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I Forge Iron

Unusual looking anvil


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I bought this anvil today just getting into blacksmithing paid 140 euro for it, it weighs 141 pounds it was an older gentleman I bought it off he owned it for 30 years it came out of Dublin airport here in Ireland apparently it was owned by Aer Lingus (Irelands national airline) came out of one of their repair hangers in the airport it was modified by them(possibly even commissioned) I would just like to know why it's shaped like this

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Hard to say.  All that rust could be covering the weld seam where they added a block of steel to an anvil that had the heel already broken off.

Still, plenty of workable surface there and you could conceivably drill out the heel to add a pritchel and hardy hole.

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Ill clean up the side of it tomorrow there appears to be a name its only 4 letters i can make out what i think is a f at the beginning i will take some better photos too in the daylight since its welded could i still drill a hardy hole and a pritchel would it not just break off  (that weld has been there for 30 years its been like that since the previous owner bought it)

should i clean it or just leave it as is?surely with a repair like that its not a collectors piece 

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That would make alot of sense as most anvils in Ireland were imported from England or Germany ill update on it tomorrow and give it a test run. Had another look it does look like it says forge there is  writing below it which i can make out and some above it which is almost completely gone

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As far as drilling a hardy hole goes, I would just leave it. It would be a big enough project just to drill a pritchel hole. Other than making it look a little less broken, I don't see the point of the heel repair. It's too thick to use it as a regular heel. (For making BBQ forks, etc.) Not at all that it isn't a usable anvil. I would just hold your hardys in a vise. 

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I normally clean up an anvil after examining it first for markings ( try shining a light on it from an angle or rubbing chalk into it ) with a hand held wire brush, then examine again, then a pressure wash then examine whilst wet and then dry, then wire brush again.

dont grind or weld on it, use it to clean up the face

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Greetings 16,

      IMO... It looks like a MHF special build for inserting into a fixture for some kind of a power hammer.  The squared off section appears to be designed to slide into something and no face plate.  I would not modify it in any form and a simple stand made from square tubing works well for hardi tools. I have 2 and use them frequently,  

Forge on and make beautiful things 

Jim

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3 hours ago, Jim Coke said:

[...] a simple stand made from square tubing works well for hardi tools. I have 2 and use them frequently,  

Quite agree. This is my own portable hole, cobbled together from railroad tie plates and salvaged water pipe. 

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Why?  Because they had a job they did often enough that they thought that investing time and materials into adapting the anvil made good sense.  Does it interfere with what you want to do with the anvil?  If so modify it to suit yourself.  It's no longer "stock" so your changes won't affect it any more than theirs did if you do them to the same level of quality!   It's a tool to be used not an alter!

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