I call her "Double Ought".

P. McKinley

P. McKinley

Joined
Jan 27, 2008
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This morning I picked up this anvil for a friend who had purchased it from afar. I have no real idea of the weight, but closing in on 300lbs for sure. Its 35" end to end. Both sides have been abused "a bit", and there's some sway-back in the face plate, and some work to clean up the edges and shelf, but for $200.00, I figure its a fair deal.

I had a go at the sides with a wire brush to see if I could distinguish and markings only to uncover a distinct "PA", and below and to the left an "AN", both seen in the 3rd and 4th shots. There are other letters there, just indecipherable.

Can anyone shed some light on the make of this beast?

Thanks,

-Peter















And, the other side of the story......


 
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With the flats on the feet if say it's a Peter Wright. The PA is part of PATENT and AN is ENGLAND
 
It would have said
PETER
WRIGHT
PATENT
ENGLAND
With Solid Wrought in a circle at the narrowest part of the waist where the Hundredweights would line up. The 1/4 hundred weight would be stamped inside the circle of Solid Wrought.
 
A lot of smiths would test the points of punches and chisels on the soft wrought iron body of their anvil. If it cut in without damaging the tool being tested, it was good.

"Double Ought" looks about right on this one!
 
Thanks guys.
I have a 137# Peter Wright in my shop. This larger one here, although with what looks to be an extended bick, does have the same base design, and overall profile as mine. The top plate really isn't that bad. Its still thick enough to be milled/ground(??) flat, and when the edges radiused much of the chipping and deformation will disappear.

What's the "Y"-shaped hardy tool used for......bending? It, and the two hot-cuts came with the anvil.

-Peter
 
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Storm Crow said:
A lot of smiths would test the points of punches and chisels on the soft wrought iron body of their anvil. If it cut in without damaging the tool being tested, it was good.

"Double Ought" looks about right on this one!
Click to expand...

Yep, you beat me to it. Not the first anvil Ive saw like that..
 
I wouldn't mill her at all. Just clean up the edges a bit. To mill it is taking a risk. IF you did you would flip the anvil on its top and mill the feet square to the face before milling the top. But, as there isn't any major pitting I wouldn't do it.


I would take a flap wheel to the sides and a twisted wire cup wheel to the rest.
 
Brian,
That seems backwards. Why would I mill the base to conform to the uneven top?
Mind you, whatever gets done to this anvil is not my choice, and the new owner knows better than I about blacksmithing. I was just curious about your comment.

-Peter

Brian Ayres said:
To mill it is taking a risk. IF you did you would flip the anvil on its top and mill the feet square to the face before milling the top.
Click to expand...
 
Just my opinion but milling an anvil face just reduces the thickness of your, well anvil face..Since the face is just a tool steel plate welded on a wrought body you only have so much tool steel there..I don't think that anvil is that bad anyway honestly..I have an old Trenton farriers anvil that's as swayed back as a rented mule..Still a good "working" anvil with plenty of rebound. Its not our main anvil but still after you work on it a while you kind of forget about the sway and just work with and around it..
 
The reason you would square up the feet first is that often anvils feet often will not be square to the top. I have a pristine 180# Arm&Hammer anvil that the heel is 1/2" higher than the face at the horn. If it was milled(god forbid) then the heel would lose most of its tool steel and lose it's rebound.
Joshua Kavvet who owns the rights to Fisher & Norris anvils and has a museum says the faceplates on them is in the range of 5/8" thick at its thickest. If you mill 3/8" sway out of an anvil it will lose most of it's tool steel.
 
A good machinist would leave the feet alone and shim it level, taking a few measurements while doing so to minimize the material removed from the top. You'd know before taking the first cut exactly how much was going to be removed and from where. You might intentionally minimize the cut by leaving a few areas that don't completely clean up, and again, you'd know where and how much before taking the first cut.

Edit: that ain't buck shot on the side. I've shot an anvil with buck shot, it doesn't dent much. Looks like hits with a square tool of some kind. Perhaps this was being used as a back stop for some kind of piercing operation?
 
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