Hello! That's my first posting to this forum. I'm from Finland and very interested to forge iron. I'm sorry my english is little bit bad. 

I bought an old anvil and it's signatured "Ekman & Co Lesjöfors 1896". It isn't good condition but I guess it ok for working. 

Is somebody heard about this mark anvil? I like this grand old lady!

More pictures please! I don't think I have ever heard of that one.

Terveeksi! Jokos tämän kävit lukemassa? READ THIS FIRST!

Kivaa vaihtelua ainaisen Lokomotarjonnan seassa.

Och samma på engelska,

Welcome! Nice to see an anvil that's not a Lokomo for a change (Lokomo anvils are quite common in Finland). More pics!

Few pics.. I thougt first to repair this anvil but now I want to save all the traces left by the work.

What's to repair? Sure, the edges are a bit wobbly, but you can do a lot more damage to a decent anvil by attempting to "fix" it. Just use it! The hot metal will polish up the face nicely, and you'll be all set.

After 1-1/4 centuries, that anvil is still in nice condition. Hammering on hot metal will make the face shine. A light coat of oil on the rest of the anvil will improve the looks there. 

The anvil has a lot of experience behind it and lots of life left in it. Treat it well. Congratulations of a nice anvil.

 

Thanks! I understand it old and I promise to treat it well. :-) It paid 180 euros, I think it very low price. Anvil is 83 kg (183 lb). 

I don't have a forge yet, I do it in the summer. Then anvil's face polishing begins..

53 minutes ago, Jouni said:

It paid 180 euros, I think it very low price. Anvil is 83 kg (183 lb). 

That's about $1.21 (USD) per pound. No idea what the anvil market is like in Finland, but over here, that's dirt cheap, especially for an anvil of that size and condition. Good job!

I'm so lucky, I bought it without I had seen it.. It was few minutes for sale I called and bought it right away after the call. Right/real price would been about 500-600 euros. Every day I search anvils, post vices and blacksmithing tools. Last summer I found a post vise, about 100 years old. It costs 80 euros.. :-) 

Anvil market in Finland is good, I only had good luck, maybe part of hard search.

Today I cut old burned hammer to three pieces, I do few hardy tools these. Maybe my dream come true some day and I can make all the ideas out of my head!

No, you always want to have more dreams waiting to be realized. Never run out of dreams.

(By the way, there's no need to quote a previous comment unless (A) you're addressing a very specific point within a larger comment or (B) you're replying to something that's had one or more other comments posted subsequently. Excessive quoting makes threads harder to read and eats up bandwidth, especially for our members still using dial-up. I know you're new, so if you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!!)

welcome to IFI

there are plenty of things you can learn here, spend some time reading the forums

there are many things on youtube but a lot of it is rubbish ( and some is dangerous rubbish ) so watch things that people here recommend at first until you know a bit more

I would suggest any video by joey van de steeg known here as technicus joe, or any video by people on this forum, if in doubt about anything ask here

do not worry about your English, there are thousands of posters here to whom english is not their first language

4 minutes ago, the iron dwarf said:

there are thousands of posters here to whom english is not their first language

Even among those for whom it IS their first language!

I consider American to be a different language

and then there is Charles who has his own written language

we all have to translate from charles

That's when it's plus to have all those voices in my head---some are native speakers of Charles's dialect.

6 hours ago, the iron dwarf said:

welcome to IFI  There are plenty of things you can learn here, spend some time reading the forumsnguage

Thanks for tips!

I want to learn english because every day I need it more on my job. This is great opportunity learn it too. :-)

I will be happy to receive tips and links to good videos. 

Maybe my H-D Shovelhead gets new forged parts for next summer..

3 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

That's when it's plus to have all those voices in my head-

Even if the voices aren't real, they sometimes have really good ideas.

Sweet deal on that anvil. I found a Lokomo 50A from a nearby flea market for 250€(5€/kg), too bad I didn't have the cash at the moment...

What part of Finland are you located in, Jouni?

I'm from Revonlahti, 50 km below the Oulu. 

I'm very happy my new anvil, it rings so beautiful.. I wonder long enought to buy a piece of railroad rail and make an anvil on it. Lokomo is very good but I don't have enought money to buy one. 

That's a great anvil with years of work left in it. Think of all the wonderful creations that have been made on it. 1896 - that's a lot of history. That anvil will do everything you ask of it. Go to it!

P.S. Some mean-looking traps you have there.

Yes, it's very interesting piece of history. It's important for me! Old tools have soul, I think. So I just never buy new and modern. 

I'm hunter, I have traps for minks and martens. These old traps I bought from second hand store in Sweden. It's illegal to hunt in Finland but I bought them as a props. History, it's very important.

12 hours ago, Jouni said:

Yes, it's very interesting piece of history. It's important for me! Old tools have soul, I think.

I think you are right. My forge is in the centre of a historic village museum complex and I am surrounded by old stuff. I think all the long-gone artisans who used these tools would be pleased to know they are in safe keeping or even still being used. Many young people don't know what an anvil is (unless they've been playing Minecraft) and I'm always amused when they ask me about it (there's a question on their activity sheet) and then take a photo with their state-of-the-art I-phone for their report back at school.

Welcome aboard Jouni, glad to have you. 

That's a beautiful old lady you have, she has several generations of blacksmith work in her yet. While it's nice to have and use old tools please remember, they're TOOLS first, historical relics is way down the list. Just because something is old doesn't make it worth having. 

I'm a huge fan of Swedish anvils, I have a Soderfors and have never struck better. A few chips on the edges is normal for Swedish cast steel anvils, they tend to be darned hard. Be careful to NOT miss and hit the anvil on the edges with heavy blows, that's what caused the edge damage on yours.

Do NOT "repair or restore it!" to be perfectly honest, you don't know enough to know what needs done. From the pics I can see a couple minor details I'd take a grinder to but I'm not sure if it's the safety concern my experience says it is. The mushrooming on the end of the tail is what concerns me as a potential safety issue, a missed blow could strike off chips. The SNAP sound you hear when high carbon steel (like a Swedish cast steel anvil) isn't really the steel shattering, that's a ting, the SNAP is the chip breaking the sound barrier. Sure, it isn't going that fast for very far, 1, 1.5 m.  maybe but you are that close to the anvil. You're eyes aren't tough enough a chip needs to do more than just reach them to do damage.

Wear eye protection! A leather apron will protect your groin and Femoral arteries.

Don't let me scare you into makig some hasty changes to anything EXCEPT safety gear. PPE (Peronal Protective Equipment), there is NO excuse for not wearing it.

Frosty The Lucky.

The anvil project went a step forward, I made the stand and  mounted the anvil. Previously I did a few hardy tools.

Nice router jig! That will make a fine surface for the old girl.