As a very last minute decision I took the plunge and purchased my first anvil last night off ebay. Will pick it up this weekend.

 

So what do you think? Think it will clean up ok? I reckon it must be around 1 cwt, it had no real description on the advert and no time to ask any questions. If anyone can ID it that would also be great. So a bit of risky buy but hopefully it should do the job! 

 

 

kinda hard to say from the pic, looks like you might need a little bit of grinding with a flap disk on an angle grinder.

I would have a go at it with a steel brush and a little WD40 or just a bit of water, to just get the main stuff off.

Then once scrubbed down see what you got, see how the rebound is, how straight things are and how bad the damage is on the edges.

A maker mark may show up after the clean.

So I guess it really depends what you paid and what you were forging on before?

Looks like you can do some good work on it to me, got all the bits required, give it a good clean and repost what you find.

Then start looking for something to mount it on and tie it down to the base well or it will run away when you call it names :D

Forging on a upturned sledgehammer head mounted in a stump at the moment, so this should be at least some sort of an improvement!

 

I paid 70 pounds for it, not entirely sure it was worth that, we will see I guess.

 

Will give it a good clean this weekend and go from there.  Is it worth using any sort of rust remover on it? Or should WD40, a wire brush and plenty of use afterwards be enough?

Greetings Curly,

 

It looks a little crispy from the pictures..  I would just power wire brush it before any cleaner or WD..   Next use a hand belt sander on the face to see what you have...  If the face and horn clean up than a coat of furniture tung oil will keep it rust free...

 

Glad to see your progress

Jim

Before you do any cleaning, spend some time with your new anvil. You will be surprised how 10 hours of hammering hot iron on the face will clean it up  After that you should have the confidence to gently clean the rest of the anvil. Light rust removal and oil, wax etc, or a heavy cleaning and then primer and paint. Your choice as it is after all YOUR anvil.

A pressure washer with the high pressure tip will clean a lot of rust and crud off of old tools

saves a lot of wire wheeling and sanding ( not to mention the dust and mess involved )

Looks like it's basically in decent shape, unless there are some welding gouges under that rust.

 

And a quid a pound is pretty cheap by current Eastern US standards, even for a ruster.

 

As someone else wrote, the value depends on several factors, including rebound, which you won't be able to test until you get the rust off the face.

 

Good luck !!  Keep posting pics on the cleanup.

Okay, think I will just give it a quick brush down and go from there. I have 125lb of steel being delivered tomorrow so its going to be put back to doing some hard work very shortly!

I was watching that myself. Looks like a nice enough little anvil. It looks like its stamped with something on the side, but I can't tell.

As others have said, a power wire brush will clean up the thing rather well, I'd be inclined to wire brush it before you start hammering but a decent session will clean it up nicely.

You must post pics when you have it cleaned and mounted!

If nothing else the face looks like it has a thick top plate and it looks reasonably flat.

All the best
Andy

if you want to save yourself a ton of really dirty work first give it a quick wash with a powerwasher , then pop it in a dustbin  bag and immerse it in a tub/patrially filled wheelie bin of water , then add 2 to 4L of cheap(LIDL/ASDA) housebrand white vinegar into the bag  and leave  for 48hrs. The immersing of the bag with anvil inside is so that you use less vinegar   and the displacement of water  by the anvil,vinegar,bag means an even "layer of vinegar all around the anvil. if this goes too slowly heat the water (a bit) using an immersion heater .  BTW. that anvil looks very much  like a Brooks.

 

P.s.save the vinegar after filtering it through a papertowel in a funnel(like mom did with used chip oil) it can be used over and over again.

Andy are you still down this way then? Saw in your other thread you were looking for smiths around Liverpool way. It wasn't you that outbid me on that nice swage block the other week that was being sold in Dorchester was it?!  :P 

 

and thanks Ian, that sounds like a really good idea using the vinegar that way, will keep that in mind!

P.s.save the vinegar after filtering it through a papertowel in a funnel(like mom did with used chip oil) it can be used over and over again.

Coffee filters work well, too, and they tend to fit the funnel better.

Please don't use a grinder on the face, wear the face away with actual work not abrasives. I like the vinegar idea a lot better for removing the rust than taking a flap wheel to it, that way you are only removing the rust not any metal. Then if you still need some more aggressive work put a wire brush on you angle grinder, still no metal removed just crud. Nice looking anvil.

U could make an electrolysis tank and put it in there too. Plenty of vids on YouTube showing how to remove rust via electrolysis. I'm removing rust from a bunch of old hammerheads this very minute using this method.

Hey Curly, that looks like a cute little anvil, I am sure it will clean up fine and be of good use to you! Glad to see you've got one now! Where did you end up getting the steel from in the end?

Andy are you still down this way then? Saw in your other thread you were looking for smiths around Liverpool way. It wasn't you that outbid me on that nice swage block the other week that was being sold in Dorchester was it?!  :P 
 
and thanks Ian, that sounds like a really good idea using the vinegar that way, will keep that in mind!

Sadly not. I moved up to Liverpool with the gf a few months ago. I don't get down as much as I'd like either.


And no. If I knew there was one going in Dorchester I'd have snapped it up. I'm based just outside Poole. We should arrange a Dorset hammerin. :p




An electrolysis tank could work wonders on that anvil - it's not too big to have a go at.
Andy
All the

Will now be spending the morning being distracted from work by watching videos on electrolysis! Looks pretty impressive on what I have seen so far.

 

Colleen, ended up getting the steel from an online site called The Metal Store. Pretty impressed with them so far. Very easy website to use, if not too easy, got a bit carried away with the quantities ordered! Free delivery over £70 and 5 free cuts per length of steel ordered. I am sure you pay a little premium for the service but cant complain at the moment for the ease of use.

I have an anvil that was stored for 50 years in a damp area, shed near a stream, with a bad hot/cold cycle that had fine even rust pitting on the face from condensation.  Wire brushed off the lose rust and have been polishing out the face by working hot steel on it---the sweet spot is pretty much smooth and gleaming now.

 

Removal of face thickness it throwing away uselife and so is not suggested except for special circumstances.

Right folks, managed to pick the anvil up today. I was certainly expecting it to be in a worse condition than it is!

 

So much so that after gathering all of the kit to dunk it in the electrolysis tank Ive decided its not worth it, a wire brush and an oily rag has bought up some shiny metal!

 

Only had ten mins to rub it down so could do with a bit more work. So here is my new 1916 Fisher anvil! Due to the lack of scale the pitting on the face looks worse in the pic. I dont think any of the pitting is more than 1/4 of a mm deep if that but is is consistent across the whole face.

 

Also an anyone tell me what the 8 stands for on the foot?

What's it weigh?

Must be around 80-90lbs. Just putting together a stand now so will post pics once completed.

Very nice. I didn't know we had fisher anvils this side of the pond. Should be nice to work on.

Best if luck with it mate!
Andy

I hear the fisher anvils are known for being good quality and quiet so look forward to putting it back to work soon!

 

Well finished the anvil stand just now, nothing too complex but should do the job. Plan to add a tool rack to the side of it soon. Also got around to mounting this little stake anvil for smaller work in a stump I got for free.

 

Very nice

cogradulations, thats a fine piece of history there and i looks to have mayony morre yers lfter to it.