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I Forge Iron

Help with ID. Possibly Soding & Halbach?


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Hi all, beginner here, looking for a first anvil and came across this 80kg one with a (to my inexperienced eye) rather unusual pattern, with an offset hardy hole. The photo of the maker’s mark isn’t great but it looks like S&H to me. The logo looks different to the ones on other S&H anvils I have seen and the pattern doesn’t seem to match others pictures on IForgeIron. Would this appear to be legitimate and, if so, would it be a decent investment for a beginner at £385 

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Thanks, and apologies if I missed some advice for newbies elsewhere.

Jamie

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Welcome aboard... I'm sure those who have more knowledge about S&H anvils than I will be along to answer your questions. In the mean time, I suggest reading this thread to help you in getting the best out of the forum. It is full of tips like editing your profile to show your location and many others.READ THIS FIRST

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Welcome aboard Jamie, glad to have you. I don't know anything about S&H anvils but that one looks to be in darned good conditions and its obviously been well used. 

If you're talking British pounds then that's a pretty decent price but we don't know what a fair price is on your side of the planet. 

I'd want to look at in person and take a ball bearing to test the rebound. The bigger is better trend has guys taking 1" / 25mm. bearings to do rebound tests but 12mm is plenty large enough and much easier to carry in a pocket. I have a couple 3/8" bearings in each of our vehicles in case I stumble on a deal. The idea is to drop the bearing on the anvil's face AFTER you wipe off any dirt and estimate how far it bounces back to your hand as a %.  Doing it in front of a ruler is more accurate method if you're not good as this kind of estimation. 80%+ rebound is good to excellent. 

Don't be surprised the rebound goes down as you move out the square horn or tail on a London Pattern anvil, this is normal and to be expected. What you want to look out for are dead spots which indicate problems with the anvil's face. If it's a wrought iron body with a forge welded high carbon steel face it should have a uniform rebound falling off as the anvil thins moving out the heal or square horn in this case. If there are places where the rebound falls off suddenly it indicates damage, a face plate weld failure (delamination) or perhaps spot heating caused by heating something with a torch using the anvil as a bench. You see a LOT of this sort of abuse mostly in the form of cutting torch cuts. 

Anyway, I think it's a good looking anvil and probably a good price provided there isn't any hidden damage. I'd call it a good score and where I live it'd be a terrific score worth years of bragging rights. Blacksmith tools of any kind are hard to find here.

Frosty The Lucky.

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