Ferrous Beuler

Happy Birthday to all my fellow Marines here on iforgeiron. OOH RAH! And one for Chesty Puller!

A tartan cloak brooch pin for a very large Scott. Clan Grant IIRC.

I could be wrong but to my eye that looks like a Hay Budden and probably north of 200 lbs. Very good condition from just one photo. Worth the trip if the price is fair.

Tough to judge size from these pics but roughly just going by the bits of rail close to it and the old truck rim I'm guessing about 100 to 125 lbs.

Looks like maybe it was used to bang out Studebaker or maybe De Soto fenders and bumpers. Could be wrong, just has that look.

These are the folks in your region~ http://www.rockymountainsmiths.org/index.html

Welcome to IFI Binesman! I highly recommend that you and your son find your local ABANA affiliate group and attend. You will have a thousand questions answered for you at your first meeting. Want to learn smithing? Surround yourself with blacksmiths and you will. Look here to find a group near you~ Without your location displayed in your header that's the best I can do for you since I don't know where you are but that's pretty much it, find your local and join. Cheers! *Edit, if that link isn't working go to abana dot org and click on "affiliates" for the list and the map.

"Anvil In Chains"? IIRC I'm pretty sure I saw them live back in July '86 down at Mud Island right on the Mississippi river in Memphis Tennessee, they opened for Charlie Daniels and then ZZ Topp played too. Great show. Might still have a T-shirt back in the closet maybe.

Here is a link to a thread on a history site which lists -some- of the anvil makers of that era based mostly around Sheffield, UK which is where the industry was centered at the time. Your anvil could have been made by any one of them. http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/topic/7011-anvil-manufacturers/

That's a beauty! I have one like it but mine is missing about 2/3 of its face, the front and back thirds but the middle is still there. Here's what I was able to dig up on mine~ based on its features being identical to yours no pritchel hole, hardy hole centered and very close to the heel edge, no shelf, stubby pointy horn with a rounded top and semi V shaped bottom jump welded on like an afterthought, overall stout squat appearance, wide face, remarkably thin faceplate, only two handling holes one below the heel and one below the horn although yours has three with one on the bottom whereas mine does not, very pointy relatively short feet and markings formed by punch pricks and chisel marks. Mine are barely legible, 1 - ? - O and the only difference I see between the two is that mine has a very slight fifth foot on the off side, barely stands maybe 3/16ths proud at the bottom. ~based on those features circa 1735 to 1775 roughly. No guarantee on any specific forge but most are loosely attributed to Mousehole but could be out of any of 100+ shops from that era. Hope this helps. Before I freget, mine is 125 lbs on the scale.

I forgot to mention the best part. After about a year and a half of looking all over the map I finally found this one (my first) at a barn sale in the summer of 2001, almost tripped over it actually as I stepped into the barn from the bright sunlight before my eyes could adjust. $65. I thought I might have to defibrilate myself with my jumper cables but somehow I managed to pay the lady and not pass out.

Wyatt welcome to IFI. I have an anvil that looks an awful lot like yours and of similar size. I have never been able to positively identify the maker but based on its limited markings and features I am leaning toward it most likely being Peter Wright. I'm sure you have noticed that anvils by various makers have characteristics unique to themselves particularly in their shape (I am referring stricly to London pattern anvils here), i.e. the waist of a typical Hay Budden is shaped slightly differently than that of other makers, etc. So one can develop on eye for identifying an anvils maker by its general appearance at a distance before you get closer and begin scrutinizing marks such as stampings. Mine sure looks an awful lot like yours and I have always thought "Peter Wright" but it lacks the markings most PWs have. It has only 2 - 1 - 17 and below that, right where the 3 is on yours where the 234 appears is an upper case B on mine. Thats it, no other markings whatsoever. The shape of mine matches yours, in detail throughout and mine has the shelved feet like yours and lots of PWs I have seen. By the way, I have a 114 lb American Wrought brand anvil with the shelved "Peter Wright" feet and I have seen Soderfors anvils with them as well so PW had no monopoly on that. The underside (base) of mine is also flat like yours, actually flatter/smooth whereas yours appears slightly rippled. All of my handling holes match yours. My hardy hole is 1 1/4" and my pritchel hole is 5/8". When I first posted pics of this anvil here several years ago someone mentioned it may be a Boker made in Germany, the first I had heard of that name. According to the descriptions of Trenton anvils listed by Matchlessantiques on Worthpoint in previous auctions Hermann Boker was a broker who had anvils made in Germany by Trenton and by Peter Wright in England. I don't know if Herr Boker had any connection with the Columbus Forge And Iron Company of Columbus Ohio which began production of anvils in 1898 until 1953 with the name Trenton and the same diamond trademark. German production was first, then in Ohio but I don't know when German production ceased or when PW stopped making Trentons for Herr Boker in England. Prior to 1908 Trenton anvils had the concave hourglass underside, those made after that have a concave oval underside. Every Peter Wright I have ever seen including both my 269 lber and my 93 lber have flat bottoms with a handling hole in the center. I will likely never know for certain where or when my anvil was made. Could be Germany, could be England. Could be Trenton, could be PW. Sure, it would be neat to know positively but ultimately it really doesn't matter. Anvils are like children, we don't question their origin we just feel blessed to have them and love them as they are unconditionally.

I am green with envy

Weight is given as 70 lbs and $100.00 CDN was the listed price. Been listed for over a month now but was just updated this past weekend to include the boat anchor and the asking price was removed. You will have to contact the seller in Toronto. I'm not going to bother because that is 90 minutes north of me and there are lots of scrap yards between here and there that are closer where I can get more bang for my buck.

Here is another Canadian Forge & Blower Co. anvil as tattered as the original on this thread currently listed on the Buffalo NY area Craigslist and the ad has been updated to include just the front anvil portion of the good old cast bench vice/anvil combo. I wouldn't fret over chipped edges with this one, that brand new face makes it good as new~

Opportunities like that don't just drop out of trees. Grab it.

Let's go with Samuel Yellin for a thousand, Bink.

Semper Fi Sam, AooohhhAaaahhh! There are smiths around you to be sure, no doubt. The ABANA affiliates maps with pins on the map all over unfortunately shows your location to be in one of those areas with no close smithing neighbors. Closest to you being Norfolk/Virginia Beach Virginia and the little burg of Lancaster South Carolina. No problem, there are certainly some smiths near you. Welcome to the forum and thank you for your service Brother, I was USMC 1986-1990 on skids, HMH-463 Kaneohe Bay and Marine Barracks Pearl Harbor. Join ABANA, check in here often and get aquainted, you will find smiths near you. You got a blower yet for that forge? I might have a spare kicking around, air isn't tough to find, anvils can be. Like I said, join the club and stuff begins to magically appear once you meet some folks. Welcome to IFI.

Fortunately not all of these lawn ornament stories have a sad ending like this. That's precisely how I obtained my 114 American Wrought anvil for free. A friend of mine divorced, she got the house in the city and he got to keep the cottage at the lake where I lived at the time. She had the yard full of kitschy stuff like hubcaps nailed to trees, old walk behind plows, wagon wheels etc etc etc. The anvil was mine so long as I got all the rest of the junk to disappear which I did with a single phone call

Sure, I'll play... I got my first anvil by dumb luck back in 2000. Had been looking for about a year and a half with no luck, searching flea markets, farm auctions, etc. One day while out driving with my girlfriend she spied a barnsale sign so we stopped to do a little chicken hawking. The yard was loaded with craft materials, bolts of fabric, bushels of yarn, girl stuff. Yawn. She was loving it and loading up. Finally we drifted into the barn and an anvil was the furthest thing from my mind. As we stepped in my eyes were cast upward looking at all the wrenches hanging on nails from an overhead joist. "Hey honey, isn't that one of those anvil thingies you've been looking for"? my girlfriend said as my eyes were still adjusting from the bright sunlight outside. I looked down and literally right at my feet there it was. Another step and I would have done a face plant over top of it. To this day if I think back to that moment I remember it with angels singing and harps strumming as a heavenly shaft of light shone upon it through the door causing it to glow in a vibrant golden hue. Behind me in the corner sat two blue haired grannies at a table with the cashbox. I asked how much for the anvil as it wasn't marked. One looked at the other and said "Who's is that now, Gertie's wasn't it"? "Yes, that's Gertrude's, let's give her a call". There on the table was a desktop rotary telephone which one of them dialed impossibly slowly. Once Gertie answered I could hear every word because the phone was very loud. "There's a young man here who would like to know how much you will take for your anvil"... "Not a penny less than sixty-five dollars"! I paid the Ladies and was then the proud owner of a 269 lb Peter Wright that weighed about as much as a feather pillow because I was so elated as me and another man there hefted into the trunk of my '91 VW. Yup, handed over four twenties, got change back and it came with a nice cutoff hardie too. http://www.iforgeiron.com/uploads/500/931065-R1-07-14A_008.jpg

269 lb PW, 125 lb Mousehole, 114 lb American Wrought, 93 lb PW. 269 gets the most use while the rest mostly collect cobwebs and mousefarts under the bench but the American Wrought has a beautiful horn on it that gets a lot of use.

I don't know the answer to your question bluejay but I do know Nicholson files are no longer made in the USA, they are made in Mexico now. The USA made Nicholsons are fortunately a fairly common flea market find and that's where I get mine. I have not tried the Hecho En Mexico versions yet and won't ever bother because they have gotten horrible reviews on several internet forums. Just google "nicholson files made in mexico" and read all the horror stories for yourself on the various forums. So... If you want quality files to use just do as I and probably an awful lot of folks do and chicken hawk your local flea markets yard sales and farm auctions. I hear good things about this brand, Swiss made~ http://www.grobetusa.com/ If you want Nicholsons to use as knife forging stock I'm sure someone will be along with the particulars for you.

So you're ahead of the game, most guys have to search far and wide for an anvil. Now get yourself a hammer and check this out~ http://www.iforgeiron.com/page/index.html/_/articles/a0000-blacksmithing-groups-r75

Right. Like I said it's been a few years. I remembered it being 36 for some reason but you can see the tape clearly. I know the face is 5 1/2" and the base is 12"x14" because I built a new stand for it. Klammer's may well be north of 300 with the extra length. That can add up quick on a big anvil. Also mine is a tad thin in the heel and if his is thicker there's more additional weight there too.

O.K., here we go, found them. I was close on the measurements going from memory. The tape is in a couple of the pics. '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> And here~ '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> Sorry the pics are so huge.