Unidentified Anvil or Hammer?

B

Blue Sasquatch

Joined
Nov 30, 2012
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83
The farm has this odd sledgehammer, with it being unbalanced it is terrible for swinging, we use it to close gates on grain bins, using it in a pendulum fashion.

Well at one point somebody saw it and told us without hesitation that it was an anvil used for working on the railroads, portable and sorta hand held. It does have an anvil like look to it, but whenever we try to Google or search for similar things all we get are those damn railroad tie home-made anvils. As I am wanting to try and forge a few Axes and maybe Knives, It would work perfectly as a smaller anvil for me.

Even if it is not a railroad anvil, it will still suffice as said anvil. However for curiosity's sake we have to find out exactly what this damned thing is.
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Thanks!
 
How long is the handle? It looks like a top fuller. You place the round part on the metal and strike the sledge part with another hammer.
 
That's a "shop made" cross-pien sledge hammer. The cross pien is a bit wonky from differential hardening, I would think, but still entirely serviceable. Old, yes, but not a field anvil by any stretch of the imagination.

That's not to say that it won't work as an anvil, however. Primitive cultures in India, Pakistan and sub-saharan africa still use sledgehammers as anvils. Just bury the other half in the dirt and get to pounding!
 
bldsmth, the give away of 'pein' vs 'fuller' is the mass of the flat striking side/surface. This much mass would reduce the force imparted to the piece being worked. Additionally, the broad face would amplify the effects of slightly miss-aimed blows from the tool striking it.
Best,
Steve
 
Yes, It would work better as a bottom fuller, where the excess mass helps. I have seen some pretty wide fullers used for drawing, but agree that the narrower ones are easier to fuller with.

I also agree with Vaughn that it looks shop made from a standard sledge.
 
It looks like it may have been cut from a 12lb. sledge. I have got one and when you got a hold of it you knew you had a sledge in your hand. I have got to old to swing it anymore but use it sometimes as a makeshift anvil!
The average sledge is 8lb. so at twelve pounds you really could feel the difference when you swung it. We used to have a concrete crew that did work for us and they had a fellar that arms bigger than my legs, he used a 25lb. sledge for breaking poured curbs where they had to cut a curb to pour the driveway for a house. I swear when he hit those curbs you could feel the ground shake! They would dig out behind the curb and make a cut at both ends. He would the walk along the curb hitting the back edge with that 25lb sledge and usually no more than three or four blows and he would pop of the entire back edge of the curb and it was ready to pour the driveway!:eek:

If that was a commercial sledge and not one homemade it should have a weight stamp, usually located close to the handle!
 
It's not shop made these were made specifically as blacksmith sledges, nor is it a top or bottom fuller.

Didn't need weight stamps back then, you either could swing it or not didn't matter how heavy it was.
 
I agree with Sam, that it probably wasn't ground from a full sledge but made exactly as you see it(I may be wrong, though). It looks like someone had been using the side face of it to hot cut on.
 
Looks similar to this one. My dad bought.this one for $5 back in the mid-70's. Its stamped 24 for 24 lbs near the handle. It takes some grunt to swing, but its nice for moving big steel when you don't have a power hammer.

2012-12-08_14-40-08_666-2.jpg
 
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