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A guy near me is looking to trade the anvil linked for a lighter weight anvil. 

https://imgur.com/gallery/cP8tG2U

 

my anvil is a 120lbish Peter Wright. My question is, is there anything that can be revealed from this picture?

The only thing I noticed is that there is what looks to be either a crack or a seam running the length of the anvil.

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

EB0B4AC0-1B3B-43E8-847B-AC18141579FD.jpeg

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Looks very much like the cast anvils coming up from Mexico.  They use a "good" anvil to make the mold to try and fool people; but the parting seam down the face is a dead giveaway.  Also does it have a pritchel hole?  Note these are made with whatever is left in the casting ladle at the end of the day so the alloy could be anything from terrible to OK but they are not heat treated!  Please do the ball bearing test on it to see if it's any good but as it stands it looks like an ASO to me!

If I was given one I would spark test it to see if it was an alloy worth trying to heat treat it and dress it.  Note that heat treat is not easy to do it yourself and not cheap if you have it done professionally.

 

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@Daswulfthat is exactly what i'm worried about. Thanks for the help!

@ThomasPowers, I believe you're correct. This anvil is located in Santa Fe, NM so proximity wise it very well could be from Mexico. I have a ball bearing ready to go with me in my truck at all times for just such a test. 

I'll need to consider this carefully, not sure if it's worth risking what I know to be a great anvil for essentially an ASO. 

 

Thank you for your time and info!

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I once traded a 125# PW for a 400+# Trenton as the owner was tired of moving it---he was still in his young "wander years" Of course the trenton had some damage too; as a mine maintenance crew had been using it as a welding fixture.  It was made in central OH, used at a mine in AZ, brought back to central OH where I made the trade and then moved it with my shop to NM---where I took it to an anvil repair day and got it fixed back up.

If I could get one of those cast ones cheap enough I might try to have it refaced using the Gunter-Schuler method. (But boy that WOULD COST A LOT OF BEER!)

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