William Foster Anvil dated 1880

[Maui]

I picked up this William Foster anvil a few days ago when I went to look at a bench grinder. The guy selling it told me about the anvil sitting on a stump outside his garage while I was looking at the grinder, and that he wanted to sell it too. He got it for free, so he didn't have any investment in it and was just using it as yard art. It is rough, and I'm not sure it was a good move to buy it for $160. But it's mine now. It weighs about 120 lbs and has clearly been used quite a bit over the last 140 years. Does anyone here have one of these Foster Anvils? Are they relatively rare?

Maui

 

[ndnchf]

That's a good price. Its well used, but looks completely serviceable. I found an 1870 Fisher a number of years ago. I cleaned it up, painted all but the working surfaces and use it occasionally. This is it after cleaning it up.

 

[drivesitfar]

Maui: maybe post it up on the SHOW YOUR ANVIL thread in general garage and maybe one of those guys might know more about your anvil. if you can get your hands on American Anvils (I think that's the name of that book) that tells all about anvils i'm sure you'd find more on yours.

I like the size (120 pounds), stampings on side and overall condition isn't too bad.

If it matters to you you might hit the top with a belt sander or if you know someone with a big mill that can flatten that divot out of it all the better.

one note if you hit cold steel on it you can damage it and that's maybe how the edges have chipped.

how's the rebound? do you have a 1 inch bearing to drop on it from about a foot above to see if it bounces back up a foot or 8 inches would be great.

I might have bought that for that price if i needed one cause around here that size usually sells for 3 times that.

 

[DonkDonk]

Around here that’s a $400-500 anvil