to you.

I have a new to me larger Peter Wright and noticed it is fairly soft yet has great rebound. I was hoping that it would work harden a bit as the top is in real good shape but if you miss it will leave a mark. Most of the previous owners use was on the horn, likely a farrier. I'm sure he brought the horse to the anvil and not the other way around. Probably draft horses as the horn is quite thick.

Thank you Mr. Stevens. I do have a thick aluminum plate, what is heat sink grease? Here are those daylight pics of the critter. After looking at in in daylight I don't think the crack goes completely through. Probably 85% though. The U bolt doesn't show signs of hammer marks so I'm guessing they did that in a large press. Likely they pressed the bolt into shape from the sides and then pressed the top down before tightening the nuts. Also shown is the serial number I still would love to get a date off of that. Thanks for all your input everyone. I just want to get this working so my Grand kids can have it.

Thanks for the excellent safety tip DSW. It would be DC stick. If I run two bolts through the pritchel holes and have another support under the tool plate near the horn that should keep the top plate immersed in a nice bed of water. Matto your right about the old repair on that looking neat. That took a pretty smart person to come up with that one and you can tell it was done by a Black Smith. It's amazing what those old guys could do. I see evidence of it all the time in the old mining districts. The wages of a Smith back then were only $.50 less a day than the Mill Foreman. The Smith kept them in business.