pintail1 Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 New to smithing and have been tryting to buy a hammer and few pair of tongs: I met with a gentlemnan this morning who adverstised tongs on Craigsist: I ended up with two anvils: one mystery and the other a Fischer (50%). I also ended up with a few pair of tongs, nippers. (price was too good to pass up) and figure they may have bareter value in the future. The mystery anvil is: Weight (125-150#) L = 24"; Horn 9 1/4"; Width 4"; H 10" Base W 8 1/8" & L 10 1/4" It has two small marking on the base, horn end (small circles in a square) (photo attached) (It about the same size, maybe a little smaller than my Peter Wright 1.1.24) (Have not been able to see any other markings) Fischer show #5 and 1883 N and ~50# (Edges on one side a badly scored) L 13 1/4"; W 2 3/4: H 7 1/2" Base (L 7" & W 6 1/2") Can anyone ID the mystery anvil from the small to markings? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 In regards to the Fisher: You could probably carefully grind and file back the side and edges to get a decent working area. As you can see, the edges are very hard and prone to chipping. Use this anvil for light work, and try never to strike the edge with the hammer; always have a hot stock to hit. You will probably be reshaping the tong ends to better suit what you are doing. I see 2 pairs of nippers that could have the ends reworked into something useful. The other anvil is a forged anvil, probably English in origin. There were several hundred anvil makers in England and without some markings, it is nearly impossible to know its roots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 You got a nice blowhorn stake there, a pair of tongs, a crucible tong and something funny. Personally I would keep the nippers, they are handy as are. Anvilman covered the anvils pretty well. The placement of the handling holes in the end of the feet may help identify it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Direwolf Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Hi Pintail looked at your pics, hard to say with any certainty, but it does look to be English made of good quality. If I had to guess I would say Wilkinson. They had the handling hole in the front foot like yours. Also clean off both sides as Wilkinson had their logo on one side and the weight marks on the other. English anvils often seem to have inspector marks stamped like yours. I have a large 400 lb Wilkinson that a friend traded to me for some signs years ago that I finally cleaned up a few years ago at first I saw no markings but after more cleaning the weight marks showed up and then on the other side in the right light there was the Wilkinson crossed sword logo. The logo is on the near side, right hand on the horn left on the heel. Often no markings are left and you can never tell for sure. Good score! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintail1 Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Compared to the Peter Wright anvil I was lucky to get, the "mystery" anvil has nice edges and rebounds very well. In shape it looks a little more like a Hay Budden. I don't plan to keep the Fischer but thought it may have good "barter" value with someone who has something I'm looking for. May send it to school with my son who is at technical HS to see if they can build up the edges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintail1 Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Compared to the Peter Wright anvil I was lucky to get, the "mystery" anvil has nice edges and rebounds very well. In shape it looks a little more like a Hay Budden. I don't plan to keep the Fischer but thought it may have good "barter" value with someone who has something I'm looking for. May send it to school with my son who is at technical HS to see if they can build up the edges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Compared to the Peter Wright anvil I was lucky to get, the "mystery" anvil has nice edges and rebounds very well. In shape it looks a little more like a Hay Budden. I don't plan to keep the Fischer but thought it may have good "barter" value with someone who has something I'm looking for. May send it to school with my son who is at technical HS to see if they can build up the edges. Trust NJ Anvilman's advice on the fisher. Very tough to actually improve that anvil by welding. It is a cast iron based bonded to a tool steel top. None of that makes for good easy fixing. Incidentally, I would keep the fisher. I have a #7 specially for light work; it is mounted much higher where I can see better and don'r need the full hammer stroke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintail1 Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 Not sure what you mean by "carefully grind and file back the side and edges to get a decent working area." I've attached a few more higher res photos of "mystery anvil" (seems also to be a marked in the center I did not notice). So far as "Wilkinson" is concered is their mark "crossed blades" (as in the razor). Sides on the mystery anvil are preetey dinged, but I'll clean off a little more and who knows. Also atteched photo of Peter Wright (bacground), mystery anvil (center), and Fischer (foreground). Better photo also of Fischer edges. Most damage seems to be near the sweetest spoy on the anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 PM sent about the Fisher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Nope not crossed blades; looks more like crossed hot dogs and refers to Queen's Crossing Dudley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 tongs look like 2 nippers one curcible one fire place log tongs and a small cone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd&mlteach Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 My guess on the mystery anvil is that is is a Peter Wright. It has flats on the feet and an extra handling hole on the front feet. Just like the one pictured as my avatar. My PW also has anchors as maker marks on the front feet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 tongs look like 2 nippers one curcible one fire place log tongs and a small cone Yeah, cone. Looked like a blowhorn stake at first glance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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