Kohlswa anvil date and ring sound?

[KentMat]

I am considering getting this Kohlswa anvil from a former blacksmith I know. Have found some info as there are several posts on this brand in the forum and I guess it was cast steel? Anyone may know in what year it was manufactured? Also I am curious about the ring. Never heard another anvil ring that is so loud like a bell. Does the sound indicate anything about material and hardness of the anvil or the way it was made? Thank everyone.

 

[Frosty]

It's mono cast Swedish steel, meaning it's the same steel through out. The surface of the face is hardened and the body less so. Residual heat in the body is what tempers the face after the initial quench. When the temper is right it's chilled in water to stop the temper running too far (soft).

Being a single piece of steel is why it rings to painfully loud, the whole anvil has the same resonant frequency just like a bell. I mount my Soderfors and Trenton anvils on steel tripod stands. The biggest benefit is how the structural steel stands damp the anvil's resonation so neither ring so loud nor long. 

You have a top shelf anvil there, I've never used better than my Soderfors and Kohlswa were cast by the same foundry so they're first cousins or closer. 

Prepare to be too spoiled to want to use a lesser anvil.

Frosty The Lucky.

The Trenton on it's stand. The hammer rack wedges the foot into the stand so it can't move in use.

 

[KentMat]

Thanks, Frosty, for the useful info. The surface of this Kohlswa seems as hard as or even harder than the small PFP I have. I intend to use it for my knife forging project once my workshop is ready. Would you care to share some more pictures or links to pictures of your tripod stands?

[Frosty]

Sure, they're both identical except for size. The anvil slips into a frame made from flange up angle iron. The rack with the hammers hammers between the frame and anvil foot wedging it in tight. I lifted that anvil and stand into my pickup truck with the engine hoist it's chained to. 

The first pic shows the anvil in the stand, the second shows the rack driven on. It doesn't show but the racks are notched so they slip over the angle iron where they cross it. There are two racks one for each side I use the far one for things like top cuts, punches, etc. My tong racks are on the forges where I need them most often.

Frosty The Lucky.

     

 

[KentMat]

Thanks. It looks neat and secured. 

[Frosty]

You're more than welcome. I like tripods because they're stable on uneven surfaces and it lets me stand literally against the anvil if I need to. 

Frosty The Lucky.