BartW Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Hello; Today I picked up another anvil, abandoned somewhere in a workshop and the train guys seem to pour tar on them to preserve them. After negotiating a little bit, it took me a couple of beers to make them load this heavy great-grandfather of an anvil in the car with a forklift. The square horn was literally wobbely attached, and had a 3 -4 mm seam and moved visibly. He destroyed both of my moving carts (even though they were rated 200kg). After a lot of sweat and cursing it arrived in my shop. You learn to appreciate a shop-crane a lot in these situations. The square horn fell off, but it would have fallen off anyway. I'm not sure if I'm going to repair it actually, I could also just make the crack straight and use it as an extra corner of the anvil. While cleaning, I found these markings : RM 12 11 1908. Nothing else. It was a whopping 330 kilo or 700 pounds. Without square horn my crane says 300 kilo's. It's fairly high; my strinking anvil is about the same height as this anvil just by itself Does anyone know more information on this really old anvil ? The feet seem to have been forgewelded on - you can seen the seams, just like both horns. but the upsetting block looks like it's forgewelded on too. I've seen that, anyone knows who made anvils like this in 1908 around these parts (belgium) ? it has a steel face; you can clearly see this in the sides and in the breaking-face. Anyway, lots of pictures coming : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JME1149 Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Even broken, she's a beauty. My guess would be that someone with the initials RM owned the anvil in 1908 and stamped it on December 11th to comemarate the event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BartW Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 I had the same reflection as you; except that would make it a personal or homestead anvil. 700 pounds ? Sounds too heavy for private use in 1908. You need a couple burly humans to move this one . On the other hand, you don't need a foot for it; you can work on it just standing on the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Joey Van DerSteeg is in Belgium. He posts here and has many YouTube vids. He's pretty into old anvils to say the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelonian Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Given Joey's recent videos on forging on his miniature anvils, you really have to wonder what someone did to break the heel off a 700lb anvil. Must have had a pretty major flaw from the start. Still a really amazing looking anvil! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Look at some of the old films with a dozen smiths using 16# sledges on a large item! Anvils like that were for industrial shops it's only nowadays with our anvil envy that they show up in hobby shops. 150# anvils were considered a good size for a commercial general smithy back in the day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Griffin Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Looks like a good one to pick up cheap, grind the jagged part down and use for another 200 years. Who needs a heel anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Wow. That's a hunka-hunka-big-ol'-anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 18 hours ago, anvil said: Joey Van Der Steeg is in Belgium. He posts here and has many YouTube vids. He's pretty into old anvils to say the least. If I recall correctly he is from the Netherlands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleave Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Just the broken piece of heel will make a nice anvil... Good find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BartW Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 I just tried it for some basic forgings; given that my usual working height is about 75 cm high; this guy needs a lower foot than the anvils own height Problem with this guy is moving it around. I need a large lever to turn it over; and for liting it i need a crane (one-man-workshop). The other ones are heavy but managable alone. This one isn't. It sounds great; I haven't begun cleaning up the break yet. Wasn't feeling like making sparks for hours. Any ideas what to do with the horn ? fun fact; with the horn on the anvil; it's about the same height as my other anvils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 I bet who ever broke that horn off said, Oh shucky darn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Looks like a bad forge weld to begin with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BartW Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 Yep, my thought as well. Probably a bad forge weld more than a century old. This one has been living outside for half a century too. I actually didn't pay for it. Gave the dude a couple beers and sharpened two kitchenknives for 'm. But I'm still puzzeling what to do with the old anvil. Too much anvils ... Tomorrow I'll get to the grinding (I promise) I'll probably etch the cleaned side as well; seems like an interesting thing to do. And share the picture here, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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