railroad rail anvil - 'restored' photos

J

jiminy

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As first seen yesterday in this thread:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=341975

After 4 hours of:
1) Sanding down the face with a belt sander ...(there were a ton of dents in the face), being careful not to make sparks and ruin the hardness of the rail, and finishing up with a palm sander.

2) Using a drill with a wire brush chucked into it to remove as much of the rust on the body of the anvil as I could.

3) Giving the body of the anvil a coat of black RustOleum spray paint (underneath all that rust there appeared to be what remained of some black paint)

Here's the result ...a quasi-'restored' railroad rail anvil. (I left the edges looking a little 'rustic' so as to not remove all the character of the old beast). It still needs another coat or two of black RustOleum, as I missed a few spots and ran out, but that will have to wait for another day.

restored_anvil1.jpg

restored_anvil2.jpg


and for a side-by-side comparison, one of the original photos
anvil3.jpg
 
Still haven't cleaned the truck hood tho.... :D

Nice looking anvil.

General question guys,

Whats the best way to mount these things? Is the any way to minimize the ring? I think Raymond Richards stuck a 4" magnet on his anvil. Would wrapping a chain and anchoring it that way help? Just tossing out thoughts...
 
If you chrome plated it you could use it as a hood ornament !
 
Still haven't cleaned the truck hood tho....
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lol! Nope. I haven't washed that truck in over a year :)
If you chrome plated it you could use it as a hood ornament !
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LOL! Yes I could, although I wouldn't want to be in the vehicle that gets into an accident with me (or a bystander) ...when that anvil rips loose from the hood (or yanks the entire hood off) and becomes airborne. Imagine explaining that one to the cops :)

Is the any way to minimize the ring?
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I just ran across that information somewhere, maybe here ...anyways, supposedly if you put a rubber pad between the anvil and whatever you mount it on it will lessen the ring. (I also saw that the ideal mounting platform for an anvil is still an upright piece of tree stump.)
 
Nice job bro.

Could you guys tell me if this anvil seems like it's worth obtaining? I could get it for a very low price, but some guys have told me that this old Fisher is not worth restoring. Too many chips out of it, and would need too much work, to get it right... What you guys think? It's a 100lb or so Fisher...
 
Wow, that anvil has seen some use. Here's an article about Fisher anvils:
http://pages.friendlycity.net/~krucker/Anvil/fisher.htm

As you can see, they are cast iron with a welded steel face, so they don't 'ring', they 'thud' ...which is normally a sign of a 'dead' (cracked weld) anvil, except in the case of Fisher anvils.
There still appears to be enough of a face left to work on if you could get it smooth, although it looks like the edges are pretty well gone. The horn still looks good.
In any case, were I you I would give it a try, for $50 or $75 you can't go wrong. You would almost have to see how it goes once you start sanding down the face, and see whether the steel face starts coming off in chunks or not, and whether it is salvagable. Start with a belt sander or grinder and slowly take the face down to where you have clean metal (or as clean as you can get it). The rest of it I would do with a wire brush bit in a drill. It also helps if you hose it off with WD40 before you start. Once you've got as much of the rust off as you can, mask off the face and spray paint it with a can of RustOleum.

One other option would be that if the face is coming off in chunks, chisel the rest of it off and weld a new steel face onto the anvil. Were I you I would probably try to harden the plate prior to welding it on, then torch harden the edges where the welds are if needed. (If you use a thick enough plate, you probably wouldn't even have to worry about hardening around the weld.)
The other hardening method requires heating up the face with torch(es) while a stream of water comes behind the torches to harden the metal. This is acomplished with the anvil sitting on a slope, so that the flow of water is directed downhill from the flame, and moves with the flame as it travels uphill up the anvil.

In any case, it's a 105 year old beast that deserves the attempt, IMHO.
 
By the way, were I to attempt to put a new face on that old anvil, I would probably look for a piece of 3/4" plate steel, cut to size and hardened. Then grind down the top of the anvil as flat as you can get it, and adhere the new plate to the anvil with JBWeld (yeah, it may take a half dozen packs of the stuff or so). Then, after the JBWEld cures, arc weld around the edges and grind the edges flush. That should work.
Others around here may have some better ideas than mine on how to accomplish this.

Interesting to note that in the Fisher anvils, the horn is also constructed of hardened steel (as opposed to other anvils having a cast horn), and along with the plate steel is placed in the bottom of the upside down anvil mold, heated to cherry red, and the molten iron poured in on top to form the bond. Evidently the steel horn extends well back into the body of the anvil.

The bottom line is if you were to restore or replate the face of the old Fisher, you would end up with a fine historic old anvil worth probably quite a few hundred dollars. Not to mention the 'cool' factor :)
 
Thanks jiminy,
Wish it was that easy. Not sure if I want to attempt all that, as I've never resurfaced an anvil before myself.
Not too big of a deal, but I may find someone who could help out.
I'd love to have this anvil in good shape again...
 
Good job on the railroad anvil :)

Speaking of trucks and foot free anvils ~ I once had my 150 lb Gardner come free in the bed of my truck. It slid forward at a "rapid" rate and punched its horn through the bed of my truck. The noise was incredibly loud, the truck shook, and I think I soiled myself :D
 
where you guys get RR track from? i can get RR spikes, but the only way i can get some is to rip of C.X.R.R. and thats kinda illegal, especially if you get caught! im asking because i have a really old anvil, but the pits are so deep that if i where to grind them out i would go through the hard face and hit the wrought iron below.im so sick of working around the pits i need something new. i did pay less than a dollar a pound for the one i have though! i think about $0.75. im about ready to get a mild steel block like lively knives uses. http://www.livelyknives.com/basicsetup.htm
they dont look very dinged, especially for mild steel. they make some very nice knives, and seem pretty proffesional. the've been making knives for years, and havent bought a real anvil from what ive seen. so i imagine that the mild steel block works pretty well. what do you guys think? even if it does get beat up itd be easy to reface. anybody know if i can get a HTed block of steel from admiral or someplace?
maybe i could put some of this heat stop paste around the pits on my anvil, and use a stick welder with a special rod to fill the pits, i believe this rod is called stuedie rod. i figure the rod will fill in the pits, but the paste will allow the area around the pit to retain its hardness. if you read the info on the site they say you can hold a bar of red hot steel if this is put on it before hand, i figure this would work on the anvil face.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/Store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=1121&title=HEAT+STOP? HEAT CONTROL PASTE
thanks
 
also could you guys tell me if my anvil is a fisher? im not sure, it has a steel fac with a wrought iron center and top of the horn, but the base is cast, as with the bottom half of the horn. i has a little ring. i just read somemore of your guyses post and think refacing my anvil might work, but doesnt it lose inportant qualities by welding a new face on? isnt there some kind of bounce that the hammer does that will be lost with a refaced anvil? ive noticed my hammer bounces high of the face if i let it, and ive heard this is for keeping a rhythm while hammering. any thoughts? i imagine a refaced anvil is better than a badly pitted one not matter what is lost. anyone know where to get the hardened plates from? what steel?
 
as I've never resurfaced an anvil before myself
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It's actually easier than it sounds. If you've ever used a basic hand-held beltsander before, you can resurface an anvil. I used a 60 grit belt on a little Skil 'Classic' model (I would have used a 40 grit if I had one), and simply passed the sander slowly back and forth lengthwise over the top of the anvil, taking it down slowly in an even manner. All it takes is time.
As for the Fisher anvil, I see where you can get a similar one in decent condition for about $250 + shipping ($50+) on some of the eBay stores, so one has to calculate what it would cost to restore the old Fisher. For starters all is takes is a belt sander and a few hours time. I imagine one could price out the cost of a new metal plate for the face by calling a local welding shop and asking them. Heck, they may be so pleased to help restore the old anvil they'll give you a discount on the price of the plate and the welding ...it doesn't hurt to ask :)
where you guys get RR track from?
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The railroad anvil I got came from a house that was being sold. The folks were moving out of state after getting remarried (their respective spouses had died), and were in the process of packing up the woman's property and getting rid of the stuff that had accumulated for the 40+ years she had lived there. I actually got to come in (after family members) and take everything I could use from the barn. I ended up with a pickup full of assorted tools, including the anvil. (The anvil had been the woman's deceased husband's grandfathers.) It was a lucky day for me, no doubt.

As for where to get old railroad rail ...try a metal salvage yard, as they at times have some around, or may have an idea where to get some from.
also could you guys tell me if my anvil is a fisher? im not sure, it has a steel fac with a wrought iron center and top of the horn, but the base is cast, as with the bottom half of the horn. i has a little ring. i just read somemore of your guyses post and think refacing my anvil might work, but doesnt it lose inportant qualities by welding a new face on?
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If it's a Fisher, it should say 'Fisher' on the base of it. (It doesn't sound like a Fisher, as the Fishers have a solid steel horn.) As for refacing the anvil with a steel plate ...if the choice is reface or use as a doorstop, I think I'd reface it :)

By the way, thanks for all the nice comments.
The railroad rail anvil works just fine. I attached a piece of bitithane (a type of bituminous self-adhesive self-sealing roofing membrane) to the underside of the anvil's base and then bolted it to a piece of tree stump. It definitely helped to muffle the ring somewhat ...which I'm sure the neighbors appreciate. The only thing I wish it had was a hardy hole.
 
There were quite a few Fisher anvils that were NOT labeled. Do a google search for one of the websites that give Fisher history details, and see that they will tell you many Fishers were not marked with the "FISHER" letters...
 
maybe i have an early model fisher? or one of their last runs. the body is pitted, and had been painted a couple times, so i cant see any marks. what do you guys think about the heat paste, and arc welder idea?
 
I was able to get 39" leangth of RR rail from a local blacksmith, I've been working on making it into an anvil today. I also checked the local scrap metal yard, and they had some as well. They said that a 24" section would run me about $10 - $15.
 
That anvil cleaned up a treat. Remember to think outside the box. If you get tired of black smithing you could bolt it onto a Yachet as a winged keel.

I have a small anvil about that size I still use for a making damascus. A big anvil as some advantages but you can do anything on that nice job.
 
maybe i have an early model fisher? or one of their last runs. the body is pitted, and had been painted a couple times, so i cant see any marks.
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It doesn't sound like it by your description.
Although it's true that some Fisher's were unmarked, your description said that the anvil's horn was cast with a steel surface. Fisher anvils have a solid steel horn, so that's the giveaway that your anvil is most likely not a Fisher.
 
Hey jiminy,
Well, whadda ya know? I just scored a 200lb Hay Budden today FOR FREE! I put it on a bathroom scale, and it reads 195lbs, so I'm not sure if this could be actual weight, or if it is probably exactly 200lbs?
Anyhow, I have pics, and as soon as my buddy resizes them, I'll post them.
It's a little worn, but not nearly as bad as many I've seen.
I would also like to know what should be done to this one, to make it better.
We'll see.
Anyhow, this Hay Budden was found in an old boxcar on a shut down railroad track, within a 5000 acre farm in Texas. The guy who gave me this anvil said he tore into the railcar years ago, and found the anvil, a stove, and a small bed. Looked like someone had been living in the railcar.
Anyhow, I'm still trying to decide what to do to it. I'll get a wire brush on a drill to it, and see what that does maybe. There isn't much rust at all though. It's very clean.
There are a few chips on the edges of the face.
It's such a great score for me. Hope to post pics soon.
 
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