Hi everyone, I've lurked on these forums here and there, but I decided to actually make an account now that I've received my first anvil...s
My uncle contacted me a few months after I asked him to keep a look out for any anvils he might see. He works at a scrap recycling plant and sees scrap come through all the time. So I went to go see him (unfortunately did *not* bring my truck) and he gave me 2 anvils that were brought in to be melted down. One being a ~35ish lbs anvil made from what looks to be a railroad track. The other is a big ass anvil that feels like it weighs like 150ish lbs. I was barely able to get it into the neon and we had to use my father's car lift to get it out of the trunk. Maybe it's just awkward to hold, but it seems heavier than 150 lbs.
So, I wanted to clean it up a bit because someone said I should check for welds and cracks. I cleaned off the loose bits with a fine cupped wire-brush with a hand drill and used evapo-rust and a tight woven cotton rag (old clothes) to clean the surfaces. I hosed it off with water while fighting the dog off me (swear that dog was a puma in a past life with her love for water) and rubbed a small amount of boiled linseed oil into the metal, which made the anvil really look nice and shows the amount of blood, sweat and iron that's gone over it. I frickin' love the worn but shiny look to it now.
So, after looking it over and doing some research online, it looks like a Peter Wright anvil... But I'm brand new to this, so I can most definitely be wrong. The latter pictures are the ones I've taken of the symbols, which one looks like a nordic rune almost, embedded with a chisel. The others look to be in exact placement as the Peter Wright anvils but without the importation stamps... Which from some of my research would indicate that this anvil was imported before 1903 where these stamps were required...?
Anyways, has anyone ever seen this kind of anvil before? I'd love to know everything about it since it's going to be an integral tool for myself.