2 New Anvils I picked up..

[Normark]

Hey Guys...

I'm just getting started in this forging business and kind of lucked out on 2 anvils about a week or so apart..

My first one is a 250 lb that I traded a custom sheath for. It's a little rough,, but what I got it for I don't think I could have done better..

Cleaned it up with an angle grinder and then a flap wheel.. Has a nice ring to it..

The other anvil is almost exactly the same but weighs only 80lbs.. I picked this one up from a junk collector nearby..
Picked it up for Ummmm,,not kidding $5.00...

Also picked up 3 really big shop vises, one on a homemade stands made from truck brake drums.. One is an outside vise, so it's all rusty and stuff, but it's getting a new paint job this week.. The other two vises are also a bit rough,, but for $25 ea you can't go wrong..

I'll try and get some pictures up tomorrow..

The funny thing with the anvils is that both of them the horns are missing....

Any reason someone would cut the horns off of anvils ??

Thanks

Eric
O/ST

[Neal L]

If you were down here in the south i would say you had a couple of cilvil war anvils. The story goes that as Sherman marched through his troops broke the horns off of anvils so the Conferderates couldn't make horse shoes. In your case i don't know why the horns would be missing

[steponmebbbboom]

these horns are cut off?

perhaps they were owned by a bladesmith who got tagged in the jewels one too many times?

[Rutterbush]

Older wrought iron bodied anvils may have been of the type called six piece welded anvils. These anvils were made of six separate pieces; the horn, body, heel, 2 feet and the steel plate. The older anvils, that I've seen, which have been left out in the weather, have rusted under the steel plate, if there were cracks, and started to separate from the wrought iron. Some had poor welds or hard use that may have separated the weld joint enough to allow water to enter then freeze or rust. The freezing could have pushed the weld joint apart a little at a time and with the continued hard use broken off.

It's possible.

If it is cast iron, that may be the answer in itself.

Thomas Powers?

[philip in china]

Neal, I heard Sherman dropped anvils down wells or into rivers. I always joke with Sean that after a days work he puts the anvil down a well because that is where he is accustomed to finding them. (He is from the rebel states).

One day when I have his son Ethan to look after I am going to teach him all the verses to Marching through Georgia.

[ThomasPowers]

Are the horns missing or were they never there? There is a style of anvil generally called a sawyer's anvil that does not have a horn and they can get quite large indeed.

As has been mentioned old built up anvils have the horn and heel welded on and so a bad weld or abuse can result in a missing piece. (on my wall of shame---abused anvils--- there is a Vulcan cast anvil that the horn was broken off due to bad casting flaws at that point combined with a college student using too large a hammer too aggressively on it---I got the instructor another anvil donated to the progran and they gave me the ruins in return)

That tale about Sherman's men breaking the horns off anvils is a tale nothing more, you don't need a horn to make a bend or shoe. Personally there is enough true tales out there that I don't need to spread misinformation.