ArcticSmith Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I'd like to start off with saying hello, this is my first post on this forum and i look forward to posting many more. I have taken an interest in blacksmithing recently (though i think the interest has been there sub-consciously since i made 5-6 knifes at a Viking Festival here in Norway when i was 12, some 10 years ago.) So i have just started collecting tools and machines which i will need, and i was lucky enough to find an old anvil that has been in my family for perhaps 120 years if not more. My mother told me my Great Grandfather had owned it. Its rusty but nothing too bad, the rust is not coming off in flakes, brushing it and grinding it a little should make it brand new. And it has a hardie hole but i could not find of the tools you put inside it. The Inscription that i have managed to read says "Jahn" and i think there is a "&" after Jahn. (since a picture says more than a thousand words, here take a picture ) I'd say it weighs around 40kg (90lbs). Anyhow, i look forward to putting it to good use after sitting in our barn for 70 years. - Thanks. -ArcticSmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdaleh Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Take a wire brush to it and put it to work . Looks to be in good shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 It is beautifull. Use the wirebrush but not the grinder. Grinding is really bad for anvils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcticSmith Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 Okay i will do that. May i ask why its bad for anvils? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foundryman Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 There's also what appears to be a diamond shape with letters issue stamped beside the 38. The hardened steel face of an anvil is finite, in some cases they are very thin and without it's hardened face an anvil is nothing but a block of iron. By grinding away the face you reduce the life of the anvil and actually make it a worse tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloe01 Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcticSmith Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 On 5/16/2016 at 9:41 PM, Foundryman said: There's also what appears to be a diamond shape with letters issue stamped beside the 38. The hardened steel face of an anvil is finite, in some cases they are very thin and without it's hardened face an anvil is nothing but a block of iron. By grinding away the face you reduce the life of the anvil and actually make it a worse tool. huh, i didnt know that! thanks for the answer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 There were two main ways of making anvils: 1 has the anvil's face forge welded to a wrought iron or mild steel body (even as late as the American Civil War (1860's) high carbon steel cost up to 6 times the cost of plain wrought iron) The other used a high carbon steel upper body that was hardened only to a certain depth to help prevent it from being brittle (and to harden deep into such a large mass of HOT metal was a problem anyway---one reason that the really large anvils tend to be a bit softer than the "little" anvils---which worked out well as the real large anvils tended to see a LOT of "abuse" in industrial settings...) The Fisher method is a 3rd but probably not found in Norway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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