A little anvil help

[Randy Griffin]

I found this one today. I don’t have the experience some of you have so a couple of questions. First, what do you think it is? It has the caplet under the base but the markings on the wrong side. 107 lbs and a word by that and a star. No steam hammer marks under the heel but looks like a circle on one side. Rings like a bell on the heel, not as loud at the horn and more of a clunk over the sweet spot. I didn’t have anything to measure the rebound but at least 80% and maybe as much as 90%. What do y’all think?

[Stash]

That's a real head scratcher. Looks like it might be cast? I see stamped weight but other markings seem to be proud of the surface. I'm not seeing the star you mention. Definitely a steel face- it's mushroomed, not chipped. It has some similarities to a Samson I saw this past weekend with the blocky feet. Can't explain the pins in the side- probably not factory issue. I'm drawing a real "Huh?" here. Do some wire brushing on it and see what you can find. You certainly can just use- as-is but it is still fun knowing what you're using.

Steve

[Randy Griffin]

The pins are threaded studs with nuts that were welded on at some point. Here’s a better pic with the star.

[Randy Griffin]

Now I’m thinking Swedish.

Frosty where are you?

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Not sure if it’s it or not, but I just found an anvil brand in AinA called sisco 

they are made in Sweden and are cast steel, they can have a depressed oval on the bottom or be flat, 

there’s a picture of one on pg 65 that has a five point star but it looks different, 

the only thing that makes me wonder is it says they have on handling hole under the heel and that one doesn’t, 

[Randy Griffin]

No. This one doesn’t have any handling holes. I’m thinking cast steel because it has raised markings and stamped.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Edit, if I had just read the next paragraph over there’s also another Swedish brand called North Star… and it also has a star symbol…  

I’ll  keep poking around and see if I can find any others.

[Frosty]

Sisco, North Star, Paragon and many others were cast by the Soderfors foundry.

Nice score!

Frosty The Lucky.

[Randy Griffin]

Actually, I haven’t bought it yet. The guy that’s got it thinks everything is an antique. He will be back next week and I’ll make him an offer.

[George N. M.]

You can tell him that an anvil isn't considered an antique unless it is at least 200-250 years old.  Up until then they are tools for use.  This one is not that old.

If you can get it for a few hundred dollars it will be a good score.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ThomasPowers]

The Clunk over the sweet spot disturbs me; especially as cast steel anvils are notorious for loud piercing rings.  Perhaps the welded on studs make a difference; but I would not pay top dollar for that one.  There seems to be some writing near the star  any chance of doing the flour trick on it?

[Randy Griffin]

TP, the writing is made in Sweden. What’s throwing me is the 6 above the weight and the P on the heel. The shape of the foot is between kohlswa and soderfors but can’t find any with similar castings. What does the underside of a soderfors look like? I think the clunk is the studs welded on. It has great rebound in that area of the face. If I buy it I’m not sure if I’ll cut the studs off. Wish I knew what they were used for.

[JHCC]

With the threads cleaning up, they could serve as the anchors for some interesting anvil tooling -- hold-downs and such.

[ThomasPowers]

The question being: did they preheat before welding?  Cracking in the HAZ would quiet things down too. (And nothing says "self quench possibility" like an anvil!)

[Randy Griffin]

You’re right. Didn’t think about that. I wonder how deep I would need to grind to get that crack?

[ThomasPowers]

Except for dulling the sound I don't think it would cause any trouble in your lifetime.   Just another bargaining point.

[Randy Griffin]

37 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Just another bargaining point.

Yup.