Taylor, congrats.. That looks great.. Looking forwards to your projects. 

  My newest anvil, a 126 lb Hay-Budden SN A16845, I picked up for 400 USD yesterday. TPAAAT works! I was not even looking when I found this one.

  I believe the A  indicates made in 1920 or later and that the top piece is cast steel and forge welded to a wrought iron base? Please correct me if I am wrong. Would some one please look it up in AIA and let me know what the mfg date?  Thanks.

8 hours ago, Elemental Metal Creations said:

let me know what the mfg date?  Thanks.

AiA says 1919

I traded my 150# PFP for this 192# Brooks

12 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

AiA says 1919

Thanks.

 

Here's my anvil - 148# Soderfors.  I love this anvil!  I found it at an old iron (hit-n-miss engine) swap meet a couple of years ago and paid right at $4/lb for it.  I think I got a great deal.  She looks to be in excellent shape, with some pitting overall, but edges look clean and only minor chipping there.  Great rebound and rings like crazy!

 

Anybody know what the "155" below the weight means? 

 

I made some spikes to chain mount it to a stump, hoping the chain would help quiet her down some, and indeed it does.  Work on the face is within the bearable audible range, but getting close to the heel you risk permanent hearing loss!  Too bad my neighbor works nights.   

I cleaned her up with a wire wheel and didn't find any other marks on her, but she was pretty rusty all over - probably spent some time outside since her last user.  Once cleaned up, I treated her to a BLO rubdown and a nice inside location.

 

Very nice!

Try a layer of silicone caulk between the anvil and the stump and put a magnet on the underside of the heel. Both of those should help quiet the ring even more.

What he said!  You know you can buy a really really fancy anvil for the cost of a decent pair of hearing aids these days.  Avoid the hearing damage and buy the anvil!

When Frosty sees this, I bet he will drool all over the keyboard. Great looking Soderfors for sure.

5 hours ago, Steamcheng said:

Here's my anvil - 148# Soderfors.  I love this anvil! 

As does anybody who's worked on a Soderfors! 

She's a beauty, can we get a closer look at the face and edges please?

Soderfors anvils are notoriously hard so chipped edges are the norm it doesn't effect their condition much until it gets bad.

I used to get involved asking and talking about identifying marks but the Soderfors foundry is a HUGE operation, takes up a large % of the town of Soderfors in fact. Anvils were as much cast from what was left in the ladle as they were a real product. They'd make you whatever anvil and markings you were willing to pay for so you see some different markings.

Is there anything cast proud? 

The only thing I can think of for the 155 stamped directly under the 148 is a buyer or owner's scale wasn't accurate or maybe he felt he could get more if it "weighed" more than 150lbs. 

It was common in the day to stamp your own ID in tools and equipment.

Quieting her down is important, mine will make your ears ring through good muffs and ear plugs with a mis-strike on the face. The above suggestions will help quiet her down for you but she'll still be LOUD. 

I had good luck mounting mine of a steel tripod, the difference in resonant frequencies between the hardened high carbon cast Swedish steel of the anvil and the mild structural steel of the tripod damps the ring. I still need ear protections for missed blows, especially on heel or horn but it's a giant improvement.

Congratulations, you're anvil is as good as it gets. She's good for several more generations. Enjoy.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks, Frosty.  Good stuff!  I have been reading all the posts on Soderfors anvils here and count myself lucky to have a great one.  The face has some pitting and one edge has a little bit of chipping, but otherwise it is in excellent condition and just needs to be used.  Now that I have time and a good space, I plan on remedying that!  

I'm a former career Navy steam engineer, so I come equipped with eye and hearing protection wherever I go.  I only have two of each of those sensors, and plan to keep using them the rest of my life, so if using this anvil means wearing hearing protection it isn't anything unusual or discouraging for me.  Anyway, with the chain hold-down I rigged it isn't that loud now unless working on the heel or horn.  I'll put some silicone caulk underneath and add that magnet.  I have some sheet lead and for a moment thought about putting a layer of that underneath, but I like the caulk idea a lot better.  Less hazardous too!

The anvil has no marks cast proud.  Everything appears stamped.  In addition to the marks identified in my previous post, I found this one on the foot under the heel - says 8921 or maybe 8927.  Possibly a serial number?  

 

Here are a couple shots of the face:

And finally, here are some photos of the edges.  I think they are in fantastic condition, despite the little bit of chipping!

This one down below is the one that shows the little bit of chipping.  I can't really see that getting in the way of anything I'll be doing.

 

Thanks again for all the great info on this site!  My hat is off to you ladies and gentlemen who share your knowledge to keep the craft alive and well!

Steamcheng

That's a beauty.  The face looks like condensation pitting.  I have an HB that spent 50 years in an unheated shed in a swampy area near a stream in Ohio that had similar pitting.  I brushed off any loose rust and started using it and the face is polishing out just by working hot steel on it.  Even better you lose none of the years of loose life left on it by "cleaning it up".  (I'm too cheap to spend money to throw away even more money!)

Ditto Thomas, that looks like condensation pitting. Working her should take care of that in a while.

The edges look sharp from here, have they been radiused? Radiusing sharp edges on an anvil is the only time I suggest taking a grinder to one. 

The chipped edges on mine were unradiused. There are other good reasons for a radiused edge, setting shoulders on a sharp edge makes the inside corner sharp and is a stress riser which leads to breaking. Just like scoring glass to cut it. 

Frosty The Lucky.

The edges do have a small radius and are not particularly sharp.  The area near the chipping is a little bigger radius.  I don't think the edges are too square and sharp as they are.

It's your anvil use it like you will. I personally would radius the edges a bit more to make them more useful and not leave cold shuts in the work.  The Factory expected the users to dress the edges as they found best for their own methods and work.

For the grand kids, one of two.

Impressive Charles!  But I'm not going to show that picture to my 8 Grandkids...Raising the bar for others is only good when dancing the Limbo!

Thanks TP.
Must say, the grand daughter was more fun than the boy, he was more interested in the big anvil, big hammer, hot and pokey things (don’t touch its hot, sizzle...). 
the girl on the other hand took a price of aluminum grounding wire (salvaged off  pole) , squared it, pointed it, made it round, refined it and filed it smooth. 

Luckily she live 20 min away and he lives 20 hours away...

We're hoping that these 4 will be living about an hour North vs the 2 living a day east and the 2 living about 2 days NE.  Age ranges from toddler to college.

On 6/8/2021 at 8:48 AM, Steamcheng said:

That looks like a Harbor Freight dolly. I have one just like it, except I cut boards to fit across the opening in the middle and screwed them in place. 

 

On 6/30/2021 at 11:54 PM, Charles R. Stevens said:

For the grand kids, one of two.

Looks great. I got my old improvised anvil out for them to use, but mine for some reason prefer to use a large chunk of concrete. 
 

What you made sort of reminds me of the Stanley Cup. 

If a little harder to lift overhead. 

Still have to weld the spike on and mount the second one. Seeing as the grand daughter stepped up. 

My new to me Peter Wright, it was definitely an adventure going to get it, it’s got some ruff spots but it did pass the ball bearing test and it does have a ring to it. It was advertised as a 234# anvil but it’s marked 2-0-1 so I believe it’s 225#, I have not put it on a scale yet though, anyways I picked it up for $500 cash so I’m not complaining. I feel it’s worth the $2.22 a pound till I find something a little better shape. 

I believe it was made after 1910 after looking in Anvils in America, because it has the England stamp on it. And my other Peter Wrights in the picture do not. The other two are 94# and 124#. Also there’s a letter R stamped on the bottom between the feet and my other two don’t have anything stamped there, I was wondering if anyone might know anything about that? 

I couldn’t wait to try it out so I attempted to make a hot dog roaster and it worked awesome… the anvil did, not the hot dog roaster, it needs work… 

Looks' to have come out of a chisel or miners area.. that type of wear is due to a lot of work on just the tip of a bar..