Show me your ANVIL

[805gregg]

Mine is just a chunk of rail.

All that effort, get a real anvil, you will love it

 

[805gregg]

Hey guys. I bought a couple of anvils at a sale this morning. So far I found half a logo on one and was wondering if anyone recognized it. The small one is 130lbs and the large one is 200lbs. Ask my back how I know this. My blacksmith friend is coming over in a day or two so hopefully he will help me learn a bit more about them. I bought them from a guy who was helping out at a garage sale I attended. He had them in the back of his truck with a bunch of scrap metal that he was hired to clean out of a old building. He wouldn't name a price and kept telling me to make an offer. I suspected he was going to counter anything I said so I offered $100 to which he immediately said $150. We settled on $120 for the pair.

Great find, if you don't do blacksmith, offer them to a happy reciever

 

[805gregg]

just got one after years of searching, paid way too much according to some posts here but I will beat out my frustrations on top of it so it will pay for itself in no time, not to mention the chipped concrete and bent metal edges of machines that thankfully wont happen any more. These are the advert photos, I havent had a chance to take my own

Thats a nice one enjoy

 

[805gregg]

had this one for about 15 years

Nice I like that one

 

[805gregg]

My father gave me his the other day. It weighs about 127 lbs. according to the old sheep scale.

Don't hit on this one

 

[805gregg]

I have a Cliff Carroll 125# what a great anvil, American and made in Colorado, and all smooth and new,I use it at least 3 times a week

 

[ZRX61]

Don't hit on this one

Huh?

 

[Exceller8]

All that effort, get a real anvil, you will love it

For around the shop I would rather have his setup.

 

[farmerdude]

Don't hit on this one

Please explain.

 

[75dixie]

I would guess he is thinking the collectability.

I would say dont work cold metal on it, baby the edges, and have fun

Lots and lots of fishers out there

 

[farmerdude]

I would guess he is thinking the collectability.

I would say dont work cold metal on it, baby the edges, and have fun

Lots and lots of fishers out there

Could be, I know we beat the hell out of it when we were farming, surprised it looks as good as it does.

 

[lwlobo]

I've been searching for a piece of railroad track, anvil, something for quite a while. Came across a nondescript craigslist ad on Thursday evening, small anvil, $75, no pictures.

I was able to meet up with the guy during lunch on Friday, I had a very small hope that a little anvil was an 125 lb Peter Wright or something, but it wasn't.

After the usual negotiations, I brought it home to give me something to beat on, and reduce abuse to my workbench and temptation to misuse my vise.

It weighs in at 90lbs, and had a decent rebound to it but not much ring. Seems to be steel, and the one corner I hit with a file seemed not especially hard. Can anyone tell me what it is? It almost seems to be designed to be an anvil, but it could also be some type of counterweight, or ? It does have features that are something like a pritchel hole, drop, beak, heel, chipping block, etc. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[littletoes]

Looks like some type of counter-weight to me, but who knows!

 

[Outlawmws]

What does the bottom look like? Maybe that is a food for some heavy machinery?

 

[Exceller8]

Either way it should make a nice ASO.

 

[Albiemanmike]

Very cool thread. My wife makes jewelry all by hand and she had been begging for an anvil for a long time. I kept looking for one on CL but they were all very expensive and most were not in very good shape for the money they wanted. So I was patient and kept looking until one day I see a posting for a 130# anvil so I called the guy and asked how much he wanted for it? I told him it was an anniversary present for the wife and he really liked the story so he said he would "give" it to me for $250 which frankly was a crazy good price considering all of the other ones I had been seeing on CL. So we made plans to meet at his house on a Friday. I went and met him and he could not have been any nicer. The anvil was in extremely good condition and there was no way I was not bringing it home for my wife. Unfortunately I could not really surprise her as i needed her help to get it out of the truck....... She was absolutely floored when I showed it to her. Can't say I have ever seen her more happy than that in 20 years being together. Really is kind of funny giving an anvil to your wife as an anniversary present but it was something she wanted more than anything else in the world and i am a firm believer in giving gifts that are practical and something that someone wants and will use. Nothing worse than getting a present that you have no use for.

The anvil is a Vulcan and has a number 10 cast into the front foot. And there looks to be the number 54 but it is hard to make out on the back foot. That is all I know about it. I initially used one of my routers to route out the shape of the bottom base of the anvil in a huge beech stump we had lying around from the neighbors tree they cut down. But we had to ditch that log because it was filled with bugs that decided to come out about a year after we brought it into the wifes shop in the house. So I found a farriers block on CL that is a beefy laminated block mounted to an adjustable aluminum tripod leg arrangement that has worked perfectly for what she does with the anvil.

 

[demoman]

Here is a Trenton 500# that I have in my shop. It is real nice and does not move around when using it. I want a bigger one to keep the locals wandering what I will bring home next. This anvil is 41" long and I think 17" tall. Enjoy

 

[Zengineer]

Here is mine. 200lbs from the West Steel Casting Company.

 

[GINIK]

This is a Kohlswa l will restore later.
Weight 50kg.

 

[littlebritishcar]

I have a small anvil that I use for small sheet work and also a RXR anvil. The stump is overkill but I am hoping to find a larger anvil in the future!

 

[Rixter58]

Here are mine.

 

[Exceller8]

$3 rail snag. I decided to paint it red as I had seen done before here.

 

[Saiga]

 

[thdewey]

I've got anvil envy!

 

[Garage Dog]

"Here is a Trenton 500# that I have in my shop. It is real nice and does not move around when using it. I want a bigger one to keep the locals wandering what I will bring home next. This anvil is 41" long and I think 17" tall. Enjoy"

Demoman - 500lbs really - this is more like taunting than sharing - where did you find such a beast?

Oh the envy...

 

[Chris98006]

Here is mine- Came off my wife's grandfathers farm. I'll start a thread when I restore it. Any ideas what the make is?

 

[Handforged]

as to the hundredweight versus pounds, as our UK friends said, depends on where the anvil was made - Peter Wrights, Alsop, Mousehole, other made in England anvils, all were marked with the hundredweight system....but anvils made in America were marked in pounds. My 1820 Mousehole Forge anvil from England is marked 124, so it weighs 112 + 56 + 4 or 172 pounds, whereas my 1880 Fisher is marked with a "6" and weighs 60 pounds....

 

[Chris98006]

I'll start a new thread this weekend as I start to restore it. Stay tuned!

as to the hundredweight versus pounds, as our UK friends said, depends on where the anvil was made - Peter Wrights, Alsop, Mousehole, other made in England anvils, all were marked with the hundredweight system....but anvils made in America were marked in pounds. My 1820 Mousehole Forge anvil from England is marked 124, so it weighs 112 + 56 + 4 or 172 pounds, whereas my 1880 Fisher is marked with a "6" and weighs 60 pounds....

 

[HTGTS350]

A selection of mine

 

[Craptain]

I don't have an anvil yet. But a friend in the railroad business is going to ship me a length of track later this year when he starts a project in FL. I asked him about the weight for shipping and he tells me that he will put it on Greyhound. It doesn't matter about the weight then. I have to wait until September but that is fine by me as the price is my favorite one, free. I have no urgent need, just an urgent "WANT".

 

[PugetDude]

17 anvils, mostly Peter Wrights for sale at $3.50/lb- Spokane Craigslist They look to be in pretty good shape. Maybe a group buy... I get pick of the litter...

 

[marinusdees]

There was a blacksmith in the town I grew up in in MI. My uncle was apprenticed to him in about 1942. My opinion which is worth nothing is an anvil should be mounted to a large/huge block of wood. My grandpa's/uncle's was mounted to a section of an oak tree. Mine is mounted on a chunk of bridging timber which my buddy who worked in a shipyard got for me. My second one is mounted on the same thing. The third is mounted on a chunk of gluelam beam. I think (which is also worth nothing) the wood absorbs the shock of the blow in a different way. By the way, blacksmiths work iron, farriers shoe horses.

 

[marinusdees]

Nice set up. Wood twice the size would be nicer.

 

[All]

Harbor Freight used to sell a 110 lb. anvil from Russia. It isn't cast iron either. It is cast steel, and the ring is ear piercing and practically deafening. I have to wear Peltor SPF 29 over ear muffs whenever I touch it. Talk about ring tone... very high pitched too.

 

[Nortonscustom]

These are mine. Friends call this my "anvil tree". Don't have enough spare floor space to have them on their own stands, so they sit stacked on my welding table till needed.

Top down: 5# Buffalo, about a 55# Vulcan, 200# M&H Armitage mousehole and a junk 300# Grizzly.

The M&H is dated 1830, boy if that thing could talk the stories it would have.

 

[Chris98006]

Great collection!

These are mine. Friends call this my "anvil tree". Don't have enough spare floor space to have them on their own stands, so they sit stacked on my welding table till needed.

Top down: 5# Buffalo, about a 55# Vulcan, 200# M&H Armitage mousehole and a junk 300# Grizzly.

The M&H is dated 1830, boy if that thing could talk the stories it would have.

 

[Davefr]

Can anyone identify this anvil? It's about 100# and has a beautiful ring to it. I don't see any markings.

 

[WWIIjeep]

Can anyone identify this anvil? It's about 100# and has a beautiful ring to it. I don't see any markings.

Possibly a Cheney? That's just a guess.

I've got 3 large anvils and a bunch of small ones. Maybe someday I'll feel strong enough to stack them up for a photo like Nortonscustom did, but not today.

Meanwhile, here's a couple of miniatures, and one made from a piece of railroad track:





The little one on the upper right says "J Deere 1937." I believe it was an advertising freebie to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the company.

 

[MacTexas]

I wish I could show off a nice big 200 lb anvil but the only one I have is this one.




I don't know what the connection is with Springfield Mo and an anvil but it looks good on my shelf.

 

[Exceller8]

Mac, that is a cool little anvil!