Anvils have not always received tender loving care. They show the scars, chips, dings, and broken parts of being misused. Show us photos of those anvils so we can better understand the value of an anvil in good condition.

Looked a bit worse in real life than it does in the first photo.

Hoping it is going to look a lot better soon......



one_rod.

If you are ever get close to Bonner Springs, Ks just west of Kansas City. There is the National Agricultural Hall of Fame Museum. It has some interesting displays of early farm life and Machinery, but do your self a favor and don't look in the east part of the Blacksmith Shop. There are over 300 of the most abused, derelick and unusable anvils you ever saw, and to add insult to injury some Idiot has numbered them with an arc welder, sometimes on the face. Took me about 2 weeks to recover from the shock.

The display should be labeled Boat Anchor Heaven.

The display is absoulutely disgusting and is a disgrace to the Blacksmithing profession in my opinion. There might be a few repairable anvils, but darn few.

When I first bought it, my big Peter Wright was sway backed about 3/4" inch deep over 8-10 inches on one edge and the heel almost broken through at the hardy hole (all this was repaired). I have no pics of others but most of what I have seen consisted of sway backs, which is often just honest wear - and knuckleheads using a torch on them. The 400 lb Hay Budden I recovered for the local conservation society had been gouged with a torch and a chisel, all of which I welded up with the MIG and then reground. I have also seen faceplates busted off completely - two were Trentons that probably both had bad welds as they came away quite cleanly, leaving only small fragments of the face to show there was ever one at all. The typical damage a potential buyer usually sees is crumbled edges, which usually is a result of improper use.

In the first post, is that sledge hammer behind the anvil part of the problem or just happen to be in the photo?

Well, my current anvil was pretty severely borked when I got it. Nothing 4 hours of grinding couldnt fix.

hi all....

i am Brett AKA pcII75

this is my anvil.

a nice old mouse hole... i am the third owner of this anvil...

it is the first one pictured but heres is some more pics.
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this anvil has been owned by me for about a year now.
it is from an old farm up in the north of Western australia just outside of geralton.

i was given this from a friend who got it from the station, bought it home to his place in geralton, and it fell off the trailer. burried up to the horn... and was left there for 2 yrs

but it is a nice anvil. great bounce and ring to it. its got a wrought iron body and tools steel top.. i love it...

but it was broken BEFORE i got it... i dont use a sledge on it.

the sledgie is one that i use with my father when he is doing spring work...
he cant swing anymore as he damaged his shoulders,

from the owner

brett :)

Makes me wish I had a digital camera...

I have several severly damaged anvils

The worst is a small vulcan with the horn broke off---just recently---they gave it to me when I found them a "real" anvil, displaying such bad casting porosity that I was amazed that it had held up long enough for them to batter the sides off till the face that's left is only about an inch or so wide.

Then I have a 1828 William Foster with the heel an 90% of the face missing; it was probably originally close to 125-150 # Cost $5

Then there is my "loaner" anvil, over 100#, good face but missing the heel, Name starts POW so I had to spend the $40 for it

Then there is my "cold work anvil" 407#, probably a trenton from the base dimple, beautiful face except that a copper mine's welders used it as a welding "table" and there is ugly gouges through that flat and nice face, got about $100 in it and may one day repair it to have a smaller back up from my main shop anvil

Finally I have an old oilpatch bridge anvil that has the typical beat to heck face on it.

Gotta go,

Thomas

for what its worth, an anvil with horn broke off makes a nice upsetting work face while setting on the floor for those long pieces and also for pieces 18 to30 inches long too.

We need to add this anvil to the thread as it would appear to be abused to some, but with a date of mfg of 1723, the abuse if mostly use, and is in rather good condition for it's age.

Glenn, that 1723 anvil is an old french style isn't it? Where did you get that picture or do you own that anvil? It may be abused, but just think of all of the history an that anvil and you can't help but wonder what tools (or possible weapons for war) was created on that very anvil being that old. Yes it is abused, but I would have no shame in owning that piece of history.

Photo came from the IForgeIron Gallery. Hofi posted the photo.

FRANCH ANVIL DATED 1723 A FRANCH ROHSET ON THE SIDE AN
''MN'' MONARCHY NAPOLEON ON THE OTHER.
FOND IN A JUNK YARD IN THE OLD TOWEN OF JAFFA

Anvils with some damage

This is my first anvil, a Fisher about 90 pounds, the heel was broken off and gone before I got it. The edges of the top plate were filled in with welding rod, ground and sanded. A hard surface with still a nice ring.

This one actually has bids on Ebay!

Why not? it has more face left than my 1828 William Foster and the horn still looks good---I'd buy it if it was cheap enough!

Thomas

Oooh, a perfect thread for my newly acquired used and abused anvil. Peter Wright, 134#

I was told it was used by the woman's grandfather in a junk store for as long as she could remember him beating on it, until he passed. She seemed pretty happy to get $155 for it though...even though it doesn't look like the end-all anvil, I figured I couldn't find much better for the price, and many anvils going for $3-$4/lb in my area on the west coast.

We don't actually use this one anymore. It's "retired".

I am not sure how this was used, only that it was not the correct way to use an anvil.

Hey wait. I think I saw the horn for this on an earlier reply.

When I was moving my stack of abused anvils (used to help hold the post vise stand in place) I noticed the weight stamp on my "most abused" anvil---it's missing everything above the waist and then was used, mushrooming the broken face. it was stamped 1 0 14 so it originally weighed 126# now it's not even "heavy".

Thomas

I have read several different accounts of the deliberate destruction of anvils during the civil war. It seems that it was common practice and possibly even standing orders most notably on Sherman's march through Georgia that any anvil found by union troops in the Confederacy was to be destroyed on the spot, i.e. horn busted off, etc. Dang yankees! Makes me want to hurl. Dan:(

That story seems to be more of an urbal legend used to explain the tendency of old anvils to have suffered a loss over time. Please don't spread it.

Thomas who's great grandfather was a drummer boy in that war.

Anvils have not always received tender loving care. They show the scars, chips, dings, and broken parts of being misused. Show us photos of those anvils so we can better understand the value of an anvil in good condition.

I'm just wondering how the heel of that anvil was broke off so cleanly? Maybe thats normally what happens when a heels is broken off? ( I really wouldn't know)

That story seems to be more of an urbal legend used to explain the tendency of old anvils to have suffered a loss over time. Please don't spread it.

Thomas who's great grandfather was a drummer boy in that war.

Thomas you are proberly right ,there are plenty of pikeless anvils this side of the pond ,and my granddad never spoke of men in grey, or blue, bashing the anvil pikes of , we could do a good job of it ourselves.