Smed,

Do you know if there were any US facilities or bases in the area during WWII? I know Israel hadn't been established during the war, but there may have been some kind of base.

Israel pre 1948 was governed by Great Britain, there were no American facilities as far as I know,

my guess is that either someone brought it with him from America or it was purchased from a navy sailor from one of the ships that use to pass through our harbours at one time.

 

Or someone who emigrated later brought it with them.

everything is possible, I will ask my friend for more information 

I would get him a case of his favorite adult beverage too for such a great gift.

PS: unless it's single malt 20 year old Scotch.

Don't worry I help him out too

If only our anvils could tell their stories.

Maybe it was "Lend lease" to the British, or more than likely it was brought in by someone as TP suggested.  Could have been ordered and shipped over at some point.

I will tell you with absolute certainty- I did not sell any ships anvils, Zippos maybe!

Zippos! 

At one time I collected Zippo's don't know what happened to most of them though, still have several.

Some folks overseas went crazy over Zippos, You could trade them for a lot of things, worth much more than the $5-10 you paid at the ships store.

Good times.

I remember those times when zippos were considered valuable in Israel back in the 80's early 90's

Good morning everyone! I figured this would be a good spot to make my first post. This is my first anvil and she looks to be a great user! I'm not sure what the previous owner did to the hardy hole but will check that out and make sure it's useable as I have a good bit of hardy tools too

I wouldn't mind cleaning her up a bit more, I saw mention of a vinegar soak and that sounds tempting. I'm not sure I want to buy enough evaporust to soak it in. You can see the number 41 raised on the base under the horn and a symbol next to it. Weight is 202.5 on my scale. Across the front edge of the base I can make out the tops of some numbers- I thought briefly about trying some sandpaper to flatten that with hopes of being able to read it but decided against it for now at least.

I'd appreciate any information and/or advice for cleanup. I'm looking forward to setting her on a suitable stand and moving some steel!

 

Even though your serial is rather unreadable, I can tell you that your logo stamp style is the last one used in U.S. Production.

That stamp was used from 1939 to the end of CF&I's run in the 1950's.

Try the flour trick on the numbers first.  Also it  looks like they tried to sleeve the hardy to make it fit smaller shank tooling.  You may be able to remove the sleeve with a little work.  I have drop in sleeves I use to make my 1.5" hardy holes fit 1" shank tools---pretty much the most common size here in the USA; though Vulcans tend to run smaller IIRC.

My 106 pound Hay Budden and 110 pound Vulcan both have 3/4 inch hardy holes.

My condolences.

My experience is that in the USA the most common size was 1" ( My 91# A&H, my 112# PW and my 134# HB all have 1"  hardy holes---within manufacturing variability (as do the 165# HB and PW).  The 469# Fisher has two 1.5" hardy holes and the bridge anvil has one 1.5" one and the 410# Trenton has one 1.25" IIRC.) But as most of these were hot punched and not broached variability of size, squareness, angle, etc is pretty common. Manufacturers that broached them tend to have better results.

I once had a hardy with a 3/8" stem that went to a Vulcan and I've seen one with a 1/4" stem that went to a machinist vise.

Grant,

Nice anvil...the top plate looks fantastic.

To clean some of the grime off, try a wire wheel. It will remove junk on the anvil without taking metal off. Wear good PPE, as wire stuck in your face and arms sucks, and breathing rust dust is bad.

You can use Boiled Linseed Oil to slow future rust. 

I got the sleeve (I'm using that word very loosely) out and the hardy is 1-1/4" so I'll make some drop-in reducers. Maybe later this evening I'll be able to work on a stand

I like to use square tubing and cut down an inch or so on the diagonals and fold the tabs out  so the hardy tooling actually rests on the tabs rather than the fave of the anvil.

For my 1.5" hardy holes I have a double sleeved insert, cut off two of the tabs opposing on each one so it still rests even on the anvil face.

Hey folks. I am new here, and new to blacksmithing. I just picked up my first anvil. It is a 200lb Trenton with serial no 178910. Can someone with AIA please tell me the year of manufacture?

Can anyone help me with the date of manufacture or any other information as to it's origin. Serial A3085    90 lbs. Thanks.

Can we have a picture of the bottom, please?

That is one fine looking anvil !

I will ask for the picture, it is at my aunt and uncle's house. They were complaining about how heavy it was to move. Was being used for yard art.  I hope I can talk him out of it and use it in my little smithy.

Thanks

Buy them some replacement yard art and some money.

Pnut