Chelonian

Thank you for making these videos!

Given Joey's recent videos on forging on his miniature anvils, you really have to wonder what someone did to break the heel off a 700lb anvil. Must have had a pretty major flaw from the start.

Still a really amazing looking anvil!

Looks very nice!

IIRC stands for "If I Recall Correctly".

He did later build a 1490lb vise similar in design to the old floor mounted chipping vises.

I think that anvil has been around on Craigslist under different listings for years. To me it looks like someone welded a lot on the face as a "repair", covering the original holes and giving it razor sharp edges.

It's not uncommon for forged anvils to be uneven on the bottom. If it causes rocking you can use shims and something like silicone caulking between the stand and the bottom on the anvil. The silicone also helps reduce the ring.

Those are the handling holes for manipulating it around with long bars when it was being forged.

Is the hardy hole side-exiting? it kind of looks straight through, just offset from center.

There were lots of makers, so without any markings it would be tough to identify maker or age.

To me it looks like forged WI with a steel face. It should be an excellent anvil! In what part of the world are you located?

For hammer and axe making, probably either would work great. The only functional disadvantage of the 440 over the 260 that I can think of is if the larger/thicker proportions would get in the way of ornamental work.

That makes sense. Thank you for the response!

For the type of forging you do, do you prefer your 175lb HB over your larger HB?

Those look really nice! I like that you number them.

Looks very nice! I see the markings of a Hay Budden on the side. Does it have a face plate, or does it have a solid steel upper half?

Also, there should be a serial number on the front foot.

I think that in the middle of the side where treadle is there is a pivot for the treadle, so that you step on the farther away portion. Like if you were standing with the horn of the anvil to the right and used your left foot. That way it seems like it would work.

AIA stands for Anvils in America, a book written by Richard Postman.

That sounds really cool. How are you planning to make it?

Those are really nice thumb latches! Are the holes just punched cold over a bolster? I know I watched you make one at the Fitchburg forge in, but I can't quite remember.

Thanks for posting the photos!

That makes sense, thank you! I have noticed that the first little while of forging goes slower and seems less efficient, but I always thought that was me warming up, not the anvil (probably still a combination of the two). For instance if I'm making a bunch of the same item the first one in a day always takes me more time.

I understand that a cold anvil is more brittle, but I must be missing something about heating the anvil to increase working times.

As far as I understand it, the only relevant variable changing between the scenario of a cold anvil vs. a warm anvil is the dT (temperature differential between the two conducting objects) assuming the workpiece and the anvil have similar values of thermal conductivity. For a workpiece at a yellow heat (around 1830 degrees F), the percent difference in dT between an anvil at 20F and 80F is only 3.37%. This doesn't seem like it would be a very noticeable decrease in working time for me. Of course do I trust all the experienced smiths that agree that it does make a big difference, so I'm wondering what I'm missing here.

Thanks for the replies and discussion!

Very interesting. Thank you all!

Irondragon: Do you remember any details about the anvil itself, like the construction type and maybe rough weight? Was the anvil cold when it broke?

JLP: I wonder at what temperature this becomes a serious issue. What do you do to preheat your anvil?

I've wondered about this for quite some time. Do you ever worry about damaging your anvil when working? I often find myself lightening my hammer blows out of caution whenever I move towards the end of the heel or horn on my 175lb anvil even if I'm using a 2lb hammer. Is this a legitimate concern? I know this question is really easy to answer with "It depends", so I'll try to make this as detailed as possible:

Assuming you are working mild steel at a reasonable forging temperature and barring mis-strikes, is there any significant risk of a single person (i.e. not including strikers) breaking off a horn or heel of a time-tested (relatively old) anvil? Let's assume the anvil is an average sized shop anvil, maybe in the 150-175lb range. I know it also depends on what pattern/time period the anvil is from, so let's assume an average English, European, or American anvil produced anytime in the 19th and 20th centuries. By "average", I simply mean not an anvil purely built for heavy industrial forging, nor an anvil built solely for light ornamental work, but the more common anvils between the two extremes. Hopefully I've covered most of the variables.

Or, have you ever broken/damaged an anvil or heard of one being broken? If so, what were the conditions?

I've seen many anvils missing horns and heels, but I wonder if most of these were manufacturing defects and failed shortly after being put into use, rather than after 50 years of use. I've never seen an anvil that looked like it was recently broken.

Curious to hear your opinions or experiences,

Thanks!

Irondragon: That's very cool to know. I was not aware who the distributer was.

JLP: Yes, it is the underside of a barn. It's not heated, but unless it's an especially cold day it isn't too much of an issue. Because it's mostly underground it stays a bit warmer than outdoors on cold days, and it also stays comparatively cool in the summer. It's a pretty nice place to work!