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I just bought my father a "new" anvil for his birthday . I was wondering if anyone here could help me determine its age. From what I've read, I assume it's a Fisher because of the eagle emblem cast onto its right side. It has "225" cast onto one of it's front feet. I assume that is it's advertised weight. I weighed it at 230 pounds. "h65" is cast onto the back of it above the feet. There are no other numbers, letters, or symbols appearing on it. It does have mounting lugs with holes in them front and rear. Any info would be much appreciated . Thanks in advance . Doug.

Last month I acquired this 160# Fisher anvil for $50. It has some issues with a torch mark, chisel gouges, and some abused edges. I rescued it from a rough life in a hillbilly garage. The guy couldn't remember if it was in a garage fire or not. I'll have to admit, after cleaning the surface with a wire brush before buying the face seemed lively, but not what I'm used to with my German Trenton. There was no evidence outwardly of it being in a fire, so I took a chance. After cleaning her up and trying to get some usable profile on the edges, I finally got around to a ball bearing test. The face does seem soft with me only getting 6.5 - 7.0 inch rebound on a 10 inch drop. Not being familiar with Fisher's, I thought I'd put the question out to the forum of what some of you Fisher users typically get on the ball bearing rebound test. I'm just trying to determine how soft my face may have become if it did go through a fire. My Trenton returns 9.0 - 9.5 rebound results on the 10 inch drop. Heck, the heal of my Trenton gives me 8's which beats the Fisher's sweet spot. Even though the face seems soft, I still think it's usable as a second anvil. I don't think I overpaid at $50, so no buyer's remorse here knowing it has a good horn, hardie, and pritchel. I've also read that some of the old 18th century anvils return 70 - 75% rebounds, so the face is still usable as long as I don't miss hitting the hot steel. I've PM'd a few on this forum about this anvil and the consensus was that it does seem soft for a Fisher but I thought I'd ask you Fisher users what rebounds you typically get on yours?

I finally took the plunge and bought my first anvil. It's a 200lb Fisher-Norris "Eagle". The auctioneer called it a "city" anvil because due to the manufacturing process it doesn't have the telltale high pitched ring. At least that's what he said. I think I may have gotten caught up in the bidding and overpaid a bit for this, but it's really what I was looking for, so I'm telling myself it's OK. I know it's worth is in the eye of the beholder, so I'm not asking if I got a good deal or a bad deal, I'm asking if you would pay $800 for this anvil? Do we have any Fisher experts in our midst? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

I have been contacted by a representative of SOFA about casting a Fisher anvil at the Quad States meet. There are many technical problems to be worked out. The first is a question for everyone: Who is a good source for O1 tool steel? This is what is needed for the face and horn. The face is easy; probably 1/4" flat stock. But I will need some thicker, maybe 3/4" to carve the steel for the horn. We are still working out what size anvil to attempt, so I do not know a width yet. So if anyone has a recommendation of who to contact for this material, let me know. Not much is needed. We will probably only be doing a 20 - 30 lb anvil. If anyone has any 1/4" x 1 1/2", that will do for the face. But a thicker piece(3/4" x 1 1/2"?) will probably be needed for me to shape the horn steel. This is very tentative. I am not sure if we can pull this off. There are a lot of parts of the process to create and figure out. Thanks.

My display at the conference. Anvils there were: #10 Fisher Chainmaker's, 1000 lb 800 lb Fisher 500 lb Fisher + pattern 150 lb Fisher, NOS, 1949 111 lb, Maine made Fisher 50 lb, one of the last Fishers, from the last pour 58 lb Insonora Fisher export anvil 100 lb swage block + pattern 0 size, 10 lb Fisher and the museum sign. Just a sampling of the museum collection.

Hello! My father owns a Fisher anvil. Pics attached. No Eagle. Has 1950 stamp. We know that it was manufactured before the turn of the century but little else. Any info would be appreciated.