My Mousehole anvil

[FordPrefect]

Well here is my Mousehole anvil, just got it cleaned no markings, no nothing on it, per Mousehole Forge book it looks like a 1860 Mousewhole see picture below, I believe the picture in the middle is my anvil.



This is what it looked like when I first seen it.



This is what it looked like when I brought it home, or to my brother in laws shed, placed on a new white oak stump.



Here are the pictures of the anvil being cleaned.

[fluidsteel]

She's a beauty. Nothing like a hundred+ year old anvil all shiny and full of luster! Nice thick waist. Should move metal nicely!

[FordPrefect]

fluidsteel, it moves metal very nice, has a nice sweet spot about 4" away from the hardy hole towards the horn, but not sure why it does not have any markings?

[Bigred1o1]

the mouse hole i found up here was stamped very lightly and by looking at the pitting on yours that would be plenty have removed it
i have to say i love the transition of the mouse hole horns to the anvil body they look more like the prow of a ship

[CurlyGeorge]

Nice anvil, Michael. Don't let Aaron see it or he might try to talk you out of it. :D

[ThomasPowers]

Perhaps because it might not be a Mousehole? Postman has documented over 200 different anvil manufacturers in England, many of them fairly small and many of them started by people who used to work at the large ones (Mousehole, Peter Wright, etc) and so their output often looks a whole lot like what they were "trained" on.

As mentioned it could just be light stamping and a rough life; or it could be some other maker.

If it's a good anvil then that's enough for me! I have a 410# anvil I believe is a Trenton that had the sides ground in it's former life as a mine support anvil. Not having the name stamped doesn't affect the face or ring on it at all!

[Aaron J. Cergol]

George, haha good one, I might be able to buy it back from him for more than he bought it from me.

This was my main shop anvil for the past 3 years until I got a larger German one. We got an awful lot of work done on it and it will take a heck of a beating. Lots of striking on hardies; it has a nice thick heel for such tasks.

The guy I bought it from thought it was a mousehole stylistically and due to the horn transition, however as Thomas mentions there were hundreds of English manufacturers and half of them look the same as a silhouette and are constructed the same. Was it Peter wright who used to work for mousehole? Look at the early wrights, they look just like mouseholes... I may be confusing the story and the Names but you take my drift (said the hammer)

I hope you get some good work done on her Michael!

Aaron

[Frosty]

Nice job Michael, I love old tools brought back to life.

Frosty The Lucky.

[FordPrefect]

Bigred1o1, yeah I love the way this anvil looks, very tough looking, like an anvil should look. This anvil could have had a stamp on it, but not sure it matters, this anvil was not abused, so it may be that it is a anvil made by smaller anvil maker few suggested here.



Thanks Curley George, Aaron can't afford this anvil anymore, with white oak stump, cleaned, oiled up, this anvil would go for way too much money, unless he wants to trade for a power hammer. :D

Oh it will be used to the fullest Aaron, few more weeks, need few more tools.

Thomas I could care less if this is a Mousehole or not, it's a great anvil worth what I paid, would have been better if I paid $35 like my friend Mark that got a 205# Hay Budden at an estate sale, but I am not that lucky.

[FordPrefect]

Aaron, does it not look good?



Thanks Frosty, it cleaned up nicely, I tried to make it look more appealing so that I would go out every morning and pound on something with a vengeance.