Haven't been on this forum for quite a while, life has been pure chaos over the past about year. In the mean time I've got myself a shed that became my smithy and my brother helped me insulate it. Its been grand having an insulated area to forge in during the winter. I've also bit the bullet and decided to repair this mouse hole. I've been doing some grinding and filling with mild mig wire at work, then in the spring my brother and I will do 3 passes or so of Stoody 2110, then cap it with 2 passes of Stoody 1105. I've already ordered 10 pounds of each rod and my brother is a professional welder who is more than willing to help. He's also a hobby blacksmith so he really knows what he's getting into, not just some trigger happy mog monkey I'm excited to see how this old girl turns out and to keep her spirit alive. Its honestly a toss up whether I love thus anvil more because of all of the previous owners initials and 1815 chiseled in it, or my 145 pound West that was gifted to me in like new condition from a coworker.... wish I had room in my shed for the both of them...

3 hours of welding into it so far. Ready for some 2110, grind perfectly flat and square, then cap with 3 passes of 1105

Are you preheating the anvil before welding?

Preheated the face with the torch at work. When we start laying stoody rod, we are going to slowly heat the anvil in the forge to let the whole mass slowly heat through. When I got to digging at the delaminated face, it was crazy how much of the face was gone. Probably 80% of the mig wire I put down ended up going straight on the wrought body. 

 

Another interesting thing was it appeared that the face was made up of a bunch of thinner sheets welded on top of the body, instead of one solid steel top. Would this have been smaller pieces of shear or blister steel? I would have thought that in a production line making anvils, they would have forge welded the face into a solid mass, then welded that to the body. 

 

Spent quite a few hours with a cut off wheel and a chisel dropping up thin layers of delaminated faceplate. Its a really neat piece of history and I can't wait to have it it top working order again, but I'm also glad I didn't give more than I did for it. Been quite a journey so far

Shear steel is made by stacking up and forge welding blister steel; perhaps yours was made late on a Friday before a holiday?

Between the forge weld seams in the body and the thin layers that made up the face plate, I'd believe it. The whole point of choosing to start out with mild steel mig was because I was down to pretty much wrought all over the face, so I'd rather use mild as a filler, and save my Stoody rods for a consistent thickness face. Hoping to add 3/16-1/4 inch worth of hardfacing over what I have now. Figure that should be plenty of meat over the mild mig wire for the forging I do. 

Looking good Chief!

 

Chief, welders I have spoken with regarding use of hardfacing rods first put down a "buttering" layer of 7018 (various thicknesses) followed by a cap of hardfacing rods.  Has something to do with the bonding sequence...kind like chrome is laid down over a butter layer of nickel or other bonding layer.

I have dug this mousehole out from under my bench and started brushing it. Can anyone tell me about when this one was made? There is no serial number on the front base just a “A and a figure that looks like an “F” with the top horizontal line missing. Thanks Mark.

Here’s the markings on the anvil. Also a before and after picture 

Welcome from the Ozark mountains. Sorry about the only thing I can tell ya about your Mouse Hole is it weighed 102 pounds +/- at time of manufacture.

And so not a large anvil; but a very handy sized one for a travel anvil.  With an original pritchel hole it would date after the 1830's  and so not exceptionally old either.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm in West Central Minnesota and don't have a forge so this one will be used for light jobs in the garage. 

Don't let ANYONE near it with a torch! Of any kind for ANY reason! Seems shop folk thing anvils were made to use as a place to put things to heat or cut with a torch. Few things will ruin an anvil like a torch.

Frosty The Lucky.