Identification help

[Seb P]

Hi all,

I’m new to the forum and was wondering if anyone could help me ID an Anvil I picked up recently.

It’s a fairly large “double horn” piece. Probably about 300lb at a guess. It looks to be forged iron to me based on handling holes. Length is just over 38” from tip to tip and height is 13”. Unfortunately it’s been smothered in paint and stored outside as a plant pot stand for the last few owners, so it’s pretty pitted. I’m yet to see any sign of a makers mark anywhere on it. Apparently it came from an old mill in Chesterfield, UK. I have gently cleaned the sides and face off with wire wheels and polishing disc (appreciate this can be a point of debate when it comes to the work surfaces!) and plan to use it for some bracket work moving forwards. It’s a bit of a beater.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and apologies for this being the first post to the forum I make.

Seb

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Seb, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how any members live within visiting distance.

Taking a wire wheel to body and face isn't an issue what metal it removes is negligible, It's grinding the face flat and square that damages so many anvils irreparably. 

I don't know what the pattern is but I like how gracile she is, I'm thinking it was designed for decorative work. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Seb P]

Thanks Frosty, updated the location on my profile.

Thanks for taking a look and good to know about grinding work. The face is pretty dinked up but I guess it’ll have to live that way, same with the chipped edges.

I was surprised the feet have lasted this long without cracking, they do seem slender for a relatively large anvil.

Seb

[Frosty]

Of course, I LIKE looking at anvils.  

The base of your anvil sits flat across it's entire surface to break a foot you'd have to prop the anvil up on it and do some heavy hammering.

Handling holes aren't an indication of forged vs. cast, you have to handle the anvil to grind it to finish regardless. Cheap cast iron pretend, Anvil Shaped Objects might be ground on a CNC conveyor in a factory, they only have to look like an "anvil."

Frosty The Lucky. 

[Seb P]

Haha, lucky for me then! Yes true, would take someone with a decent lack of sympathy to load it on one of the corners. 

Ah ok, that's good to know with handling holes, hadn't read that anywhere else. I guess a parting line of some description is a good indication of a cast component, as well as some change in tone when the anvil is struck?

Sorry to keep asking questions, the two Pritchel holes on the top face, they don't go all the way through that I can see. Either that or they are completely full of rust and debris. The go about 2 inches in from the top and the same can be seen on the underside where they would 'exit' if they were through holes. Is this usual? Seems a bit odd. Thanks. 

Seb

[JHCC]

Unused anvils can get clogged with debris, especially if they get painted and left outside. See what happens if you drill down the center of the hole with a small drill bit.

That's a gorgeous anvil, and I envy you your good fortune in finding it. Square horns are great.

17 hours ago, Frosty said:

to break a foot you'd have to prop the anvil up on it and do some heavy hammering.

A friend dropped his anvil on the floor of his shop while lifting it onto a new stand. It left nice anvil-foot-shaped hole in the concrete.

[Seb P]

Thanks very much. I am pleased with it and look forward to putting it back to work. 

Good thought on the holes. I’ve had a look and they both seem pretty solid to be honest. Tried to get through the larger one and it’s definitely solid metal. Picture shows where the drill tip  contacted. Strange :/ 

Ha shame about the workshop floor but it’s an easier fix than the alternative :-) 

Seb

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

On the Pritchel holes, I would take a drift and from the bottom lightly hammer them to see if they are rods stuck in there. Could even hammer them back & forth to see if they loosen up. Someone may have driven oversize or tapered stock in them and a little percussive maintenance may get the obstruction out, just no sledge hammering though. If that don't move them it's drilling time.

[Frosty]

A parting line may indicate it was closed die forged possibly after casting. A better indicator of a casting is features like logo, name, etc. cast proud, sticking out from the surface as opposed to stamped which is driving into a surface. 

Rebound and tone change across an anvil's face as you move away from the sweet spot above the center of the foot. I prefer rebound as a test of hardness, the "ring" is good to determine sudden changes in hardness. Rebound diminishes as you move away from the sweet spot, it is largely determined by how much steel/iron is between the hammer and the stand. Ring often gets louder as you move out the tail or horn(s). Testing rebound with a bearing on a round horn is kind of silly difficult. However, a light smooth faced hammer is excellent for testing the ring, testing rebound takes more practice and experience it's more subjective.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Jonnytait]

yorkshire pattern?

 

[Seb P]

Good thoughts with the drift and inserts. I’ll clean what I can out and see how it looks. Judging by the rest of the outside if someone has Forced bar down, Mother Nature will have made sure they’re fast in there. 

Thanks again for the info Frosty. Need to find myself a decent hard bearing to do the test. The tone is fairly consistent across the face. But it does change to a higher pitch at the horns as mentioned. I’ve cleaned it some more today and any features are long since lost unfortunately. But no problem, it still rings and will allow me to work.

Yes, I think it is Yorkshire pattern after a bit of googling, nice spot.

Thanks everyone for the replies

Seb

[ThomasPowers]

I'd drill out the round hole anyway and drill a substantial round hole in the base of the hardy hole to allow a "pop a wedged hardy tool out" rod to be inserted.  (I've had a number of students wedge tools in hardy holes they don't fit in.)

[Seb P]

Hi Thomas,

Yes good thought regarding the Hardy hole and Prtichel. The holes do have a bit of a natural taper out at the bottom but I may open them a little as you say. That being said I’ve just finished putting a lick of paint on the body! So maybe once I’ve wrecked that a little I’ll take the drill/die grinder to it.

Thanks,

Seb