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Craigslist Fisher just picked up? Whatya think?


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1 hour ago, SReynolds said:

Copyright matetial. Cannot share. 

If you are referring to advertising in AIA, we have all seen them.  If you have original advertising from pre 1950, there is no copyright on it.   I still do not understand you prejudice against Fisher anvils, based on ads alone.   It is sort of saying you would not buy a Ford today, because of advertising for the 1958 Edsel.

 

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You are reading into something which simply does not exist. The ads are an interesting read. I like the banter they employ to/with/for other companies. I will simply not buy one on the bashing of other companies alone. I dont know if other company adds employ similar smear techniques.  They may very well have. Trenton simply states you will make more money with their anvil.  Nothing mentioned concerning brand x and the numerous manners in which it will fail in short order.

Probably great anvils. The advertising leaves me perplexed as to the length they smear the other guys. Strange.

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IN the way back they used to practically show up at the gates and wanna duke it out from one anvil company to another..   It goes with the times.  I used to know a couple of old guys (brothers) who said there was nothing better than going out on Friday night to the dances  at the social club and get in a fight.. They said it happened pretty much every Friday and I've heard this from more than 2 old timers..  It was a way to blow off steam and impress the girls.. :) 

 

. I personally would love to see the advertisement..  I love all that old banter and now it's irrelevant as far as it goes because  we all know that  Hay Budden is the best..            

LOL.. chuckle, chuckle..  Just kidding.   I think everybody has his or her favorite anvil or type of anvil  from a shear user stand point I like any of the solid  or solid topped anvils as the fixing of them is easy vs a face plate..  So I have a tendency to like the Hay Buddens.. 

 

But I own trentons, Columbian, Eagle, Henry Wright and of course Hay Buddens.. and a Peddinghaus.. My next one will be a Refflinghaus after the shop goes up..  Please share.. 

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As to the comparison with the PW brand of anvils. I have seen plenty of swaybacked Peter Wrights, but I have yet to see a Fisher like that. Many wrought anvils were made up of several pieces that were forge welded together, and every weld was a point of potential failure. Fishers were one piece, eliminating the joints that could fail. 

Fishers do have rebound, they are not dead.

I love how quiet my 260# Fisher is, and that was also a selling point of theirs. My 306# Sodefors rings loud enough to be heard across the valley.

 

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I've seen a lot of Fishers with rather severe breaks too---any anvil can be abused! (On my wall of shame I have a PW missing everything over the waist, the ledges on the feet and the weight stamping is what Mr Postman used to ID it for me, I also have a Vulcan that has been worn nearly ridgeback and through most of the face and has the horn broken off. I have an 1828 William Foster missing heel and 90% of the face that I still use from time to time---My biggest shop anvil is a Fisher and I dearly love itl but the 1/5 its weight Arm and Hammer really brings in a crowd at demos with it's clear piercing ring.  I love my HB's and PWs too and my Powell even with the broken off heel---US$40 for an anvil that weighs over 120 pounds! Even my ILL&B Bridge anvil and unknown make stake anvils get used in turn---nothing sadder than an anvil that doesn't get stroked with red hot steel from time to time...might as well be scrapped!

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Perhaps one of the reasons Fisher made such rash statements in their advertising was to counter all the negative things being said about their anvils by other manufacturers. I have heard the English manufacturers had lots of bold claims against these no good cast anvils. One of the shops I work in has an enormous Fisher. The owner of the museum had bought the thing years ago and thought he had gotten taken advantage of because it didn't ring. It was sitting outside where the roof dripped on it for years. We finally moved it inside and it is now in regular use. It is in almost pristine condition except for the surface pitting caused by exposure to the elements. It has excellent rebound but is quiet. I have a Hay Budden that does ring like a church bell!

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One of the lines in some of the vintage ads for Fisher is: "Fisher anvils make you money, they do not make you deaf."  Even more than a hundred years ago Fisher& Norris recognized one of the big advantages of a Fisher anvil.  Their advertising was serving to educate people that a "ringing" anvil did not indicate a superior product over a "non ringing" one.

An anecdote about this: I was at a PABA meet years ago where Peter Ross demoed.  He insisted on having a Fisher anvil to work on so he could talk during his hammering!

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3 hours ago, njanvilman said:

Even more than a hundred years ago Fisher& Norris recognized one of the big advantages of a Fisher anvil.  

 

Exactly why I say Fishers are the best.  I've worked on just about every big name anvil and they all get the job done.   Fishers do it just as well and do it quietly! :D

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Did smith's of old (130 years ago etc. etc.) Not know or take time to secure a wroght anvil? I mean tie it tight to a tree stump so she won't ring? 

When i began smithing with a set old Trentons,  I knew to tie them/secure them tightly onto a solid tree trunk/block to stop the ring. Nobody had to tell me that. I didnt know much about smithing, if anything. However common sense prevailed when i was given a blacksmith shop to "do as I see fit" and mounted two Trentons and a post vise. The experienced smiths prior didn't have a clue or didn't care to do so proper. 

I believe I answered my own question. Never mind...........

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