JeepinBoon

JHCC - That should be a sticky.

All's I can say for you noobs - SEND THAT LOWBALL OFFER! Worst they can do is say "NO". They're likely listing for quick cash or wanting premium price. You got ~15% chance that you can grab a jewel for cheap. Worst they can do is say, "NO". Even if they're asking $650 for a 143#, offer $100 and see. Thats how I got my anvils. . . Thats why I have what I have. Lowball offers and trades. You CAN get your anvil with patience and lowball offers.

Thomas, you're absolutely right to correct me so swiftly on my terminology. I suppose the proper description of the anvil in question would have been, "an anvil of unknown make or origin, of unknown ferrous metal, and formed by pouring molten metal into a mold". I never did positively identify it, so I just brushed, oiled, and stacked. I didn't even do a spark test to see what metal. Looking at it now, there appears to be a 3/16" steel face on it. Maybe it is a decent anvil after all. Don't know, don't care. I've kept the HB and never used it because it is near perfect. The rest were cheap or trade. It's hard for me to say no to a cheap anvil when I got spare cash or trade a walking plough for a garden ornament MH. But yea. I agree with y'all. Hoarding anvils is bad. ALL of my anvils are up for grabs. Looking for a dirt bike. But yea. Patience pays off. Y'all ever notice that after months or years of searching for your one "Prince Charming", they start showing up at your doorstep [xxxxxxxxx] ?

Well TBH. My collection started with a Hay Budden and Mousehole with half the face worn off. Then cast unknown and jewelers. Only recently got the ACME (Trenton) and broken heel Kohlswa. I don't know who would want to buy a jewelers or cast unknown anvil, or a MH half worn out. The RR anvil I made is the most used of all. I am gonna Craigslist the three cheapies on the right as $ or trade for (?).

You can probably thank me Flyboy for driving up anvil prices in our area. I've bought all the affordable anvils I've had spare cash for.

Frosty man.. Its the cool factor! Actually, I've got limited space and went vertical. I've split the stack now. ThomasPowers, I wish I was close enough to get those rails. I think I can do one anvil in two hours. Make for some good trading material. People want those things and I loved making it. It was really cool the before and after. I gotta put the MH on wheels so I can wheel it out of the shop. It's quite difficult to straighten metal on RR track.

Life has its ups and downs. I finished a railroad track anvil yesterday and knocked the tower down today. Three anvils fell off the top of the pile and punctured one of my solar power batteries and the Hay Budden crushed a playstation 2... The up side is I've got several offers on the RR anvil, lol. Nobody has any RR track to trade. Pic before the crash.

Beautiful anvil. Brush off the old paint and rust and put on flax oil/linseed oil. It dries to a tacky protective coating. Use her as-is.

Man I agree with ya'll. We need a new classification system! I can put antique tags on a 95 chevy S10... Antique also determines wether my slot machines are legal in Louisiana. Only one machine left that is illegal but I ain't advertising. No interesting hammers at the antique stores in Vicksburg but I did pay WAY too much for a ROWE FDRY 22lb anvil shaped object. Took pictures of the *anvil tower*. Gotta have symmetry, I'm weird like that.

AH-HAH!!! Thank you for the tread reference ThomasPowers! I couldn't see the forest for the trees. I was asking all the wrong questions and ended up with way too specific requirements for a hammer. I wish I could find even five hammers like what's on that single rack. Louisiana is a dead zone for good antiques, hammers included. We had a scrap iron price hike many years back and everything that wasn't bolted down and closely monitored was scrapped or stolen for scrap. This is the Dunning-Kruger effect. I'm hopefully at the bottom of Mt. Stupid and in the Valley of Despair.

You lucky dog you. LOL! I just trued the ends of a torch cut 316 stainless pipe, 6" ID, 13" long, on the lathe for a propane forge and now I've got slivers and shavings EVERYWHERE. No magnet can help me. Today was 91f humidity at 56% heat index I think was 101. What brand hammers do you use? What is your most used hammer shape?

Oh you're absolutely right. I knew rolling it in the bayou and fishing it out the next day wouldn't work. I was gonna try to dig a 3' diameter pit a foot deep and build mud walls. If possible a mud chimney, pizza oven style. We just got a 200HP wood chipper at work so there's a possibility of wood chips as fuel... depends where they dump them. Borrow a gas leaf blower cause I don't need 200MPH wind blowing the fire. Quench with PTO water pump. Bury the anvil inside the oven and dig out next day. IF I find an anvil or IF mine delaminates, thats the plan. It likely won't be this year that I even use my anvil cause it is WAY TOO HOT outside. Heat index today at 6:56PM is 108F.

Frosty, Thomas and anvil ~ ya'll got me curious. I'm now on the hunt for a totally knackered anvil around Delhi La. I'd like to mill one down, dig a pit and build a mud furnace down the bayou hill and see how a steel face would be brazed on and quenched old school style.

Thank you Frosty! I think we ARE on the same page. I have a nearly unlimited supply of fluxed brass brazing rods and silver solder at work and hopefully it will NEVER come to replacing the face of the MH. I also have plenty of access to grader blades and bush hog blades as they wear out. You said you would do something else with a forklift tine?... Hmmm. You'd put something else on an anvil? About the hammers, guess your right. I have only two hammers that mushroomed. I have three that are chipped at work. I'll try to find the mushroomed hammers and swap them out. I"d feel better having a softer hammer...

I don't want to reface the MH anvil. I plan to use it as-is. However, if >50% of the hardened face of it delaminates (separates from the wrought iron base) or breaks off then I will repair. I would mill the bare wrought iron face flat and braze on a forklift tine. I live on the Bayou Macon so I have an unlimited quench tank or a tractor pto water pump quench for this huge hunk if such a need arises. I can also dig a hole, fire, and bury the anvil for the temper. I am a heavy construction equipment mechanic and have some experience in build-up welding and hard facing. I'm sure gluing a tine on is easier and cheaper than welding and machining. I think I can build a hol... off topic. Back to the hammers. Do you think that antique hammers are softer than new high quality hammers? Handmade hammers? I have a set of Mac Tools AntiVibe ball peen and cross peen hammers and many wood handle hammers. I just don't want the hammer to be harder than the anvil. What hammers would you use on a near mint Hay Budden?

Thank you all for your input. As far as condition, the Hay Budden rebounds 8.5"-9" with a 1" steel ball dropped from 10" and the Mouse Hole rebounds 7"-7.5" from 10". The HB has an ear piercing ring and the MH goes "thunk-thunk" on the face and horn. I hope it wasn't in a fire. I know hit the work, not the anvil. I was going to stay away from the thin/missing face and only if it delaminated at least 50% to put on a forklift fork. I've read Gunthers method as well as several others before registering here. The reason I asked about hammers was that I have chipped several hammers driving hardened pins and teeth which tells me that the hammer is so hard it would chip rather than deform. I'll grind the mushroomed edge off and hammer on it as-is. I have a home machine shop so I can mill off the top and weld hardface or fork.

Hello all, first post. I have a 79# Hay Budden anvil that, in my opinion, is near mint. So far, I have only hammered out business card holders and hat hangers from silver forks on it. Last weekend, I got a Mouse Hole 148# with LOTS of wear. My main concern is damaging these anvils. My main question is.. Would you use a modern store bought hammer or a hand forged hammer on either anvil? My second question is.. If the hardened steel top layer of your anvil has smushed out and curled over the edge of your anvil, would you grind it flush to sides or let it break off as you work? I'm not going to *cough* restore *cough* an 1820-1830 M&H anvil unless the top delaminates. Then I got a forklift fork to stick on it.