Subject: anvils

From: "Steven O. Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 16:48:20 GMT

[email-masked] wrote:
> 
> Would you please advise me as to how to
> 
> identify/test an anvil for quality?
> 
> What are good brandnames?
> 
> What size (pounds) would you recommend
> 
> for ornamental wrought iron items, such
> 
> as sconces and brackets.
> 
> What is a fair method of pricing an anvil?
> 
> Thank you all,
> 
> Richard Hoffman

Dear Richard,

I don't know a good way to test an anvil unless you are an experienced
smith. If you tap it with a hammer, some ring and some don't--the ring
is not a good quality indicator, just shows how it was made. If the
anvil is cast (such as showing raised letters on the side), be
especially careful. There are some great cast anvils, and some very
cheap ones. The cheap ones dent quite easily, and you want to avoid
them. If your tap left a noticeable impression, don't buy it. 

Fisher, Haybudden, Peter Wright are all excellent anvils. 

Blackhawk is a cheap, poor anvil.

Buy the largest anvil that is practical for you. Considerations include
budget, portability, and your shop space. You may only need 50-75 pounds
for sconces and brackets, but your interests may change. You can always
make tiny bicks and tools for a large anvil, but you cannot enlarge a
small anvil. Whatever you end up with, it will be a better anvil if it
is well tied down to a sturdy stand. If you don't want to make the stand
a part of the floor (bury or concrete it), then use a stand with a good
sized footprint, something nice and stable. 

Anvils are inevitably sold by the pound. Page Thomas wrote the
dimensional info below on an email list "TheForge". Anvils often have a
weight cast or stamped in the side. The stamped weights on older anvils
are usually in hundredweights. The older anvils will have three groups
of numbers on them as follows:

	2		0		22

What these mean are 2 hundredweights, 0 quarters of hundredweights, and
twenty two pounds. A hundredweight is 112 pounds, so the above anvil
weighs 2*112 + 0*112/4 + 22 = 246 pounds. It is important to know the
weight of the anvil you are buying, as people often have no idea how
much it weighs. My big Peter Wright (example above) I could see weighed
246 pounds, but the former owner thought it weighed 175. We were both
happy with the price we agreed on.

Anvil prices vary dramatically with availability. Here in Colorado,
there isn't a lot of blacksmithing stuff available, and anvils almost
never sell for less than $2 per pound, often more. Out east and in
midwest farm country (Iowa), prices are probably half this. Farm
auctions are a good place, although not necessarily the best price.
Small anvils (100 pounds and less) seem to command a premium--all I can
figure is that there are a lot more people competing in that price
range. 

---------------------------
>From  Page Thomas:
One can estimate the weight of a standard anvil by its dimensions.

10lb anvil.
face is 6 x 2; horn, 3 1/2"; hgt., 4"; base, 3 1/2"

100lb.
face, 14 x 3 3/8; horn, 9 3/4"; waist, 5"; heal, 13/16; drop, 13/16, hh,
7/8

125lb
face, 15 1/2x3 1/2; horn 10 1/2; waist, 5 1/4; heal, 7/8; dp, 7/8; hh,
15/16

160lb
face, 17 1/2x4; horn, 11 1/2; waist, 5 1/2; heal, 15/16; drop, 15/16;
hh, 1"

200lb
face 19x4 1/4; horn, 12; waist, 6; heal, 1, drop, 1; hh, 1 1/16

225lb
face, 19 1/2x4 1/2; horn, 12 1/2; waist, 6 1/2; heal, drop, 1 1/16, hh,
1 1/16

900lb
face 28 x 8 horn, 19"; height, 18; base 19x16; hh 2"

A farrier's anvil with usually have a longer horn and shorter face, but 
other dimensions are close.

One should be able to estimate the weight of their anvil, + - 25 lbs.

Page
---------------------------

For ornamental work, I often end up applying some specially shaped tool
to the metal. This is a problem; one hand holds the work, one the tool,
and one the hammer. One quick solution that works rather well is a
weighted chain (roller chain) holding the work to the anvil. An
excellent solution is a treadle hammer, but that's another project.

If you are not aware of the ArtMetal and ABANA web pages, or of
TheForge email list, write me for details.

-- 
Steven O. Smith
[email-masked]

---

From: "Steven O. Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 16:13:38 GMT

darylb wrote:

> Maybe you could help with my query. I was at an antique store this weekend...
> 
> The funny thing is the flat surface has some tiny bubble type holes like
> it was cast. Did anybody ever make a bick iron out of cast iron or am I
> looking at cast steel? How could I tell the difference. You would think
> that this is specialized enough equipment that only serious manufacturers
> would make one and hence I can't beleive it would be cast iron but am
> wondering as it would be used for delicate work and maybe sombody thought
> they could pull off a cast iron one. I don't want to break my bick as it
> were.
> 
> Curious
> Daryl

Sorry Daryl, haven't a clue. You seem to have it right--why would you
make it cast, and how else do you get little bubbles?

Could the bubbles be corrosion pits?

Steven O. Smith
[email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (darylb)
Date: 5 Dec 1996 21:03:50 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, "Steven O. Smith" <[email-masked]> wrote:

...snip...

> Could the bubbles be corrosion pits?

Naw they're too deep. Do you know of a simple test to tell cast iron
appart from cast steel without breaking the part?

Daryl

-- 
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