Feedback or information on this anvil

[Solano]

This anvil belongs to a fella I know that just has it sitting in his yard. Not for sale as of now :)

Can anyone tell me about its origination? I know what he told me it was used for by its last owner, I would just like to know more about it. It measures about 36"L 14" D 18" H

[VaughnT]

Looks like a heavy-duty piece, for sure, but I don't know that it's an anvil.  Maybe it's upside down?

 

Do the square holes in the top go all the way through?

 

Never seen anything like it before.  Reminds me of a bridge anvil like you sometimes see, but there's no bridge to it.  

 

Definitely going to weigh a good bit!!!

[Solano]

notice the different slots on the bottom, they are different from each side. And the hardy holes are 1.5" thru

[crossdawg]

This will be interesting to follow. I'm sure there will be plenty of comments to follow.

[Foundryman]

Maybe it's to hold tooling for a power hammer?  The shape looks more power hammer than anvil to me, but I'm a blacksmith newbie so i could be very, very wrong.

[knots]

I don't know what it's originally intended purpose was but it would make fine striking anvil.  From the looks of the edges it is hardened and heat treated.

 

Rebound ????

[Judson Yaggy]

The mass of a power hammer anvil tends to be oriented along a vertical axis to be in line with the blow.  This one is fairly horizontal.  

 

Sure looks like an anvil to me, just not a London Pattern. I agree with knots, the edges look like typical wear seen on hard faced anvils.  Perhaps a special casting made in house at a large plant for a specific task requiring just that shape of anvil.  

 

Of course we could all be barking up the wrong tree.  When all you have is a hammer everything looks like an anvil.  Next time you see it, flip it over and look at the underside, is there any indication of other use on the bottom or any clues as to what the slots in the base are for?  All in all it looks like one of those oil field anvils to me.  

[Judson Yaggy]

Ok, just looked at the description again.  If the hardie holes are 1 1/2" square then that thing is BIG.  Do the slots in the first pic resemble the cross section of a railroad rail?

[Solano]

Judson,

they do remind me of a RR rail cross section but are not tall enough. And they depreciate in size as you go to the other end, on opposite side they are rectangular slots depreciating in size as well. It did actually come from an old driller, but I haven't a clue if that's what it was made for. His son claims they would heat the old cable drill's bits in a huge forge onsite and then forge the bit's cutting slopes back to profile. I hope to get more feed back to learn about it! And if I get a chance to tip it over, means I have taken my forklift along and its on its way home!! But that isn't likely to happen.

[Steve McCarthy]

If you were by the Coast somewhere, I would suggest it was a mooring cleat. Not much need for those in N.M.  :unsure:

[knots]

I just don't see this object as being an oil field tool sharpening anvil ( no bridge), nor do I see it as being an insert for a large power hammer (to long).   However I have seen hydraulic presses with a footprint the size of a 2 car garage, but not in NM.  But then who knows what the government has out there.

 

The T shaped slots on the one side look like - well T-Slots.  The rectangular holes on the other side look like seats for hold down dogs/clips.

[Timothy Miller]

That really looks like an oil field anvil for sharping drills.  Bridge anvils are different form oil field anvils.  

[knots]

I used to have an old rock drilling bit that looked like a tuning fork . My understanding of how it was used was that  it was lifted and dropped repeatedly into the well bore while water was being pumped down the hole to remove the tailings.  I fail to see how one of these old style bits could have been forged on anything other than a bridge style anvil.  This old style drilling proceedure has long since been abandoned having been surplanted by rotary drilling.   

 

My father in law was a driller and later a tool pusher for the old Humble oil company. He worked the oil fields from the 1930's to the 1960's. My conversations with him indicated that, at least in the part of the country that I come from, the wells were far to deep to use anything other than rotary drilling .  The exception to that may have been the east Texas fields which were being drilled in the 30's.  My understanding was that the rotary drills were routinely sent back to special shops for reconditioning, not reconditioned in the field .

 

 I guess the question is: Is there another style of well drilling bit that I am not familiar with that could be forged to recondition using the tooling shown.  If I have missed something I would love to be re-educated .  

 

However given the existence of the T slots and provision for the dogging in place on the featured tool, this sure looks to me to be a really big die for a really big machine.  Yet, it sure would make a nice striking anvil .   

 

I had a picture of that fork shapped bit that I though I had posted here on IFI but cannot find it.  The file for that picture was lost when my last computer crashed.

[Frosty]

There are a few types of drill bits: the lift and drop bits are commonly called "Churn bits" and can vary wildly depending on formations and conditions. then there are rotary bits they too can vary wildly from tricone bits, button bits,, finger bits, tooth bits and combo bits, tec. then there are impact bits like you see drilling holes for setting explosives we called them air tracks because everything about them was run with compressed air. Those bits are designed to be hammered into whatever they encounter with a little rotary action to keep the bore holes round and keep them from jamming, cuttings are blown up and out with air. These are seldom expected to drill more than a hundred feet or so. combo drills are usually rotary rigs with a hammer to advance the bit and casing by beating it through obstacles. A basic principle of drilling is we can put a hole in ANYTHING or break it and push it out of our way.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[knots]

There are a few types of drill bits: the lift and drop bits are commonly called "Churn bits" and can vary wildly depending on formations and conditions. then there are rotary bits they too can vary wildly from tricone bits, button bits,, finger bits, tooth bits and combo bits, tec. then there are impact bits like you see drilling holes for setting explosives we called them air tracks because everything about them was run with compressed air. Those bits are designed to be hammered into whatever they encounter with a little rotary action to keep the bore holes round and keep them from jamming, cuttings are blown up and out with air. These are seldom expected to drill more than a hundred feet or so. combo drills are usually rotary rigs with a hammer to advance the bit and casing by beating it through obstacles. A basic principle of drilling is we can put a hole in ANYTHING or break it and push it out of our way.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

 

OK , but I thought that we were discussing well drilling tooling.  Most of the hollow bodied compressed air tools were used for blasting.  Some of the quarry drill rigs were fairly substantial machines but were still in a different class from the oil field rigs.  

 

The question remains what kind of drill bit could have been forged sharpened on the featured tool ?  

[ThomasPowers]

Funny I've seen several compressed air oil drilling rigs when I worked in the oil patch.  Even had to study them in Economic Geology class at the university.  (They are a pain to get good samples of the cuttings from!)

[Frosty]

I only spent a very brief time on the North slope and not on a rig. Most modern well drillers around here are using rotary hammer drills clearing the cuttings with compressed air, we called wire line drills. checking the cuttings is a real dance, trying to catch cuttings being blown out of the stand pipe. Accurate samples are taken with down hole tooling, specifically samplers and down hole hammers.

 

My drilling experience is in soil sampling, testing and instrument setting for bridges and foundations.

 

As to what kind of drill bit or tool could be sharpened or tweeked on that anvil, I can't say. I don't think it being an anvil for drilling operations is anything but a hypothesis yet. Maybe if it gets flipped over we'll find it's a tool holder for a knife smith?

 

I don't know what it is but it'd sure look cool in my shop and I'd be happy to do some hammering on it.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[knots]

Have a look.  I think I need one of these.