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So I have been shopping for anvils for months now. I ran across this and thought some of you might like to look at a collection other than razors. I found it amazing myself.
Tim Kris Anvil Museum Collection | Brasstown NC | Near John C. Campbell Folk School
Fun!
I've got an anvil that's probably from the middle ages, to bad in a bad shape, otherwise I would use it.
No pics, it's at my fathers place, sorry!
Mine's this one.
250 pounds, 1 US dollar per pound :)
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Btw, it's interesting that the very old anvils in that collection resemble small altars.
They tell a story about Dan Blocker, from Bonanza, when he was in High School. The other kids made fun of him because of his size; until one day in Shop Class he picked up the Anvil and walked out with it!
Because that's where the steel goes to worship & repent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
Zing!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Hirlau
I love little anvils
Hey guys check this one out. I went over to one of my vendors and I saw this huge anvil on the bench. I remarked "Boy you dont see one like that too often. He told me to try to lift it, and much to my surprise I picked it up with ease. He made the entire thing out of sheet metal as a practice too his sheet metal skills. Welded it with stick as well. Totally blew my mind. Way cool.
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I'm incidentally making a small anvil out of old rail right now, it's a dirty job!
This is my home anvil a bit much but it was stuffed in the back of my shop un-used so I cleaned it up. surfaced ground the top and its serves me well as a peening anvil.
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I bought one at a barn sale a couple mos. back, british made,250 lbs.$1 a lb.had two tools of sorts that fit into a Sq. hole on the topside(I know sqawtola about anvils) got it loaded into the truck,paid the toke, when I came back a couple guys were on it like flys on chit.
Made an offer I COULD not refuse,What the hell am I going to do with an anvil? NADA
Picked this up on Long Island almost 10 years ago.
If I lived in Kansas I would be bidding on this one. I am sure it could take a resurfacing job without loosing anything noticeable. 1800's Antique 317 lb Square Anvil Railroad Blacksmith Forge Iron Hammer Vintage | eBay
"" Btw, it's interesting that the very old anvils in that collection resemble small altars.""
Who, but a god, could shape iron into a sword ?
and you guys are inventing AAD
Interestingly, back in the day, smiths were considered in the same category as priests, and smithing was considered near magical. That's why I thought it was interesting that the older ones actually resemble an altar.
Some people use them as garden ornaments, which is a bit sad if the anvil is still good.Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
The square hole is called a hardy hole, and can be used to fit a variety of small tools, such as chisels or swage blocks. If you mount a chisel, you can cut bar stock quickly without needing a second person. If you need to forge special shapes, you could mount a swage block with a special shape, on which you could hammer out your special shapes. There are several other things you can do.
There are thousands of different tools which can be mounted to make the smiths life easier. Many of them are still in use today. I was told that there are smiths helpers in the smithing museum, of which today noone remembers their use. Weirdly shaped pieces of metal that fit a hardy hole, whose purpose is lost in the mists of time.
Smithing is a race against the clock. Not only in terms of working fast to make more money, but also because as soon as you pull the stock out of the fire, it starts cooling down and you need to get as much work done as quickly as possible.
That is very nicely done.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarkus
In terms of resembling a real anvil, there are only a couple of details wrong.
First of all, it needs a square hardy hole (somewhere on the surface which is inside the circumference of the anvil base) and a round punch hole (somewhere on the surface which is outside the circumference of the anvil base).
And secondly, the 'step' between the anvil surface and the horn is usually a bit wider. As it is, this one is not really usable from hammering or chiseling.
You don't need one anvil, you need two anvils!! I'm sure if I ever tried this, I'd know exactly where it would come down, and that would depend on where I chose to park my rig.
How to Shoot an Anvil 200 Feet in the Air - YouTube
Small anvil I just made.
Attachment 128329
Semi gloss, Mirror is not so good for an goldsmiths anvil, with 60w halogen lights and 12x head loupe you almost go blind!
The rough bottom part is actually not so badly made as it looks, it was cut with plastic and copper sheet metal.
Edit; it's a piece of S10-70/10 mining rail
Thanks for the input guys, some great anvils here !!
Okay so this anvil hunting is a lot like bass fishing for me now. I had a nibble today and it was a 189 pound Ameritige Mouse Hole for 300. I did some research while I waited for the call back and found it dated about 1875, forged layers of wrought iron up to the top of steel . I was ready to set the hook but I went to look at the ad again and it was taken down. Another 1 got away.
I got one...Forged even....
It is a Wilkinson 110 lb. The good news is it was only $150, the bad was I had to drive 540 miles to get it. The fella that sold it to me said a guy was coming to look at it on the 8th but his offering was by the pound. He was afraid the guy was a greedy cuss so he sold it to me knowing I would love it. I asked a ton about it before I went there, made him test for dead spots and made the guy take more pics with a straight edge on the face, LOL. Apparently it was purchased and used by a copper mine in Kingman Az. until or in 1910, I forget which. That is where I went to get it from. I haven't looked up any info on it yet but I am thinking it is 1900 or earlier. It seems there were 3 Wilkison brothers in a small town in England that made them.
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The stamping is not perfect and neither are the pictures. But I got lucky, the condition of it is great.
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That's a good observation. Consider that this was a skill long in training, few in mastery and absolutely essential. The blacksmith was a metal worker, shamanic figure for many cultures. Only a select few were chosen. Godlike men in their day.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
The guy that had this collection called some of the indentations church windows. They were smaller and looked like little arches. I saw a guy on you tube turn an anvil on it's side and turn a flat piece of sheet into what looked like a shoulder piece for armor. The dished out areas of the anvil sides looked different in size also. I have a feeling that the whole anvil was used in some way to shape something. There is a lot to be learned by reading the descriptions on those pictures. I think if a blacksmith made many of 1 certain thing he surely had an anvil design that made it possible if not just easier to do. Not to bring the blacksmith down a notch. Any man that could take from the earth and make a weapon of iron, or a tool to break ground for planting was a man you would want to praise at the very least.
I once saw footage of a sheffield master smith, forging small knife blades.
His anvil didn't look anything like mine. It looked like it had been through the shredder. It is a collection of small surfaces, protrusions and edges. Everything has a specific function, and it allowed him to hammer out a small blade without ever needing to use a hardy or swage block.
I'll take two, three if you include the loose piece of RR track on the ground that occasionally gets beaten. The vertical piece of track is what I started with. In the hardy hole is a fuller my son & I made from a jack hammer bit, the other half of the bit is next to it, which is used as a cutoff hardy.
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