Craig M. DeLong

ThankYou George.....for the odd-spells I use it should work fine. The HDPE for the base was part of a dock/ramp in a marina I worked on for the construction company I worked for. We mostly built bridges for the state and counties here in the Hudson Valley, NY. Some engineer had designed and used this material for the non-rot qualities, used all stainless hardware to fasten it. I had never seen this material either but it seems pretty industructable.

Hello again....got my anvil cleaned up and mounted to the base today. Good & solid and the right height for me (abt. 31") Base is a piece of 12x12 HDPE (hi-density polyethylene) molded to look like a wood timber. Base weighs 96 lbs, anvil 102 lbs. 10 ga. stainless angle holds each leg. When they forged the anvil the 4 feet did not all set even on a level surface so had to route the base for a solid mount. Anvil cleaned up nice with wire cup and it has a bees-wax/mineral oil coating on it. Made a frame on top to assist in moving and hold hammer & tools. Noticed a strange set of punch marks on the base, two sets of 4 marks, anybody seen such marks before? Craig

Thanks for the info folks....always use more information. As far as rebound, all I have is a 5/8" ball bearing and it jumps back up at least 70% without measuring on most of the plate. I have used boiled linseed oil in the past on a few things but have lately switched to my own mixture of bees wax & mineral oil. I melt a 1 oz chunk of wax in about a cup of oil, makes a nice pastey mixture. Works well on everything from shovel handles, boots, sno- shovels so the snow dosen't stick, to anything metal I want to proteck.. I also use it on wifes butcher block work table in the kitchen. Linseed oil has a tendency to grow a mold/fungus and turn dark. All in all it is just another tool in my shop, that I have had all my life, to use as needed. I just think more of this one because of its past with my folks. When I get it all cleaned up and mounted I'll update with a few pics! Thanks again....Craig

Thankyou for the reply.....there is no welding, grinding or milling being done to my old anvil as it is in satisfactory condition for what I occasionaly use it. A few yrs ago I did a quick, light sandblast to clean it up and will now use the surface conditioning pads on it. After clean-up I will probably use a mixture of Bees-wax & mineral oil on it to keep the surface rust down, then mount to a solid base for an overall heigth of 30" or so. I am not a blacksmith per say but do much fabricating with welding, cutting etc. on machinery . Just want to make it decent to pass down to my son, I'm 73 so it won't belong before I do not need it! Thanks Again,,,Craig

Here are the pics!

Hello All...reading the posts and hoping to gleen a little info on an old anvil I have. This William Foster was my GGgrandfathers here in the Catskill Mountains of NY. It is stamped 0*3*18 ad a large"C". The year marking is incomplete (or worn off) and shows 184*. I thought I could make out a partial " 2 " for the last number. I know for sure it was owned by my Ggrandfather who was in the 4th NY cavalry in the Civil War and pretty sure it was his fathers, who was a blacksmith up here in the mountains. The condition looks (to me) as pretty good for a 180 year old tool. Any thoughts on this old anvil by the experts here as to why the last number of the year is missing and the overall condition. Am going to clean nit up and make a new base for it this spring. Thanks, Craig M. DeLong I hope I can figure out how to post pics below........