Stick87 Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Where might it have been made and have any of you smiths ever used one?(are they any good) Also as a welder fabricator by trade I'm naturally inclined to weld up some chips on the edges of the face and a bunch of chisel marks on the horn, my concerns are softening/loosening the face and compromising the quality of the anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Did you look in the anvil section for >Trenton anvils? What is your experience welding ANVILS? Do a site search and most people will advise you to use the anvil as is for a year or so. You can always modify it later, but you can destroy it now not knowing that it should be left alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Grind the horn with the flap wheel and while you are at it, put some various radii on the edges. You may eliminatee some chips this way, and you will certainly prevent future ones. Leave off welding for at least a year, you may not need any, and by then, you will know why or why you shouldn't weld the hardened top plate. (your first instinct is correct, many a good anvil has been ruined by welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 As regards Trenton anvils: they are an excellent brand! I use one myself. Generally the faces of the Trenton anvils are quite HARD and it is not too uncommon for even fairly old ones to be in excellent condition! They do sometimes ring a bit more than some anvils. Although they are not as well thought of as Hay Budden anvils IMO they are every bit as good! When I bought mine I knew little about them... but within 5 minutes I met a smith who helped me load it and told me that he thought they were one of the best brands available... he had 5 of them in his shop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rburrus44 Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Have a 163# and love it! Have it mounted with rebar staples on each foot and the ring isn't bad at all with that mount Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Welcome aboard Stick87, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. I have a 206lbTrenton in the shop, it's a fine anvil, top tier. Don't do any welding on it till you know something about how they work and how you use it. It's a thing we all do, we lust after the "perfect" tool before we know what we really need/want. We all do or did it at one time, truth is no tool is perfect but that's okay. The tools don't do a thing without us. Without the hand and mind of man they're just highly refined dirt. It's YOU that does the work and till you develop the skills you can't know what you need in the tools. Give it a year or so and if then you decide you just MUST "repair" your lady let me know I'll run you through how I do it if I must. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stick87 Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 Thanks for the advise fellas, Frosty I'm out of Jamestown California. As a tool nut interested in just about all disciplines of tool use your right I'd rather have a perfect specimen but function is by far more important than form. Unfortinatley I don't know this anvils history beyond the fact that it was my great grandfathers, he was more of a furniture maker than a blacksmith so I doubt he bought it new and he took exceptional care of his tools which leads me to believe the majority of the damage occurred prior to his ownership. I'm also interested in it's aproxamate date of manufacture. On the side it has the Trenton diamond with solid wrought stamped in a circle below that and U.S.A. below that, on the front foot we have an upside down B with 172 right next to it and A21770 on the other side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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