jyatulis Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I just got another anvil from a friend. It came out of a local factory where it was used. Its a nice Fisher anvil in decent shape with the eagle on the side and Fisher cast in the front foot. I am trying to figure out an age and the weight. The only other marking on it is a "3". I am kind of guessing from looking through AIA at dimension tables that it is around 150 lbs, but am not sure. It seems to be in good shape, just some weld mess on the base that I ground off a bit to clean it up. It cleaned up nice after the layers of paint were removed. Best shape of any I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 (edited) My understanding is that since it has a pitchel hole it is after ~1837. I have noticed a recent trend on this forum of asking the age and manufacturer of anvils and swage blocks. Is this interest a new trend? I understand there is a need to match equipment to public historical presentations, but why is there such an increase in interest in dating and origin of anvils and swage blocks? Edited October 27, 2009 by UnicornForge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unkle spike Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Unicorn, I think it is a prestige thing....I say as I lean on my 1820-1835 M&H Mousehole anvil.....and grin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgtwister Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 the one i bought had the year in it they made them up untill i think 70s but i'm shore the njanvilman will be along soon and as he has a fisher museum he would know best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I notice that it seems to be folks that really haven't done much smithing at all that are worried about age and price of their equipment as it that had anything to do with doing good blacksmithing! Shoot I have an 1828 William Foster (one of the few brands that date stamped their anvils) and it's plum worn to pieces; a good chunk of forklift tine is a much superior anvil to it! And note that condition is a much higher correlation with price than age---that 1828 anvil cost me $5 or about a nickle a pound, one 100 years *younger* cost me over a dollar a pound! jyatulis, what do you do when you need to know your own weight? Go on line and ask folks?---or do you step on a scale and weight yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sask Mark Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I think many anvil owners would like to know dates just out of curiosity. Personally, I am quite fascinated by the fact that I am using 100 year old tools in a modern throw-away society. I don't plan on selling any of my anvils any time soon, but I still want to know as much as I can about each of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unkle spike Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Mine weighs 165 pounds, cause I weighed it. Most bathroom scales go to 300+ pounds, so it is safe to lay an old rag on a bathroom scale, and gently set the anvil on it. Heck even if the wife won't let the scale out of the house, you can buy a cheap one for this, and get a fairly accurate read on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 If one were judging age by number of dings in an anvil that one isn't old at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Sorry it took so long to get on. I had major difficulty logging in today. Was there a problem out there with the site?? Hard to exactly date some of the Fisher anvils. My best guess on this one would put it from the late 1940's-1950's. I will compare the photos to the collection tomorrow to see if that is correct. Pretty clean anvil. Looks great cleaned up. It has got a few hundred years of life left, if not abused. Anvil provenance...before Postman's book AIA, I had no idea there was much of a difference between anvils, except size. His book gave the iron some history, and made it much more interesting. Now, if only the anvils could talk, and relate some of their history of where and what was made on them. Personally, I find the whole history part of blacksmithing equipment to be fascinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jyatulis Posted October 28, 2009 Author Share Posted October 28, 2009 Thanks Anvilman. The anvil is in great shape, only as few very minor nicks here and there. It came out of a farm equipment manufacturer here in Ontario. There is a nice patina on it under the paint. It wasn't much work to clean it up. Let me know if you come up with anything else. 40's-50's, cool. I too am very fascinated with the history of the tools we use, its what got me interested in the first place. I am the same way with my older woodworking tools. Several of my other smithing tools came with stories from the previous owners. I would like to be able to pass this on with the tools, either to my kids or to others if I sell or trade. I look at it as if I am the current caretaker of the tool and I had better look after it. I have been lucky to find some decent tools over the last couple of years and have made some friends in the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Leppo Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 that anvil is in beautiful shape - you can still see feathers in the eagle's wings! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Falcon 72 Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 My understanding is that since it has a pitchel hole it is after ~1837. I have noticed a recent trend on this forum of asking the age and manufacturer of anvils and swage blocks. Is this interest a new trend? I understand there is a need to match equipment to public historical presentations, but why is there such an increase in interest in dating and origin of anvils and swage blocks? How about simple curiosity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 How about simple curiosity? Could be, I really don't know. I have been in the hobby for over 35 years and this year is the first time I have heard people asking about the age of their anvils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 I've been "in" over 28 and it wasn't until after AiA was published that I remember folks making a big deal about age of their anvils. Lots of stories about anvils being in the family---often wrong once we did have a good dating system... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgtwister Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 to me age don't matter its a tool and should be used as one not hung on a wall or for decoration thats my opinion but then again opinions are butts every one has one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Yeah I get a lot of "it's *old*/*antique* at the fleamarket and I generally tell them I don't give a hoot; I'd pay extra for *usable* rather than *age* and so a tool that's a year old may be worth a whole lot more to me than one that is 100 years old (and I use quite a few tools that are over 100 years old and some going towards 200 years old!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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