Jeremy Ramsey Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 I am sure there are a lot of people that might be tired of helping the newbies with identifying old anvils. Put i need help. I have searched the net will little help. I might not be looking in the right spot. Not sure if the pictures good enough. I noticed the hardy hole was raised but not sure if a piece of the face might be missing or broken. It weights 118lb and not sure if that’s just a 120lb. The total length is 26”, its 10” tall and the face is 4”. The only makings i can see are the ones in the second picture. Thank in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 *The hardened face plate is missing. No more than scrap rate due to the cost to repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Griffin Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 The face is completely gone except on the heel. You would do better to go to the scrap yard and get a big piece of steel. I wouldn’t even make an offer on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 I'm not sure of the make. The marks you see look like the weight stamp which I can't make out at the moment. I will say that it looks like the hardened steel face is broken off other then the tail end at the hardy hole, and what is left is wrought iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Yeah, that's pretty broken and pretty much worthless, except as scrap. If you've already bought it, the horn should still be usable; otherwise, steer clear. (Also, move the gas can before you start forging. The last thing you want is to drop a piece of hot steel on that thing.) 1 hour ago, Jeremy Ramsey said: I am sure there are a lot of people that might be tired of helping the newbies with identifying old anvils. Yeah, but they usually keep quiet or move on. We LOVE to help newbies identify old anvils! And welcome to IFI!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Welcome aboard Jeremy, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a better chance of meeting up with members living within visiting distance. Lots of information is location specific like, oh say, where the good tool hoards are. I'm afraid that anvil is pretty much completely shot. Even if you knew how it would cost a couple three hundred USD just for the right welding rod to repair PLUS pre and post heat fuel, propane say and another hundred for grinding cup stones or disks. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Without the hardened steel face plate this anvil is pretty useless for use. You could use the remaining plate on the tail but, as mentioned previously, you'd be better off with and improvised anvil using a piece of scrap steel. There is a way or recreating the hardened face by heating the whole anvil and building up the working face with hard welding beads but that is a major hassle and expensive in time and materials. The only way I could see that justified was if you had some emotional connection to the anvil, e.g. it was your grandfather's, and you wanted to put it back into use. Frankly, without the face plate this anvil is no more useful than a Harbor Freight cast iron one. That is, not much. Sorry for the bad news. I hope you haven't bought this but if you had I hope that you didn't spend much. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Welcome from the Ozark mountains. If you are thinking of repairing it, this is the only true/best way to do that. Robb Gunther and Karl Schuler's Anvil Repair Process - Anvils, Swage Blocks, and Mandrels - I Forge Iron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Ramsey Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 Thanks for for the good and bad news. So here is the next question then. I have access to heavy duty machinery, shapers, mill’s, CNC type stuff. I was thinking about milling the top flat and welding a new pieces of tool steel on the top. Any thought? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Can we have a picture of the underside of the heel and the base? They can sometimes show the make. However in your case I am thinking that it may be one made in England and stamped in the CWT weight system with the 0 being the middle number and it missing a leading 1 (for 112 pounds) and the trailing one or two digits [0-27] to make up the original weight. If it was sold as a working anvil; that would be like buying a used car that is supposed to be running but was missing the engine and transmission. However if you got it cheap the hardy hole and horn would work well as an adjunct to an improvised anvil that doesn't have those features. Fixing it by welding on a slab of good steel involves doing a full penetration weld over the entire surface. Placing a piece of say 3/8" square stock down the middle and clamping the slab onto that and filling the entire gap on one side with weld, getting good penetration on the anvil and slab, then grinding out the 3/8" piece and filling the gap on the other side with weld. Then you need to heat treat the new face---Probably faster and cheaper to buy a new anvil from a reputable maker! (There are new anvils being sold that are not cast iron junk ones, look at the blacksmith supply companies.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Brouwers Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Jeremy, I don't know much about anvils, specifically welding a new tool steel piece on, but I kind of like that idea, just to see what happens. If you got a plate, the thickness of the piece that is still there, ground or cut that piece off and then made holes that correspond to the pritchel and hardy holes, it would be interesting to see if that would work. But now as I type, I realize that only the outside edges would be attached to the anvil. The middle wouldn't be attached. I am wondering if there are any markings on the front foot of the anvil? Those would indicate serial numbers. Other than that, you are sure there are no other markings? As others have suggested, this anvil is still useable, in a way. You can still use the horn, hardy and pritchel holes. What others have suggested is going to the scarp yard and buying some kind of "improvised anvil." This can be forklift tines, shafting, etc. Look around here on IFI and you can get some ideas! Finally, before you scrap it, it might be worth seeing if this anvil is wrought iron. This type of iron is getting rarer and rarer, and you could possibly sell it to other smiths as wrought iron. That in my opinion is the worst case scenario. I think the best option is to have two "anvils." One that is there only for it's face, and this one that can pick up the slack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Better off with a solid hunk of steel than an anvil face with even a microscopic gap(s) under it. I had a student who tried the perimeter weld on a face; got rid of the anvil soon afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatLiner Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 You can always make hardy tools as a work around right now. You can make an anvil saddle out of a piece of tool steel. Here is one I made out of a 1 1/2" thick piece of forklift tine. While you look for some kind of alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Ramsey Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) Here is a picture of the bottom as requested. 1 hour ago, FlatLiner said: You can always make hardy tools as a work around That's clever Edited March 31, 2022 by Mod30 Trim quote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Thomas you forgot the "real" blacksmith fix. Forge weld a new faceplate on after grinding the old pieces off. A couple few hundred lbs. of coal, minions to crank the blower for many hours a lifting mechanism to manipulate it and a few strikers. What could go wrong? There are a number of companies casting high quality STEEL anvils in the USA and they're top shelf. It's a popular myth that old school anvils are better, like metallurgy hasn't advanced in the past couple hundred years or so. I wouldn't hate you for planting that poor abused wreck of an anvil in the garden or by the fire pit as a decoration. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 1 hour ago, Jeremy Ramsey said: Here is a picture of the bottom If I'm not mistaken that caplet was used by Trenton and Arm & Hammer anvils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 Mainly Trenton; but I have an A&H with the caplet. Postman thought they may have "shared" anvil bases at times. Any numbers on the front of the foot under the horn? A serial number will date it. Quad-State did a traditional re-facing once. With a couple of centuries of smithing experience working on it; it only took them 4 attempts to get it successfully! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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