Should this new blacksmith buy this Henry Wright Anvil

[mslisaj]

I am a new blacksmith and I just finished restoring my Buffalo Forge hand crank blower and forge and now I am looking for an anvil. Where I live in Oregon they are kind of hard to find so when I located this one I got excited about it. But in looking at the pictures it's kind of rough in my estimation. But then again I am no expert. I have heard that Anvils can be weld repaired and ground smooth and I am a good welder but I would not do anything without studying more.
On the side it says:
Henry
Wright
England
Warranted
Solid
137
It is 24" in total length from the horn tip.

The face appears to have some erosion and the corners all seem to have deep chips but I have read that these are just character marks and can be fixed if necessary. I so appreciate the help and I hope the pictures can be enlarged so you can see what I am talking about and give me an opinion on this good old anvil. If you PM me I could send the pictures that way too but I hope this works. The owner say it has "a good ring" to it.

Thank you gentlemen for your opinions and helping this lady out.

Lisa

[jeremy k]

Lisa - that anvil will serve you or someone for many many, years - all depends on cost to you and if your willing to pay that price - fairly good anvil from your pics though, seen many more in worse shape and some in better, but for a starter - jump - and trade up to a better one later if you come across one.

[Anachronist58]

how much is the seller asking? 'Rebound' is an important test.

 

Welcome aboard - you have picked the right place - many others more knowledgeable than myself will be lining up to answer any questions you might have....

 

Robert Taylor

[Jim Coke]

Greetings Lisa,

 

Welcome to IFI...  Your anvil looks to be a serviceable anvil just as it is...  It weighs 203 pounds and is a nice size for most work.  It depends on the price if it is worth it or not..  I would clean it up and use it a while before to much concern about the edges...  Nice find

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

[ironwolfforgeca]

   Lisa WELCOME to IFi & also there smiths next door in K falls to you !! are group is called the Jefferson Smiths

of northern Ca & southern Or I know them well & there on here often Mike HR is one & good folks !!!

I am 4 Hrs west of you on the coast

 

   Now as to the anvil YES get it !! IT can be fixed down the road if not buy you I can do it I am the north coast

anvil repair welder DONE RIGHT !! I have over 55 anvils done around here lol ! you can ask anyone :<)

& No complaints

 

   If you want to learn black smiting & meet some smiths in you're area send me an EM

IronWolfforge@frontier.com  I will send you Mikes Ph # thats a good place to start !

 

also ck out California Blacksmiths @ calsmith.org we are the northern part of them

hope to see you @ one of the hammer Ins

 

STEVES Welding & Fabrication & Artistic Blacksmithing

Steve 

[ThomasPowers]

Decent brand, decent using shape it all comes down to the price!  (Which you didn't mention...)

[mslisaj]

Thanks to all you gentlemen for your responses as I certainly appreciate your opinions.  I purposely did not put the price in the forum becaue, as was mentioned, the value to me is what matters and I am interested in this anvil at the price it's being offered.  But with that said I didn't want to pay top dollar for a chunk of scrap.  But your enthusiasm about this anvil will demand I go see it and try a ring and rebound test.   

 

Another question if I may, the anvil appears to have some erosion spots on it's surface.  Does this have any concern for you gentlemen?  The "hardy" hole appears to be really worn out, is that a concern also?  I am just trying to educate myself the best I can so when I go see it I can make an informed decision to either buy it or walk away and keep looking.

 

I so appreciate you all taking your time to respond to my questions. 

Thank you so much.

 

Lisa  :)

[101 H-B]

Hi Lisa,

The anvil is fairly worn on the working edges, a significant detraction. You want something with at least reasonably good working edges. This will become more important as you do more work. You can find something in better condition if you hold out a little longer and keep looking. Best of luck in your search.

[LastRonin]

Let me preface with "I am by no means an expert or professional", I'm still a beginner myself but have been paying diligent attention to the experts on here for some time now. The hardy hole isn't worn out by any means as far as I can see. Most hardy tools will cover past the sloping edges of it. The sloped edges of the hardy hole should come in very handy for starting dishing features such as spoons without leaving unwanted indentions in the backside of the piece. What you are referring to as erosion looks to me to be minor surface rust. It doesn't look like anything that'll mar your pieces. That anvil is in much better shape than the one I'm using.

[John McPherson]

It is usable as is, but far from pristine. Use that as a negotiating point, like a beater used car. Be prepared to walk away if the seller is unreasonable. You can get a brand new, solid steel anvil for $5 to $8 per pound, and a good clean used one for half that if you get in with the right bunch.

 

As long as the face has not been worn clear thru, delaminated from the wrought iron body, or milled to paper thinness by well meaning but un-informed machinists, it can be welded back up by a competent technician. That is to say, one who knows anvils and filler metals, and how to select and apply them.

[the iron dwarf]

you will want a good edge but a hardy tool can be used for that.

using an anvil will improve it so avoid grinding if you can as the hard face is thin

[mslisaj]

First off I want to sincerely thank you all for taking your time to give me your opinions and educating me on what to look for. The big question is what is the asking price for this anvil and the asking price is $300. So now based on this discussion and some of the PM's and emails I have received would this be worth that investment. Most seemed to think yes so any more thoughts now that you know the price?

Thanks so much for all the feed back as I am much better informed then when I posted here first. The best I can do is keep reading from you men with the experience and continue to learn.

Lisa

[LastRonin]

At that price, I have only one question... Why haven't you bought it yet? :D

[John McPherson]

$1.50 a pound? Jump on it!!!

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

That price isn't bad for your area,spectacular for others, and that is a good sized anvil to work on. The edges can easily be dressed up. As long as it rebounds good-wasn't annealed in a building fire, and it doesn't have a dull thud when tapped indicating a delaminated top plate you need to get it.

BTW, welcome to IFI.

It is always nice to see a woman getting into a hobbly like this. What sparked your interest in smithing?

My family has some property in Sprague River next to Klamath Lake. Pretty area.

[mslisaj]

Okay gentlemen, It's mine and home in the shop sitting on the floor now waiting for me to build a stand. 

Purchase price - $250.00 and the guy was happy and I was too.  I looked at it, hit it with my hammer in a few spots, of course criticized it and then I said $250 is the best I could do and he said fine.  Almost makes me wonder if I should have offered $200.  But I'm happy and he was happy and he even put it in my truck for me.

 

So here is my assessment, first the anvil has a nice crisp ring and what I would consider great rebound.  I wish I had the standard 1" ball bearing to bounce on it like the guy on youtube.  But with a small ball peen hammer I would almost say 80 - 90% rebound.  It's very crisp.  The surface is flat and what I kept calling erosion turned out to be just light rust.  The surface is very smooth and in very nice shape.  Just a few pits but no dings.   Absolutely no swayback.  I would say this has never had a grinder on it as that top surface is very hard.  Now the downside.  The top edges on three sides are all chipped away.  But I would not say dramatically but there is not a good, clean, sharp edge to be had there.  But I would estimate very repairable and pretty easy to do.  These pictures are ones I took after wire brushing it by hand and then wiping it all down with a solvent rag.  It definitely has 137 stamped in it and I would say that is the weight.   I could barely pick it up off the tail gate of my truck.  I did have to use a hoist to get it on the floor.  It's not a 200 pounder but a very nice anvil.  The horn and the first step back on the horn are in very nice original condition.  Yes a few dings but it's in nice shape.

 

There you go.  First I have to thank ALL of you for taking your time to weigh in and give my your opinions and questioning why I hadn't purchased it yet.  Since I started this thread I have been on a cram course on what makes a good anvil.  Again thanks to you guys you told me what to look for and gave me your opinions.  I used that information to make an informed decision and get a nice piece.  Next I will build a stand for it and then send it to an anvil expert for the repair work. 

 

Again, thank you all so very much and you will certainly see more of me on these forums.

 

Lisa  :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jeremy k]

According to the Anvil's in America book the 137 is actual weight in lbs.

Also there has been 2 recorded changes in the trademark of these -
Dudley was between wright and Warranted on the first, and as yours is this was the second or later revision.

[mslisaj]

What got me interested in smithing? Well it's a kind of long story but when I graduated high school I wanted to go to college with my girlfriends. But my father had other idea's. At the time he owned an automotive repair business and I was to be the one that he passed the family business down too. So he sent me to trade school; had me work for some of the other garages in town to get experience and at the end of all of it I am a journeyman mechanic and can fix pretty much anything. In the course of all this I learned how to weld with gas, arc, mig and tig. Well I have served my time and since gotten out of the business I still have all my tools and equipment in a 3600 sqft building behind my house. For what "smithing" I have done all I had was a rosebud and a big strong old vise to bend and beat on. My father was a machinist and learned his trade when steam was king for the railroad. He could forge and make anything. He showed me how to do some of that trade. I still have some of his old tools. I've always been fascinated at fairs or places like that when there is a blacksmith set up and he is heating on a forge and pounding steel. I had the opportunity to acquire an old rusted solid Buffalo Forge that was a yard ornament. I took it all apart and repaired it, painted it all up like new and now of course I need an anvil to go with it. So now I can stop beating up my good old vise that has been very patient with me and hasn't broken or failed. I can pound on this anvil now to my hearts content.

So now you know......................... ;)

If that 137 is the hundred weight markings then its a 203lb.
1=112
3=3x28(28 is 1/4 of 112)
7=7
112+28+28+28+7=203

Well I won't certainly argue as more is better right? I just assumed that it was not 200 pounds as I'm not sure I could lift that. While standing up close to it and it was on a tailgate of my old truck I could just barely lift it. I could not hold it up. So I just assumed it was less. But that "hundred weight" system is interesting. My hoist did have some weight when it picked it off the truck so it could very well be.

Thanks Jeremy for offering up the explanation of how that weight system works.

[jeremy k]

Lisa - You must have posted just as I was reading the book and revised my above post that it is the actual weight of the markings

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Darlin, glad to have you. You're MY kind of gal. I grew up working in my Father's shop and I kind of pity folk who didn't have to work from early on in a family business, it teaches so much more than the business.

 

Don't get in too much of a hurry to "repair" your anvil, the edges aren't that bad. For the times you'll need a crisp edge a bottom tool will serve as well. It's simply a piece of steel with nice square edges that fits to one edge of the anvil and has a shank to fit the hardy hole. A radiused edge and a couple sharp ones and you're in business.

 

Given a chance to examine it and provided there were no hidden flaws I wouldn't hesitate to restore the edges, it's not hard you just have to follow procedures. Yeah, like any good weld. Still, I'd rather see an anvil in that shape use than "repaired" even with good experience and record a welder can't repair that anvil without some level of risk. Think of it like surgery, things you can't know about can go wrong.

 

Oh yeah, that's an English anvil the weight is in CWT (hundred weights,) your beauty weighs 203lbs.

 

Do you have a post vise? You really need a post vise, 4" is a good size but larger is better, 4"-6" are pretty common and it doesn't hurt to have a couple few. A lot of guys describe them by weight but I think that's a product of folk describing anvils by weight, it isn't really very important for a post vise. Within reason of course, they're solid wrought or steel so they will be hefty, it just isn't a good indicator of appropriate size or utility. A post vise is designed and intended to be subjected to great forces, hammering on it with a sledge is par, so is putting a steel bar in it and taking a 6'+ cheater to it. If you rip the vise off the post find a stronger post, the vise won't be scuffed.

 

Keep your good old bench vise for sure, a post vise isn't noted for precision filing or assembly work. Sure they'll work it just isn't their forte, I love my big old bench vises and wouldn't be without them.

 

One last little note about the gang here, we LOVE pics, shop, tools, equipment, projects, problems, kids, dogs, recipes, you name it we love the pics.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[dntfxr]

Congrats on the new anvil Lisa, hope it serves you well!

[ironwolfforgeca]

Lisa GLAD ! you got the anvil & @ a good price & yes its fixable !

 

Steve

[mslisaj]

Lisa GLAD ! you got the anvil & @ a good price & yes its fixable !

 

Steve

 

Thanks IronWolf.  I have had the anvil a week now and have used it a couple of times and the rebound is absolutely perfect.  I am in the process of acquiring a steel ball so I can test it without holding a hammer handle it the surface is very lively.  I am so pleased and so lucky.  Also in the last week I have seen a lot of pictures of anvils and while mine is not perfect it's not as bad as some that guys are using every day.   I make the point about the great rebound as I am leaning more not to do anything with the edges as the heat of welding could damper the rebound and I am liking it more and more just like it is.  I'm leaning more towards a hardy anvil or cutoff tool and have those edges sharp. 

 

But I think I got lucky and got a good buy too.  :)

[mike-hr]

Hi Lisa, we talked on the phone the other day. You got a great anvil at a great price. You can make many beautiful projects with it. I'm swamped for a few days, but I will invite you over as soon as I don't feel guilty from spending time with paying projects. There's a half dozen fair hands in the basin. My shop seem to have evolved as the place to share ideas, libations, and smoked pork products. Look forward to meeting you.

mike h

[mslisaj]

Hi Lisa, we talked on the phone the other day. You got a great anvil at a great price. You can make many beautiful projects with it. I'm swamped for a few days, but I will invite you over as soon as I don't feel guilty from spending time with paying projects. There's a half dozen fair hands in the basin. My shop seem to have evolved as the place to share ideas, libations, and smoked pork products. Look forward to meeting you.
mike h

Thanks Mike for the note. No big deal as I am still working on my forge and the stand for the anvil. You have a business and this is a hobby and I am in absolutely no rush. Good luck with everything and we will hook up. As far as your shops evolution, well it sure sounds good to me with "sharing ideas, libations and smoked pork products". Now that is a goal for me to work too also.

Regards,

Lisa