August 18, 201312 yr Here is my wife's William Foster anvil. It was found in the mud of the foundation of the family barn, and was likely purchased by her family new when the barn was built. It was possibly hidden in the mud during the American Civil War. I still have hopes of passing it on to the next generation. The bumpy area on the anvil is mud. As you can see from where the mud was removed, the anvil remained in decent shape. I don't expect that using your anvil will harm it any. I would suggest using it and dealing with whatever happens, if and when it happens. Just my opinion.
August 18, 201312 yr i enjoy working on it and it is now living in the teaching shop and has held up well to having both kids and adults attacking it
September 15, 201312 yr Author Finally got around to cutting a stump for the William foster, it is wild cherry anf weighs in at 130 pounds (for now, it was only cut down about a year ago) so all together it comes in right at 400# ! First thing I am going to forge on it are hold downs for it.
September 15, 201312 yr Beautiful set up! If you put a bit of silicone caulk under the anvil, it will stop the ring dead in its tracks and prevent moisture build up.
September 16, 201312 yr Author Thanks vaughn, I will do that tomorrow, I'm trying to enlist a strikers to help me out this week so I can get a couple fullers and a hotcut made out of axle......we will see how it goes ;) Haha
December 13, 201312 yr Well, I'm late to the party, but just spotted this. I picked up a William Foster about five or six weeks ago, and it's an absolute pleasure to work with. Broken heel, so the guy let me have it after he sold of the "good Peter Wrights" for $75. Still has a ton of life left in it though. My wife calls it my "half an anvil" Stamped 1816, and complete it's supposed to weigh 162, but what's left still comes in at 140. It has a fantastic rebound. (In fact the once or twice I've missed the work, like the other day when I tried to hammer a rod from cold to white hot, the anvil was unharmed, but the hammer came back looking for me in a hurry!) The step is a little shallow, but the beak is a good bit longer proportionally than the ones I saw in the photos above. No pics of it in place, but..... http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37798-ntm3/
December 14, 201312 yr Author Yeah the step on mine is shallow as well but that does not bother me, my anvil has amazing rebound and really moves metal but does not have much of a ring to it. It is not as quiet as a fisher but it is much more quiet than the peter wright I sold, your anvil is beautiful and fully functional! You did well for 75 bucks
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