October 3, 20169 yr 22 minutes ago, Copper Elf said: I found it to be a perfectly usable anvil, needs a stand to get a real feel of it, at the moment it is on a set of plastic builder's steps. I will keep using it to clean it up. I am the first person to hit metal on this for ??? years If you make a stand, I would hope you make it suiting to the look of the anvil. Someone cared enough to atleast try to fix that anvil. It's great that it atleast get some use however many years later.
October 3, 20169 yr 10 minutes ago, Daswulf said: If you make a stand, I would hope you make it suiting to the look of the anvil. Someone cared enough to atleast try to fix that anvil. It's great that it atleast get some use however many years later. Neat thing about those type of anvils is the stepped feet on them make for great upset blocks. Be sure whatever stand you make doesn't cover any of that up. Is interesting because those kind of anvils usually have church windows too. The fact that one doesn't is unusual.
October 3, 20169 yr Author stepped feet, straight waste, sloping side on table and usually but not always the church windows are a common feature and have seen a few posted here before, one brand I have heard of are JEB, may have to search for more details
October 4, 20169 yr Hi, Well, that's sure is an ugly anvil! But I am glad you can put it into use again. The pattern is the basic Austrian. And JEB (old Austrian maker) sure made tons of anvils, it's still one of the most common brand around here, but I don't think it's a JEB because it has no windows, and as far as I know JEBs always have those. I'd quite confidently say that it's not a Hungarian made either, because of the lack of windows. All known Hungarian anvil makers - and there wasn't many - used windows on their anvils. On the other hand I did find the pictures of two anvils that doesn't have windows. I think, back in the times of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy (pre 1918) there sure were some little anvil maker manufactures, and they could make anvils with a bit different style. Look at the face of the pictured anvils, also the steps are different. I must go now, but I hope to get back later.
October 5, 20169 yr Author today went over it with a wire brush ( hand ) no sign of any markings handling holes are deep and dont seem very tapered, one each end and one on bottom
October 6, 20169 yr One of the things I forgot to mention: it's almost 100% positive that it's cast steel and not forge welded from pieces + plate. And I saw one without windows again, but it's not old and a very typical example of the bad knock-offs. Nice color though
October 6, 20169 yr Author hopefully cleaning it and removing the plates on the sides will reveal more. on the table you can certainly see the plate on this where it has broken away and the arc welds look typical for welding on WI today will check rebound and get more pix
October 6, 20169 yr Author ok got more pix, this time of base and handling holes, each hole is about an inch square and 2 1/2" deep ( 25mm sq and 65mm deep aprox ), on the base weld lines can be easily seen where the feet are attached, also it is clear where the hard plate is wrapped round the horn. weight is 52.7kg ( 115 pounds at a guess )
October 7, 20169 yr Can you imagine the the face of the smith when he saw it had been broken? I can imagine he was not a happy camper. At least he tried to repair it. Those welds really are awful though. What's the plan of attack ID? Andy
October 7, 20169 yr In my lost reply to you on PM I also said that it seems a forged anvil to me, I have a very similar one with the heel broken at the weld. also you can actually see the welds of the feet and the fact that they are not equal to each other and not really symmetric , as yours. there are no visible markings apart of the weight, as I can remember. I'll post some pictures later.
October 7, 20169 yr Author thank you Matei that looks so much like mine it could be from the same maker. better pictures will be posted as I clean it up but it is low priority and I have many other more urgent things.
October 7, 20169 yr Author 19 hours ago, Everything Mac said: What's the plan of attack ID? Andy from my first post "my plan is to closely examine it as is and then to clean it with pressure washer and hand wire brush and then examine it more, then to remove those added plates and check for markings below them, remove the welds that have been added and deeply V it and do a better job of welding and then look into refacing where needed."
October 8, 20169 yr ID The more I look at this anvil the more I dig it. Save the old gal if you can. It takes years to look that good. Ya I'm a sucker for old tools that are going to be more trouble that their worth. Papy
October 8, 20169 yr Papy, I like its character. I'd keep it as is but it isnt mine lol. I think I'd keep it as is and come up with a horror story to rival that of Dr. Frankenstein's monster. just me and I'm weird.
October 8, 20169 yr Daswulf I have a wall and light work bench in the wood shop for things like this. The older I get the more I appreciate a well used tool although I don't retire many tools. They get used gently. Guess that makes me weird too. Oh well we're in good company. Only boring people don't get talked about. Papy
October 8, 20169 yr Author I could weld it and dress the weld making the repair hard to see BUT I wont do it that way, I will make the welds visible and obvious I will try to make the anvil more usable but it will be a frankenanvil I will get rid of those two plates as one of them prevents one side of the edge of the table being used and the other covers the beveled area on the other side ( what is that side used for? )
October 8, 20169 yr as I know, the beveled or the rounded far side "reinforces" the edge where all the heavy hammering is done, for example when pointing bars, etc. it's less likely to chip or mushroom. I don't remember if I've ever seen chipped edges on that area on that kind of anvils.
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