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I Forge Iron

Any idea as to maker


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I actually am picking it up tomorrow and will know more .... It is heavier than a lot of cast anvils I see out there and it doesn't have a really short horn, like cheap cast anvils.

 

I'm hoping that it isn't a really cheap cast ... or (dare I hope) cast steel and not cast iron. 

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I read about the 'rebound' steel ball - method of testing hardness.  I took a 1" steel ball bearing and dropped without 'throwing' the ball from 10" ... the rebound was about 4.5" on average ... I am convinced that this little anvil is not a door-stop (ASO) cast iron ... 

It does have several straight line 'cuts' in the face which look like cold chisel marks. 

I took a wire brush to it and gave it two coats of black paint ... I'll take some photos of it tomorrow.  

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Bearing ball dropped from 10", rebounds 4.5" for a 45% rebound, that's poor and backed up by chisel cuts across the face doesn't say anything BUT ASO. Did the 1" ball leave dents? Results like these are exactly why you should test before buying, not after.

1/2" bearing balls will tell you the same thing just as effectively and you can carry one around in your pocket all the time. A light scratch with the back of the point on a pocket knife blade is another decent test if you don't mind doing that to your knife.

Don't toss it, it's still useful even as an anvil just make sure you're hammering HOT steel, keep it in the high orange and you'll be able to make enough marketable product to save and buy a better anvil. We've all been there in one form or another or we wouldn't be human or have a bunch of . . . stuff collecting dust around the shop.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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Greetings Eagle, 

.    Years ago I bought an anvil at a tractor show and put it in the pile with others ... Mr. Postman wrote in his book that the Enders company only made small cast anvils about 8 Pounds.. Just to have fun I brought my Enders 150 pound anvil to SOFA and displayed it on my tailgate . Richard a friend soon found me and he ended up with it .. We established that it was a prototype and was never produced for sale.. I think you might have the same situation with yours. Have fun 

Forge on and make beautiful things 

Jim

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Did you test it before or after removing the rust from the face? Because the rust or paint will cut a lot of % of the rebound. Also you can check the hardness with a file - it must rather skate than bite (depends of the hardness, good anv8ls may have from  ~50 to over 60HRC), if bites in like on soft steel it's either not hardened or it's cast iron. It could be also told if it's steel or cast iron by the spark test with a angle grinder.

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