M&H Armitage Mouse Hole anvil - 1820-1835 (?)

[twodogzz]

Found this guy at a warehouse clean-out sale today and wasted no time reaching for my wallet when the seller said $175. 

 

If this post on the ABANA forums is correct, it dates to the 1820's-30's. I think I did ok  :D. It should clean up nice.

 

Markings are:

 

M&H Armitage

Mouse Hole

 

1 0 16

 

4 (on the foot) 

 

 

 

[Timothy Miller]

Nice one, most old mouse holes are very worn form years of hard use.

[twodogzz]

It has a bit of a radius to the face toward the front and transitions to flatter towards the back. I think it's from design rather than wear. Edges are good except for a couple of chips that will grind out easily. The only edge that is chipped badly is at the front shoulder. I have a Hay Budden that is  damaged the same way. 

 

BTW Timothy, I checked out your web site and your work is fantastic.

[Bentiron1946]

Nice anvil, just don't clean it up with an abrasive disk, you don't want to remove material just rust so use a wire brush with your 4" grinder to do that task. Now go light off the forge and have a good time!

[twodogzz]

Nice anvil, just don't clean it up with an abrasive disk, you don't want to remove material just rust so use a wire brush with your 4" grinder to do that task. Now go light off the forge and have a good time!

By grinding I meant with a belt sander setup. I'm talking about a 1/4" chipped area. It's a wire wheel for everything else.