Anvil Age???

[T.hogg]

I was on this forum a while back when I first got my Anvil looking for basic information about it. I bought it from a guy who found it in a old barn formerly owned by a oilfield business owner from the mid 90s. Anyway I paid 150 for it not knowing anything about it, but obviously now I know it was well worth it. I know it's a 321 pound Peter Wright Anvil and I'm guessing it's from the early 1900s but that is what I'm wondering about. I will never get rid of this thing as I've fallen in love with it lol but I would really like to know more about this individual model anvil and more about Peter Wright. I've done some research online but haven't found any that looked exactly like mine with the same markings and all. So if anyone knows any info on it please share.

Thanks. Tyler H.

[ThomasPowers]

If it doesn't have England stamped in the side definitely pre 1910.

[T.hogg]

It does not. At least not that I can make out. The "Peter Wright" stamp is hard to make out so there's possibility it used to be on there but not now. Just out of curiosity what is it worth? In your opinion 

[Frozenforge]

With that style feet 1830 to 1852. You got a really good deal. Value? Whatever someone is willing to pay but it seems that around $3 per pound is the going rate down south. 

[T.hogg]

Ok cool. I don't plan on selling buy I was just curious. Thank you

[orange]

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to surface the top of the anvil to make it a smoother. I have an old one that's beat up.

Would doing that detract from the value or usability. All the pits and dents affect the steel being hammered.

Just curious what you think.

[ThomasPowers]

Most anvils I have seen resurfaced have gone from being worth about $2 a pound to 20 cents a pound scrap rate.  In over 35 years of smithing I have seen 3 anvils I would have suggested get milled and several hundred destroyed by milling.

I have brought several anvils to ABANA Affiliate groups anvil repair clinics and had them built up by people who knew what they were doing. (additive rather than subtractive process---and the person needs to know what they are doing!  Most weldors mess up anvils because they are NOT up on how anvils are made and used! --Robb Gunter repair process is what I strongly advise!)

Can we see a picture?  Most "bad" anvils are not!

The "soul" of the anvil is the hardened face; removing any of it is removing vast amounts of use life and the hardened layer may be quite thin to start with---combined with the fact that earlier anvils were "free handed" under steam hammers and so the face may NOT be parallel to the base and I have seen 2 anvils where they clamped them down to the mill table and milled *through* the face and into the softy body trying to make it flat and smooth and parallel to the base....  

If you absolutely must mill an anvil; you turn it upside down and mill the base parallel to the *face* and then flip it and just kiss the face.  Generally better is to just go over it lightly with a 7" sanding disk on a heavy duty angle grinder. 

Remember Flat is not necessarily a good thing though smooth can be nice. Sharp edges are *BAD* as they mark your work and cause cold shuts. If you don't have an edge crisp enough for you make a piece of hardy tooling with the edge you need.

 I have a 134# HB that spent 50 years in an unheated shed in a swampy area and had fine condensation rust pitting all over the face.  I wire brushed off the loose rust and started working hot steel on it and the sweet spot is polished out smooth and shiny now with no other work done to it.