chickenfried Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 (edited) Okay here is another old anvil my dad has had laying around since the 60's. One time a guy told him it was made for packing on a mule or horse for traveling blacksmiths that went around to small towns that didn't have a full time blacksmith in them. I have no idea if that's true or not. Anyway it has nail holes all around the base to nail down to a stump. Any information would be appreciated. Edited November 24, 2009 by chickenfried spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 If you will go to the top f the forum page, click on user cp and enter your location it will help in getting you an estimated price. IForgeIron is visited by over 50 world wide countries each month so knowing if you are in Australia, Canada, UK, Peru, or where ever gets you better information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenfried Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 Okay, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Looks like a top that never got forge welded to a base to me. That story sounds "off" as by the time they were using that style of anvil there were a bunch of small anvils available for travelling that would be lighter and work better than that. The nailholes might be a retrofit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 That's cool. Leave that laying on the ground and everyone would think there was an anvil buried 3/4 of the way in the ground. Sound like a plausible story to me. Looks like it could make a decent anvil nailed to a stump. Definitely an anvil, musta been made for some such reason. Thomas: Why would "smaller" or "lighter" be better? "course before that they had stake anvils too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 If you want a large face anvil you want it *HEAVY* so why no base? Why lighter might be better in some cases? Come on down and load up my 515 pound Fisher and lets go visit the horse farms---of course you get to load and unload it at every stop...I'll throw my little 93 pound A&H on the wagon too and we'll see who gets too tuckered to work first! Please no "sounds plausible"; enough bad info being spread about as it it (like the "Yankees breaking southern anvil horns off" story; it was told once as a possibility and is now spread as gospel truth!) For a plausible story how about the Trenton Anvils were made in Trenton NJ, plausible but they were made in Columbus Ohio... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Well, this is not some myth, the anvil exists. If I wanted a portable anvil with a working face like your Fisher, I might come up with something like this. Saying the story "sounds plausible" is hardly the same as spreading something as "gospel truth". So what do you think is a "plausible" explanation for this anvil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 For what tasks is a large working face like this desirable? Would that affect the existence of this type of anvil as a deliberate creation vs making do with what was on hand? Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Could be any number of explanations; left over remnant from a factory that made anvils, broken anvil, customized by someone for a long forgotten project, or just something to make us go Hmmmmmmmm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Grant, The one I gave. Of course having lived in a city with two anvil manufacturers in it at one time I may be a tad more used to coming across anvil piece parts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazerbud Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 (like the "Yankees breaking southern anvil horns off" story; it was told once as a possibility and is now spread as gospel truth!) This is not a rumor. It is fact, and is documented by the journals of some of the Yankee officers. The horns and tails were removed with the intention of demoralizing the industrial capability of the South. The place were this gets "fishy" is when you go to a swap meet see an anvil with the horn broke off, people like to tell this story, I have seen a few dozen broken anvils, none of which were likely broken during the Civil War. But, I cannot remember a time when someone showed up with a broken anvil and someone else didn't start in on a General Sherman history lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Please don't take offense; but can you provide the cites as I have seen reputable evidence of this story being started in recent times. Until you can cite me the journals so I can look it up for myself I will continue in my obstinate belief. (Having been involved in several Living History groups I am well aware of how easily things can go from "I heard that" to "this is documented".) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Thompson Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Since an anvil is designed to be hit very hard, it seems to me that it would take a hugely disproportionate amount of effort to break a significant number of them. In over 35 years of bashing these things I've only ever managed to break two and one of them was flawed.There must have been easier ways of demoralising 'smiths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I am sure that many blacksmith shops in the South were burned down, and tools scattered or stolen. A hot fire would certainly anneal the anvil. More likely, the anvils were dumped in rivers or lakes. Or the traveling smith of the North just loaded it on his wagon and kept it. In the years of the Civil War, most of the anvils would have been imports from England. Fisher was in business, but I am sure all made after 1861 went to the Union. That only leave eight years of manufacturing(1853-1860) to produce anvils. Some had to be in the South, but not too many. Fisher & Norris began to expand production after 1871, when Clark Fisher took over the company from his father. I also have doubts about the myth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 The older anvils being built up in pieces forge welded together, I'd bet it wasn't too hard to knock off a horn with a 20# sledge! The story as I have seen it was they were removing the horns so that the smiths couldn't make or repair horse shoes for the cavalry---of course having made hundreds of S hooks not using the horn I'd have to say that that didn't hold true. More likely given a number of old anvils that have lost horn and or heel through failure at the forge welds the story grew that it had been done on purpose. When you consider that the south was very poor during reconstruction old anvils were probably used past time to redo them---like ranch anvils out here in NM even to this day! "Poor people have poor ways". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragons lair Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Looks rather long and skinney to me. Homemade? special use? Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Grant, don't take Thomas personaly, but then you already know that from the other site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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