anvil repair?

[tedzap]

Picked up a Wilkerson anvil that has lost it's horn.   Looking for recommendations on repair, I live in Virginia.  I believe it is a wrought iron body, from 1830s.

 

[Steve Sells]

Looks ok from here,   whats wrong with the face, I cant see it in that photo?

[tedzap]

face is pretty good, would like to get the horn replaced.

 

[Frosty]

For what it'd cost to replace the horn on that old lady you could buy a new anvil. Forge welding that much without ruining the rest is no trivial task. Mechanically attaching a horn wouldn't be much more than cosmetics. It appears to have a good face and will make a good working tool. You can find or make cones and bicerns to do all and more than a horn can. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[tedzap]

Thanks.

That is what I was thinking (use it as is), but thought I would ask.    I currently use an ASO, and bought this for the hardy and pritchel.   

[Frosty]

You'll probably be happier using this one to forge on and the ASO for it's hardy and pritchel. I rarely use the horn myself except as a bottom fuller to help control the direction steel draws. I turn rings, scrolls, hooks . . . most everything on the face or over an edge. I rarely work sheet stock so don't planish on the anvil. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Chelonian]

If you put your anvil and mine together, we'd have one complete Wilkinson! (mine's missing its heel)

Is it just me, or does it seem like Wilkinson anvils have a disproportionately large number of broken heels and horns compared to other anvil manufacturers? Perhaps they used a different technique for their welds that wasn't as successful?

[pnut]

Horn schmorn, who needs it? I'd be happy to have that anvil. I agree with Frosty use the horn on your aso and this one for everything else.

Pnut

[ThomasPowers]

Horn doesn't need to be attached to the anvil!

And I would say the older anvils tend to have more missing parts---sort of like blacksmiths!

William Fosters also tend to lack extremities; Mr Postman told me that they tended to use a lower grade WI in them and I wonder if that also contributed to failures at the weld.

[pnut]

Thomas, did that start it's life as something else?

Pnut

[ThomasPowers]

The top was a RR spike driver; my avatar picture is of me forging the shaft from 2.5" sq stock using another smith's 200# chambersburg.

here's another made from another non-standard sledge head:

 

Much shorter/smaller shaft.

I hope to make a bunch more of these in the near future.

[pnut]

RR sledge would have been my guess. I've been eyeing some pickaxe/sledge type tools to use for a bickern.  Yeah that looks to be a hefty chunk o' steel you're forging. I was curious as to what you were making in your avatar pic.

Pnut

[ThomasPowers]

I've a number of other RR spike mauls both the round and the octagonal/square ones.

I probably got the idea to modify the heads from a fellow at a  SWABA, (Now the NM Artist Blacksmith Association), meeting who took a hand sledge with the 45 deg flats on the sides and using a hydraulic press turned it into a double diagonal peen hammer---one end one way and the other the other.  Took two bites of the press for each end and left a beautiful rounded peen face to boot.  Got me thinking and I have been collection odd hammer heads ever since.  Picked up the warwood and an iron city and one with the  Woodings Verona Tool co. logo on it.  Never paid more that US$5 for a loose head at the fleamarket.

[pnut]

For some reason the flea market near me is thin in the hammer inventory. I need to take a drive up to  traders world or Caeser Creek in SW Ohio.

Pnut

[ThomasPowers]

I haven' been to Caesar's Creek in decades. I once bought a hand forged, WI & steeled, T adze there; beautiful save that the dealer had hafted it and beveled it on the wrong side to use as a hoe...I twisted the knife a bit by commiserating with him how a "previous owner" had lowered it's worth by 50% by doing that. (Telling them they done wrong just gets their back up; blaming someone else for dropping the price by 50% and explaining why gets them to *listen*!)  

I also bought a hand forged smithing hammer there once. The dealer wanted too much for it as "it had a new handle in it" Well the handle was so poorly done that I pulled it out and handed it to him and asked how much for just the head?

[Rmartin2]

7 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

The top was a RR spike driver; my avatar picture is of me forging the shaft from 2.5" sq stock using another smith's 200# chambersburg.

When I see your avatar I think "lightsaber".

[ThomasPowers]

"Forging a Lightsaber"   The Farce is strong in this one..

[pnut]

I have a bunch of flea market stories like that. You need to be an amateur psychologist. I used to sell at a flea market when I lived in Clarksville TN. I used to get there as the sun was coming up and sometimes sell everything to the other dealers. I made good money off of pretty much yard sale junk.

Caesar Creek is great. They give you a map at the entrance. There's also a glider school nearby there. Two reasons to spur me into abandoning my champion homebody status.

Pnut

[ThomasPowers]

There used to be a good fleamarket at a county fairgrounds between Columbus and Tip City Ohio; we used to stop by it on the way to SOFA meetings. We carpooled and so a bunch of us would bail out and scatter.  Working the fleamarket as a group is too rough on friendships---like my friend being 4 feet ahead of me and finding a mint condition wagon tongue vise for US$25 or even worse when a friend finds a terrific buy and asks you to loan them the money to get it!

I wear a distinctive hat, (red felt with horns and back then a tail) and I learned to take it off and stick it under my arm when I found a good spot I wanted to peruse a while.  My friends said I disappeared when I took the hat off.

[BillyBones]

Ceaser's Creek is about a 20 min drive from my house. I have not been there nor Turtle Creek in years. There used to be an Amish flea market across the road from Ceaser's creek, that was the place to buy tools at. I remember i got a 32 oz balpeen for $2 i think. 

Interesting little tid bit, the Ceaser from Ceasers Creek, the lake, flea market, town, and stream are named after was a run away slave. If memory serves correct he fought alongside of Blue Jacket.