ASO or Not?

[FireInTheForge02]

Hi,

Been a while since i posted something. I recently got a call from a friend of mine; he spotted an anvil standing outside his neighbors shed. Said when he bounced a golf ball off the face, (sorry), the ball bounced right back into his hand as well as ring a little.The only thing is is that from the pics i got from him, it looks like cast iron (it has no pritchel hole and a wide face). It has some writing on the side, but unfortunatly the rust is there and so is the thong :)

if anyone knows anything about anything, your advice would be appreciated

Thanks.

Ps. i think the writing ends in LBS??

[the iron dwarf]

the lettering make it look cast to me, you need to check underneath the horn and heel for a line where the two halves of the mould met.

there are some good cast steel anvils but most cast iron ones are ASOs.

certainly worth looking at.

give your friend a ball bearing to do another test if you can

 

always check for handling holes, normally on forged anvils there will be one under the horn and one under the heel going into the waist and often one in the bottom too, cast anvils dont have them normally, 

[FireInTheForge02]

Thanks Iron Dwarf.

After looking at it for a while, the last three letters looks like 'SLDS'. Also the passage of writing looks too long to say 100 or 200lbs. I have had a look at possible answers, like Hadfields, or  Sheffields, but as soon as i saw them i ruled it out B)   

[jmccustomknives]

Golf ball isn't a legitimate test, you'll need a large ball bearing or hammer.  Looks like a cast iron anvil, the lack of a pritchet bothers me.  If the hammer leaves marks, walk away.  :o

[ThomasPowers]

it was humourous how they obscured the only thing on that anvil that would truly tell you what it was---the name.

[Dan C]

That and if the sandal is supposed to give you an idea of the anvil's size, you have no idea what size shoe it is.  Children's shoe or Shaquille O'Neal?

[FireInTheForge02]

oh yeah the shoe is size 11 i thnnk, 18cm long. thanks

[BM454]

That anvil is cast no doubt. It looks like cast steel though. If its iron, it's quality cast iron. Not a lot of defects from what I can see. Iron and steel to me seem to look different when cast.

[Toothygrin]

I am new to this but I thought there are some cast iron anvils that have steel plates forge welded on them, But only one way to find out if you hit it with a hammer hard and it comes back and hits you in the face it's a winner.

[the iron dwarf]

there are also several types of cast iron as well as cast steels to consider, some are better than others

[Everything Mac]

The style of name looks similar to how kolswha (spelling?) stamp their anvils but you'd need a better look at it to be sure.

[LastRonin]

Any chance of getting a picture of the name side WITHOUT the sandal in the way?

[FireInTheForge02]

Thanks everyone for your ideas. The guy who was offering it changed his mind at virtually the last minute, and explained that it was his fathers. Well, ive been looking around for a while, and my friend from Torres Strait told me that his grand father is a mechanic, and is now retired. He also told me that he has four anvils, and he only uses one. I think the one he was talking about is around 150-200lb, and in good condition (by what he remembers). He also might offer it for free, as he uses only a smaller one. So its just how much stuff we bring back from the Coast (wink) that decides if we can pick it up or not. So yeah, thanks again guys, really quite surprised with this one.