September 10, 20223 yr I've heard stories of this happening, but I never thought I'd experience it myself... Okay, okay, let's back up a bit. G'day folks! Long time no write! I was demonstrating at the NYS fair on Labor Day and I got to talking to a gentleman who works in the agricultural museum next to the blacksmith's shop every year. He used to work at Allied Chemical Quarry in Jamesville, NY where, once upon a time, they had a functioning blacksmith shop complete with a large air hammer and quite the collection of heavy mining equipment... In the late 1980s the quarry was sold to another company and they were sending a lot of items off to be scrapped. He happened on an anvil which was destined to be included in that pile. He was not (nor has he been since) a blacksmith, but he felt that such a tool should be preserved rather than sold at scrap rate and melted down. So he asked to keep it and the company gave it to him, free of charge. It's been sitting in his barn ever since... At the fair he asked if I wanted to take a look at it so, naturally, I made the trip there this afternoon and oh. my. goodness.... what a surprise. This anvil is massive. What's incredible is he didn't even let me pay him for it... He said he got it for free and just wants it to be used for it's original purpose rather than hidden away in a barn... truly a once in a lifetime right place - right time meeting and I'm absolutely humbled. There are some incredible people out there and you never know when you might meet one... It's been a while since my last post but I expect you folks still like pictures so let them commence! --- Here she is just coming out of the truck and in need of a wash and some wire brushing. No visible markings (yet) due to the healthy layer of dirt and rust. Boy, I just love pictures. Can't you tell? So what's under there? Hay Budden Manufacturing Brooklyn NY... It looks like 407lbs. Which I believe. It's definitely been used in a quarry. The edges look like they were repaired at some point, but they are still hard enough to make hand filing difficult. The face has quite a few tool marks and has (possibly) been hit with a torch in one spot and on the heel. Rebound remains quite good across the face, ranging from 60-80ish%; it rings like a church bell. Nice weld seams under the heel/horn, as you might expect. Did I mention this thing is big? Here's my 151lb Soderfors for comparison.. but even the pictures don't do it justice. The face alone on the HB is almost as long as the Soderfors. The hardy hole is 1.25" so I'll have to make an adapter... And modify my stand to hold it properly. She's a beauty. A little rough around the edges, but still . I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the face. Obviously I wont be grinding/milling it and at this point the plan is to do nothing. I'll make a couple of anvil blocks that I can use when I need to planish.. so pretty often. With a face that's 6" wide an anvil block is pretty much a necessity anyway, but I digress. I will just round off the edges a bit with a file..... maybe a few passes down the edges with a flap wheel (*gasp* blasphemy!) as they are too sharp for my taste. A little BLO for the non working faces and, last but not least, giving her a long overdue dose of hot steel. The less prominent dings should polish up over time. I have a partial(?) SN. If one of you kind folks with a copy of AIA can find any information on it (i.e. approximate age), I would be much obliged. I think it's A737181... Other possible combinations would be (A or 4) (7 or 4 or A) 371 (8 or 3) 1.... but the first option is my best guess. The first 2 characters sort of look like a different font and the 2nd character (either 7 or 4 or A) looks like a double stamp. The bottom is flat with a square handling hole. He also included some giant tongs, a double peen hammer, a flatter, some tongs for regular sized humans and a couple of nippers. For folks who are still reading -- particularly the new folks who stumble across this through the magic of the internet -- pardon my hopping on a soapbox for a moment and I'll leave you with this: Get out there! Shop time is great and undoubtedly useful/necessary, but shop time out there in the community, if you will, is equally important. Get involved with your local ABANA affiliate if you can. If you don't have one nearby, perhaps you could try to start your own informal group! If you have the chance to do a demonstration somewhere, take it. They don't always go as planned but that's half the fun .
September 10, 20223 yr Boy, talk about tripping a few envy meters! I tip my lid to the gentleman for saving that old lady from the scrapper. She's a beast and I'm feeling a double touch of anvil envy but I've been in lust with your Soderfors for some time now. Lastly is legendary score envy. I HOPE you bought a lottery ticket! Frosty The Lucky.
September 11, 20223 yr That's what I was going to say Frosty. With luck like that how could one lose? Nice score doesn't begin to do that find justice.
September 11, 20223 yr As to your serial number....According to AIA, the A #s went from A1 in 1918 to around A 57,000 in 1925. So your anvil probably has an A37131, putting it around 1921 manufacture date. Nice story and great save. I hope you are planning on buying a few Mega lottery tickets soon.
September 12, 20223 yr Congratulations Frazer! I’ve done a lot of barnstorming but I have yet to lick into a deal like that!!!
September 12, 20223 yr Author Thanks everyone. As far as buying a lottery ticket goes I may have used up all my luck for a little while.
September 15, 20223 yr Author It will certainly get used, but I don't think it's going to replace my Soderfors as my main shop anvil. It's (arguably) too big for the majority of the work I do and the layout of my relatively small/narrow shop. I'm going to set it up on it's own stand -- which is almost done -- a few steps further from the forge where I have a little more space. I'll leave 360° access to my main anvil and the HB will be set up behind it. We will see how that goes. It's just about time to play around with the layout of the shop.... I think things could be shuffled, consolidated and, perhaps, removed... And by that I mean hidden out of the way for an undetermined period of time and most assuredly not forgotten about...
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