Tom McKenzie

Thank you very much for taking the time to look it up for me !! I will definitely call the company to see what they say !! Take care and thanks again for the follow-up.

Thanks !! and I'm not sure about the building. In the more recent picture, you can see there are block walls, so I'm not sure if the building was expanded behind the original tin building or what happened. I will ask my Grandma and see what she remembers about it. Thanks for looking into the anvil for me !!

That would have been some amazing stories !! Gentleman, So here is a picture of the old anvil after soaking in penetrant oil for a couple days and cleaning some of the scale off of it. The back has a "V" stamped in it and the front says "70". I weighed it and it came out to about 73 pounds. I did a ring and bounce test (to the best of my novice ability) and the back of the top plate has a nice ring and the hammer rebounded about a third of the distance from which it was dropped. The center of the top plate was a dead thud with no rebound at all. The Anvil has definitely seen some abuse, but overall a nice heirloom for the shop. I would just like to find out some more information about the manufacturer, Vancouver Iron & Steel. I also took a picture of the branding irons that were passed down along with an old crow bar and not sure what the tool on the bottom was used for. If anyone has an idea any help would be appreciated. To me it looks like something that would be used to mount wagon wheels, but who knows.

Mr. Powers, Sounds like a great read thank you for the suggestion !! I will definitely get that ordered and give it a read. And yeah the luxury desert prerunners we make now a days have much more of the creature comforts of a normal car, but can still 100 over the 3 foot whoops in the desert. Definitely a ton of fun, just a ton of work. The last one I finished for a customer took right around 4,000 hours to build start to finish.

Hey Big gun Doctor, It's nice to meet you and unfortunately I wasn't out there for the Mint 400, I would like to have made it but have been so busy I wasn't able to get away. Your project sounds pretty awesome !!

Good morning, Unfortunately, I don't have any of the old equipment and really wish I did. My Grandmother spent some time at the Blacksmith shop while my grandfather was fighting in World War 2 since she lived with my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother during that time and although she is 99 years old this year, she still remembers some of that stuff. My great aunt who grew up there and still lives in Oklahoma is still alive as well and I'm going to talk with both of them and see if they know where all of that stuff went. It would be nice to track some of that stuff down.

Good morning, Thank you for sharing, that's a great story and you definitely have some experience in this arena and sure you have made some pretty cool stuff over the years. There is never a substitute for experience and years of hard work. It's nice to meet you and thanks for your response !!

Good morning sir, Thank you for your response and it's a pleasure to meet you. The anvil I have is unfortunately not the one in the photo, but I see another one farther back in the shop picture that it might be. I'll do the ring and bounce test today when I get to the shop and also take a couple pictures to share with you guys. I also got some of the old branding irons and a couple tools, but not sure what they were used for. Ultimately, I am not going to use the anvil and just going to make a cool display at my shop with the family history and hang the pictures and the branding irons as a tribute to the hard work of all blacksmiths. Thank you sir, I'll share some more when I get them. I'm a big history fan and like all the old stuff like that.

Funny you mention that, I have actually been in the metal fabrication industry for the last 27 years. I own a fabricating and engineering business that specializes in building off road race trucks from the ground up. They are 100% hand built trucks that race down in Baja Mexico in the Baja 1000 and so on. I also do special projects for the military and the aerospace industry. Metal fabricating has always come very easy, so I'm guessing I can thank my great great grandfather for that. But thank you for the tips on navigating the site, I will go through everything and learn how to navigate the site. I was just excited to get started and see if we could get this anvil identified. Have a good evening sir !! From what my grandmother told me it was near a town called Stonewall, Oklahoma ? Here is the photo of My Great Grandfather George Thomas working in the blacksmith shop circa 1940. And I double checked it was near Stonewall, Oklahoma. Its a pleasure to meet you gentleman.

Here is the Blacksmith shop. My Great Great Grandfather William Herbert McKenzie is standing next to the wagon with the large brimmed hat and the tiny kid on the left side of the picture is my Great Grandfather George Thomas McKenzie. I have another picture of George Thomas all grown up and about 50 years old working in the same blacksmith shop. I will get that posted as well for you guys, pretty cools stuff.

Thank you sir, my entire family is originally from Oklahoma and some still live there !! I will get the pictures posted ASAP. I had to do some cleaning on the anvil and soaking in some penetrant oil to get the years of crust off of it. Thank you for your quick response.

Good evening, I am looking at identifying an old anvil that has been passed down over the years through the family and curious as to the history of the manufacturer. The anvil has the raised lettering "Van I&S FNDRY Vancouver WN" My Great Great grandfather started the McKenzie Blacksmith shop in Oklahoma in the late 1800's and the shop ran until the mid 1940's when my Great Grandfather retired. Some of the old branding irons and tools have been passed down over the generations along with the anvil, but not sure if it was one of the original anvils used in the shop. I have pictures of the anvil as well as the original blacksmith shop with both my Great Great Grandfather and my Great Grandfather if your interested and that helps. I truly appreciate the help on this and look forward to hearing back. Thank you in advance, Tom McKenzie