This is about 20 minutes down the road in an antique shop. It’s a little PFP, probably 70 to 80 lbs. I argued the seller down to 250. Bad idea? The horn is slightly pitted and tip is marred, but otherwise, the edges are fine and rebound wasn’t bad.

Hello! 

I have no real idea about anvil prices in the US, other than them being incredible compared to Germany. So from that perspective I'd never spend that much money on such a worn down anvil, but if you do not really have alternatives and really need one... 

This one will be 25-30kg, personally I find those a little bit too small to do real work on it. 

Just as an assessment from afar, just because it's a PFP, it doesn't mean it is worth that price... 

 

Cheers! 

Julian

Yeah, thanks! When you say “just because it’s a PFP” are they kinda sought after?

I did a web search and the only hit I got is this.

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/48457-please-help-identify-anvil/

You can try searching by the maker's name and HOPE you don't have one of the many knock offs. I don't know if the original maker closed die forged anvils, I don't believe his brother did but I do not know.

The end of the horn was the victim or a cutting torch and the pits in the horn are too, there is a blob of weld bead on the near edge and the visible feet have been torch cut, indicating it was probably welded to something as a stand.

I'd say it was abused as a cutting/welding table which is all too common in mechanic and similar shops. 

For whatever the weight might be, $3/lb is a hard pass for me. I might pick it up for maybe 1 1/3x scrap price to save it from the scrapper but probably not.

Frosty The Lucky.

lol I just read that post. The antique guy told me he got it from a guy who used it at a construction sight, hence the cutting torch marks. Saddens me that someone would do that!

So ASA, how are your welding skills? An improvised anvil is as good as any and better than an ASO any day. If you want a stake type anvil check with truck repair shops for a broken drive axle and use a disk grinder to make the broken end into a spike with an abrupt shoulder as a stop. Make the spike square and drill the wood block before driving in the spike so you don't split the block.

Turning the flange end into a good anvil is just a little more grinder work, hopefully you find one with a bolt flange, those make perfect places for bottom tools like a hardy, bending forks, bickern, etc.

The ONLY regular use I made of the horn on either of my anvils is as a bottom fuller to ease drawing out. I did all my scrolling, circles, rings, etc. on the face. The only thing I use the step for is as a backer for upsetting, Gripping the iron, using the horn as a guide really helped get straight upsets when using the step as the upsetting block.

A flat face is less useful than you'd think but no dings, pits, torch cuts and such they're handy. When I occasionally ran across an anvil at a yard, garage, etc. sale I'd evaluate it and mention it to the club. If I saw ANY torch marks on it I automatically cut my offer to less than 1/2 the asking and usually walked.

Frosty The Lucky.

14 hours ago, Asa Simons said:

Yeah, thanks! When you say “just because it’s a PFP” are they kinda sought after?

They are somewhat hyped. Not that they're bad anvils, but nothing out of this world either. 

The information in that old thread, that Frosty linked, is not accurate though:

- PFP did drop forge anvils, the smaller ones in one piece and from 50kg upwards they were made of two pieces, welded together at the waist. I'm not up to date on how they do it today, since the brand underwent some changes with this Ridgid stuff...

- The hardy holes were drilled through and then squared up, but not all the way through. It is not a bad sign, if you can see the circular part further down. 

- The raised "PFP" logo on the side is not a sign of casting, although you can date the anvil a little, because they used different stamps at different times. This is earlier, but not earliest, I forgot the exact timeframe. 

- The grinding marks beneath the horn and heel are the areas in which the flashing from the drop forging process has been ground away.

I hope I could help out! 

Cheers!

Julian

Thanks, that’s so interesting. In all the photos I have seen, they have that square/circle hardy. I assume they were just drifted square, and if so, why not go the whole way?

Wait till you try drifting a hole through thick steel, it'll all become clear.

Frosty The Lucky.

I would venture a guess that the anvil makers had 1000 pound presses or steam power hammers and drifting a large square hole would be like as they say "child's play".

 I can’t control the wind. All I can do is adjust my sails. ~Semper Paratus~

Yeah, except for getting something that odd a shape under a press or hammer. In all probability it was drilled round and the broached square. The drilled hole would provide plenty of room for cuttings so the broach wouldn't jam in the hole. It doesn't go all the way through because a broach making that deep a cut would have a serious tear out breaking through the other side and leave an ugly scar. 4 ugly scars actually or worse.

That's not a Frosty knows. It is an educated guess based on experience, I have broached round holes square amongst other shapes. we'd broach almost to break through and finish with a file or saw.

You wouldn't drift round to square, too much bending force on the heal and spreading the heal wider in the process would take lots of push or hammering. The visible evidence at the transition from square to round says it wasn't drifted, drifts are tapered.

Frosty The Lucky.

The square holes in modern (industrialization and onwards) anvils were mostly done by drilling and then squaring with a vertical shaper.