October 23, 20178 yr I live in a Chicago home built in the late 1870s. I found the Anvil pictured here tucked away in a nook of my basement the day I moved in, several years ago. I weighed it, and it came in in at 157 lbs. Dimensions are 28” long, 11” tall, and 11” wide at the base. Seems like a "Hay Budden" from other pics I've seen. I can't find any markings, or serial numbers, if there were any, they might be pretty worn by now - any advice on where to look on anvil specifically? Here are the pics - hoping someone can tell me what I've got here? It sure is a cool thing to find an old anvil in your basement :-)
October 23, 20178 yr Wow what an awesome find! When we moved in we found some old cans of paint and a roll of carpet. Although later in the year we were pleasantly surprised to find a patch of shrubs were red raspberries and one lone tree was an apple!
October 23, 20178 yr Author @ThomasPowers Thanks, I'll snap a pic of the bottom in a bit post. I never looked that closely at the bottom. @Charcold That's great! And we actually lucked out with red raspberries too - was totally surprised the first summer to find three bushes my yard - right in the city, growing wild. My son and I eat the hell out of 'em right of the bush :-)
October 23, 20178 yr Author @ThomasPowers here is a pic of the bottom of my anvil, appreciate any info you might have on it.
October 23, 20178 yr Looks like a trenton farriers anvil. It's in decent condition. Are there any numbers on the front foot under the horn? What are you intending to do with it?
October 23, 20178 yr what he said; caplet indentation is generally a Trenton, though I have an Arm and Hammer with one---both manufacturers were in Columbus OH and Postman said they shared bases from time to time as one needed a certain size quickly.
October 24, 20178 yr Yeah trenton would be my guess I am in Skokie if you want to see what a hay budden looks like.
October 24, 20178 yr Author Really appreciate the responses here @ThomasPowers and others. I never thought I'd be able to get a same-day vintage Anvil diagnosis - this is a cool forum. @Fatfudd it does appear there were once markings where you indicated - hard to tell for certain with all the time & wear. I traced with charcoal & paper - but could only make out what might be a leading '7' from that. And still not certain if that's a blemish or number. As much as I'd like to get into blacksmithing and have had occasion when I need - it took me 8 years to even drag this beast from its hiding spot, so I'm going to sell. Thanks for offer @Timber Ridge Forge if you are interested in this one please let me know. Also, I guess you all have seen or heard of the documentary "Ore to Ax" - if not, you must check-out. I've watched it a few times and absolutely love - amazing to see that whole process play out.
October 24, 20178 yr 5 minutes ago, Chi-Town said: As much as I'd like to get into blacksmithing and have had occasion when I need - it took me 8 years to even drag this beast from its hiding spot, so I'm going to sell If you want to sell it, put up a post in the Tailgating / buy / sell section, making sure to read THE RULES first.
October 25, 20178 yr Much like the old joke "How far can you swim carrying an anvil like that?" "How deep is the lake?"
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