graindrillman Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 I need some help trying to find out more about these pieces. I just got them in on a trade. I usually only collect cast iron seats wrenches and chainsaws but these really looked interesting. One of these I was told is a "HAND ANVIL" ???? very small ,very old cast. The stump anvil is also very interesting it is huge weigh's in at 71 1/2 lbs. It also has a hardy hole in the fluted coloum. The small stump anvil is 4 1/2 lb's and has the the STUBS on it with the number 3. I hope the pictures help. Thanks Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WmHorus Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 What would you be asking for the stump and the stake ( picture # 10 ) out of interested curiosity.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 The hand anvil looks like a dolly used for auto body work IE; you hold it on the backside of a dent, and work a hammer on the other side of the metal. The double ended one has a basic bick shape, although it does not have the stanard PEXTO style base square. Go to PEXTO's website, and you will see tons of different stakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Sorry they are not "very old" probably only 19th century at most, for blacksmithing tools 18th century starts to be very old---a lot of use use 100+ year old tools every time we smith! If you want to sell them may I suggest you post them on an armour making site like armourarchive.org (and yes they use the british spelling) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graindrillman Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 OK This has been posted for almost a full day and I am no smarter now than when I started. These are not for sale right now . Having bought , sold and traded for a lot of years I do know that if you own it , it is worth nothing or very little untill the professional gets it and then it's worth thousands of $$$$. All I am asking is for enough information that I can pass it along when I do decide to get rid of them . If they are worthless there are four large scrap yards within 30 miles that would be more than happy to mix this old iron in with the low end scrap. These are very well made tools not just something that was made out of rail road spikes and truck axels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregDP Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 OK This has been posted for almost a full day and I am no smarter now than when I started.You catch more flies with honey. ;) Now you learned something. You're pictures are rather large, but many tool have several names depending on who's using them an how.. Your question is rather vague, but be patient, and perhaps check a book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 "A full day" isn't a terribly long time for this forum. Give it some more time and the incredibly knowledgeable experts here may notice your pictures. Your first post asks for help, and your second one comes across as irritated even thou you have already been given some good advise. The item in picture #5 is a scythe sharpening anvil, here in America they were very common in the late 19th and early 20th century. If you are in South Africa or Eastern Europe this may vary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perrin Aybarra Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 This may be off-topic, but when judson said that a day isn't a very long time on here, it made me think of the Ents from lord of the rings! And back to topic, I don't know much about tools or anything, but I learned a while ago that it's better to accept help even if it doesn't actually help, so long as it isn't actually hindering you. Just take the posts as they come. If someone comments a year from now and tells you something about your tools that you still didn't know, would you complain about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 It's a little tough looking at the photos oversized, and straight-on shots showing no depth. Left to right, top to bottom: roughly made stake anvil; maybe a square stake top?; next two, no idea; could be a scythe anvil or just a small blocking stake; roughly made single bick stake; single bick stake; stake with shank; single bick stake, again; bickern or stake anvil; hole in the pyramidal horn?; top view bickern?; tool shank; no idea on last photo. My favorite is the two horned bickern, fairly old and looks to be hand forged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Having SUPERSIZED pics doesn't help. Having to scroll all over to see just parts is pretty akward. Looks like they have been ID'd, now you just need to figure out what they are worth when you decide to part with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graindrillman Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Sorry about the quality of the pictures but this was my first posting on this site and must have missed hitting a button. The one that can now be called a scythe anvil or blocking stake has the name "STUBS" with the number "3" on it . Can any one tell me anything about this company. This is a factory mark not something that was marked for personal use. Thanks to everyone that has helped with my original question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 You have a stump or scythe anvil made by Stubs Company of Lancashire, England. They were in business in the 19th century and imported to the US. The hand anvil looks like a early example of a body dolly it is hand forged and probably made of wrought iron. the large curved T stake looks like nothing I have ever seen it is most likely to do something highly specific it has hammer marks on the face from where it was forged. This is unusual because most stakes had polished faces or at least smooth faces. It could be a stake that was modified at some point in its life as well. The stake with the pointy end as said above is a bick iron this is a stake used by blacksmiths to supplement their anvils. Mainly used for light work. They are forged not cast don't scrap them. My gut tells me they should fetch about $300 as a lot with out too much work. The best ones are the bick iron and the stump anvil. The other two are not so hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 For more info on scythe anvils you can look under denglestock the german term for them. When I said they're "not very old" I did not mean they are worthless. I meant that they were "not very old" in the blacksmithing scale of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graindrillman Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Thanks to the member's for the information . The last couple of postings have been very helpfull. I am still lost as to why there is a hardy hole in the bick iron ???????????. There are a lot of pictures of these bick irons on different web sites and collector profiles but I have yet to see any with the hole ?????. These pieces that I have , were all found in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.These are parts of Canada that were first settled in the late 1700's and early 1800's.This might complicate things coming from other country's that have not been researched as much as the North American company's. Thanks again for the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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