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Johann Elias Bleckmann anvils


Zozon

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As I said earlier,  Austrian pattern anvils are the most common in my country "JEB" anvils are among the best or maybe the best of them.

They are cast steel with elegant shape, three step-base, church windows on the left side, round horn and a hill gathered in a piece of art well known as a Johann Elias Bleckmann anvil.

On the left side they have a symbol of two two phoenixes and  a JEB mark. On the first step of the base they have serial number, below the horn they have weight stamp in kg and  a letter what, I personally believe, is a signature of  the man who made that anvil.

I don't know when they stopped to produce them but it is possible to find some of them in excellent shape even now.

Here are photos of my first JEB anvil, 80 kg,  176 lbs, still in original condition, I didn't want to clean it because paint look very old.

That's it, I hope you'll like photos and this short story.

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On ‎2‎/‎7‎/‎2020 at 5:56 PM, Benona blacksmith said:

I'm 100% sure your anvils isnt cast steel. Based on the handling holes and the weld line just below the edge of the face it is a forged anvil for sure.

   This should be  a cast anvil with forge welded top plate. It would be almost impossible to forge all the details on anvil this shape,  if you take a closer look whole anvil is very smooth, no signs of hammer hit.  Take a look at this 36 kg JEB and a 140 kg forged Söding und Halbach, the difference  is obvious.

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Considering there is no casting mold line and I can pick out several weld lines at different parts of the anvil. How about a picture under the base. That's where you will really see the weld lines. They had a tendency to not dress the weld lines as neatly on the bottom of the anvil.

I forgot to mention all the markings are punched in and not protruding like a casting would be. I know casting can make a recessed mark but these do not look like them. Maybe techniciousjoe can explain it better than I. Not sure how to direct his attention to the topic though.

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Did no one even read the OP? It is CAST!  The smooth transitions on the stepped legs and church windows tell you that, the heavy support for the horn and heel, as well as the surface finish.

Yes, you can use heavy punches under a power hammer or press to make impressions in cast steel while it is still hot from the mold, and they can't be ground away.

No, it is not a cheap, shoddy mis-matched casting like an ASO from a bootleg foundry, it came from a state-of-the-art facility for it's day.

The handling holes are there for grinding the surface plate, also common on Swedish cast anvils.

I would still like to see the bottom of the anvil, to see if there are remnants of a sprue.

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I did I did! :D I read it John! The random guesses from beginners just got ahead of me.

That's a BEAUTIFUL cast STEEL anvil, Zozon, I'd LOVE an opportunity to try one out and compare to my Soderfors. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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   Hi guys, sorry I am late with my answer. I took photos of of three anvils bottom, first is 140 kg/ 308 Lbs S&H forged anvil, second is 91.5 kg/ 202 lbs Skoda third is 80 kg/ 176 lbs JEB. You can see welding lines on S&H  very smooth and flat surface on Skoda and some holes on JEB.  On the final photo you can see them all.

 

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Well it looks cast to me..  

I've seen in the olden days where they cast the faces or flat surfaces wider and then ground them back so there is a spot that looks like a faceplate..    I'm not a casting expert but always thought it was for some sort of chill block or for holding cores in place or simply so there would be more metal there for good corners (castings can sometimes be wonky in the corners).. 

I think it has a lot to do with the MFG methods. 

It looks cast to me even before seeing this latest photos.. 

There were a bunch of cutting edge factories and many shops really were setting pace compared to others but in for labor savings or the ability to produce more for a given time frame. 

So, I think it looks cast too.    We today don't really comprehend what was truly done and what was truly capable by hand labor..  

I'm envious of the European countries as they really have a larger selection of big anvils.    Also the level of smithing was just so much more industrialized for such a long time. 

finding a 600 or 700 lb anvil here in the USA or a vise that weighs 400lbs is so rare..   Anvils over 500lbs are pretty rare.   Just no call for them here. 

by the way this is super interesting.. Thanks Zozan for sharing the info. 

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On 3/23/2020 at 3:43 AM, Benona blacksmith said:

They were forging this shape way before casting them!!! I can find photos of forged ones If you would like?

Sure, I would like to see them Benona blacksmith.

On 3/23/2020 at 1:21 PM, jlpservicesinc said:

 

by the way this is super interesting.. Thanks Zozan for sharing the info. 

 You are welcome jlpservicesinc :-)

 

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Today I was lucky enough to catch one more JEB anvil. 132 kg/290 lbs!

Very good shape, great rebound and million  chisel marks.

This time it was in my neighborhood and I did not have to drive thousand miles :-)

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