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An unidentified anvil, hardy hole in the step


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Here's an interesting one:

I haven't found any makers mark whatsoever. It has two hardy holes, on is in the step. Not sure if that is original or was modified later.

There is also a strange depression behind the large hardy hole, about 1.5 in in diameter and maybe 3/16" deep. I'm not sure if that is just a flaw or if it has some purpose, like for setting saw teeth.

It weighs about 185 lbs. I've been thinking about grinding the top flat and cleaning up all the rust with a wire brush, but I thought I'd post it here before I go and do anything that can't be undone.

I can always post more pics or closeups of minute details.

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Howdy from East TEXAS!! and welcome to IFI! Just do a wire brush clean up and put it to work. I've never seen one with a hole of anykind in the step and hard to tell if it came that way or was modified. Where are you from? Kilgore, TX is only 10-15miles from me if your name is any indication of your location. Helps us help you if you would update your profile to give your location. Nice anvil and again, welcome to IFI.

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The overall shape looks early British. I have talked before about dressing tools, especially granite tools. While the stake was in the hardy hole, and a hardy was kept in the pritchel hole all the time while working. This guy may have kept the small hardy in the hole near the step. The depression is from dressing the tools in the same place over and over. Just guessing.

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Thank you for the warm welcome! I hail from Pennsylvania.

I think I'm going to take David's advice and leave the top alone, its only swayed by 1/8" or so, with a few nicks here and there, probably not enough to warrant serious repair? I'm mostly into woodworking, though I'd like to get into blacksmithing too. I've been using this anvil to straighten old handsaws. I know you're not supposed to hammer cold metal on the anvil, but the work tends to be pretty light, the saw blades are thin and straighten out with light hammering. I'll post a closeup pic of the top tonight.

Frank, when you say early British, do you mean mid-19th century?

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.... hail from Pennsylvania.....I think I'm going to take David's advice and leave the top alone,...... straighten old handsaws. ...... mid-19th century?


- PA is a big place, I'm in south-central PA, how about you?
- Glad to hear that you will leave the top alone, it looks absolutely great the way it is.
- Straightening old handsaws does not sound like it would hurt it. My main anvil has some significant sway, and the sway helps straighten stuff.
- the pritchel hole identifies it as later than 1836/37 when they started putting pritchel holes in anvils. I'm sure someone else here could be more precise about the date of when they started putting pritchel holes into anvils if you are interested.
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phew I would hate to do that much work at that point on my anvils, the ring there is deafening!


If you place one or two cow magnets against the bottom of the tail of your anvil, the magnets will convert the vibration of the anvil into motion of the magnets and will therefor quiet your anvil significantly.
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I had an Armitage "mouse hole" that was shaped very similarly (it also weighed 180lbs) but it did not have a second hardy hole. I do not think the dished area was put there intentionally - think how difficult that would be to do on a hardened face with no right angle grinder...however, the rear hardy and pritchel are very worn so IMHO, this anvil kissed a lot of horse shoes over the years and the smith used that area to start his toe caulks. I'd agree with the other advice and leave it alone - it's in pretty good shape for its obvious age.

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Maybe I just see a use for the feature then.

Phil

Absolutely, it would be good for spoons. It's just that wrought anvils often wear in funny ways. I had a Trenton in the shop once with a half moon dish on one edge only - was a large radius, like a giant's thumbnail. My grandfather saw it and commented that it was from sharpening sweeps over many years. Sometimes it's easy to forget that a lot of blacksmithing work was just hard repetitive production day after day that wore out men and tools.

About 30 years ago, there was an older smith who had a shop in far east Bexar County. The City of San Antonio and county road crews used him to sharpen all their air hammer bits and hand picks. They would fill a dump truck and haul it over then drop the pile next to his shop. He did all of the work with a hand hammer and coal forge - no power hammer or other convenience. His hammers were mushroomed and the anvil swaybacked - everything was beat to pieces. I don't know if he dropped dead at the forge or was able to retire but his "job" never varied - similar to the old machinists who ran one machine for 40 years.
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If you place one or two cow magnets against the bottom of the tail of your anvil, the magnets will convert the vibration of the anvil into motion of the magnets and will therefor quiet your anvil significantly.



heh I have plenty of magnets on her for a lot of my farrier punches and pritchels, as well as a ton of chain but the trenton rings like a bell anyway well maybe more like a gong!
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I am about 90% sure I sold that anvil on eBay about 4 or 5 years to a teenager from PA. I remember that the second hardie hole was round at the bottom from being drilled out then filed or chiseled to shape. Also that it was slightly off center. I would say that the second hole was a user modification. Because the factory would have punched the hole hot as it that was a more efficient method than putting it in cold. I remember that I was fairly sure that it was a Mouse Hole because it has a ridge under the horn also it is just shaped right. I also remember the horn and the step being a lot rougher than that but it looks like someone did a bit of sanding to bring it back to smooth. The dish behind the hardie hole is from shaping shoes cold over the heal of the anvil to be more precise opening them up. I have seen this wear pattern on other smiths anvils in collections on long Island. This anvil is probably from around the middle of the 19th century. Because after that point Hay Budden anvils became very popular the factory was only 40 or so miles away. I bought it from a man on Long island where I live. It seems most shops around here used either Mouse Holes than later Hay Buddens occasionaly do we see Fishers and Peter Wrights. I doubt it was used to dress stone cutting tools because there is no stone on Long Island at all. We are just a big pile of sand that was pushed off of New England about 10 thousand years ago. Most of the smiths around here shod a lot of horses from records I have seen it was 75% of the work they did or more. They also mended wagons They made clam rakes, oyster dredges, ell spears, and other gear for the bay men. I am sure they did plow work and fixed all kinds of agricultural implements. There also was a lot of hardware for ships and boats made as there was a large amount of boat building going on here. I remember thinking It was a cool old anvil I am glad It has found a good home.

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I am about 90% sure I sold that anvil on eBay about 4 or 5 years to a teenager from PA.


Ha! That's me! I think I was 15 or so when you sold it to me. I remember going to coney island afterwards for hot dogs, what a day!

I've done a little forging on it, but mostly use it for straightening kinked saws. A few years back I used that depression behind the hardy hole to set the teeth on a two man crosscut saw. I don't think many woodworkers own anvils, so I feel very privileged to have it. It's great to hear more of the history behind it.

Here are a few more pics of it all cleaned up and with a light coat of paste wax. You can make out the forge welds on the underside.
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I would suggest if the above statements were true that the bulk of work was done on the heel, then having a hardy (cut or otherwise) at the horn would mean they would be able to "safely" leave it in while working, saving time, etc.

If the depression is a wear mark from repeating a single operation for a career, modifying the anvil to perform the series of operations more efficiently would make sense.

Phil

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I would suggest if the above statements were true that the bulk of work was done on the heel, then having a hardy (cut or otherwise) at the horn would mean they would be able to "safely" leave it in while working, saving time, etc.

If the depression is a wear mark from repeating a single operation for a career, modifying the anvil to perform the series of operations more efficiently would make sense.

Phil

Its not that the bulk of the work was done on the heal but one frequently done operation (cold working horse shoes) was done probably thousands of times over a working life 30+ years. I once had a 130ish Hay Budden that had a groove worn through the face plate into the iron below right next to the hardy hole. This was just from the abrasion of cold shaping horse shoes thousands and thousands of times. You will also see anvils with horns badly worn from shaping shoes. I hate to say it many working smiths often leave in the hardy even though it is dangerous. I did it for years before some one pointed out that I could get hurt, I never cut my self once but just the idea of hurting my self made me change my ways. My gut tells me that the smith needed a second hole to hold additional tooling for a frequently done job so he put one in.
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