January 20, 201214 yr Yesterday, I bought a big beautiful leg vise from a guy in pennsylvania who has been hoarding tools in his backyard. I posted a picture of the vise yesterday in the thread in this forum "first come first served". The good news is that he has ten anvils in his back yard, all reasonably priced, including a 300 lb columbian, a 300 pound swedish paragon, peter wrights, hay buddens, etc. I will be posting pictures of his anvils. I might just buy the whole load and make them available to members of this website.
January 20, 201214 yr Next time you are out this way let me know and I will introduce you to a fellow with around 500 anvils.
January 20, 201214 yr The first time this NM fellow made it out to Quad-State he bought 30 anvils and a new trailer to get them home...
January 20, 201214 yr thats kind of depressing its like going to auctions for tools and the like and realizing there are 10 dealers from out of state but thats happening more and more up here as well this is primarily farm equipment but still this was at the quad state comment
January 20, 201214 yr snif snif I only want ONE 3ctw.. just one I can buy... That would be nice. I would like the same. Phil
January 21, 201214 yr I know josh, who has about that many anvils, lol Not quite that many, but about one for each day of the year. But remember, I have then on display in my museum, and open it for any person who has a genuine interest in the material. Also are the archives of the Fisher company, saved at the last minute before they were disposed of.
February 12, 201214 yr Yo Stewart- that looks like Tyson's place. Don't go telling everyone, now! Steve
February 12, 201214 yr Thanks for the pic's - seems kinda sad that so many anvils are waiting quietly for some slappin' around :lol:
February 12, 201214 yr That's enough to make a grown man cry.... That first pictured anvil looks like a dandy...
February 12, 201214 yr I can understand people collecting them for exhibits - or finding rare ones - but i dont understand the obsession with buying as many as possible meerly to leave them in your backyard -open to the elements. My anvil was relatively cheap - but it is to me by far the most precious tool in my shop - when im not useing it, I keep a little wax'd blanket over it`s face and put it to bed. Ive considered annointing it with sacred oils and praying to the machine gods, but only once or twice. Maybe i should start a charity for abused anvils? - a bunch of us could take a van round places like this and "rescue" them - we could then re-home them to nice vetted smithys seeking to adopt a beautifull anvil.
February 12, 201214 yr "That's enough to make a grown man cry...." You ain't kiddin' mudbugone. We need a celebrity spokesperson and some sad music like the commercials for 3rd world orphans or pet rescue. We could show videos of abused and neglected anvils, and prime scrap going in to railcars bound for asia to be made into crappy consumer goods. I feel a tear coming on already.
February 12, 201214 yr Let us be thankful that some anvils are being saved, used or unused. In 1969, nothing much was going on the U.S. world of blacksmithery. Then Alex Bealer's book came out, and there began a resuscitation of the craft. Because of this renewed interest, because of blacksmithing organizations, and because of Postman's "Anvils in America," we are now aware of brand names, weight markings, countries of origin, and manufacturing dates/processes. In my early days of learning the craft, I heard rumors of flat car loads of anvils heading for the scrap yards for the WW II "war effort." Was the flat car rumor true? Who knows? In any event, I suspect that the rescue of anvils is currently outweighing the scrapping of anvils.
February 13, 201214 yr I keep watching and waiting. One of these days I'll run across a collection like that, and it will have a gigantic Fisher in near-new condition. That's my dream...
February 13, 201214 yr VaughT folks like that are much less likely to turn loose of one at a good price than people who just have an anvil "taking up space" in a garage shed or basement. I got my middling sized Fisher---515#---from talking with a fellow at a fleamarket who was selling greasy car parts---stuff I wouldn't have dug out of a dumpster for free; however he "howdy'd" me and so I stopped and talked with him about how I was hunting a large anvil. Turns out his Uncle had one and was looking to get rid of it. Later that day after the fleamarket was over I paid US$350 for a 525# Fisher in MINT condition---used to be the anvil from a Blacker powerhammer in a local RR shop and didn't see much use evidently. As for scrapping: Make sure all the local scrappers *KNOW* you will pay a premium over scrap price for an anvil and have your number to hand. Some yards will cheerfully accept a sixpack of brown pop *at* *closing* *time* as a bonus that will have all the yard help keeping their eyes open for you too.
February 13, 201214 yr You're right, T. I've asked everyone I run across about any anvils they might know of, but I haven't gotten a lead on anything. Of course, the one time I asked a guy that I would never have guessed even knew what an anvil was, he had a small on in his back yard and gave it to me for $30! It's beat all to get out, and it's loud, but it works. That big Fisher, though, that's a dream I'll look forward to realizing one day. A quiet anvil, big enough for anything I might want to do. :wub:
February 13, 201214 yr Jeepers! You couldn't walk through there without tripping on an anvil, bouncing off an anvil and landing on... another anvil!
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