Alicia Holmes Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Weight and Letter format. top view a side view 116lbs Bought for 175.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluidsteel Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Congrats! Looks like a stout little fella. Nice thick waist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia Holmes Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 Thank you!! cant wait to get it all cleaned up and in use!! I cant believe how old it is, too. Its incredible to own a piece of history, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia Holmes Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 Cleaned up, Someone really beat it up, but still pretty straight, overall. A bit of downward tilt towards the front, as you can see the face mashed down. Just a bit of texture now, which is alright by me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Ravizza Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Nice anvil! Funny, I picked one up just like it over the weekend. I think mine is exactly one pound lighter. Marked 1-0-3. Yours is in a bit better shape. Mine has a few chips out of the edges. Good find. Enjoy it. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia Holmes Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 Nice anvil! Funny, I picked one up just like it over the weekend. I think mine is exactly one pound lighter. Marked 1-0-3. Yours is in a bit better shape. Mine has a few chips out of the edges. Good find. Enjoy it. Dan Ooh, must see. Did you post photos of it yet? Ill check out your latest posts ;) If not, I hope that you were planning to! I love looking at all the different varieties. ( I think i found a new side hobby... too... except Ill USE mine! haha!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Here is my old mousehole anvil.http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/35923-dscf1967/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Here is my old mousehole anvil.http://www.iforgeiro...35923-dscf1967/ Old N Rusty Mousehole..... B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia Holmes Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 Here is my old mousehole anvil.http://www.iforgeiro...35923-dscf1967/ Nice and crisp too, looks like? We cleaned ours up because someone decided that using it as a chisel block was a brilliant idea (poor thing). Dings and gouges all over the face and horn. We got some of the smaller stuff out with just the belt sander, ( horn cleaned up pretty nicely) but the bigger stuff is going to probably stay there forevermore. Im not doing anything that would need to be 100% perfect anyway, so all i see it as is adding character to the metal. Mostly superficial stuff, to me. I dont want to mill it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Ravizza Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Here are two not so great photos of the new Mousehole anvil. It almost looks like a twin to yours. Yours is in nicer shape though. Some past idiot was not careful with this anvil. From what I can tell the anvil dates from 1820-1835. It also lacks a pritchel hole. It is marked but did not show up clearly in the photo. It reads M & H Armitage Mouse Hole 1.0.3 Not in bad shape for being at least 177 years old! I sure won't look that good when I am that age. If you have not seen it this webpage has some good info on dating these anvils. http://www.abana.org/resources/discus/messages/4/442.html?1339783714 According to this your anvil would date from 1854-1875. I am awfully tempted to weld up those chips in the anvil and clean up the surface a bit. But since this anvil is so old it might be best to leave it alone. I am happy to have found a Mousehole anvil. Especially an early one like this. Learning the about the history is almost as fun as forging. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 I happen to know the entire history of my anvil. In 1838 A.A.Broussard set up a forge here in Baton Rouge. It seems he did well till the War Between the states. In 1865 Broussard buried it to keep carpetbaggers from stealing or destroying it. That could be where that lovely rust came from. In 1876 he dug it up and started A.A.B. co a steel fabrication /machine shop. this shop lasted till 1971 when the last heir retired and sold the shop. I was working as a welder there when the new owners decided to clean out all the "scrap" laying about. This scrap included complete templates for making "clamshell " crane buckets , and bottom dump concrete buckets. Some beautiful pieces of industrial art in themselves. These templates were center punch marked with all the rolling radius and bending instructions necessary to make the buckets. All scrapped , against the wall,behind these, was this anvil . I told the foreman I really wanted that anvil and $50.00 to HIM got it in my truck. This was the start of my long journey to the shop I now own. I love this anvil a lot. $500.00 would not be enough to get it from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia Holmes Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 I happen to know the entire history of my anvil. In 1838 A.A.Broussard set up a forge here in Baton Rouge. It seems he did well till the War Between the states. In 1865 Broussard buried it to keep carpetbaggers from stealing or destroying it. That could be where that lovely rust came from. In 1876 he dug it up and started A.A.B. co a steel fabrication /machine shop. this shop lasted till 1971 when the last heir retired and sold the shop. I was working as a welder there when the new owners decided to clean out all the "scrap" laying about. This scrap included complete templates for making "clamshell " crane buckets , and bottom dump concrete buckets. Some beautiful pieces of industrial art in themselves. These templates were center punch marked with all the rolling radius and bending instructions necessary to make the buckets. All scrapped , against the wall,behind these, was this anvil . I told the foreman I really wanted that anvil and $50.00 to HIM got it in my truck. This was the start of my long journey to the shop I now own. I love this anvil a lot. $500.00 would not be enough to get it from me. That is such awesome information. I wish i knew the story behind mine. Maybe someday i can find out. Im going to ask my friend who he bought it from, and maybe find out where THEY got it from too? may not lead anywhere, but i suppose its certainly worth a fun shot. Thank you for sharing your story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia Holmes Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 Here are two not so great photos of the new Mousehole anvil. It almost looks like a twin to yours. Yours is in nicer shape though. Some past idiot was not careful with this anvil. From what I can tell the anvil dates from 1820-1835. It also lacks a pritchel hole. It is marked but did not show up clearly in the photo. It reads M & H Armitage Mouse Hole 1.0.3 Not in bad shape for being at least 177 years old! I sure won't look that good when I am that age. If you have not seen it this webpage has some good info on dating these anvils. http://www.abana.org...html?1339783714 According to this your anvil would date from 1854-1875. I am awfully tempted to weld up those chips in the anvil and clean up the surface a bit. But since this anvil is so old it might be best to leave it alone. I am happy to have found a Mousehole anvil. Especially an early one like this. Learning the about the history is almost as fun as forging. Dan HAHA i dont think any of us will look that great at that age!!!! yeah, thats the site i found for dating it, too. Not a whole lot of hits on Google Mousehole Forge stuff, so i pretty much SCOURED the hits and tried to get as much as i could from them all. Anvils in America had a LOT more history info, which was really fun for me to read! 150 something years old, maybe... incredible stuff. With yours being so beat up by previous owner/s, i guess its up to you what you want to do with it. To me it looks like its got plenty of life left, and just needs some TLC. ( the horn im curious about, is it chipped/torn off on that one side?!) But if i owned a couple, I might have personally just kept that one and kept it clean and dry on display, but if it still has life left... maybe it is better for the "soul" of that anvil, if you will, that it be used till its dying days ;) Thanks for sharing too. I think i got the bug for these things.... Ill be searching and hunting my area now, thats for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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