Okay, the way I understand it, is the "three piece" faces were used up until 1885 or so. Then, "ENGLAND" was added on the side after 1910.
So if you have a one-piece face (I've never seen a three-piece, but I assume the seams would be at least slightly visible) and it only says "PETER WRIGHT PATENT" and "Solid Wrought" in a circle, on the side, then it's from between 1885 and 1910.
By far the most common Wrights you'll find out there. PW imported tens, if not hundreds of thousands to the US.
Personally, I would not grind on the face until you've had a chance to work it. Small hammer dings, while unsightly, don't affect the workpiece that much, but if you have actual chips or craters, those probably ought to be taken care of.
Now, the problem here is that the "faceplate" is fairly thin. Wrights like yours were made in three pieces; the "foot" and the main body including the horn, made of wrought iron, and a plate of high-carbon "tool" steel, all of which were forge-welded together and then quenched. The faceplate is only about 3/8" thick, and that assumes no
previous owner has ground on it, and that assumes the swayback is from hammering, and not abrasive wear.
I elected to repair mine with careful welding. I turned
this, which had damage including
this crater about the size of a quarter and almost 1/8" deep, and
badly rounded corners (that was the
good end!) into
this.
Now, it's still swaybacked slightly (down to about 1/16", half of what it was) and there's some question as to how well my welds will hold up, and they're definitely becoming noticible as I use it (the welds apparently don't abrade as much as the original face, so they're starting to appear as spots that are still a little shiny) but it's a damn sight better than what I started with.
You can see a better closeup
here, in this shot of my fancy hammer.
I also repaired the nose of the
horn by simple
MIG welding and grinding back to
shape, then building up the table over 1/4", again with multiple MIG passes and a quick trip through the
mill.
Last, I also had to build up and redress the hardy hole as well. Multiple small nicks and divots in the face, I ground out with a tiny abrasive wheel in a Dremel (to make the repaired spot as small as possible) and then filled in with the
TIG.
The best filler wire I found, by the way, believe it or not, was
screen door springs. I'm not kidding, it's great stuff, though there's some question as to the exact alloy. I'm told it's probably 1095, so I plan on buying a roll direct, if I can, and test it some more.
Keep the beads small and short, and they self-quench to file-hard. No further heat-treating work hardening necessary. I literally couldn't mark the welds with a center punch, although there's some variable annealing once they're ground down, as a fresh pass slightly anneals the pass below. I'm guessing it winds up around 52 to 58 Rockwell C, mostly higher, as even ground and sanded, a sharp file will only slightly cut a few spots.
If yours is as good as you say, I'd just run a belt sander down it to level anything sticking up (dings and the like) and smooth the chipped spots lightly. Then just use it for a while, and see if any of the damage really gets in your way, or causes other problems.
Doc.
