Great score. I love antique tools and I'd be proud to have that.

Switching subjects a little if you don't mind, what is the story of that long armed vise on the side of the bench? It looks exactly like one my dad had in his shop for close to 50 years.

Nice pickup Grumpy. I don’t know squat about anvils so this thread is a nice little history lesson.

You have a real piece of Americana. A real piece of American history. Your collection is really something to be proud of. That would be very good of you to put those pieces in a museum for all to appreciate. Thanks for posting.

That’s awesome. Makes you wonder where it’s been all those years.

Very interesting!

I'd have it in my living room.

You just have to wonder how many hammer strikes that anvil has felt over its life time.

Love things like this, so cool to have a real piece of American history, something that I hope will be appreciated for what it is!

quote:

Originally posted by RNshooter:
That is really gorgeous. Will you consider using it to make some special items or is it only a collector piece?
It would be nice to think it will still create useful and beautiful things, occasionally.

Bruce

I do plan to use it to make some small items & gifts.
My wife teaches college prep history and Biology at the high school and courses at the local college.
Her second masters is in America history and she’s asked that I make a mobile setup so I can bring this anvil in and do demonstrations when they get to that era.
So it will see use just nothing heavy.
I’m beginning my search for a mobile coal forge but they’re pricey as well. Guess most things are of this era.
I’m researching period anvil stands to give it an appropriate place to rest.

Something with this shape but with metal banding



Brailediver- nothing so far as to the back story on this particular anvil.
I’ll be talking to the Amish man who owned it next time I see him and see what he has to say as to where it came from & who owned it prior to me.

WOW! That is very cool. Thanks for sharing.

I feel so unclean and dirty. I bought mine at a flea market. I got it cheap because the vendor didn't want to haul it back home. Anvils are heavy. I know that may come as a surprise to many who don't own them. Some too heavy to move.

I played the con game on the guy I bought it from. I've only had mine for maybe 25 years. Guess I've gotta go out to the garage and see if mine has a makers name on it. The old wisdom from the 1900s was that an anvil will cost $1 per pound. I'd guess that price is now higher.

The first rule is to never offer to buy one that you can't get your pickup truck near. Carrying a 100# item a quarter of a mile is foolish. I got my seller to agree to help lift mine up and put it in the bed of the truck. From there it was on me. I then got my son to come over and help lift it first down and then up when we wheeled it inside. I don't have an overhead crane so I used a pulley, the same rig I used to get my fire hydrant out of the "car"..

I'm not sure about the OPs comment about abusing an anvil. They were made to be hit with a hammer, hard. Over and over again. In my limited experience, I've never seen one broken. If anyone has, please post us a picture with a story of how it happened. It just never occurred to me that you can break one.

quote:

Originally posted by Dan the man:

Switching subjects a little if you don't mind, what is the story of that long armed vise on the side of the bench? It looks exactly like one my dad had in his shop for close to 50 years.

It’s called a post vise or a leg vise.
Unlike a machinist / benchtop vice a blacksmiths Post vise is designed to hold material that’s being forged. The force of the blows transfer down the leg which contacts the stone or concrete floor. A bench vise would break at the base under that type of use.




As for abuse of an anvil or never seeing a broken anvil...
You are lucky it’s a sad thing. I only now am beginning to grasp the amount of human effort it took to make these even the “modern” ones made after the advent of steam power hammers.
In the 14th & 15th centuries it was documented that the penalty for striking the face of an anvil with a hammer , not while conducting work was punishable by whipping & or the stocks due to the damage that can be caused.
An Anvils face has a hardened steel face plate forge welded onto a Wrought body.
Hammer to anvil contact was not what the Anvil was designed to absorb day in & day out.
The material being worked is to be of sufficient temperatures as to be soft & workable between the hammer & anvil.
Working on the edges of an anvil is great for moving material quickly .
But miss with the hammer and you can chip the edges of the anvil face.

I find 5-6 damaged anvils to every one that is of normal wear.
Uneducated people have used anvil faces as welding tables causing deep pits in the face.
They’re tough tools but far from indestructible. If used correctly, like many hand tools, they’ll last a lifetime or three.









Here’s a colonial anvil (the style of the feet & overall shape are a dead giveaway), looks like a mousehole broken in half.

quote:

It’s called a post vise or a leg vise.
Unlike a machinist / benchtop vice a blacksmiths Post vise is designed to hold material that’s being forged. The force of the blows transfer down the leg which contacts the stone or concrete floor. A bench vise would break at the base under that type of use.

I had no idea. Thank you so much for the info!

Great story and history lesson, thank you for sharing it.

thank you for sharing.
it’s a dandy.

Mentioned before but if that anvil could only talk! The stories it could tell about ordinary people and everyday life that happened just in it's presence and things it would have heard.

Now that is very cool.

 
Good find Grumpy. I'm curious, what is the size of the Hardy hole?

That is cool. I would love to find one for my homestead, but those days are gone mostly, finding one that is.

Very interesting thread. Now I'm going to have to take a closer look at ours and see if I can find some markings- you all have me curious now. I had never really thought about it.

My wife and I have had horses for many years and her aunt had given us some old tack over the years, which my wife likes to display in the barn mostly. When we were leaving the East Coast, my wife gifted an old drafting table to her uncle (the brother of the aunt) and when he came over to pick it up he had a surprise for us- an old anvil. I jokingly said "THANKS Phillip- for giving me something else to break my back over moving around." But it's a cool old thing to have- it's in the barn since, of course. That was back in 2006 so we've only had it that long.

Our farrier has a setup he uses out of the back of his truck. We don't have him do shoe work, but next time he's out I'll try to find out what he has for anvil and forge. He's an old-school type who likes really old things as well.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
 
Good find Grumpy. I'm curious, what is the size of the Hardy hole?

It’s 5/8” so I’ll be hunting for some other hardy tools for it or grinding down some larger ones.