Off topic...if you were to break the horn off an anvil

C L Wilkins

C L Wilkins

Joined
Mar 18, 1999
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...how would you do it? I've read that during the Civil War, Union troops, when they found an anvil in the south, would break the horn off so horseshoes couldn't readily be made. How would this be done...to break an anvil?

Just curious...

Craig
 
A couple guys with large slegdes, I would guess.

Seems like a lot of work, though....
"Hey Sarge, it's another anvil!"
"Anvil? I don't see any anvil ...."
 
In the Civil War they took lengths of railroad track , heated up the center and wrapped them around a tree !! Perhaps they heated the anvil and smashed the horn.
 
Acording to Postman, the guy who wrote Anvils in America, that's just an urban (rural?) legend. Just because some old anvils were found missing horns people assumed that's what happened. If they were going to I'd say the two guys with sledges would do the job though, especially if the horn was pre-notched. As far as I know, the RR track around trees is true though.
 
why did they wrap the trach around a tree?

maybe theyy could snap the horn of by heat ing it unevinaly and then throwing water on it, if done right i would think it would crack.

brett
 
C L Wilkins said:
...how would you do it? I've read that during the Civil War, Union troops, when they found an anvil in the south, would break the horn off so horseshoes couldn't readily be made. How would this be done...to break an anvil?

Just curious...

Craig
Click to expand...

Craig

I believe a heafty blow or two with a 10 pownder, about three inches from the tip of the horn would probably snap it off. Or you could just give it to your typical 12 year old and tell him not to pound on the horn!

Jim Arbuckle

PS I finished my kiln, want photos?
 
The railroad track thing - I've seen either photos or drawings and read first hand accounts -the march through Georgia. Makes it a bit difficult to reuse the track !!!
 
I bought a anvil off a old blacksmith (in his 80's) That had the horn busted off.....And it wasnt from the war.He said he did it one winter morning when it was extremely cold and didnt pre-heat the anvil well enough.One hammer blow and the horn litteraly sheared off clean as a whistle.....I would say this would be a more likely situation for the horn less anvils from the war.The captured anvils would have been worth to much to either side to have ruined.They were easily transported on the wagons with the smiths,were the track wasnt feasable to try and take on campaign...

Bruce
 
C L Wilkins said:
...how would you do it? I've read that during the Civil War, Union troops, when they found an anvil in the south, would break the horn off so horseshoes couldn't readily be made. How would this be done...to break an anvil?

Just curious...

Craig
Click to expand...


To break the horn of an anvil the first thing I'd think you'd need was the name John Henry on your birth certificate.
 
i dont know allot about anvils but i do know heat anything up and then change the temp fast it will crack..i know this is done with rock why not metal.
 
Since most anvils are casted,even back during the war,When out in freezing temps or just close they will break very easily with a good sharp blow.We would always wait till cold weather in the scrap yard to bust up old casted machine parts,we didnt have the big machines for crushing it.I have a old anvil sitting in front of the shop that has from half the hardy hole to the end broke off,Some day I will do something with it,but now it makes good decoration.

Bruce
 
bruce ive quenched before and didnt even think about that. i was just thinkin about how to break something thick and remembered hearing people would set fire on rock and then hit it with water to crack it. lol it was late though forgive me.
 
Vinney...I just couldnt help myself:D :D

River rocks bust from being heated,that was why I was always taught to never use river rocks as a fire circle.I have had plenty of steel crack in a quench so you are also correct there also.

Bruce
 
alot of the very old anvils... with wrought iron bodies and steel face plates are made of several blocks all hammer welded together... some up to 7 pieces..

it maybe that the horn split off at a weld boundary..


Greg
 
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