fubarfred Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 Picked up a used anvil from a junk dealer and took it home for about 90 bucks. Face was kinda rough lookin'. Did some research onit. Says 'Mousehole' on the side and has no pritchel hole. research says was from Armitage Mousehole Co in England and was made prior to 1790 (due to no pritchel). My problem do I reface the old girl, or do I set her aside and get somebody new to hit on? Face is only thing damaged, horn has no visable cracks and the rest looks good. What would you do? Fred.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fosterob Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 I think the first thing I would do is look at it to see it's condition but I can not find the picture?? Do you have a photo of it? Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fubarfred Posted August 14, 2010 Author Share Posted August 14, 2010 I'm at my place here in SC until I go back to my place in MD (long story). Thought I'd a pic on this machine, but I guess not. I'll post one when I get back on wed. Seems to be about 1/2" difference from hardy hole to horn. Fred.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLMartin Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 Where are ya in SC Im over in Charleston, I would probably not do any welding or grinding until your absolutely positive the best option. Many Many people just destroy good anvils trying to weld or grind them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fubarfred Posted August 14, 2010 Author Share Posted August 14, 2010 Mayhap I should have introduced me first. Live in Md and Leesville, SC. From MD, but try to spend more'n more time down here. Been hittin' metal for 10 or so yrs, but had to quit for a couple due to a bad m/c accident. Won't do anything to the face until I'm certain it won't hurt the old girl. Fred... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fciron Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 Really need to know what's wrong before making recommendations. Nonetheless, I'll shoot off my mouth. I have not seen a Mousehole anvil with a flat, level face. Mine was missing a big chunk of the steel face, so I did build it back up with the welder and got several years of good use out of it before trading up to something larger. but even with all the welding and grinding, the poor thing was much too sway-backed to restore to level. The sway was thicker than the existing face, so I just learned to work with it. How often are you hitting on the whole face anyway? What sort of work are you planning on doing? IMO it is not necessary for the whole anvil to be dead flat with square corners; there should be some flat, smooth spot for finishing work; there should be a couple of inches of fairly clean edge on each side that can be used for forming shoulders and offsets; a variety of curves on the edges is ideal. I'm mostly doing decorative work, if you're doing blades or tool making your needs will change. When you say 'reface' I think of major operations, like welding on a new steel plate, which usually wind up being things that we do because we want to, not because we need to. I have heard of people having anvils surface ground or blanchard ground back to flat, but if you've got a half inch variation in height there probably isn't enough steel there to survive that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fubarfred Posted August 15, 2010 Author Share Posted August 15, 2010 Thanks to all for the replies. The face looks as if a whole bunch of folks that had no bizness doing so beat on it at one time or another. I'll try with the pics next week when I get home. Again, thanks. Fred... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragons lair Posted August 15, 2010 Share Posted August 15, 2010 Thanks to all for the replies. The face looks as if a whole bunch of folks that had no bizness doing so beat on it at one time or another. I'll try with the pics next week when I get home. Again, thanks. Fred... Fred, how ya going back 95 85 26? I am just off 26 in NC. Have repaired a few. Ya can pm me before ya head back. Ken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted August 16, 2010 Share Posted August 16, 2010 Some older anvils have fairly thick hard faces and some don't, on some it can be thin toward the heel and thick toward the horn, thick or thin on one side or the other, just no telling until you wire brush some of the rust off. I'm one of the old pharts that really don't like to see a lot of money pumped into old anvils, often times by the time you put all of that time and money into it you still have and old anvil that ain't all that good. It's kind of like rebuilding a sixty year old car, it's still a sixty year old car when you finish and for the money you have in it you could have purchased a much newer and more reliable one. It's the same with anvils. Unless this one has strong sentimental value it may be better used as an upsetting anvil set on the floor and for the money you spent fixing it up you could have bought a real nice Fisher anvil. Now those are sweet anvils. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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