Here is the beginning of an anvil I started building today.

I put it together from what I had on hand, because I figured although I'm no expert, and never made an anvil before, anything would be better than the HF ASO I've been dealing with for a year. I'm sure this picture will make somebody cringe. 

Can we have a side picture?  Solid Mass is what you are going for *not* trying to make something look like a london pattern anvil.

Did someone try to weld a steel plate to a cast iron anvil in that other picture?

Here is a side picture

the top portion is Two pieces of 4 1/2 x 2, and the bottom is 4 pieces of 1 3/4 square bars with some milling. With the solid mass, do you think it would be better to lose the lower bit and just use the larger top pieces? I wondered about that but figured more overall weight would be good, I'd love to get some input. 

I'd mount it vertically to have the most solid mass under the hammer---unless you did a full penetration weld between all the pieces!

When I was starting this I considered vertical too, but I gave in to the idea of a big face to work on. I put aside a length of the thicker stock to drop into a stump as a backup option

Emyrnes, how big is the face of your hammer?

Ditto vertical mount. You want effective and you can't strike more than the hammer's face per blow.

Frosty The Lucky.

It can be handy to have a large flat plate for truing up items; but that is usually just tapping and adjusting and so a heavier piece is not required.

Hey folks,

Been a while! Almost a year, sheesh. I just had to jump on here to brag about my recent acquisition

An M&H Armitage Mouse Hole

1.1.5 (145lbs)

If what I'm reading is correct from the folks with AIA, that puts it around 1820-1835 production..?

I bought it for $500 US from Joe, a friend of my wife's late grandfather Cotton. He's posted up on KY 68, 2 minutes west of me, for the annual 400 Mile Yard Sale going on this week. He got it at an Amish auction; I forgot to ask which county. Maybe a little high on his asking price, but he wouldn't budge and I had to have it. 

I know nothing about the 2 stamps at its front base, but if anyone has a guess I would be happy to hear it. 

It rings nicely and a ball peen hammer rebounds well, though I do not have a ball bearing at the moment. I did not do any doctoring in excess of a wire wheel brushing and some oil, although Joe admitted to me that the tip of the horn was in poor shape when he bought it and so, to my dismay, he took a grinder wheel to it and rounded it off a bit. 

All in all I am very happy with it and as soon as I get the forge back up and running, it shall be fed some hot steel. 

Thanks for checking it out.

 

I can see why you just had to have it. A very nice Mouse Hole indeed. The very minor edge wear and horn are nothing to worry about IMHO.

Nice condition, great anvils I'd put her to work as is.

Frosty The Lucky.

Very nice. 

You mention KY 68 400 mile sale.  

I live in East Tennessee.  We try to do the 127 Hwy yard sale that runs from Michigan to Alabama.  It is the 1st of part of August.  We also try to go to the Nashville Flea Market a couple of times a year.  

I am always looking for Blacksmithing tools so it becomes a great treasure hunt.

Edited June 3, 20224 yr by Richie B.
added content.

8 hours ago, Red Shed Forge said:

around 1820-1835 production..?

Mousehole (aka The Undisputed King of Anvils) started adding pritchel holes in about 1830, so that narrows it down even further to 1830-1835, the same as mine. Who knows; they might have even been in the factory at the same time!

JHCC,

Cool, thanks for that tidbit. It would be pretty neat if they were made at the same time!

10 hours ago, Richie B. said:

127 Hwy yard sale that runs from Michigan to Alabama.

I'll have to check that out one day, I'm always looking for some smithing tools too.

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I can't wait to work with her. 

This is mine. Paid 1.00/lb for it from some old guy's barn. 90lbs, but I don't know the maker. There are traces of a maker stamp on the side, but it is too rusted to be legible. Could be in better condition, but for the price, it does the job. 

Nice score WR. looks in good shape

It is in fairly good shape. Shoulders are a bit rounded, and there is a cut in the tip of the horn, but otherwise, it is workable. 

Looks good to me from here. Putting hammer to hot steel on her will shine up and smooth her face nicely. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Those edges don't look to rounded to me. In the book Practical Blacksmith by M.T. Richardson on pg. 92 a blacksmith from about the turn of the century wrote.

"For my own part, I am satisfied not only that the sharp edges are useless, but that they are also destructive of good work. I cannot account for their existence except as a relic of a time when the principles of forging were but little under stood. I want both edges of my anvil rounded, not simply for a part of their length, but for their whole length. To my mind the ideal anvil of 130 pounds is one having its edges (from the table to about 2/3 the length) rounded to a curve of three-eighths of an inch radius (from about 2/3 to the heal) rounded to a curve of three-sixteenths or one-quarter of an inch radius. The (edge of the heal) can be sharp to satisfy the unconverted.-By X."

Here is my garden anvil. 7kg new world anvil I bought a couple years ago and a stake anvil I made from 4140. I like to tap on some copper do-dads and stuff when we sit out and drink coffee on the weekends. 

nice little anvil that I will move to a jewelers bench when that time comes. 

That's is a beauty of an anvil Rojo. 

That is a beautifull anvil and lovely picture. You have a good eye for pictures.

This  is austrian anvil.

With stairs on them  and church doors.

 

Thanks to some wonderful advice on this forum,  I'm on my way to a functional anvil. I still want to add a piece of square tubing to hold hardy tools, especially the hold-down tool because this hammering surface is tiny to try to hold something steady in that spot while holding the other end/tongs between my legs. 

When you say “possible swage”, are you thinking of cutting grooves across the web, or rounding the web over as fuller?

For what it’s worth, I haven’t used the fuller I ground into the web of my own rail anvil, but your mileage may vary.