278# Trenton Anvil Value

[Todd45acp]

Just wondering what you all think this 278# Trenton is worth.  I picked it up about 8 years ago and havent done anything with it. I am going to move and I am not taking it with me

Thanks

[Glenn]

Where are you located?

[Todd45acp]

Utah,  Central

[FlatLiner]

I am in SLC, Utah. You could ask almost anything for it and it would sell here in Utah. It looks like a decent anvil. I would say you should easily get $5 a lb if not more for it. I have seen lighter and more beat up anvils go for over $1500.00 on KSL classifieds. PM me if you need anything else.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Here in the Ozark's it would go for $6.00 per pound if it passes the ring & rebound test's. Hope you have read about not doing any grinding, milling or welding on the hardened steel face. Trenton anvils are up there with the best of them.

 

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus

[Frosty]

I'd be in a LOT of trouble with Deb if you were within driving distance of me. Soderfors are as top of the anvil list as it gets and yours is in as good condition as I've seen. It'd go for several K easy here. I'd ask a minimum $2k and be willing to bargain a little. Then if I owned it it would be going with us and the rest of my pared down kit. 

I'd be silly giddy if I owned another Soderfors 2x what my current one weighs.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Todd45acp]

Frosty

You reference Soderfors. I have never heard that term. What does it mean?

[George N. M.]

Since Frosty hasn't replied yet I will step in and give the easy answer:  Soderfors is a brand of Swedish anil and is widely condsidered to be the Cadillac of anvils.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Frosty]

Sorry, got distracted. Soderfors is a foundry town in Sweden that cast anvils from what was left in the ladle after pours. I believe they stopped casting anvils in the early 70s or maybe late 60s I don't know. They cast lots of anvils, Kohlswa being one of many. Soderfors will cast most anything and brand it for whoever paid the charge, "Star," "Paragon," etc. 

Being single casting the alloy is the same throughout and they were hardened as cast out of the molds under a water flume. It was all very scientific, x amount of water over x time after x time to solidify in the mold, etc.

I don't know how deeply the hardened zone is but it's a couple inches anyway though shallower in the center of the face. The hardened surface was tempered by the residual heat in the anvil's body which made the center a little softer and the edges often way too hard. It's one reason I believe you see so many chipped edge on Soderfors anvils.

Are you SURE you don't want to take it with and maybe learn the craft? It's a wonderful stress reliever on rough days.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Todd45acp]

I cleaned it up with a cup wheel. The markings are hard to make out but it looks like TRENTON? says 292 on the foot and what looks like a serial number. Were these serialized?

 

Thank you for explaining that to me. Very interesting stuff. I am learning a lot here.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.

[Todd45acp]

Any input as to what or if the serial number means anything? I have been becoming more attached to this thing the more I read. Thanks

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

It is a serial number if you post what it reads, hard to read it from the picture, someone with a copy of AIA (Anvils in America) I bet they can tell you when it was made.

 

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus

[Todd45acp]

looks like 195973. I am guessing the 292 on the opposite side of the foot is the weight? Thanks

[Stash]

If that is the number, you’re looking at 1928. And yes, that is the weight as built.

Steve

[ThomasPowers]

Does it have a caplet indentation in the base?

[Frosty]

Good grief I just realized I was replying to the wrong thread! There is a thread around here somewhere about a Soderfors anvil about the same size. Please disregard everything I said, it does NOT pertain to a Trenton.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Todd45acp]

Frosty

No worries. I gained some info about the Soderfors in the process.

Stash thanks so much for decoding the Serial number for me

Thomas I will have to look into what the caplet id is, Another term I am not familiar with.

Thanks everyone

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

OK, do a search with your favorite search engine like Google like this   site:iforgeiron.com caplet  it will bring up 82 threads in about 0.30 seconds. That search will work for anything you want to find on IFI.

[Todd45acp]

Ok I understand now.  it has the caplet indentation in the base.  Thank you

[Mike BR]

I'm probably hijacking the thread (and the wrong one at that) but I've visited both Soderfors and Kohlswa (now spelled Kolsva), and am pretty sure Kohlswa anvils were cast where the name implies.  While I'm at it, Soderfors originally produced wrought iron though the Walloon process, and shifted largely to specialty steels around the beginning of the 20th Century.  (Kolsva also started of an iron works of some sort, and started specializing is steel castings during the 19th Century). 

Soderfors is interesting to visit, with rows of workers' housing built from slag and still occupied (this is not exactly unique in Sweden, though).  Kolsva today is not much more than a wide spot in the road with some industrial buildings behind a high fence. 

[Frosty]

Kolsva is the town, Kohlswa is the ironworks. Yeah, I looked it up I have old memory and get stuff wrong so I double check myself.

Soderfors has been an iron works since the early-mid 16th century and one of the many iron works that developed steel on an industrial scale. One of the things that makes Swedish steel so desirable are the impurities in the ore, chiefly manganese. Soderfors ironworks may have shifted to supplying specialty steels in the 20th century but they've been producing iron and steel like most any ironworks in Uppsala Sweden.

Frosty The Lucky.