What's going on with this anvil?

Wade Jones

Wade Jones

Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
183
Was browsing CL ads and saw this:
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Does he have something welded to the top of it?
 
Possibly. Many anvils are manufactured with faces which are a seperate piece, welded on. It could also have had a new face welded on at some point during it's working life. Hard to tell from the one pic but this one looks to be of original manufacture to me, based on the relative height of the cutting pad between the horn and the main face. If it was done as a repair it appears to be well done.
 
It most definately has a new face welded on it is longer, wider and thicker than the original would have been.

Bob
 
It looks to me like just a cover, the anvil is outside. A friend of mine has a similar setup outside and just keeps a cover on the flat to keep rain from sitting on it.
 
It looks like an add-on to me. The bottom of the face is below the face of the table and the table looks too short. Most anvils have the face(tool steel plate) forge welded on top of the cast base.
 
It's not an add-on. I have seen anvils just like this, selling for about a buck a pound in scrappy tool stores. Some (probably) Chinese foundry went way overboard casting it to look like it had a tool steel top. The short cutting table is a dead give away, cheap ASO's have this feature. The overall shape is that of a cast anvil, too. It's a doorstop.
 
Could just be a cast anvil with a large face. I've got one similar.

DSCN0064.JPG


Had two, sold the smaller one. These were never ground, but you can see that the face is very thick. From what I've been able to find out, the ones I have were cast in a foundry in NJ and are roughly 1040 in composition. the one you've posted is obviously different, but I just wanted to point out that not all anvils that look a little "off" are just worthless ASOs...

-d
 
The ad says it's 170#, hard to say from the picture exactly how big it is.
If I go look at it, are there any tell tell stamping marks or anything i should look out for, good or bad?
He's asking $200 for it.
 
Looks like a cover or a sacrificial face. Me I would contact the seller have him send you pics of the anvil and ask him what is on it if the face is clean and check the anvil for rebound if the rebound is good, me I would expect to pay in the range of $2 to $3 dollars a pound. So $200 for a 170# seems like a good price if it is in good shape.
 
Wade Jones said:
The ad says it's 170#, hard to say from the picture exactly how big it is.
If I go look at it, are there any tell tell stamping marks or anything i should look out for, good or bad?
He's asking $200 for it.
Click to expand...

Take a large ball bearing (I use a 1") with you. Drop it on the face. If it rebounds well (at least 70% or so of the height you dropped it from) you're gold. If you drop a BB on it and it kind of goes "clink" and hardly bounces, keep on truckin'.

If you don't have a ball bearing you can substitute a small (4oz or so) ball pien hammer. Hold the end of the handle VERY gently between two fingers (you're just creating a pivot point) and drop the head, ball pien end first, onto the anvil. Your rebound won't be as pronounced with this test, but it will give you a good idea of the rebound. Just make sure to ask if it's OK with the seller before you go smacking his anvil with a hammer :)

-d
 
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