Large Anvil

[Arachnotron]

This one had been sitting for some time in my grandfather's garage. Any ideas on the make? All I know is that my uncle acquired it several years ago when he worked for the rail road. I haven't seen any obvious marking on it, but I'll post any details that I find when I look it over. It's 35" long and 13" tall.

http://homepage.mac.com/arachnotron/.pictures/anvil_01.mp4

 

[bgott]

Clean the paint and rust off of the side of the anvil showing in your picture. That is usually the side that the manufacturers stamped the logo into, most smiths were right handed and they worked the anvil with the horn to the left, so the logo was on this side so everyone could see it. It has the same form as a Hay-Budden but they were stamped with the anvil weight in pounds and I don't see a stamp on yours. Clean it and look carefully, most of the time the logo is stamped so faintly that it's hard to see. If it's a Hay- budden it will have a serial number stamped on the left front of the base, looking from the horn end. If it is an HB and has the serial number I can give you an approximate build date from Postman's book, " Anvils in America".

I just looked at your link, I didn't see any marks or serial numbers. You need to clean it with some paint remover or an electrolysis bath and find any and all markings. Many people made " American Pattern" anvils so you have to do a little looking for identifying marks.

 

[Jack Olsen]

In the Southwest, the unmarked ones are sometimes Mexican foundry knockoffs. They might be fine vises, but you're taking a chance on whatever leftover metal was poured that day.

Here's one I picked up. It's not the same as yours. But I'm pretty sure mine is Mexican.

 

[Packard V8]

Your warning against recent production junk anvils is well taken. I've seen some artificially aged and run through auctions and buyers got taken.

FWIW, I've noticed that name-brand anvils have followed inflation. For the past few years, $2 per pound was the going rate. The asking prices seem to have gone toward $3 a pound.

jack vines

 

[jeffk14]

Your warning against recent production junk anvils is well taken. I've seen some artificially aged and run through auctions and buyers got taken.

I've been told that a good anvil will "ring like a bell" when struck with a hammer. The newer, cheap Chinese ASO's (anvil-shaped objects) supposedly have a flatter sound when struck. I don't have first-hand knowledge of this though.

 

[justanengineer]

I have been told by several collectors that a good general rule in the northeast for anvils was $1/lb and $.50/lb for vises. Ive honestly never bought an anvil because I inherited one and rarely use it, but it is pretty accurate, and I have bought plenty of vises for that or less. Not very difficult to do at auctions/flea markets until you get to the larger sizes (200+ lbs), and the best part was when I downsized from ~15 vises to the two I have currently - doubled my money on craigs pretty quickly.

 

[bgott]

In the Southwest, the unmarked ones are sometimes Mexican foundry knockoffs. They might be fine vises, but you're taking a chance on whatever leftover metal was poured that day.

I picked up one of those a while back. It rings like a bell but it is kind of ugly. I use it for cold work, if I screw it up I'm not screwing up one of my good anvils, which I do use for hot work.

 

[Greatbear]

Yep, I have a 55lb Chinese-made anvil, it makes more of a "clunk" than a ring. I expected as much though.

 

[bgott]

Yep, I have a 55lb Chinese-made anvil, it makes more of a "clunk" than a ring. I expected as much though.

That's because it's made of solid cast iron. There are cast iron anvils that have a steel face plate that don't ring but they have good rebound. I have an old Vulcan that's like that. A ringer is made of wrought iron with a tool steel faceplate or is solid tool steel. The Blacksmiths refer to those Chinese anvils as ASOs, or " anvil shaped objects. Beat it around too much and the bondo will start cracking. They are not forging anvils but they will work for straightening valve cover flanges and bent nails and stuff like that.

 

[adcrawfo]

That's because it's made of solid cast iron. There are cast iron anvils that have a steel face plate that don't ring but they have good rebound. I have an old Vulcan that's like that. A ringer is made of wrought iron with a tool steel faceplate or is solid tool steel. The Blacksmiths refer to those Chinese anvils as ASOs, or " anvil shaped objects. Beat it around too much and the bondo will start cracking. They are not forging anvils but they will work for straightening valve cover flanges and bent nails and stuff like that.

If they're cast iron they don't ring because they are made of grey iron. The cast iron ringers are ductile iron. We use this test every day at work to check for poor ductile.

 

[Greatbear]

I knew going in that the anvil would be a cheapie, and it gets used more for repairs and general garage work and not forging. The horn is painted, but not thick with bondo as I expected. It's soft as hell too. But it has the weight I need for my projects and repairs. I have my eye out for an old forging anvil, but the things are scarce and expensive in most cases. So many good old anvils were recycled during WWII.

 

[ZRX61]

The test of an anvil is to see how far a hammer will bounce after striking the anvil. If it bounces back to the same height it was hit from then it's forged steel, anything less & it's **** cast steel or even cast iron..

& roll em over to see if they are hollow...If you can't roll it over, it probably isn't hollow...

 

[tbody321]

I have used baby powder to read logos and stampings in cast iron. Wipe clean, apply baby powder and lighty brush off. the stampings should appear.
good luck.
tony c.

 

[sstruckguy]

Way to go guys. You have me going C.S.I on my anvil now.

See what you think of these results:


Nice hammer rebound

No visible stampings, but has plenty of aged paint

NOT hollow

Doesn't ring, but has a nice "tink" to it


Thoughts?

p.s This is a small to medium size. 9" tall x 16" long

 

[Arachnotron]

I did some sand blasting on the side today and was pleasantly surprised to find some markings!

3 0 13. Around the 0 it says "Solid Wrought"
The numbers are the English Hundredweight System. So, this one weights 349lbs. I'll get it one the scale some time to see how close it really is.

Here's a picture from an anvil forum that shows the type of markings a bit clearer.

I havent found any other markings yet. I'll probably do some more work on it tomorrow.

 

[bgott]

That's a hell of an anvil you have there! Peter Wrights were, and are, highly prized. And a 349 pounder to boot!