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Söding und Halbach S&H Anvils


Jakesshop

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Company was established in 1783 by Yohan Casper (Soeding). Söding joined with Halbach in 1860 to form S&H anvils. Information from the Greenwood Collection.

The company was from Hagen, West Falen, Germany. I am still looking for info on when the company stopped producing equipment.

The first S&H I will be featuring was my first one. A 460 pound south German style double horn with upsetting block. This anvil came out of the Hoesch steel mill in Germany. When they were getting ready to shut the mill down in 1971 they were just throwing equipment into the furnaces. The lead blacksmith there took this anvil home along with its factory stand rather than letting them melt it down. It sat in his front yard (thankfully he had painted it) as a decoration till after his passing and his widow sold it. A good friend imported it and I purchased it from him and he also gave me the book with information on the steel mill from it came.  Even though the book is all in German I get a kick out it!

This anvil along with all the other S&H's I have here have amazing rebound! I only have one that is under 90%, this one is at 95% and rings like a bell.

The original S&H anvil thread went electronically bye bye recently and Glenn asked me to resurrect it. I have nine more to add on here! Stay Tuned!!

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The factory stand weighs in at 450 pounds.

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On 1/26/2016 at 3:44 PM, Black Frog said:

 

I've been looking for old advertisements! I have them for several other brands but none for S&H thanks! Later today I'll be putting two small S&H's that have excellent makers stamps just like above with the Forget Me Not flower.

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The next two S&H anvils are a bit smaller. The one on the right marked B058 is just 53 pounds. It is in the north German style single horn as seen with the squared shoulder transitioning to the horn/bic. Good makers stamps showing the "Forget Me Not" flower and the year stamps of 1914.

The left one is 59 pounds and is a good example of the south German style single horn with the smooth transition to the horn/bic. Good stamps again with a year of 1891. Its weight stamps are on the other side.

Both these little guys have excellent rebound. I use them at events where I have just a static display and only talking about what I do as a blacksmith and a prop maker.

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How about this very unusual double arched hornless S&H anvil? It weighed in at 124 pounds with the welded on lugs. My friend carefully removed those lugs and has since sold it. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures other than this one. The face on this one is only an 1 1/2" wide. Nail makers anvil? Dated 1891.B039.thumb.JPG.625320064413088eac07af0f3

 

 

Below is a 292 pound S&H double horn in the south German style with a upsetting block. Edges have some chips but the face is in great shape and has excellent rebound. 

Dated 1924. In the below picture you can see how thick the welded on face is by those horizontal lines. I confirmed that by by sticking my finger down the hardie hole and felt for the edge in there.

 

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DSC00400.thumb.JPG.35be0e2565b6bd39a1113DSC00402.thumb.JPG.a5ad5051ab1ae3a62d494DSC00403.thumb.JPG.317b7e5e19fa9eaef9f60DSC00405.thumb.JPG.757454ee8c369a975c57dHere are a few pictures in my shop, of a S&H I got from our mutual friend a few years back. It Is clearly stamped and in wonderful condition. It weighs in around 210 lbs, I'm not sure what the No 8 stamped on the back means, style, inspector mark? As you can see it is a church window pattern of sorts. It has 90%+ rebound and is a pleasure to work on or just to look at. I did not grow up around these so I don't claim to know much of their history. However they are superbly crafted by master makers and the form and functionality are unmatched, in my opinion. To my eye the form, symmetry and craftsmanship make this a working piece of art. I wonder if they made anvils to special order like the interesting one you posted?   

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That's a nice anvil you have there! I will be posting one very similar to it tomorrow. 

More than half the ones I will be posting belong to that friend of ours!! I hold his west coast stock for him since he's on the road so much.

As far as quality? I've found that these S&H's are as good or better than Hay Budden's or any other old US or British made anvils. I haven't used any of the new US made ones to compare with. There is some of the other German anvils I've been playing with like S&S, Carl Schlasse and H W Holthaus anvils and really liked them. I will be starting treads on those later. I wanted to put up the entire S&H thread first but spread it out over several days.

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On January 28, 2016 at 5:45 PM, Jakesshop said:

That's a nice anvil you have there! I will be posting one very similar to it tomorrow. 

More than half the ones I will be posting belong to that friend of ours!! I hold his west coast stock for him since he's on the road so much.

As far as quality? I've found that these S&H's are as good or better than Hay Budden's or any other old US or British made anvils. I haven't used any of the new US made ones to compare with. There is some of the other German anvils I've been playing with like S&S, Carl Schlasse and H W Holthaus anvils and really liked them. I will be starting treads on those later. I wanted to put up the entire S&H thread first but spread it out over several days.

 

On January 28, 2016 at 5:45 PM, Jakesshop said:

That's a nice anvil you have there! I will be posting one very similar to it tomorrow. 

More than half the ones I will be posting belong to that friend of ours!! I hold his west coast stock for him since he's on the road so much.

As far as quality? I've found that these S&H's are as good or better than Hay Budden's or any other old US or British made anvils. I haven't used any of the new US made ones to compare with. There is some of the other German anvils I've been playing with like S&S, Carl Schlasse and H W Holthaus anvils and really liked them. I will be starting treads on those later. I wanted to put up the entire S&H thread first but spread it out over several days.

I messed up and posted a different anvil today. Tomorrow I'll put up the one I mentioned here.

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Here is a very unusual S&H. South German style single horn Church Window with a chest, side shelf and a upsetting block on the working side. Has a bit of everything. You can see where the face has been beat down a bit and somebody had welded it up. 358 pounds and the rebound on this one is only about 75%.

Dated 1907

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Now for this stake anvil from S&H. Has the rare factory cast iron stand. Most stake anvils were just used with a stamp or a cut wood block. The stake by itself weighs in at 77 pounds but the stand is 405 pounds. I believe this is dated 1881 from the stamp at the base of the anvil or could be dated 1938 from another stamp.

 

 

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Like the upside down makers stamp.

 

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This mark "38" could be a date of manufacture because it doesn't match a weight in kilograms. This would put it at 83 pounds and it's not even close to that at 77 actual pounds.

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The stamped "81".

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Lead pocket for the base to snug it up.

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Now for last S&H I have. This one I acquired early last year and have just recently got a stand made for it and it is now one of my main shop anvils replacing a smaller S&S I had.

Dated 1937 and weighing in at 475 pounds. There was some small amount of edge repair done by the previous owner but they have held up well so far. Rebound is unbelievable at 95%.

Below is when I was laying out the base plate for it, one inch steel plate to help stabilize it.

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Completed stand with a swing out tray.

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This is the last S&H I have or have access to for now!

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  • 10 months later...
On 26-1-2016 at 1:34 AM, Jakesshop said:

Söding joined with Halbach in 1860 to form S&H anvils.

Are there any anvils left from the 1860s? Does anyone has one, or even saw pictures of one? I found this anvil today. It is not as old as 1860, but it comes close...

The markings have faded a little bit, but it seems clear enough to see it is a Söding&Halbach from 1879. Weight is 165kg. Now I am curious to see if there are more early S&H anvils left.

 

 

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  • 2 years later...

I already post this anvil on this site but what the heck.

I got this anvil when I was working at a scrapjard (had to pay them in cookies for it).

I am very happy with it. 

Can anybody tel me how much it is worth just out of curiosity (I will never sell this baby) I life in the Netherlands if that helps?

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  • 2 years later...

I’m proud to say the first S&H pictured in this thread (460lb double horn w/ the original 450lb stand) now lives in the forge of Bear Valley Forge! I picked it up from Wizards Workshop Forge last week and it will be going in the new building that’s being built here at Bear Valley Forge. Happy forging everyone!

-Kyle Jenkins

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Welcome aboard Kyle, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you'll have a better chance of meeting up with members living within visiting distance. Letting people know where Bear Valley Forge might be a good idea if it's a business you know. ;) 

Iforge also has a tradition of not believing things if we don't see pictures. Sooooo, we'd LOVE to see pics of that giant beauty in her new home with her workmates.

Frosty The Lucky.

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  • 4 months later...
On 12/8/2016 at 5:00 PM, Tungsten said:

Are there any anvils left from the 1860s? Does anyone has one, or even saw pictures of one? I found this anvil today. It is not as old as 1860, but it comes close...

The markings have faded a little bit, but it seems clear enough to see it is a Söding&Halbach from 1879. Weight is 165kg. Now I am curious to see if there are more early S&H anvils left.

The question has been asked a long time ago, but maybe this is interesting nonetheless. I recently acquired an anvil made bei S&H in 1877. Attached is one very low quality picture, I'll add more, once I could move the anvil to its destination with better lightning conditions.

Cheers!
Julian

 

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  • 1 year later...

Welcome from the Ozark Mountains.

I wouldn't say they sound like a bell but more of a sharp ring, at least the one that I have used. I would love to own one but they are scarce in my area. I don't know if that is paint on yours, but I have heard a heavy coat of paint has a tendency to mute the ring some.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

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