Show me your ANVIL

[krooser]

Just remember those cast iron things you buy at HF aren't anvils... they are "ASO'S"... anvil shaped objects.

An anvil should be mounted on something more substantial than an automotive wheel... a big chunk of a hardwood stump is the best or simply use it on a concrete floor.

 

[stewart]

Here's mine!

You guys with the steel stands on concrete floors, do they perform OK under heavy pounding?

An interesting observation while viewing all the anvils. Most exist in garages without the pretty floors. I couldn't imagine working on one with a tiled or epoxy floor.

 

[Outlawmws]

OK I promised anvil pics in the Vise thread, here they are:

The "big one" is a 100 lb. Mc's Anvil, and the stake tools I've managed to collect. some may be from sheet-metal stake plates, but is there a difference?,

I've no info on the maker, I haven't been able to Google anything on them...

And the fully grown anvil and it's "Pups"

The 1 pounder on top and left was my Dad's and is Made in Japan, and he probably bought it new. I repainted it and belt sanded the worst of Dad's Cols chisel marks out of the top.

The other 1 pounder on top is made in USA and is na ayrd sale finding.

The Black one in front is made from a short length of I beam, welded to a 1/2" plate to give it some weight. That one I bough tat a yard sale and gave to my some for model building after we cleaned it up, belt sanded the top clean and painted it.

The red one is about 7-1/2 pounds, and is a no name, and no COO marked. I got it with the green 1 pounder.

The last one was a HF bought on sale, and weighs in at 7 Lbs; its a virgin...

 

[bgott]

I"ve never heard of a "Mc's" anvil, it looks like it's cast steel. As long as the manufacturer hardened it properly it should put up with some heavy forging. Drop a one inch diameter steel ball from a foot over the anvil and see how high it bounces. If it has a good healthy bounce the anvil is a user, if it clunks and bounces an inch or two it's a door stop. The three square shanked tools at the base are hardy tools. The chisel topped hardy is for cutting hot metal, I'm not sure on the other two. The tool in the hardy hole is meant for a stake plate, the tool leaned up against the center of the anvil looks like a hardy bickern and the toll leaning up against the horn is a stump anvil, or, since it's double pointed, a stump bickern. Either way, it's meant to be beaten into a stump for use. Nice collection!

 

[PCO6]

Here are some of mine ...

This one is pretty beat up but I got a good price on it so I figured why not. There are no markings on it so I have no idea who made it.

I bought a Record vice from a fellow and he threw this in with it. It's a Columbian that has cleaned up nicely since the photo was taken.

This is my favourite one. It's a 40" piece of "small" railway iron. It's great for planishing long hammer welds.

 

[bgott]

I don't know if I posted these or not. The small one is a fifty pound Vulcan, those are cast iron with a steel top. The one on the bottom is an around a hundred pound Hay-Budden. The next one is stamped 138, it is a cast steel no-name. It has a good ring and rebound, it's a good general purpose anvil for stuff I don't want to do on my good forging anvil. Missing is my 224# Hay-Budden, I need to clear the **** off of it so I can get a good picture.

 

[Outlawmws]

So I (again) missed 2...

Anvils this time.

I had a reasonable excuse though, they were on my desk...

A brass anvil I belive to be a jewlers anvil; if not, it's a paperweight.

and another that is a paper weight, it's cast Iron, and weighs in at 14 oz, (Am I up for the smallest anvil in the group?)

The brass one is 2 lb, and I took the pic with one of my other small guys that actually weighs 1-1/4 lbs not the 1 lb I mentioned before for size comparison.

 

[VegasBruce]

Mine is just a chunk of rail.

 

[bgott]

I have a few little ones, too! And here is my big Hay-Budden, 224 pounds.

 

[Outlawmws]

I have a few little ones, too! And here is my big Hay-Budden, 224 pounds.

We may have a match on two:

The left most one and second from the right?

What is written on the brass one in the middle?

 

[jamesemery728]

This is a Hay Budden that I picked up this spring on CL. According to the date code it was made in 1911. It weighs a little more than 100 pounds. It looked like it had been dragged thru a mud bog when I got it. I made the stand out of some steel that I had on hand.

 

[bgott]

What is written on the brass one in the middle?

HABA...Houston Area Blacksmith's Association. The club had a bunch of them cast and I bought one when I was a member. The other side says "TEXAS".

 

[bgott]

This is a Hay Budden that I picked up this spring on CL. According to the date code it was made in 1911. It weighs a little more than 100 pounds. It looked like it had been dragged thru a mud bog when I got it. I made the stand out of some steel that I had on hand.

Nice anvil! That one would be two piece, tool steel top and wrought iron bottom, forge welded at the waist.

 

[trbomax]

This is mine,i'm guessing the "60" means 60 lbs. where would the date code be on a vulcan? I really need to make a stand for it too. This was setting in the corner of my dads shop,covered in crud when I got in 1980. Dont know where he got it.

 

[bgott]

This is mine,i'm guessing the "60" means 60 lbs. where would the date code be on a vulcan? I really need to make a stand for it too. This was setting in the corner of my dads shop,covered in crud when I got in 1980. Dont know where he got it.

I looked in Postman's book, "Anvils in America" and couldn't find a definite date code for Vulcan anvils. He gave a broad indeterminant range based on the trademark. The really old ones had the logo down in between the feet. The logo that has "Vulcan Brand" rather than the old "Vulcan" with the patent date came about sometime after the start of the twentieth century and ran until sometimes inthe late '50s/early '60s when they changed it to "Vulcan Reg. US. Pat. Of." They made Vulcan anvils until around 1969.When he wrote the book he couldn't find any official documentation so he based what he wrote off of observing anvils and old ads. Can you post a better picture of the logo on your anvil?

 

[trbomax]

I'll take better ones today.

 

[trbomax]

Here they are.

 

[trbomax]

Oops,wrong button..........

 

[bgott]

According to the book, that could have been made anywhere from the early 1900s to the late '50s/early '60s. Most of them I've seen haven't had the "0" after the weight, in the ads that would be a No.6. have you set it on a scale? That's a nice, clean logo.

 

[kvanderploeg]

Picked this one up today at a motorcycle swap meet. It's 12" long and 7" tall. Looks like someone put some time into smoothing things out a bit. Thinking of having it media blasted to get all that old paint off.

Kent

 

[VegasBruce]

Cool, that's quite a bit of shaping on a chunk of rail.

 

[Del Swanson]

Here's mine, a 500# trenton. I think I have it sold to a member here. I'm waiting for him to pick it up.

<a href="http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll236/delswanson/?action=view&current=Anvil1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll236/delswanson/Anvil1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[bouldermsm]

hi folks,

I am just looking for a general use shop anvil, any input on this one? I have asked the seller a few basic questions but haven't heard anything back yet.

not looking for anything jaw dropping, just a nice quality unit.

any opinions appreciated.

Dave.

 

[bgott]

I've never seen one like that. It's kind of ugly, actually! I would check it for ring and rebound, the "scientific" way is to drop a one inch steel ball on the anvil face and measure how far it bounces, I whack 'em lightly with a hammer. It's not going to have the resale value of a name brand anvil, but, if it's tool steel and has been hardened and quenched properly it should be a good user. Looking at it again it looks like someone torched it out of a thick plate. There is nothing wrong with that, I've read some knifemaker's FAQs that recommend getting a section of four inch diameter round stock and using that for an anvil to save the expense and aggrievation of finding a "real" anvil. If the plate was regular steel and/or was not hardened properly it won't hold up to heavy forging. Meaning, if you are going to be forging ten or twelve hours a day it would be better to get a new Peddinghaus, if you are just going to use it for periodic forging and to have something solid to beat on occasionally, that ought to work fine, if the price is right. The stand that it's on seems to be pretty decent, that is worth a few bucks on it's own.

 

[littletoes]

I've got a couple.

Was walking at my Father in Law's house one day, and kicked what I thought was the heel of an anvil, sticking out of the ground...I told him "..hey, that's an Anvil!"....his reply was "yep...put it there a couple of years ago, I guess it was so heavy it just buried itself in the ground...you want it?"

I said "yes!", and dug it up!
I've since traded it for a bigger, better quality one, but have no pics as of yet.

As a teenager, I apprenticed with a couple of Farrier's as a teenager. Bent some horse shoes, and one was an accomplished 'Smith too.

 

[wolfmoon]

Wanted to share my new to me but seems to be a very old anvil. Just received it this last Friday. It was an ebay purchase from someone from New York.

It is a Hay Budden and the serial number 27679. I really had no idea what i was buying, the pictures where not very good. I have since taken some better photo's that I've included.

My initial impression of the anvil is that someone pounded on it almost everyday for 60 years and then left it untouched in a barn for 60 years. There are no fresh scar's. It looks like it just needs a good cleaning, but as long as I have it, that will never happen.

The anvil looks like it is rich in history and I wish I new more about it's origin and where's it been for the last century.

 

[noboD]

Buy a good book on anvils to learn what not to do with them. An anvil stand should be made of hardwood, grain running vertically. A steel stand puts all the force into the concrete. Proper height should be that the anvil winds up at the bottom of your hand, arm straight at your side, with your knuckles bent as if holding a hammer. Never hit cold steel on an anvil.

 

[littletoes]

Buy a good book on anvils to learn what not to do with them. An anvil stand should be made of hardwood, grain running vertically. A steel stand puts all the force into the concrete. Proper height should be that the anvil winds up at the bottom of your hand, arm straight at your side, with your knuckles bent as if holding a hammer. Never hit cold steel on an anvil.

With your elbow just "broken"....or slightly bent, if you will.

If you use a steel stand, you should have a chunk of rubber between the anvil and the stand.

 

[TireTracks]

Would an Homemade RR track/ Welded metal anvil be ok for hobby forge work? I'm thinking about makeing a small forge and foundery setup. I've never seen a anvil for sale localy, so I'm proabbly going to have to make one.

 

[bgott]

It is a Hay Budden and the serial number 27679.

According to Postman's book, Anvils in America, that serial number would have been from around 1896. Nice anvil!

 

[A**holes Garage]

I wish I had the need and the room, I'd have a Nimba....

http://www.nimbaanvils.com/

 

[TruckJunkie]

Here is my 250 pound Soderfors that I picked up last winter. It rings beautifully and should do all I will ever need an anvil for. The date stamped on it is 1925.

 

[blue dog]

All i have is 24" of old Railroad track, works fine for what i need. Tried to clean it up with a grinder, that thing is hard material for sure.

 

[A**holes Garage]

Here is my 250 pound Soderfors that I picked up last winter. It rings beautifully and should do all I will ever need an anvil for. The date stamped on it is 1925.

nice!

 

[wolfmoon]

According to Postman's book, Anvils in America, that serial number would have been from around 1896. Nice anvil!

bgott, I appreciate the information...

 

[Richard D]

I have some rail I plan to make an anvil from as well. How would one put the round and square hole in a piece of rail? What size should they be?

 

[bgott]

I have some rail I plan to make an anvil from as well. How would one put the round and square hole in a piece of rail? What size should they be?

You could drill them, or, if you have a good bolster you can hot punch 'em. Used rail would probably be too work hardened to drill, actually, I don't know if annealing it will soften it enough to drill. A rail anvil is actually a crappy excuse for an anvil if you are planning to do any forging. They don't have enough mass.

 

[fergus]

Here is my 250 pound Soderfors that I picked up last winter. It rings beautifully and should do all I will ever need an anvil for. The date stamped on it is 1925.

Hey TruckJunkie...any info on the truck in your avatar...it looks pretty beastly!

 

[TruckJunkie]

Hey TruckJunkie...any info on the truck in your avatar...it looks pretty beastly!

Yes, it is a 1966 Dodge W500 Power Wagon that I purchased from the Michigan DNR. They used it for fighting forest fires and it was set up to pull a large V-plow to create fire breaks through the woods, also carried a 400 gallon water tank and pump. It has a GVWR of 20,000 lbs. and according to factory records there was 350 of these made with the 318 V8 in '66.

 

[Richard D]

I would be using it mostly fo sheet metal shaping, probably don't need the holes anyway. I would like to get a proper anvil someday; if you see a good one for $100 or so in the Houston area let me know.