Show me your anvil

[njanvilman]

I have had this anvil for about 30 years, and wasnt sure what it was. From what information i have gathered it is a Fisher saw doctors anvil. It has an Eagle cast in the front, and Fisher on one end. And a date that looks like 1825 cast in the other end. I rubbed a little soap stone on the raised profiles to make them stand out in the picture.It measures 7"x12" on top, and 12 3/4"x16 3/4" at the base, and stands 14" tall.My guess is about 500 pounds. I am not in need of it any longer and am trying to figure out what its worth.

 

If you send me the dimensions of the top, base, and height, I can give you a pretty exact weight.  If you are trying to sell it, PM me.  Interested as long as it is not on the other side of the world from me in NJ.  Shipping anything that heavy would be a deal breaker.

 

BTW, the anvil is dated 1925, not 1825.  Fisher did not exist then.

[Bottomgottem]

New acquisition from this past weekend. Our first real anvil! Appears to be a Peter Wright.

 

[Frosty]

She looks like she has a couple generations of good solid work in her for sure. Nice score.

 

Were she mine I'd lose the truck rim stand, more of a trip hazard than a good anvil stand. That's me though, tastes differ.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ytuyuty]

My newly-acquired Trenton. Maybe someone could help me with determining what kind of Trenton this is, the date of manufacture, and other pertients that you might notice.

 

Serial number is 76635 stamped on the right front base.

The number 146 is stamped on the left front base, along with a strange logo. I guess 146 is the weight.

What is the strange logo on the front left base?

The depression in the base is an hourglass.

The Trenton logo is stamped on the side, but I do not see any other markings.

Ring is excellent and rebound is about 30-40%.

Obtained from a junkyard in Ohio.

 

This will replace my Vulcan 7.

 

[Crazy Ivan]

All I can tell you is that it is an American made Trenton made in contract with Hay-Budden. In fine shape too! Good grab for sure. Someone on here will be able to give you a date of manufacture from the serial number and likely more information too. I really gotta get my hands on a copy of AIA...

[ytuyuty]

Found out that my Trenton was made in 1908, based on the serial numbers given in another thread/forum.

[marcusb]

Finally got my main anvil on a proper stump. Please excuse the mess :)

[ytuyuty]

No one has anything to say about the logo on the left base of my Trenton??? :huh:

[Foundryman]

Isn't that logo just a "K", that wasn't stamped in straight or particularly deeply at the top?

[ytuyuty]

Ah, yes..... Thanks Foundryman

[Fatfudd]

All I can tell you is that it is an American made Trenton made in contract with Hay-Budden. In fine shape too! Good grab for sure. Someone on here will be able to give you a date of manufacture from the serial number and likely more information too. I really gotta get my hands on a copy of AIA...

 

Ivan-

Where did you come up with the part about Trenton contracting with HB for the bottoms?

 

[Crazy Ivan]

Unless I'm mixing up makers, I read that on here somewhere, but now that you got me doubting myself, it may have been ACME anvils that did that? Can anyone correct me if I'm wrong? My apologies if it was bad info. Now I am unsure, and embarrassed....I know I heard of it somewhere but can't place where.

[Black Frog]

Both Hay Budden and Trenton made ACME anvils for Sears at different times.....

[Crazy Ivan]

That may have been my confusion then. My apologies for the bad info everyone. I really need a copy of AIA....

[Fatfudd]

The bases on early Trenton anvils and any Hay Budden anvils are so different that they really don't resemble each other. The Trentons have a deep hollowed base while the HB's are very shallow if they have any depression at all. They each had an hour glass shape but that is about the only similarity between them. 

[Big-D]

Here's my new portable anvil, a 1-1-10 (150#) Peter Wright:

 

 

It's true, anvils do fall from the sky.  I think this is the third anvil that's almost hit me in the head in the past six months, the other two were a ~100# Kohlswa and a ~80# Arm and Hammer (NOT a Vulcan!!!).  I don't get it when folks say they have trouble finding an anvil.

[humphreymachine]

Here’s a 148.5 lb H. B. I picked up the other day for 100. It appears to have spent some time on a damp floor or the like. There are some horizontal bands which appear to be the slabs of wrought iron which were originally forged together to form the body of the anvil? I’m guessing that like an old wrought iron anchor or other weathered wrought iron object the ‘grain’ starts to show as softer iron starts to corrode away before the harder slag. The top pitting is not too deep and should easily remove with a little belt sanding.

[Fatfudd]

That's actually an early Trenton. See the above discussion.

[humphreymachine]

I see the above discussion about Hay-Buddens not having deep depressions in the base but this one is an exception I guess. It’s tough to see in the photos but the H B stamp is there.

[Fatfudd]

Yep I stand corrected!

[Dave Parker]

Here is a woodruff I picked up, lust because it is the only one I have ever seen.  It was holding up a Hay Budden. 

[Woodweavil]

Not done yet but this was cut from 4" plate. Horn was roughed with a O/A torch the finished with a 7" zircon flap disc. Feet cut separate and will be severely welded ;)

I'm building a similar one with a welded AR400 face and a 4x6 side shelf

[tomfromuk]

So I collected my first anvil this weekend for £70, not sure what 'make' it is but if anyone knows please say.

 

It was very rusty upon arrival but 1/2 hour with a wire cup fixed that.

 

At a guess I would say it has a cast iron body with a steel plate on top, the anvil makes a slightly higher pitched ring when hit on the side at the top versus the when hit at the side on the bottom. The rebound seems reasonable, although without a metal ball bearing its not so easy to tell but probably around 60%-70%. It does appear to have some numbers on the side, two twos i think. 2 0 2 perhaps? 103kgs? I put it on the bathroom scales and it weighed in at around 90-100 kg's or so. 

 

The hardy hole is roughly 1 inch square and the pritchel hole is 5/8 of an inch. 

 

       

 

 

Its going to have to go outside on a wooden stump in the woods, I was thinking of painting the main body apart from the horn/face to protect it from getting rusty again and then just oiling the face/horn every so often. Ill cover it with a plastic bucket when not in use. 

 

One thing I'm concerned about is what effect the freezing weather will have on the anvil and if it will be okay to use. It never gets less than -10oC here.

 

Thanks

 

 

Tom 

[Crazy Ivan]

I don't have a guess as to the make of that one, but there is no evidence of it being cast, plus the handling holes under the horn and heel suggest a forged (likely wrought iron) body with a forge welded face plate. The absense of a cutting block and general shape of it suggests an older style. There were loads of english anvils made very similar to that style so its hard to guess. Either way it looks to be in great shape!

[KRS]

Tom, depending on the wood you might want to consider placing bitumen between the anvil and the wood.

Some trees, oak particular, contain aggressive acids. The bottom paint will very likely wear off and expose the metal to acid.

I had a hammer laying on a fresh oak over night, the next day it looked like it has been a month in the rain

A cold anvil will draw the heat out of the working peace, don´t use a sledge while its too cold and warm the anvil up with smaller work first