Hey guys show me your anvils!

~250lbs broken horn

This is my portable anvil that I use for demonstrations at historic events. :D

260 lbs of S-7 this baby dont move

OK here are my anvils:

It looks like it's a cast-iron with tool steel face, but its full cast steel of 1944


And my kohlswas both are 96 kgs, yup good steel anvils




Joe

Edited November 2, 200916 yr by TechnicusJoe

I think I need my head examined after this but I do feel better now.

First 2 are my poor abused and broken anvil as I purchased it. Last 2 are after deciding that the pritchel I drilled was not useful enough and spending 6 hours drilling, sawing, and cold chiseling a 1 inch hardy. I think the anvil is cast steel, might be (white) ductile cast iron with a poured steel face. The face popped out easily and violently after drilling the corners and scoring around with a cold chisel. Ended up wasting one chisel because I hit it too hard too many times and bent it. Another the edge crushed on, and I reground it so I only could use the very corners for the deep areas. The 3rd chisel came out in good shape. Broke about 6 drill bits.

The sawsall blades made by irwin for thick steel cut reasonable well. Jig saw blades made scratch marks.

Philip in China recommended using a carbide masonry bit to drill through with, using water straight from a hosepipe. That worked a treat for the 1/2 inch pritchel, but not so good for the smaller 3/16 holes in the corner. I found Kobalt brand 1/8 inch chip breaker tip did ok, but also broke easily. The 3/16 masonry chased out those holes a treat too.

Now to make bottom tooling and a hot cut.

Phil

Oh yea, 68 lbs before I started.

Edited November 2, 200916 yr by pkrankow

508 lb peter wright

260# JHM

508 lb peter wright

Nice anvil.

Mine's pretty ugly. Not even an "actual" anvil, but it works for now. Got it along with my forge, some tongs and a couple of hammers and round, square and flat stock as payment for some historical reenactment chainmaille gauntlets I made for a guy a few years ago.

Here are mine, a 135 lb Hay Budden with its 55 lb Swedish brother. I do not know the brand name on the Swede it is marked

Here are mine, a 135 lb Hay Budden with its 55 lb Swedish brother. I do not know the brand name on the Swede it is marked

Pkrankow I am impressed, that must of been a lot of work cutting a hardy hole in that anvil.

Thanks Mark,

I was guessing that SISCO was the brand name. The anvil is marked with the weight, “Sweden” and two initials “S” and “I”. Nothing else on it is readable.

Dave

Well, it seems that after asking a few questions my anvil is not steel, but cast iron with a chilled cast iron face. I would call it determination more than hard work. Short chop strikes with a drilling hammer worked better than trying to swing and hit harder.

It was therapeutic.

Phil

This anvil was cnc cut from 4 pieces of 3" X 4" hot rolled steel. It was case hardened by a company that does clutch bearings for helicopters. Twenty plus hours in the furnace with carborizing gas to get an 1/8" case. Perhaps not as good as tool steel, but for the times I do miss the workpiece, it is holding up extremely well !!

here is mine!

Here's mine.

A 102 pound Trenton, A 100 pound Hay Budden (Lakeside that is sn and weight stamped in the same fashion as Hay Buddens), an 88 pound Peter Wright, a 128 pound Buckworth (looks a lot like a Peter Wright), an unknown cast steel anvil with the heel broken off, and a 150 pound Vulcan that I sold a few months ago.

Sask, the broken one seems to have a face plate. Have never seen a cast steel with a face plate.
Ken

Dragons Lair,

Yeah, I noticed that too. It does ring nicely, so it is steel. You can see the mould lines and the words on the side (which I can't make out) are raised, so it is cast.

I don't think it is Columbian as it has very poor finishing (large mould line running down the horn).

Perhaps it is one of those Mexican bootleg anvils that ThomasPowers mentions from time to time. It's possible a few made it up to Canada.

If anyone has any ideas as to the manufacturer, please let me know.

Sorry, no pictures yet.

I have a 267 lb. Nimba, a 167 lb. Peter Wright, and a 75 LB. anvil that I cannot remember the name right now. (I do remember that it says Texas on the side)

Next, I hope to buy a 400 Lb. Nimba.

The Nimba anvils are the best I have ever used!!

Here's mine. 104 lb Peter Wright. Stacked 2x10s for stand. Cookie sheet under the anvil to hold the can of water to cool the punch, the soapstone, catch the hardy after cutting. Staples holding the anvil down are driven right thru the cookie sheet into the stand.

nice job Spears. Got some more info/pic's on the "making of"?

nice job Spears. Got some more info/pic's on the "making of"?

I'm glad someone liked the looks of my self machined anvil!! There were four of these things made. I only have possession of two of them. Seven years ago I was a machine shop teacher and had access to a very nice CNC mill. I don't have any pictures in process, my apologies. (We just got a digital camera a few months back anyway) Quite a few pieces of 3"x4" hot rolled had laid around that shop for awhile. The top piece with the horn and tail I didn't put a hardy hole in. Had no easy way to get a square hole in that monsterous chunk of junk steel anyway. I was very fortunate to have a heat treat company tired of the same old "same old" that liked to do special stuff now and again. They donated their time and materials for the job to the school. They even were able to shield the bottom part of the top portion from carborization knowing I was going to weld it on to the lower parts. I didn't know at the time the case hardening process is as capable as it is and I learned a lot from them. The anvils are tongue and groove constructed and then pre-heated a little and mig welded by myself. No longer having the job with access to that level of machining equipment makes me sometimes want to kick myself for not building more blacksmithing equipment. Attached is a picture where you can see I put the second anvil under a treadle I built. Once I get my air hammer completed, I will be giving this treadle attachment away for free. I will be keeping the anvil with its stand though (to difficult to replace). The treadle I find handy for only certain processes. Regards, Spears