Show me abused anvils

[ThomasPowers]

Since old anvils were welded up from pieces many of them have planes of weakness where the old welds were---in particular the horns and heals and so suffer the tragic loss under use.

Remember too that cold increases steel's brittleness and that we often get colder temps in the USA than in much of europe.

Thomas

[Sam Thompson]

It's surprisingly easy to crack the heel across the hardy hole if the shank of the tool is tapered too wide at the top.

[Sask Mark]

http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Picture_0651.jpg

Just last week, I saw another one (same brand) in almost identical condition.

[ThomasPowers]

Cast iron bodied anvil tend to have very thick heels to prevent this common failure mode. My large Fisher has a heel so thick that almost nothing I make can straddle it sideways; luckily I have an Arm and Hammer with a very thin heel close by so I can tweak things like forks on it's heel.

[Max Mulholland - Tetnum]

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.
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i have to agree with this one it is a disgrace all of the 300+ anvils have a county name mig welded across the makers mark and have a number mig welded across the face or horn dont go and see it it is not worth your time

[patrick]

A question about repairing sway backed anvils:

I have always been a bit reluctant to build up a sway backed, anvil for fear of popping of the face plate as the weld solidifys and cools. For those of you who have made this type of repair, how did you do it and how successful was the repair? Thanks.

Patrick

[John Martin]

I just sent an anvil down to texas that was cut in half. Now that's abuse. The bottom of it was missing, it was a trenton, and if in one piece, I would have kept it, it would have been around 200lbs.

Edited October 15, 2008 by m_brothers

[ThomasPowers]

Since they were welded at the waist it could be the remains of a weld failure. I have the base of an anvil missing everything from the waist up---I know it was once a complete anvil as it was weight stamped for an appropriate anvil with that sized base.

[gazilla]

This anvil was waiting for me when I first came to my inlaw's place - been in the family since past memory. It's a 1862 anvil with a fairly thin (8 - 10 mm) face. I've seen other anvils of the same form (same maker?), showing the same default: square horn broken off. Looks somewhat like a manufacturing problem. She's a bit swaybacked as well, but still works well enough, has a decent face (despite being thin), and the price couldn't be beaten :-).