A guy at work today showed me a picture of what looks like a Colombian Anvil (it has the triangle with the C) that he is buying.  I have two questions for this group about it.  More about my curiousity than anything else.

1) the Columbia logo (triangle with the C) is on the right side of the anvil when looking down the length of the anvil towards the horn.  I have seen 8 other Colombians, and I looked at a bunch of photos on the 'net, and the triangle logo was always on the left side.  Has anyone else seen a Colombian with the triangle logo on the right?  I did see some anvils with a simple letter "C" on the right, but all the ones with the triangle logo with the C in the center had it on the left.  

2) The anvil looks like it has an approximately 1/2-3/4 inch faceplate on it.  Again, based on what I've seen both in person and on the 'net, it looks like some Colombians appear solid and others appear to have a faceplate.  Is it actually a faceplate or did Colombian only finish that much of the casting smooth?

Thanks for any responses..

The Columbians are cast steel with no face plate. Just the way they are ground after casting. 

Many also have a letter cast on the opposite side of the trademark. I don't know what their significance was.

Thank you, FrozenForge.  I have seen ones with the letters on the other side of trademark, but the trademark has always been on the left.  The one I saw today had the trademark on the right where the letters normally are.   

are you sure about there being no faceplate? I was almost positive they did have one.

Colombians were first imported cast Swedish anvils just rebranded as Columbian....the later ones were also cast, but here in the states. As far as I know, all were solid steel, so no need for a plate.

They are cast *STEEL* and so did not need a faceplate; they just hardened the face to a certain depth.

Cast *TOOL STEEL* that is. Just because something is steel does NOT mean it doesn't need a faceplate.

A face plate of what?

More steel?

If so, why?

SLAG.

Btw...pics are always welcome;-)

Picked this up a few months ago. 66lbs, ~3/16" plate, 85% or better rebound, and very clear ring. I assumed it was a Columbian??

Yes, they are cast steel. When I had mine, it definitely rang loud.  Also, the casting was rough with some voids in the horn and face.  It also had a had a HORRIBLE swell at the bottom from the casting that would rock like it was resting on a beach ball.   

Good rebound though, about 80%.  I believe what looks like a tool steel plate is in fact just the way the model/mold was designed.  Note: the anvil was on this timber for photos only. 

On the other hand, I've seen a very heavy continental pattern Columbian that was super clean and well proportioned.  YMMV

 

 

 

12 hours ago, SLAG said:

A face plate of what?

More steel?

If so, why?

SLAG.

What I meant was that an anvil could be mild steel and need a faceplate.

Yes that is possible, however, all cast steel anvils that I know of were cast completely of a good grade of hardenable steel, with the face hardened and tempered. The "SOLID STEEL" construction was a selling point, as opposed to a laminated construction.

My understanding (and ThomasPowers can confirm or correct this) is that the combination of hardenable steel and iron body (whether wrought or cast) was used before widespread use of the Bessemer process made good quality steel readily available. Post-Bessemer, the price of carbon steel dropped to the point that solid steel anvils became economically viable. Thus, making a cast anvil with a high-carbon face and a low- or mid-carbon body would be a waste of money; the complicated casting process (such as was used to make Vulcan anvils, with their cast iron bodies and hard steel faces) would be a waste of time.

Well the Trenton and Arm and Hammer anvils at one time used a cast low carbon steel base that was welded to the upper part at the waist; originally forge welded IIRC and later Arc Welded.    HB also went to a monolithic (monoferric??) top.  Cast in higher carbon steel as one unit were the Swedish anvils and the Columbians.

I'm reading a talk about the difficulties of getting the Bessemer/Kelly process accepted  as there was substantial resistance to change. One reason they were still teeming crucible steel the old way in Sheffield in the 1920's!

Some of the cast steel anvils were given a "face plate" in the mold because a face plate was expected. It was just a little extra width and a line, not a separate piece. Sure it was a marketing trick but old school folk wanted an anvil with a face plate so . . .

You see it done in ASOs now but that's fraud. Different thing entirely.

Frosty The Lucky.

The cast iron fake ones are usually egregiously large---several times thicker than any real face plate would be and often overhanging a lot which is also not seen on real anvils.  If they were not so thick they would just break off the first time they were struck with force.