njanvilman Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 FISHER Insonora design. Made for export to South America and Europe. It has design features similar to many French designs. This is the actual anvil on pg. 161 of AIA. It is now in my museum after going through several owners. There is some torch damage to one edge. Weight is about 270 lbs. This design is not commonly found in the US. I do know of two more, a 50 lb and a 150 lb that hopefully will find their way here someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 FISHER Blacker anvil. This anvil is the design used for the Blacker power hammer. It has two hardy holes, and a cutout area for offset forging. Note the massive heel thickness. This anvil has the steel top plate that is on all Fisher anvils. Weight is around 500 lbs. Made in 1923. Behind it is a smaller Blacker style, 375 lbs, not marked. I am not sure if this one was made by Fisher or another company. Some of these have been re-purposed as shop anvils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 On my Fisher Blacker there is a serial number stamped in the side of the face plate. I have seen one other of these anvils and it's SN was two digits off of mine as I recall. I believe these were added by the powerhammer company. If I can get my number next visit to my *real* shop and post it would you check yours and post it too? And on the sq headed bolts; well I believe the originals did have the sq heads forged; just not hand forged! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Josh, did Fisher make the anvils for the Chambersburg mechanical sledge (Blacker clone) as well, or just for Blacker? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 Josh, did Fisher make the anvils for the Chambersburg mechanical sledge (Blacker clone) as well, or just for Blacker? I am not sure. Do you have a picture of what that anvil looked like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Only the one on page 131of Pounding Out The Profits. Looks just like the Blacker's anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 Only the one on page 131of Pounding Out The Profits. Looks just like the Blacker's anvil. I looked at the photo in the book. It does resemble the Fisher Blacker anvil. I would guess that Fisher probably made the ones for Chambersburg also, but I do not have any records of that. Other companies other than Fisher did make this style anvil also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 Two Custom FISHER anvils. Hornless design/double heel. Large one is about 375 lbs, smaller one is 100 lbs. They were both made using the 350 lb base/100 lb base pattern and a custom top half pattern. These were not standard items. Someone had to have wanted these designs and had Fisher manufacturer them. Neither one is dated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 the patination on the bigger one shows the faceplate very clearly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted March 17, 2014 Author Share Posted March 17, 2014 FISHER anvil with handles. In the 1860's and early 1870's, Fisher made some of their anvils with cast-in carrying handles. The steel handles had threads or grooves on the part that went into the anvil, to provide a better attachment into the iron. These handles were placed in the molds and the iron was poured around them. The curious thing about these is that I had never seen a Fisher anvil with a handle(s) except for smaller sawmaker's anvils. I now have found four of these, all in the last year. Three have the 1860's logo and one has the 1870's logo. Two still have both handles, two have one handle and the remain of the second one(the second handle had been sawn off). They range in weight from 90 to 120 lbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 600 lb FISHER anvil, with the pattern that made it many years ago. This anvil is not dated, but I guess its vintage to the 1920's or 1930's. It is in very good shape. If you look at the pattern, one can see where it was slightly modified to correct the size so that the weight was correct. Many Fisher anvils were off on their weight by as much as 5%. In the 19(teen), they made modifications to many of the patterns to get the anvils to correspond to their marked weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 My newest, and one of the rarest FISHER anvils. 280 lb FISHER EXPORT anvil. This anvil has the tapered end common the European designs. I have only seen pictures in Fisher literature before. This is the first Fisher Export anvil I have ever seen, and it is now in my Fisher museum. It does have some minor torch damage and was obviously used a great deal. I have no history of this anvil, aside that is came home from the Berkshire hills area of NW Massachusetts. If you look closely, you can see where the Eagle imprint was chiseled off. I am not sure why this was done. Top view showing the shape and length. Date mark of 1920. Next task is to clean it up. More pics when that is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 I did the first round of wire wheeling today on the Fisher Export Anvil. What I though was a shadow of the 3" round Eagle emblem was only chisel marks. The anvil never had the emblem. It is cleaning up nicely. Pictures soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 Something from the FISHER factory, but not an anvil. Fisher also made railroad rail joints. These were made by the thousands in the 1870's and 1880's. I am not sure when they stopped this part of the business. Perhaps some train buff on this site can add to this discussion. The first photo shows the Fisher display at the 1876 Centennial Fair in Philadelphia. The display featured all of their products, including the rail joints. The two rail joints are in close up below. The left one is an original I found in the Crossley plant. It was being used as a counterweight for a hand held grinder. The one on the right is an original patent model given to me by the last family member of the original owners of Fisher. The "rail" in the patent model is wood. Original patent model. A very rusty rail joint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admanfrd Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 I have personally used a Fisher a few weeks ago side by side with my A&H wrought anvil. I found the Fisher to be very so-so in rebound as well as difficult to work under the heel for punching curvy holes. It was an ok anvil, But i find Fishers to be fan boyed and overrated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Difficult to work under the heel because the heel is so thick? I could understand that. But the cast iron body requires a bit more meat in the thin parts, else they might want to snap off. Personally, I haven't encountered this problem, yet, and can think of a dozen work-arounds. Bad rebound? Was the anvil mounted solidly? No wiggle? Sounds more like a problem of expectations than necessarily condemning the entire brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admanfrd Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 No, they are great anvils! I just find them a bit.. wierd. They have their place just like a peter wright of an A&H have theirs. I was expecting more because of all the worship they get on this site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted April 7, 2014 Author Share Posted April 7, 2014 No, they are great anvils! I just find them a bit.. wierd. They have their place just like a peter wright of an A&H have theirs. I was expecting more because of all the worship they get on this site. It might just have been the particular anvil you were using. Try another one sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Good point there is often a wider range in properties in older items than we are used to. I love my massive Fisher; yet right beside it is a 93# Arm and Hammer that I use for the extremely thin heel and face worn into a gentle swale that helps straighten things more than the dead flat fisher. I have two Peter Wrights in the 165# range yet I can tell the difference in hardness of their faces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admanfrd Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Interesting. I still hold my belief that Fishers are just a bit too over glorified. Everything has its place and depending on the task, other anvils might work better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Interesting. I still hold my belief that Fishers are just a bit too over glorified. Everything has its place and depending on the task, other anvils might work better. I don't think anyone on this site has ever "over glorified" one brand over another. There are definitely some brands that are inferior to others. All manufacturers had their own ideas of what would work best. Fisher's claim to fame was that they produced over 500,000 anvils, made an anvil that was "quiet" compared to others, and that they would make any size or shape that a customer desired. And they offered a one year replacement warranty on their product. That was the reason they started to date their anvils. The fact that so many have survived in use to this day speaks for itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admanfrd Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I love the fact that we can agree to disagree :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I have noticed that some people automatically discount rebound where there is no ring---did the bounce test on two anvils with very close results and they rated the loud one as harder even when it was slightly less in the objective test results. Having a bunch of different anvils helps this kind of testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted April 16, 2014 Author Share Posted April 16, 2014 I wire wheeled the FISHER Export Anvil, and gave it an oil treatment. Aside from the torch damage and obvious use, it looks pretty good. Made in 1920 for the European market. A very rare anvil, especially in the US. Another view. A look at the base showing the cast in corner "pins". These are on some of the FISHER anvils in the collection, but not all. They were intended to keep the anvil from moving, especially when on a wooden base. Also note how they cleaned up the riser by chiseling off the excess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack1knife Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Around 1847, Mark Fisher makes his first anvil in Newport, Maine. He had run a tannery there. When it burned down, he found iron that had fused to steel in the rubble. He figure out that this might be a way to get the steel top onto a cast iron anvil. No one knows why he tried this, but he succeeded. Anvils were made at his foundry there until around 1852. Named Fisher Anvils at this time. Josh, do any known anvils of this type exist today - just the "FISHER ANVILS" Brand? Post a picture if so! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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