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I Forge Iron

Tell me about this anvil


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Just picked this girl up, along with a couple pair of tons and an old coal forge. 

Interested to know anything about it. It's got english and weight on one side of it with a date, then sweden and what looks like "Sodorfors" on the other side.

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8 minutes ago, Tubalcain2 said:

congrats!! definitely a soderfors.  you just bought  a top quality anvil. arguably the best made.  i have a bigger one and i LOVE it.

Nice, guess i lucked out.

Do you know why it has english and some other mark on the other side? was that who imported it in 1925 or somethinmg?

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7 minutes ago, Ranchmanben said:

Some people might disagree but that would look amazing after a healthy dose of wire wheel and a coat of WD-40. Nice score. 

Planning on hitting it with the wire wheel.. I actually got pretty lucky with this one, paid 0$/lb... was a freind of my dads who used to be a mobile farrier

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What you have there is a device to make Frosty drool all over his keyboard... ;) 

I have a 306# Sodefors, and they are great anvils. I use my 260# Fisher more though due to it being so much quieter than the Sodefors. 

Now the best way to polish it up is to start using it. 

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Welcome to the excellence in anvil's club! Am I reading it correctly and it says it's a Sorceress 6? I have a 125lb. Sorceress 5. Soderfors is a foundry not strictly an anvil manufacturer and they'd make whatever pattern name weight measurement, etc. you wanted to pay for. A lot were in English weights though metric was common as well. They were stamped with the year of manufacture. Mine's 1923.

Wear hearing protection!! Especially if you put her on a wooden stand. A missed blow on horn or heal will make your ears ring through muffs ad plugs. No foolin! I found a steel tripod stand damped the ring very well and she still sounds pretty.

A freebie? She was a FREEBIE?! I think I might have to hate you. Even if I could, after the first time you used her you wouldn't care. You're going to love that beautiful lady, you'll strike none finer.

Frosty The Lucky.

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23 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Wear hearing protection!! Especially if you put her on a wooden stand. A missed blow on horn or heal will make your ears ring through muffs ad plugs. No foolin! I found a steel tripod stand damped the ring very well and she still sounds pretty.

A freebie? She was a FREEBIE?! I think I might have to hate you. Even if I could, after the first time you used her you wouldn't care. You're going to love that beautiful lady, you'll strike none finer.

Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah i got pretty lucky. Used the old TPAAAT method. Got the word around at my parents church, they live in a farming ish town and figured someone would know of something there or have one. and i had luck and they did. A good family friend who was a travelling farrier gave this, a coal forge, and a few set of tongs to me today.. I plan on putting this on a fir stump i'm pulling from my dads house and routering down  the exact foot into the top of hte stump then putting a layer of silicon caulk on to set the anvil on.. That plus wrap a big chain around it. How do you think that should do for the ring? I'll probably get a big box of earplugs too to go into the garage with me..

I got pretty lucky wiht this guy ;).. i'm going to look at trading / trade+cashing one of my forges to someone for a propane burner forge during the NWBA conference in 2 weeks now that i have 2.. =D

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Pretty clean anvil - don't wire brush it just use it and the face will polish up nicely, leave the natural color on the rest - as once you wire brush it - it will take 30-40 years to get it back to the same look as now.

 

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Mortising mine into a spruce block and bedding it on a number of different things didn't effect the ring significantly. Magnets and chain helped some. The steel stand made it okay.

Right angle grinder with a cup brush to clean it up and a rust preventative something. I used wax and it kept it pretty nice for years. Next time I clean and wax it I'll use Trewax applied to the anvil at about fresh coffee hot my favorite finish. Various polymerizing oils work nicely just giving it a wipe down with an oily rag now and again works too.

Oh paint does  good job of keeping the rust off.

Frosty The Lucky.

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10 hours ago, Frosty said:

Mortising mine into a spruce block and bedding it on a number of different things didn't effect the ring significantly. Magnets and chain helped some. The steel stand made it okay.

Right angle grinder with a cup brush to clean it up and a rust preventative something. I used wax and it kept it pretty nice for years. Next time I clean and wax it I'll use Trewax applied to the anvil at about fresh coffee hot my favorite finish. Various polymerizing oils work nicely just giving it a wipe down with an oily rag now and again works too.

Oh paint does  good job of keeping the rust off.

Frosty The Lucky.

Definitely not going to paint it, but i have some wire brush attachments for my grinders and my big dremmel. I'll hand brush and see how that goes first, but if it's not doing to my liking i'll hit it with the dremmel wire brush probably.. I'm thinking wd-40 or some boiled linseed oil rub down will suffice since i've seen both mentioned and have both laying around in my garage :P

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Nice one! On my rusfed anvils I used a hand wire brush with water and sand, then oil. That removed the excess rust and preserved the patina, the least aggressive method. You just dip the brush in some water, then in the sand and then you rub the anvil. As the brush loses sand, you 'refill' and rub again. From time to time you remove the sand by rinsing the anvil with water to see the progress. It takes more time than power-brushing, but it's more effective than just regular hand brushing.

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Steel brush on a sander polisher works better and does not spray wire bits all over the place. As far as wax and other coats, I find them unnecessary. The anvil only rusts if you leave it uncovered overnight. Throw a piece of canvass doubled up and tighten it up with a rubber tie down strap around the foot and it will stay free of rust and need no waxing oiling or anything at all besides a bit of wd40 if you really must. 

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