I'm looking for help in determining the weight of a Fisher anvil. It is 14" tall, and 12.5" wide at the base. The length of the base is13.75", not including the mounting tabs on each end, which brings the total length to18". The face is 21"x5.75", the step is 5' wide by 2.75" long, and the horn is 11" long. Any help in determining the weight of this anvil would be appreciated.

It's hard to put a weight on an anvil from dimensions, though in this case I'm sure njanvilman can give you a pretty accurate weight as he owns and runs the fisher anvil museum.

As an educated guess I'd say 300-350 lbs based on the length and width provided, for reference my 450lb anvil is a 6" wide face and 36" over all length.

Gotta ask, since it is a Fisher. Is there a number (raised) on the front foot, with the bick to the right?

Steve

There's a bit of rust in that area. I hit it with a wire brush, but I can't really make anything out. I'm a little hesitant to go at it with a wire wheel in an angle grinder.

Have you tried a small wire brush mounted on a portable drill? A brass wire brush is preferable. It is slow but slow is probably what you want  Such a set-up is not very aggressive so it's easily controlled.

Wear a face shield, please.

SLAG.

My 400 lb fisher is 35" long over all. with similar width dimensions. The 350 lb fisher I used to have was very similar to the one you describe. The dilemma is that there is some variation among the different sizes versus weights of fisher anvils. One question tho does your anvil have lugs on the feet for mounting? 

Yes, there are lugs on each end with a hole that I suppose could be used to bolt the anvil down to a base.

Peter,

Do you have a tub that you can use to submerge your anvil in water? If you do you can fill up the tub with the anvil in it, mark the water line, remove the anvil and count liters or gallons of water to fill the tub to that line. The assumes to can get it in and out of the tub w/o injuring your self. 

 

According to Fisher ads in Postman's book your anvil should weigh around 350lbs..  Also, if you use a knotted wire brush on an angle grinder you won't do any damage to the anvil and you can clean the rust of very easily. 

I suppose I could make a crude balance beam with a piece of 2x12 lumber with a 4:1 length ratio from the pivot to the opposite end. Then just stack weights on the opposite end from the anvil till it balances. If I multiply the weights by 4, that should give me the weight of the anvil, or a pretty close approximation. Do you think that would work?

I got the foot cleaned up a bit with a knotted wire brush, as suggested. There are a series of verticle lines about 3/4" tall. there are 4 in a row, a space of an inch and a half or so, then 3 more lines.  l l l l     l l l      Is this any help?

sometimes markings show up when lit from a different angle or when you rub in chalk or flour.

I first look carefully all around an anvil, then using a torch ( flashlight ) from different low angles on both sides of it.

then use a pressure washer all over and check again with and without the light, then again when dry.

if I still see nothing I try a hand wire brush and check it again, wash it off and check wet then dry and then with chalk.

best way to check the weight is with a scale, they are cheap these days ( I have 2 that go to 2 tons each and several of half a ton, a normal bathroom scale here goes quite high and would cost about $15 for a fancy digital one
 

Those are the ballpark dimensions of a 350# Fisher.

Thanks very much for all your replies. You've been very helpfull.

Since finding a way to weigh it involves moving it somewhere, would it be possible to haul it to a feed store?  They would have a forklift or pallet jack to help get it on the scales.

On 6/19/2016 at 6:51 AM, eseemann said:

Peter,

Do you have a tub that you can use to submerge your anvil in water? If you do you can fill up the tub with the anvil in it, mark the water line, remove the anvil and count liters or gallons of water to fill the tub to that line. The assumes to can get it in and out of the tub w/o injuring your self.

 

Are you saying that you can gauge the anvils weight by the amount of water it displaces?? Would not a cubic foot of iron/steel weigh just a tad more than a cubic foot of water?!....am I  missing something here, 'cause it sure doesn't make sense to my pea sized brain....! 

The water displacement gives you a volume measurement.

Multiply that by the weight per volume of steel and get the answer.

Heureka!

 

Archimedes

Yup, 

Just like Galileo in his bath tub

http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/instruments/balance.html

7.48 gallons in cubic foot or 62.43 pounds of water per cubic foot. 

This gets much easier if you use the Metric system. 

tonne per cubic meter (t/m³)    1
kilogram per cubic meter (kg/m³)    1,000
gram per cubic meter (g/m³)    1,000,000
milligram per cubic meter (mg/m³)    1,000,000,000
gram per litre (g/L)    1,000

You can ball park steel at around 490# per cubic foot.