What you have accomplished amassing your collection is truely incredible! On a teachers salary, no less. The coolest thing, to me, is that when my wife says something about my growing stack of anvils out back, I'll just show her the above pictures...

Well well well, welcome home, 700 pounder....not you Josh, the anvil. HAHA. It was a pleasure meeting you, I really wish we could have visited longer, I love talking anvils. I've owned well over 800 anvils the past several years and each one meant so much to me.....what IS IT about anvils!!??? If I thought hard enough, maybe I could remember each one of the anvils that have past through my hands.....

I am especially happy that this 700 is in your hands, now. Enjoy....and I can't wait to pay a visit to the Fisher Museum!

Ryan Wasson
Anvil Customs
www.anvilcustoms.com

In the rarified climate in which 700 pound anvils reside, it is heartwarming to know that there are others who share my "affliction". Congrats again, Josh!

But it pales in comparison to the 800 lb Fisher next to it. Actually the 800 weighs in at 796 lbs, so I guess technically it is a 700 lber?

Strangly, the 700 has a 1/2" wider face than the 800, although the 800 is slightly taller and longer. It does not take much change in any dimension to add 100+ lbs to these anvils.

The next quest to to find some of the "custom" items Fisher made. And perhaps some of the large stakes they displayed at the 1876 Philadelphia centential. The problem with this task is that Fisher advertised that they had on hand over 300 different patterns, and would make a new pattern for a custom anvil if the customer so desired. I fear this will be never ending.

You might find this amusing. I went to demonstrate at a local park yesterday, and dragged my 219 pound hay budden out there with a small portable forge. When I was 22 years old, lifting that anvil would have been a joke! Today, with my ameliorated 57 year old musculature, I find it far more difficult to lift and move heavy things! I once dead lifted my 700 pound hay budden from shop floor to stump, when I was in my twenties. At this age NOW, I marvel at how young and dumb I was, showing off for folks by lifting heavy things. My newfound maturity, if I get the chance to buy another humongous anvil, might cause me to hesitate in purchasing such a beast for at least a millionth of a second. See, I have matured!!!!

Cmon, Stuart.....dead lifted the 700 pounder? Yeah, and I just threw this 700 pound Fisher into the back of Mr. Kavett's vehicle.....just a simply underhand throw....

I've heard of picking up each end of the a monster anvil, alternating, and placing small blocks of wood under the base ends.....and then shoving it onto the stump.....but no way you deadlifted it.....it ain't like deadlifting 700 pounds of dumbells.....

Did you happen to take some video of you doing this....back when you were 20? haha.

No kidding.... I have picked a 350 lb anvil up off the floor (dead lift) and set it on a table.. I wont ever do it again, came really close to not making it... Im a pretty strong boy... If someone dead lifted a 700lb anvil into the back of the truck I would defiantly call him "Sir" and be real nice ;)

Hey Ryan

It might be the heat got to me that day, but I remember seeing the anvil on the ground, and the next minute you had into my car. You mustof just picked it up. It is only 675 lbs. No sweat for those Missouri boys. Thats the story I will tell. Yup. That's it.

700# is in the realm of "world's strongest man" competitions. While a stretch, I am not going to call Stu's story implausable, unbelievable or otherwise. I see what the young men at the YMCA lift. I know what I used to leg press when I was younger and fit. It was amusing having to rescue a football player who thought a swimmer could not possibly leg-up more than he could!

Phil

Didn't you say once you had a degree in astrophysics too.

So you turned down a life of power lifting and science for the siren call of the forge. :D

I yell at my students when they want to do a bad lift single. Sure when you are young you can do crazy things---but your back NEVER forgets!

My 500#+ Fisher we used an engine hoist (cherry picker) to load it into my truck and then 4 burly smiths to get it in the shop---2 hardy holes, one at either end so we strung pipe through them so everyone got a good grip. I lolly columned a truss that was over the site and used a come along to get it from the ground into place.

Aaallllrriiiighhttt.....I didn't mean to start up a big ole bash session on Stuart!! HAHA.....I was just razzin' him really....still can't believe dead lifting a 700 pound anvil tho....700 pound dumbell...MAYBE, but an anvil obviously doesn't have much to hold onto.....If he did do it.....then he must have walked over to his forged and grabbed a handful of COAL and crushed it into a DIAMOND NECKLACE with that kind of grip!! haha

However, if we're talking deadlifts....I once bought a 317 peter wright anvil from an elderly man and there it sat on his garage floor and all I had was my chevy blazer.....and though stuart won't believe it, I reached down and deadlifted right into the truck.....so hey, if stuart makes diamonds, then so be it.....he can deadlift a 700 pounder....

BUT ASTROPHYSICS!!!???? C'MON STU!!!!!! You're making us all feel inadequate!

OK. Lets see if I was able to get them resized correctly. I used fotosizer and went to 700p wide X 525p tall.


Yep. I think that will work. Man, that's a bunch of anvils.

Well, getting back to my original thread, before it was hijacked by tales of anvil-lifting and space.......

Just if anyone was wondering, at last, best count, there are 250 Fisher anvils here. Some perfect, some with normal wear, some almost worn out, and some broken. I have about 40 original anvil patterns, 4 original Double Screw vise patterns, and whatever original paperwork was left before the building got demolished. Also parts of the original Fisher cranes. Plus much more.

after I was involved in an automobile accident, my doctor sent me to a physical therapist to work on my injured shoulder, back in the early nineties. Before prescribing therapeutic exercises for my shoulder, he handed me a device that measures grip strength. I squeezed so hard, I broke the darn thing!

Hijacking the Fisher thread again....

While doing further research today, I came across an ad from 1907. Fisher was advertising that they made two hundred sizes of anvils, from 10 to 800 lbs. So the search for the elusive 1000 lb Fisher anvil is probably over. 1000 lb Fisher anvils were advertised in the late 1800's, but I have never seen or heard of one in existance. Not to say that they did not exist; just probably not any left out there....

My 800 lb Fisher is just one of two I have ever seen. My 700 is one of just two I know of. And my 600 is the only one I know of. Any anvil over 500 lbs are few and far between.

While doing further research today, I came across an ad from 1907. Fisher was advertising that they made two hundred sizes of anvils, from 10 to 800 lbs. So the search for the elusive 1000 lb Fisher anvil is probably over. 1000 lb Fisher anvils were advertised in the late 1800's, but I have never seen or heard of one in existance. Not to say that they did not exist; just probably not any left out there....

My 800 lb Fisher is just one of two I have ever seen. My 700 is one of just two I know of. And my 600 is the only one I know of. Any anvil over 500 lbs are few and far between.

I know where another 600 pound fisher is.....its marked "60".....big ole thang!! It sits atop a small 4'x4' concrete slab, overlooking Mud Island in Memphis, TN.....I thought I had told you about that one once upon time a few years back.....maybe not though.

Well, getting back to my original thread, before it was hijacked by tales of anvil-lifting and space.......

Just if anyone was wondering, at last, best count, there are 250 Fisher anvils here. Some perfect, some with normal wear, some almost worn out, and some broken. I have about 40 original anvil patterns, 4 original Double Screw vise patterns, and whatever original paperwork was left before the building got demolished. Also parts of the original Fisher cranes. Plus much more.

DAAANNNGGG......buncha fishers there. You could almost start manufacturing them again, Josh! Go for it!

I know where another 600 pound fisher is.....its marked "60".....big ole thang!! It sits atop a small 4'x4' concrete slab, overlooking Mud Island in Memphis, TN.....I thought I had told you about that one once upon time a few years back.....maybe not though.

Jeez, you're cruel...just when he thinks his quest is over, you send him on another flyer!

I know where another 600 pound fisher is.....its marked "60".....big ole thang!! It sits atop a small 4'x4' concrete slab, overlooking Mud Island in Memphis, TN.....I thought I had told you about that one once upon time a few years back.....maybe not though.

Actually that anvil in Memphis is a 500 lb Fisher. Its the one they use in their ads for the museum. Unless they have another hiding in the woods...

Anyway, the quest now is to find some of the Insinora anvils, the ones they mostly exported. And also some of the custom anvils. This will probably never end.

Actually that anvil in Memphis is a 500 lb Fisher. Its the one they use in their ads for the museum. Unless they have another hiding in the woods...

Anyway, the quest now is to find some of the Insinora anvils, the ones they mostly exported. And also some of the custom anvils. This will probably never end.

weird.....I could have sworn it was marked "60"....its not located inside the shop, its waaaay outside on the hilltop looking over the river, pointed right at Mud Island.....is that the one you say is 500 pounds? If so, I guess I'm gonna go take another peak.....

Amazing collection! I hope to see it someday. John C. from Atlanta says hi, he has the Columbian anvil collection, trying to get him to post a few pics.

Bringing home Fisher #251 this weekend. I sawmaker anvil, about 225 lbs. Rough top. This one I might actually repair. First cleaning and wire wheel, then we will see what to do.

Do you have any of those babes for sale? Good grief!!

Thought about this thread when I saw matchless antiques had a Fisher-Norris sawyer's anvil with a bail like a bucket! Never seen one of those before...