Old Metal Forming / Blacksmith Stand

[ritestuff]

I recently came across this old stand, and although I'm pretty familiar with most common blacksmith/tin knocking stuff, I've never seen one of these before. The anvil stake that came with it really doesn't belong, since all of the holes in the block are round, and the stake has a squared end.

The round holes will accept some of the early, round insert stakes though. Also might double up as a sort of swage block too. It has what looks like traces of pea green original paint on it, so I'm thinking maybe an obscure Pexto item?

Has anyone else seen one of these, or know something about it?

 

[shanny19]

I don't think it's for stakes.

I don't think it is for pounding as much as it is for bending.
The "wear" at the edges of the holes says bending to me.

I love it, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

 

[ritestuff]

I don't think it's for stakes.

I don't think it is for pounding as much as it is for bending.
The "wear" at the edges of the holes says bending to me.

I love it, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

Thanks for the input. I'm leaning toward some sort of shaping/bending, swage block stand. The surface has been beat on plenty over time. It weighs about 300 lbs, and the top plate is removable.

I've been searching the internet relentlessly, and just can't find another one. It's very seldom that you get to "stump the experts" here in the vintage tool section of GJ. I'll probably have to post some pictures at some blacksmithing sites, and see if anyone recognizes it.

 

[crguy]

Is the plate with the holes cast iron or just a piece of steel plate? Maybe the base was something else originally? I see small ears with a hole for something?

I had a chunk of cast one time that looked like an anvil/stand. Turned out it was a piece of a box car coupler.

 

[ritestuff]

Is the plate with the holes cast iron or just a piece of steel plate? Maybe the base was something else originally? I see small ears with a hole for something?

I had a chunk of cast one time that looked like an anvil/stand. Turned out it was a piece of a box car coupler.

The plate is steel, since there are now some fairly deep depressions in it from all the pounding over the years. It's about 3" thick, and it can be removed and flipped over. There are pounding marks on the underside too, so it has been flipped at one time. The fit to the base is perfect.

The "ears" with holes in them are supposed to have bolts running through them to secure the 2 halves of the base together. There is another set of them up higher on the inside, out of view. The upper set has the bolts in them and hold the 2 halves of the base together. Like you, I also considered that this setup may have been cobbled together from other parts, but after looking things over fairly thoroughly, I'm convinced that this thing was made intentionally, with a specific function in mind.

It came out of the workshop of an old New England dairy farm, and according to the guy that I bought it from, his family has been banging on this thing as an anvil for generations. He's in his 60's, and all of his parents and grandparents have passed, so there's nobody to ask about it's origin. His family always referred to it as "the anvil".

 

[letz4wheel]

It looks a lot like it could be used for bending horseshoes. A farrier friend of mines says it looks like something from old forge work? Just a guess though.

 

[DenisG]

Just a guess, but maybe it was used for old bridge-type or shipbuilding rivets. Tweeking the diameters?