Frosty Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Sounds good, we LOVE pics here. Please avoid using the ampersand tag it messes with the site operating system. After a while the mods will discuss it with you. Just joking they'll ask you to stop using tags and unless you keep making life difficult they're generally pretty decent folks. Rather than using that large piece of plate to make a hardy hole take a look at "portable holes" examples will come up in a search of IFI. If not someone will link you. some guys REALLY beef them up but the basic idea is to make a free standing hardy hole, square tubing, welded up from strap stock, etc. and mount it on a stand at the same level as your anvil's face. The one in your anvil will be fine for bending, twisting and cutting with a hardy, the portable one can love your hammer. Another handy thing being TWO hardy holes at the same height. Hmmm? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingAether Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Thanks for letting me know about the ampersand, i had a post in the past removed or edited and notification about "not using reply like that" from a mod but i wasn't told what i did wrong so just trying to avoid anymore issues (y) Ill go have a look into the solo hardy's in a minute, it would be nice to keep the plate for chisel work etc and these are the pictures i have available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 1 hour ago, KingAether said: avoid anymore issues I see the ampersand's have been removed. Have you read this, it will help you keep off the moderators radar . READ THIS FIRST Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Mr. Dragon, The ampersand symbol, " & ", stands for the word and, like in your business name. Strangely, the at symbol, @, has no English name. Some folks use the Spanish term "arroba" to describe it. Check out wikki for a discussion about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign Regards, and merry X-mas when it arrives. SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Slag interesting.. for some reason I have always called it the AT symbol.. @ = At.. Right or wrong.. huh.. Thats funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Turns out I had the wrong name attached to the "at" symbol. I had to read a few online dictionary definitions to find a definition and origin for the "Ampersand." The best one I found this morning is here under the more button. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ampersand Turns out it's a contraction of the name of the 27th. letter of the alphabet. The letter was "and." it's name was, "And per se And." The shape of the ex-letter is derived from the Latin word, "etc." Latin script being cursive the E and C ran together and became "@." In modern us it became standard in accounting to save space and time. Boy, nothing I like better than starting a day with a cup of coffee and the dictionary! Only boring people can look up A word. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Welcome! If you haven't been moderated at least once---you must type a whole lot better than a lot of us do! On the other hand; having a site I have no fears about directing my Grand Daughters to is very nice indeed! I noticed your anvil had an issue with that shiny liquid all over it---Perhaps it would like to winter over here in a nice sunny location that gets only 9" of precipitation in the average year? (And we are not having raging range fires either...) It could pal around with my bob-tailed Powell called "Bob". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingAether Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Thanks Thomas. The anvil was only out in the wet when i got it home to give it a shower; all nice a snug in a warm shop now Do you have a link to any pictures of your bob-tail? I saw it mentioned in a post someone linked my above too, looks from google like it might be a common fault to powells. Slap my dictionary and call me boring then, Frosty. I'm a big fan of entomology, how and why things work tend to interest me more than the fact they work or what it does Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Sort of; I've been told my old phone's pictures are of poor quality and in this one it has a lot of junk on it and the prosthetic hardy hole needs to be reset, but...it's the one in the middle on the mine timber with the silver handle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingAether Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 What a lovely pair! I think ill buy some square bar and concrete mix tomorrow to make a portable hardy. Its definitely clear where the original weld happened on the bottom of the heel of mine and seems a weak spot for sure. Further along that it looks yours broke though, just before the hardy hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Mine was from back in the days when the face was welded on as a series of plates and the body was welded up from a bunch of chunks. Well the face plate had a seam that was aligned with the body/heel seam, which was aligned with the front side of the hardy hole => the "perfect storm". I expect someone missed with the sledge on a cold morning and was unhappy for the rest of his smithing career. Anyway the face is HARD and FLAT and the horn is worn but usable. I generally use it as a striking anvil for students as the bad thing has already happened and it is mostly sweet spot now. Weighs around 125# and cost me US$40 from a farrier selling it at the fleamarket. I'd buy another half dozen of them if I could! The prosthesis really needs to be welded onto the body; but as I really don't need it. I haven't got around to it---maybe when there is electricity to the shop... You can see a couple more of my travel anvils horn on above it. When teaching I like to have only 2 people per anvil, means that my gas mileage is often pretty bad when I take the class on the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingAether Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 Ah that rests my mind a little on it being as brittle as i might have worried it was. Maybe mine was later made as i see no clear seams on the face at all, its very clean but i can about see where the face was forge welded on all the way around and it looks as if it was in one piece. #125 as is or marked weight ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelonian Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 My Wilkinson suffered a similar loss at one point in its life: Stamped weight of 213lb, now weighs 185lb. I've been using it for a little over a year now, and even without the heel it does most of what an intact anvil would. (At least with the addition of a few other tools to replace some of the missing features) Thomas, do you have a closer photo of the prosthetic hardy hole on yours? Is the square tubing just supported by the slant of the foot, or is there an added support? I'd like to add something similar to mine at some point. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 I had a piece of square stock hot fitted into the handling hole under it. That helped a lot till energetic students knocked it loose. I think the next one I will hot fit the tubing to the side of the anvil and run it all the way to the base so the shock goes to the stand and use the straps just to hold it tight to the side of the anvil. Of course since I have other holders for hardy tooling and it's useful to have a striking anvil for the lightening strikers---never hit the same place twice. I may just remove the prosthesis and let it be. I've owned it for about 20 years so far... At quad state I saw an anvil where the horn had been broken off and was held on with a forge welded circle with forge welded straps back under the heel, threaded with a cross strap bolted on. Probably work for light work and it was an old fix. (In Practical Blacksmithing, IIRC, there was one where a fellow fitted the horn back on with a dovetail---probably have been easier to forge weld it back on in my opinion!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pleep Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 M&H 1-0-14 122 pounds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 Welcome to IFI Pleep, I always suggest reading this to get the best out of the forum. READ THIS FIRST Knowing your general location will help answering some questions, hence the suggestion to edit your profile to show it. Good looking MH you have. I hope you have read about not doing any grinding, milling or welding on the hardened steel face. The small amount of sway is actually a plus for straightening longer stock. The anvil stone weight indicates a weight of 126 pounds so she has lost a few. Have you done a ring & rebound test? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 Or the original scale was off a bit assuming the modern one was calibrated recently. Well within tolerance in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtCoffee Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 New anvil I got today for taking a man a washer and dryer! I am thinking this is a Peter Wright! What do yall think? Oh and it was free , I made a coment about his shed being a good black smith shop and he looked at me and said I think I have an anvil out there , Let's go look ! And there it was I picked it up and broaght it outside to have a better look ! I asked how much he would take for it and he said it's yours, you brought me a washer and dryer! I think it is a Peter Wright! What do yall think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 Certainly looks like it. Heavily used, but cleaned up nice. Do you have a photo of the face post-cleanup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 Looks like it to me too. I hope you have read about not doing any grinding, milling or welding on the hardened steel face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad.blacksmithing Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 Peter Wright for sure. I've always wondered why anvils got chipped edges. Does anyone know? Surely someone can't miss hit along the entire edge. Congratulations on your anvil sgtcoffee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtCoffee Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 I will post a face shot of it tomorrow, it is in very bad shape, not much rebound in most of the face. Might have been welded on in the past! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 Happy Almost, Peter Wright Anvils have a step at the edge of the feet. Doesn't matter who built it, it is now "YOURS". Warm it up with a little hot metal and treat it like a new baby!! Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtCoffee Posted December 30, 2019 Share Posted December 30, 2019 I don't think I could mess this Ole Girl up any more if I hooked her to the truck and drug her to Cali ! Yall said you like pictures so I like taking them and here ya go Gents ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted December 30, 2019 Share Posted December 30, 2019 20 hours ago, Conrad.blacksmithing said: Peter Wright for sure. I've always wondered why anvils got chipped edges. Does anyone know? Surely someone can't miss hit along the entire edge. Congratulations on your anvil sgtcoffee. Along a 100+ years of service life, the chances of hitting an edge are rather high. Plus , you don't need to hit the anvil directly on the edge with the hammer to damage it if the base is soft. It is enough to strike the stock that is not hot enough in the wrong place once. However ... the elephant in the room is quality. Unfortunately in the US as in Australia, the vast majority of anvils are from English provenience and they do lack in quality. We tend to overlook their shortcomings because that is all we have with very few exceptions. The truth is that you will be hard pressed to find a German or Austrian or French or Belgian or Swiss anvil in that state. As for the anvil in the picture above, I am sure that an expert in anvil repairs would love to give that anvil a new lease of life. i would perhaps venture to do some minor repairs myself, but never something that involved. My suggestion is to look for an anvil repair day in your area and bring it along with a large case of beer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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