Anvils: A beginner buyers guide

[DocG]

I can't contribute anything to this thread as I never realised that there was so much to know about anvils.
Thanks for sharing and creating the post.
I am going to look for a sledge once the auctions open.

 

[cbournes]

I am trying to identify my anvil, I have found the normal British weight marks 3 2 8 which I believe makes is a 400lb anvil, but the only thing I can find which looks like a makers mark is a circle stamped above the weight marks, but nothing else is identifiable, on the opposite side of the anvil there might be and ER, but it's so worn it's hard to tell whether it's just my imagination. , anyone have any suggestions / ideas? Thanks

 

[Silverclaws2]

I have one, am not sure yet, but I might have to let go,, what it is in terms of name or weight I don't know except to say I can't lift it, nor have I seen any obvious makers marks, all I know about it is that it came out of Devonport dockyard. And the stand for it is as near as heavy, a frame made of cut and welded I beams. I worked in a smithy a few years ago for the blacksmith to tell me what it was , but I have since forgot.

 

[SteveNewEngland]

Hello.
Mac, this post is most informative, thank you for providing such a great overview. Within your message you say that if i would like some help with identifying an anvil to private message you. I seem to not have permissions to do that. If you could help me out in getting a message to you, I’d be most appreciative. I am looking to gather some info, construction type, and possible maker on my great grandfathers anvil which I recently acquired. Cheers.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Hello Steve,
As a new member your first few posts must be manually approved before they appear on the forum. During this period you cannot send private messages. Once you have made some more posts (think it is five), you should be able to send PMs. Our advice to all new members is to post a bit about themselves in the Intros section and participate/contribute on a couple of active threads.
These measures have stopped forum and message spam and help with ensuring forum rules on selling are followed, but we do recognise they can be annoying to start with.
Best regards

Chris

 

[Imagedude]

 

[SteveNewEngland]

Hello Steve,
As a new member your first few posts must be manually approved before they appear on the forum. During this period you cannot send private messages. Once you have made some more posts (think it is five), you should be able to send PMs. Our advice to all new members is to post a bit about themselves in the Intros section and participate/contribute on a couple of active threads.
These measures have stopped forum and message spam and help with ensuring forum rules on selling are followed, but we do recognise they can be annoying to start with.
Best regards

Chris

Thanks Chris

 

[SteveNewEngland]

View attachment 63502View attachment 63503View attachment 63504View attachment 63502View attachment 63503View attachment 63504[ICODE][/ICODE]

I’m not seeing it on here. It’s a bit different as the waist doesn’t curve.

 

[tombear]

Somewhere else I've recounted the saga of my acquiring this little 1/2 cwt Wm. Parker Attacliffe anvil. Some one was kind enough to tell me what I could do to it to make it more usable. Unfortunately I've forgotten what he said so if someone could remind me I'd be grateful. One thing I'm going to do off my own bat is to clean up the hardy hole and expand it from 3/4 inch square to a full inch. I've not been able to find any hardies for 3/4" holes but seen quite a few 1 inch ones. The welded on top is a good 3/8ths of a inch thick, nearer a half maybe.

On the same vague note we got a son a small two burner Devil Forge for xmas from the makers ebay shop, it's the entry level version with the door at the back. It arrived remarkably quickly from the Baltic. Anyroad, due the weather etc hes not used it yet, He says he will get a 19Kg propane tank when the weather improves. He mainly wants it for heat treating as he so far likse stock removal more than forging. However that was done with the hand pumped charcoal forge I knocked up which was a pain to get up to temperature and keep there. He wants a heat gun thingy to make accurate temperature readings. He's got a decent magnet on a stick for testing for the whatsit point but a basic heat reading device will make learning to judge colours etc easier. Could anyone recommend a basic, reliable ( and cheap?) heat gun he can order? He's started the second year of a engineering apprenticeship so he knows something of metallurgy and use of tools. He even cleans and puts away in the right place the stuff he borrows now, something I could never beat into any of them!

ATB

Tim

 

[arf007]

Awesome thread, thanks for the info, I read this recently while looking at a new anvil, very helpful.

 

[arf007]

Is it possible to completely resurface a de laminated anvil?

 

[MunsterMike]

Hi Guys, would really appreciate some help identifying my newly acquired anvils.

 

[swyn]

A piece of railway track makes a great anvil.
S

 

[Everything Mac]

Hi Guys, would really appreciate some help identifying my newly acquired anvils.

Would help if you posted some pics of it.


Sorry folks I kinda walked away from forums in general over the last few years and apparently forgot all about this thread.

Hope it's helped some people.

All the best
Andy

 

[SoldierPalmer]

Rail track is a great item to start with but the steel is fairly soft on rail track and you don’t get the work back you would on a professional anvil.

Edit just realised I’m replying to a post from July.

 

[Tony]

Would help if you posted some pics of it.


Sorry folks I kinda walked away from forums in general over the last few years and apparently forgot all about this thread.

Hope it's helped some people.

All the best
Andy

Hey Andy, good to see you mate

 

[Everything Mac]

Rail track is a great item to start with but the steel is fairly soft on rail track and you don’t get the work back you would on a professional anvil.

Edit just realised I’m replying to a post from July.

Soft compared to your average hammer maybe but it's plenty hard enough compared to hot steel.

I am lead to believe that British rail track at least has a certain composition that makes it work hardening. Silicon I think, can't remember.
RR track has certainly gotten many people started.

The trick with it though is to mount it vertically rather than horizontally assuming the ends are square enough to allow this. Granted this reduces your working area but the fat end of a bit of RR track is bigger than your average forging hammer and you can only work one hammers width at a time anyway.

I've seen the web's of track ground into different useful shapes as well.

All the best
Andy

 

[Everything Mac]

Is it possible to completely resurface a de laminated anvil?

Yes it is. But in the UK at least it's not worth the effort as there will almost certainly be something else available relatively nearby.


I have seen videos of American smiths forge welding on a completely new steel faceplate to a wrought iron anvil but this is a serious undertaking with probably half a dozen people involved.

They can be welded up though, done correctly this is perfectly acceptable way of repairing an anvil.

Personally these days I won't touch an anvil that needs major repairs. Too much work for me.


All the best
Andy

 

[MrsWatty]

Hello, I’m new here. In fact I’ve never been on a forum before so I’m feeling a bit shy . But my elderly Dad is clearing out his workshop. All v sad. He has an anvil and I just wanted a bit of advice. What is it? I know the nose is missing which is doubtless a real prob. Someone is saying they’ll “take it off my hands” as a favour. I see that some old anvils have some value but I don’t know if this one does. Any advice gratefully received….

Rebound:

To me this is the more important of the two tests. If you’re on the hunt for an anvil the I’d keep that 1” ball bearing in your car on the off chance you come across something.

“Rebound” is the name given to the amount of energy an anvil reflects back at the user. But it can give a good indication of face plate problems.

Take your 1” ball bearing (Larger or smaller it doesn’t really matter.) and your ruler. Now hold the ball at 10” above the anvil face and drop it. It’s best to do this so you can see how high it bounces.

10” is ideal as it’s very easy to do the math for it. A “good” anvil should have more than 70-75% rebound. So the ball should bounce a minimum of 7” high. Many anvils will produce rebound higher than this but anything drastically less should be approached with caution.

This is where cleaning the anvil face makes a big difference. Paint and thick layers of rust WILL drastically reduce rebound, so clean the face if you can.

Like the ring test, you should check rebound all over the face. The heel will have less rebound than the face, just like the ring there is less material there so it behaves differently.

The rebound should be the same across the whole face. An areas where it suddenly rebounds a lot less may indicate a crack or delamination. If this occurs during the testing then have another good look at the anvil. (Common sense) It may be that there is a significant crack you missed initially so proceed accordingly.

As frustrating and disappointing as it it. (Trust me, I know) You are better off in the long run to save your cash and walk away from an anvil that is too damaged to be usable.

Step 4. HAGGLE!!!!

So you’ve looked over the anvil and everything is in order. There’s a couple small flaws, a little sway or maybe a chipped edge. Use that to your advantage. Start to umm and ar about the price. Make a cheeky low ball offer. You never know you might get lucky.

If for arguments sake your seller wants £400, why not offer £250 or less! They might know what they have is valuable but they might not. You might get laughed at but on the other hand they might either accept the offer or come back with a slightly reduced figure. Ultimately you’ve saved yourself some cash.


Remember rule number one? Always bring cash and bring more than you need if you can afford to. Money talks. Your seller might start to budge on price if he sees some nice crisp notes being counted out infant of him.

A trick I’ve heard of people use is to count out the sum they want to pay in front of the seller. Some guys crack at this.

The other trick to try is to ask if they have any other blacksmithing stuff. You might stumble on a gold mine of equipment. If that is the case and you can afford it (and there are things you want) then you should try and get some other stuff as part of the deal.


So I hope this has helped some of you out there. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. PM me directly if needs be.

All the best

Andy

 

[MrsWatty]

Hello People, New here. Not sure what I'm doing. But can anyone tell me what I've got here? It belongs to my elderly Dad and someone is offering to take it off his hands for a couple of quid. I know it's nose is missing. The top surface is roughly 12 x 4 inches. But maybe it's forged? I don't want my Dad to be taken advantage of. Any advice would be gratefully received. I have some more photos if anyone is interested.

https://flic.kr/p/2pkxjPj