New to me anvil.Help please.

M

mad bodhi

Joined
Nov 7, 2004
Messages
86
just picked up a long desired item.An anvil.Had a few questions i was hoping someone could help with.

Any ideas on what brand it is? I just figured it was cast iron or wrought iron base with a hardened steel face,am I right?

The entire thing is covered in paint,i was going to use a sanding block on it.what grit should I stop at or is there a better method.

What is the hole in the body for ? A manufacturing thing or is it for use ?

I take it that the 21 stamped in is the weight in that funny english system,what does it translate to in lbs.?


Iv'e been off and on lusting after an anvil for some time,have done some research but this was kind of a last minute buy.This anvil practically throws the hammer back at me when i tap it. I got it for $255 on Ebay. So am I a champ or a chump.
anvil013.jpg

anvil010.jpg

anvil007.jpg

anvil004.jpg
 
Looks like your a champ! Not sure, but I think it's a Peter Wright too. The holes in the top are the "Hardy" (the square hole) and the Pritchle (round)...used for tools and things. The hole in the body/waist is what they used to grab it with tongs when being made.
Nice score.
Mace
 
Looks like you got a GREAT BUY! As good rebound as you say, looks pretty clean no large bits missing or weld repairs(like mine hehe). I agree with Mace looks like a Peter Wright. Use a dust mask and flap disc at 80 or 120 grit to remove all the paint, and then you might find the maker's marks stamped in.
 
Seems a good anvil to me, aspecially for the rebound.
The 21 is in the hundredweight system (symbol: cwt, where C is the roman number for one hundred, and wt is the abbreviation for weight), which is 112 pounds per hundredweight in the british system, and 100 pounds in the US.
Moreover, the hundredweight system has a complex marking system, composed of two or three numbers.
The first number is the number of hundredweight, the second is in quarters of hundredweight, the third in actual pounds.
The figures are spearated by dots.
Another hundredweight based system is in stones, wherte there are 8 stones in one hundredweight, each stone being 14 lbs.
Since there are just two figures in your anvil, I suppose the weight it's not expressed in actual hundredweight, or it would be 2.1.0 (the dots in markings are bewteen numbers, not at the base of the number).

So it could be 21 stones, or 294 lbs = 134 kgs.
If it were in hundredweight it would be 2 hundredweight and one quarter hundredweight, = 252 lbs, but as said the marking isn't right for that kind of measurement, so I'd go for a weight expressed in stones.
The holes in the base were used for holding the anvil when quenching it, and sometimes are used also for fixing the anvil to a wooden block.

Edited to add: it could also be as kba knife said: 250, with the weight expressed in ten pound figures.
If the numbers are raised, you have a cast body anvil and the number is expressed in ten pounds. Have you got a picture of the stamping?
 
Second picture shows the stamping,lower right of picture.It is stamped in and not raised.I put some wire brush time in to clean off some of the layers of paint and have not yet found any other markings.
 
Oh, yes! Now I can see it...
Is that a dot bewteen 2 and 1, or just a spot in the paint?
 
I really think could be the weight in stones, then. Even if it looks a little small to me, to weigh so much. But I could be wrong. I'm used to the italian pattern anvil, so I'm not good at judging london pattern anvils.;)
 
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