Though the pattern seems familiar I don't actually recall seeing one like yours. I can think of a number of handy things to use the curved side for. While I use the step on my anvil quite a bit for upsetting and yours lacks a step the feet have the same feature so that'd work for me.

Not having a Pritchel (round) hole would be a minor inconvenience as I most frequently use mine for a hold fast but other things will work instead and a bolster plate is actually handier for punching holes.

Isn't Skoda a large manufacturer that makes lots of different things? Cars, trucks and guns I'm familiar with but seem to recall other machinery and tools. A quick search shows a Czech, Skoda making steel, weapons and working in the nuclear industries.

This article seems to be about a Skoda Industries in Hungary. Škoda Works

Thanks for sharing the pics they lead to some interesting reading.

Frosty

Thanks for your interest and explaning some things...

I know that skoda was produced in čehoslovačka(cehoslovakia) now two countries and the ww2-hitler interest for that country was expecialy for the Iron and Steel in that time they were leading industry for steel.

Here are some pictures of my newest anvil. Picked it up at an antiques market in St.Jacob's, Ontario. It weighs around 110lbs and is in pretty good shape - a bit of rounding along the corners, a wee touch of swayback in the table but nice and solid. The hardy hole seems to be around 1" (maybe 7/8). I paid $197.00 Cdn for it (after taxes). It wasn't a super-deal but at a bit less than $2.00/lb (actually around $1.78/lb) it was a good deal I think.
There are some markings and numbers on the side and along the base (a bit fuzzy in the pics) but I don't know who made this anvil.
I'm happy with it and can't wait to use it.

Looks like peter wright stone weight is 114lbs. Nice find.
Ken

Got the PW for $100, the other for $75. heel on the PW was chipped, repaired by me with leaf spring and MIG.

Edited September 22, 200817 yr by JosephPrivott

Nice score. Thanks for the pictures. Now get to work forging.

I forged for about five hours today It felt good t get back to it. I've been looking at Penland's offerings for next fall, is anyone else planning on attending?

That is a good price for an anvil in good shape like this one. Congrats.
They are NOT so easy to find these days and after so much looking around ( how much time & gas ) you are lucky to find one in nice condition.
Very nice long horn, you will like it! Dan :)

i guess i'm a little late to participate in the majority of this thread but i'm got a nice 130lb anvil thats been in my family for 3 generations. unfortunatly there's too much rust on it right now to see any seals or writing on it...i'll get a picture up when i can.

by the way those are some nice anvils you all have...(rather new to blacksmithing)

It's just an old gear pinion of some sort that I welded to a drop hammer die. It weighs in somewhere around 220 lbs. I wish I still did :o

That looks like a dandy anvil.

Frosty

This is my first anvil and I lucked out on a really nice one in great condition.

It is a Fisher, which was owned by one family for at least 60 years.

Check it out

Joe Roman aka nutek

Here's my Swedish anvil. I don't know a particular maker. Maybe someone else does. It weighs about 117lbs.

That's a Soderfors Bruks, Falun, Sweden. I've got one a little larger, 131 pounds, it was the second anvil I ever bought. Used it twice, loaned it to my father 15 years ago and now I just get visiting rights! Good hunk of steel though.

Cheers,
Paul

Here's my Swedish anvil. I don't know a particular maker. Maybe someone else does. It weighs about 117lbs.

I still think the PW's are the best anvil you can get dollar for dollar (here in Aus anyway), so good score I say. Yours looks to have had a few years in the service of a right-handed smith who made a lot of chisels!

Cheers,
Paul

Here are some pictures of my newest anvil. Picked it up at an antiques market in St.Jacob's, Ontario. It weighs around 110lbs and is in pretty good shape - a bit of rounding along the corners, a wee touch of swayback in the table but nice and solid. The hardy hole seems to be around 1" (maybe 7/8). I paid $197.00 Cdn for it (after taxes). It wasn't a super-deal but at a bit less than $2.00/lb (actually around $1.78/lb) it was a good deal I think.
There are some markings and numbers on the side and along the base (a bit fuzzy in the pics) but I don't know who made this anvil.
I'm happy with it and can't wait to use it.

This Peter Wright has travelled a wee ways with me. Its condition is good it weighs in over 350lbs. The base (Ash) I traded with a saw miller in denmark for a bottle of snapps.
Aparently the more weight under the anvil the less dispersal of energy hence less work.
As a student I did travel with a 2.5cwt from Ireland to England by boat and train as a foot passenger. But them were the days when they built a strong bag..

These aren't mine but I find them useful to illustrate some points:


Block anvil probably of mild steel, as one might find in a scrapyard or in the scrap bin of a heavy engineering firm for little or no money. Yes it has slumped after many years of daily use but it is still usable.


This anvil is probably over a century old and is missing most of its face but is still used daily to produce very fine work. Put that hardfacing rod away, grab a hammer and start smithing!


One of my inspirations, an anvil improvised frm what was available. The body seems to be form some large vehicle and the inset is a lump of bloomery (wrought) iron. Note the multiple punching/tooling holes around the edge and the convenient mounting options available at the bottom -- this has the potential to be an excellent anvil and something similar could be found in many scrapyards for pennies per pound!


A cheap and very practical silversmithing setup that can be scaled to ironsmithing proportions. Note that a block anvil and bickern were the 'default' equipment for thousands of years before the anvil with integrated horn became fashionable. For ironsmithing the hammerhead can be replaced with a larger one (20lb is not uncommon and people don't generally want them) and the bickern can be one of your first projects, as can a stump hardy.

Edited March 20, 200917 yr by matt87

i would like to know if a anvil has only the english weight indicated by having a 1 1 24 stamped into the side and only having a number 9 stamped into a front foot what is the maker or origin or date of my first anvil what english makers would have used this weight method?

229dog, let me be the first to welcome you aboard. Amend your profile so we know where you are. That way we can help you better.

Your anvil weighs 164 pounds. All English makers (and other industries) used that system for marking weights. So, for example, until the change to metric Chubbused to strike the same weight markings onto the top edge of safe doors. In British schools we used to be taught the system although it is now, obviously, obsolete with the use of Kgs in UK.

This is my Anvil, a Arm & Hammer, 191 pounds. Belonged to my Father in Law and handed down from his father. I believe that they were the original owners. Does anyone know about how old this is?

Edited May 24, 200917 yr by Square Nail

Where did you get that stand from??

This is my Anvil, a Arm & Hammer, 297 pounds. Belonged to my Father in Law and handed down from his father. I believe that they were the original owners. Does anyone know about how old this is?

If you provide the serial number, I can look up the approx. manufacturing date in my copy of 'Anvils in America'.

The stand came with the anvil, and I believe it was the original stand that came with the anvil.

The serial NUmber stamped on the front is 30314. I misstated the weight in my original post but have corrected it. The weight stamped is 191 pounds. The 297 pounds is with the stand.

30314 corresponds to 1917-1918 range. Nice anvil by the way.