I found this at a flea market in texas, It has no discerninable marks on it but it weighs 150 lbs. It has a nice ring to it, I did not have a ball bearing, but the hammer shot up about half the drop height. The horn is very short and stocky. Guy wants 300 for it. Anybody know what it could be? It also doesn't have a pritchel hole.

Looks like a good buy, as long as the face and edges are good.

Its a no name cast anvil. If it has a good hard face its worth about what he is asking. If its worth it to you. I would offer 250 or 275.

I think it looks kinda fishy. If that "anvil" is cast iron, you better hold on to your money until you find a nicer/better (real) anvil.

Good doorstop or anchor.

It looks a lot like the HF Russian anvil, the better one, which retailed for half the asking price.
Phil

OK,I looked at the pictures on Anvilfire, the heel is wrong, and the bick is more rounded/submarine shaped on the Russian anvil

Phil

Edited February 5, 201214 yr by Phil Krankowski

He said it had good rebound. It could be a cast steel anvil. Its not the most gracefully proportioned anvil but if its hardened steel it is worth the money being asked. It has good sharp edges.

What is the determining factor of cast iron, is there some way to tell by looking at it?
Has any one ever heard of alamo steel anvils? I couldnt find anything on google. The same guy has one and he says its 50 lbs, but he wants 175 for that one.

Rebound test using a 1 inch hardened steel ball bearing. If you don't get 50% return you don't want the anvil.

Phil

Cast iron will dent and not have good rebound.

I have one very similar to that. ( fat horn, not pritchet, etc ) On the other side up on the heal mine says Japan on it. It works as something to hit metal on, but the horn is all but useless. I would save the money and look for something else. IF you are in real need of an anvil, I would offer about $100-$150 at most. Scrap steel is at about 0.35$ and that "anvil" is not worth much more than that.

looks like my vulcan. it is a cast anvil that does not have a lot of ring but it will put your hammer right back in your face if you are not paying attention.

I have something very similar...same weight and shape. The horn looks the same : quite triangular and very proportionately short. On mine the hardy is 1 1/4 and no pritchel, with the hardy in the same location. On mine the rebound is waaayyyy less than desirable. Mine also says 75kg 150.

Mine is for sale. the face does indeed dent

Some cast anvils like that were coming up out of Chihuahua, Mexico, a few years ago. Caveat emptor.

OK first thing: are you familiar with the ring and rebound of the good brand anvils? Hard to judge what is good or not if you don't know the calibration!

Next anvils from Mexico: I believe that they were "end of the day clean out the ladle castings" as such their quality varies wildly depending on what they were casting that day. I have not seen one that was subsequently heat treated though and the ones that come through the local auction are not usually fettled. You can often guess what brand anvil was used to make the mold though and I expect to start seeing some cleaned up with fake stampings to try to "pass" as the originals.

$2 a pound is kinda high price for a no name, no pritchel, bad horn anvil. If it had good rebound I might go a dollar a pound on it myself here in NM, USA.