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I Forge Iron

New member with a junkyard Anvil. Need help restoring please


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Hi all. I am a newbie here, This is my first real anvil. I found it while looking for an ASO at my local junkyard. It seemed to bounce my 8OZ ball peen very well, and was

only $22...A whopping 30 cent a pound. It is beat up but hey, gotta learn on something right...

It weighs 71 pounds, But has the Horn (bick?) broke off of it, so I think it may have originally been closer to 100 pounds. I have no clue who made it, or what it was originally supposed to look

like. If anyone could help me identify it (I know some here seem to think its a useless point,) But I think it will help me to know how it looked so I can

return it to its former glory, and a good working order. I have not wire brushed it yet, as I read here that some anvils have thin faces, and I don't wont to hurt whats left of the face.

(Another reason I was wondering who the maker is) so I know the dos and donts of the particular brand in question.

I can not find any markings on it, and it only has a hardy hole, not a pritchel hole. If that helps. 

Also being new to Anvils I don't know if any of these are normal. But It has a hole in the bottom, akin to the hardy hole, but not going all the way through. And a set of holes (one on either side as well) Again not going all the way through to the other side. 

If anyone could help me I would be much appreciative,  And I really would love to know if it would hurt it to have a bick or round stock or something of the round shape welded back to it (If I develop the skills and need for it). Thanks all in advance, Justin / AKA: Dana 1942

anvil.jpg

anvil0.jpg

anvil2.jpg

anvil3.jpg

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English, old but not *OLD*, Wrought iron body and steel face. The square holes on the sides and  the bottom are handling holes so they can get a good grip on it when working it under a power hammer---may be a water driven one for that anvil! Check for signs of a blocked pritchel hole. If none is found the anvil probably dates before 1830.  It most likely looked like a london or birmingham pattern anvil.

Wire brushing will not hurt the face, grinding/sanding/milling will hurt the face.

Arc welding to real wrought iron is a bit tricky; why not make a stake anvil for your horn?

I would have cheerfully paid that for your anvil!

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1 minute ago, ThomasPowers said:

Arc welding to real wrought iron is a bit tricky; why not make a stake anvil for your horn?

Thank you sir for the knowledge on the type of anvil I have. And I actually found a comment on google that you were explaining the handling holes just after I posted this.

I will look it over tomorrow for a blocked pritchel. 

As for the stake anvil, you mean a stake to fit in the hardy hole? 

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Awesome, Thanks!

I am pretty excited to get started now, I have a 2LB hammer head and two old Tongs I got from my great grandfathers stuff recently. I am going to try and remove some rust from them via electrolysis and then set them to work as well!

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I cleaned on the anvil a tiny bit today, as most of my tools are elsewhere at the moment. I had a grill brush and an old toothbrush with soapy water.

I found some writing on one side. It almost appears to say something "hole" i was thinking maybe a mouse hole? It looks like it has an emblem stamp on it as well.

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That might be a very early Mousehole (aka The Undisputed King of Anvils), although I don't know if they ever stamped the name under the weight marking. If you can get a copy of Richard Postman's book The Mousehole Forge, that could offer more guidance.

If the marking is just Mouse Hole and nothing else, then it could well be ca. 1780-1795.

(By the way, my grandparents used to live in Hendersonville.)

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Oh, wait; it wasn't Hendersonville per se, but on Hendersonville Road. They'd lived near downtown Asheville when they retired from missionary work in Alaska, then moved to Deerfield (just south of Biltmore Forest) when they couldn't really live independently anymore. They're buried at Cavalry Episcopal Church in Fletcher.

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2 hours ago, JHCC said:

It wasn't Hendersonville per se, but on Hendersonville Road.  They're buried at Cavalry Episcopal Church in Fletcher.

Its close enough for me. Asheville is different now, but still a decent place. Deerfield is nice as well!  I am sorry for your loss, but that's a good area to be planted when the time comes.

 

And thank you Laynne. It continues to puzzle me as to who made it as well. Tomorrow Im going to try and take a wire brush wheel to the side and really clean it up. Hopefully I will be able to come up with more information. I just find it fascinating to know a little about the history of it,  age, design, etc.

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Yes and No, The best I can figure is its still pretty much the same words as I thought it said before, but they seem to be easier to read now (except that Im still not super sure of the mouse part)

If any of that made sense to you then I am glad ... Im not so good at getting my point across sometimes.

But I was able to find a couple of the weight numbers and they are above the "Whatever the word is... Hole" stamp that it has.

I think it is a 0---2 something---25

And I checked all over then end for a clogged up pritchel hole. There is no sign of one at all

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Good Morning Dana,

It doesn't really matter what it used to be, it is what it is now. It is a usable Anvil!! You can make all kinds of 'Hardie' tools to fit in the Hardie Hole. Most hammer work should be done over top of the 'Waist' anyway. Horns break off when someone gets exuberant with a sledge hammer. There may have been a weakness but now the weakness is gone!! Use it and enjoy it after giving it a 'Brush Off'. You can touch up the exterior with light pressure of a sanding disc, this may make the story more legible. Sometimes a spray bomb of paint over the area in question, let it dry, clean the outer surface with the sanding disc will make the lettering very legible.

Regardless, Use it like you own it and get used to it's language. It will tell you a story as you are using it. Maybe even figure out a name for it (Lucky Find????)

Enjoy the journey

Neil

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52 minutes ago, Glenn said:

What does it weigh on the bathroom scale?

When It was weighed at the junkyard it was 71 LBS. I gotta think with the horn and all it had to be near 100. 

But in the grand scheme of things it really Doesn't matter much. I mean I think its awesome to know the history of it. But I couldnt have said it better than many of the posters in this thread, And especially Swedefiddle! 

Well said sir. Maybe call it the Double Deuce Mouse? LOL

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Thomas, I'm sure you are familiar with the weight marking systems LOL. So I will definitely take your word for that. With the big have only weighed around 10 lbs though? Also I just cleaned it up with a wire brush some and this is the best picture I have.

I'm sorry if it is not the right size, I'm trying to figure out how to resize it from my phone

IMG_20190119_164542.jpg

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It's the old english hundredweight system AKA CWT :

Left most numbers are hundredweights at 112# per

Central number is quarter hundred weights at 28# per and can only be 0-3 (also 2 stone)

right most number(s) are residual pounds and so can only be 0-27

As you might guess this only applies to older English anvils and confuses folks on a regular basis:

American anvils:   weight stamped in pounds

English anvils: old---weight stamped in CWT, new weight stamped in kg

European anvils: yes   (I've seen anvils for export to US stamped in pounds and others in kg and some not weight stamped at all!)

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Thanks, My math adds up too. Just curious though, If I wanted to polish the face a little bit other than pounding hot metal on it....Which is hopefully soon to come What else could I do. I read in the introduction forums, or read this first on what not to do. But I cant even find that anymore. Im trying to follow posts that I feel I will need to look at later 

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