Help identifying scrap yard find anvil

[Teddybo]

Hello so my local Scrap yard is a frequent  place I go to And one of the employees about months ago told me they had anvil  at that time the owner was not willing to sell well yesterday I got this for 150 bucks I figured it be a lot better to get my hammer control down on this that it would be on my hay budden or  Columbian’s and most will probably tell me a paid too much but locally I could resell  around 300 once I fix the edges .

 I’m pretty sure it’s all right iron it’s got about 80% rebound and weight  originally was 177 currently and  currently without the hill is 157  it has warranted and what looks like to you FTS them printed on it as well as JF  i’ve tried doing some research and I can’t find anything on it 

[ThomasPowers]

JF looks to be an owner's stamp to me.

Nothing visible above the weight stamp?

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I don't see any edges that need to be "fixed".  The only thing I would do would be to trim the heel edge square, and mount it up.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I agree with BIGGUNDOCTOR the edges look fine and I wouldn't want sharp edges. At close to a dollar a pound you got a heck of a deal.

[Frosty]

I'm with Biggun, the only work that old lady needs is hot steel and a hammer, the edges are just right and her face will clean right up when you build her a stand put her to work.

Excellent score by the way.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Teddybo]

Well as you all have far more exp then me I’ll go with your advice on he edges . I thought it was wrought iron but when I went to clean it up it obviously had some kind of tool steel plate on top very thin no five eights more like quarter inch thick but still had some pea size pot holes in the face of the top plate .

 just picked up this post vise up in  Reeding  there is a 5 1/2 inch Peter right post vise about another hour and half north in Klamath falls Oregon  posted on Facebook  was going to go try to grab it two but I never got reply back in week of trying to get in context .This one was supposed to be a 6 inch it up being a 5 1/2 it sure does look a lot uglier in person than was in the pictureI  I don’t get all people when I send them an exact picture of what I am referring to is the measurement is still messed it up who’s going to pay 200 bucks good with the XXXXXX condition and wasted time to give her 80 bucks pretty sure it’s columbian . I made a good connection regardless the guy was showing me pictures of two different locations he knows where they have a bunch of anvils a and post vises  as well as a friend of his that has a whole collection of them

[ThomasPowers]

We get a lot of folks who know pretty much nothing about anvils and end up damaging them trying to make them look better.  Traditional anvils had a thin steel face and once it's gone their value plummets---so folks who grind or mill on the face are throwing handfuls of cash into the woodstove!  

Practical Blacksmithing;Volume 1, published in 1889; page 110: "For my own part I am satisfied not only that the sharp edges are useless, but that they are also destructive of good work. I cannot account for their existence except as a relic of a time  when the principles of forging were but little understood. I want both edges of my anvil rounded, not simply for a part of their length, but for their whole length." (Note: PB is a collection of articles from a professional Smiths journal---the internet of the day, except that having to pay for it it was mainly *professionals* making their living in the craft.)

We get a lot of welders and machinists here that "the principles of forging are but little understood."  And want to modify their anvils *BEFORE* they know what improves it.

[Teddybo]

I understand what ya mean . I have repaired the edges that weren’t rounded so much as chunkes missing but was very worried about effecting the rebound pushing a heat zone or building up any heat  over 420 degrees . Now I don’t ever plan to sell that anvil as it was my first and I wouldn’t blame someone for not trusting it was done right .I would never trust that  repairs where done correctly by anyone who knew what they where-doing. I’ve seen countless videos  and heard people boast about how they could do it or couldn’t be to difficult these people I watching people who thought they knew enough to repair it right only to ruin the anvil.. I knew I was clueless but didn’t realize how little I knew . . And I still don’t know didly squat    

[JHCC]

No idea on the manufacturer, but I wonder if anyone ever collected on the warranty. 

[Teddybo]

Ya  I wish I knew who made it so I could call the customer service up and see if ifs to late to register the warranty 

[ThomasPowers]

Back around 30 years ago I brought a Craftsman Adze into Sears to see if they would honor their replacement guarantee. After an amusing escalation I was told they could not replace it as they no longer made them...

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I had a Craftsman half inch ratchet that belonged to my grandfather that was stripped out. He used it to work on Franklin's and Pierce Arrow's. I took it to Sears in '79 and they gave me a new one no questions asked. I doubt that would happen today given their problems.

[ThomasPowers]

Last one I took in they put a cheap sloppy rebuild kit in it and handed it back; only slightly improved from when I handed it to them.

[Frosty]

Years ago, probably when Sears was entering the dive I took a Craftsman bench grinder in to be repaired. I got a call a week later saying it was ready for pickup. I got there and it was vacuum packed to a piece of pasteboard with the work order taped to it. Said it couldn't be repaired, discard and Replace. However Sears no longer replaced power tools, not even a discount if you bought one there. 

The guy at the counter told me they weren't going to charge for the diagnosis but the light they'd installed would be $29.and change.  It didn't have one when I brought it in and they "couldn't" repair it but wanted to be paid to install a light. 

I called the office told them Sears wouldn't honor the guarantee we needed a new bench grinder. They okayed the purchase and went to AIH and purchased a 9" Milwaukee bench grinder. When I got back to the shop I opened the case, pulled the brushes, ran up to the local AIH matched to ones as close as I could took them back slid them in and it's still working like a champ. The brushes were about $2.00 and it took me a non electric motor expert guy about 15 minutes not counting the drive to AIH. It wasn't till I'd taken it apart I discovered there were screw caps I could've accessed the brushes through and replaced them in about 3 minutes.

I'm amazed Sears is still hanging on.

Frosty The Lucky.

[SLAG]

Frosty,

Sears is essentially dead.

The last head of Sears,  Mr. Eddie Lampert is presently being sued for massive misconduct and fraud.

There is an allegation that he had much to do to finally driving Sears into bankruptcy.  And profiting extraordinarily from the corporation's demise.

In other words, Sears guarantees are probably, worth nothing. 

Craftsman has been sold. But to whom I do not recall at this hour.

It is probably worth guarantee holders to check if the new owner (assignee), will honor the older Sears guarantees.

SLAG.

[Teddybo]

Lowes has craftsman now but that brand warranty is a joke . You have to register all tools bought online so any old craftsman you have pretty much has no warranty as well as their on line registration randomly will delete account . I Once tried to order a replacement part for a Sears air compressor that was a year ago after a month and a half of them giving me the  go around I told him I was gonna call my credit card company and reported as fraud and they finally refunded me I’m still getting emails saying my order is back ordered

[Glenn]

Sears guarantee and Craftsman warranty has not been honored for a long time (years). Flashlights with a lifetime warranty was replaced with a low end light and no warranty, high end ratchets replaced with the bottom of the line ratchet, etc. In their defense, the older Craftsman hand tools are still working years later. 

 

Craftsman, originally owned by Sears. The brand is now controlled by Stanley Black & Decker.

[Mr Moose]

4 hours ago, Glenn said:

Craftsman, originally owned by Sears. The brand is now controlled by Stanley Black & Decker.

 Well... That would explane a lot. Black & Decker has been poor quality for years.

 

[Charles R. Stevens]

I belive black and decker are dewalts second line as far as power tools go. I always thought black and decker tanked as part of the “Walmart effect”. Wall mart becomes a comapanies major destribuor and then demands that they lower their prices. This is what bankrupted rubber made and forced its sell to the Chinese back in the day.

Even Snapon is getting persnickety. Played &#!! Geting 1/4” and 3/8” ratchets replaced. I had worn the body out so that the ratcheting mechanism wobbled. Went round and round with the distributor before I got new ones. All he wanted to do was replace the ratcheting mechanism. Now that I am no longer in the industry it’s even worse as many distributors don’t want to deal with you if you aren't a few grand in dept to them. We have resorted to buying Napa hand tools in many cases over the last couple of decades.

 

[ThomasPowers]

Frankly I have been amazed that a company that built their brand on catalog sales didn't jump into on-line and snag that market top to bottom and side to side.   I mean they used to deal excellently with remote ordering, payment and shipping back when things were delivered by *train*!  Probably end up as a semester long class on how a business can utterly fail to adapt to changes in Technology!   (I had the Metallurgy Prof ask if any smiths were using induction forges when he was taking my course Saturday. I even knew two in NM!)

[JHCC]

On a lighter note, some jokesters complained to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry that the bell they had provided for the Pennsylvania State House in 1752 was defective and had actually cracked. Whitechapel replied that they would be happy to provide a replacement, but only if the bell were returned in its original packaging.

[Teddybo]

Yeah the days of Companies standing behind their warrantees and not trying to void it or make you jump through hoops to register it   are long gone

[ThomasPowers]

I believe that the NPS would look poorly on such a return----and they have grizzlies in abundance!

My parents visited that foundry once as they were helping a church in a small UK village get their bells redone for the Y2K peal.

[Glenn]

Genuine Parts Company (GPC) owns the NAPA Auto Parts brand.  GPC is an American service organization engaged in the distribution of automotive replacement parts, industrial replacement parts, office products and electrical/electronic materials.

[Teddybo]

Boy  did this post go off topic