vulcan anvil?

K

Keith Willis

Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
812
This anvil belong to my wife's great uncle,who passed away about 30 years ago.My wife's great aunt passed away 2 weeks ago,and all that she had was left to my father-in-law.The anvil was in an old storage building and my wife's dad gave it to me.It looks as though it was used very little,and it has great rebound.Does anyone know anything about these anvils?
 
While Vulcan Anvils may not be known as the "best" for rebound, the pristine condition of that anvil more than makes up for any other detractions. Having smooth edges and a smooth face keeps your knife forging free from a lot of dings you would rather avoid. The minimal edge chipping near the horn end would be a perfect excuse to slightly radius a short section of the edge with judicious use of an angle grinder, giving you a choice between square and radiused edges depending on your work needs.

I believe Bill Buxton has forged most all his knives on a Vulcan, and he certainly seems to do just fine with one. :)

Helluva nice score.
 
I just bought a hundred pound Vulcan on Sunday, but it's not as nice as yours. I'm a newbie, so I'm interested in what others have to say about it too.
 
I'll take it..........

No wait, this is not the for sale area is it?

That one looks to be in pretty darned good shape. It is just begging to be used. While the rebound may not be the best, you can certainly do some fine forging on it.

Use it, and if you get to a point that you don't like it, just let me know.

Robert
 
Throw some paint on that, sand the face a little and it will look brand new. Nice score!

I've forged on a few Vulcans and liked them quite a bit. They are notorious for having REALLY bad chips/gouges in the edges of the face... I don't think I've ever seen one so nice as yours.

Clean it up and put it to use! :D

(okay, I'm an anal retentive freak and would clean it before using it, but I guess you don't HAVE to ;) ).
 
Yep thats my anvil, I'll trade you a good RR rail for it. :D

I mounted mine on about a 3' long log some 20 + inches in diameter. dug it down in the ground to where the top of the anvil was knuckle high with my arms hanging straight down when I was standing next to it. I've forged a many a blades and hawks off this old anvil and its a good one, everyone say vulcans are loosey anvils but mine has no annoying ring and it rebounds plenty for knife work. Now go out and use it and have fun.

Bill
 
Vulcans had a cast iron body with a relatively thin, hardened working face either welded, or some say simply brazed, in place.

They're pretty decent, the cast tends to damp the "ring" and the faces are usually pretty hard.

Not the best available, but pretty decent, actually.

Doc.
 
Wire brush the rust away. Paint it with Ferox or similar anti-rust and then dark green, gray or red paint (depending upon tastes) and clean face with wire brush.
Dress edges at a 1/16 to 1/8" radius to avoid chipping, and use it.
You could always sell it and buy a better one if you don't like it.
 
Well,as i hear it the Vulcan is not the best there is,however,givin the fact that it has been in my wife's family for a number of years,i think i'll keep it and put it to good use.
Thanks for all the comments,Keith
 
Not the best there is, but still QUITE useable and MUCH better than many of the things being sold as anvils these days. It's like buying a Honda Civic, or buying a Porche, the vulcan is a civic, a nice pedinghaus forged anvil or a nimba or something would be the porche. They both do the job, and do it reliably. Just be glad you're not using the harbor fright junkyard Yugo.
 
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