An anvil at last!

[Screwdriver]

Every man cave needs an anvil and I nabbed this off Gumtree after a mad dash up to Manchester. I've been following searches for yonks and kept getting gazumped or they just went too expensive. This little fellow was a fair £90, well worth the 8 hour drive and 40 litres of LPG.

It looked clean straight and honest enough and I liked the shape. Having caught it within minutes of it being offered, I made the decision to just go for it...

It was painted and stuck in a garden for years until the owner moved.

The paint really saved it and it hardly looks used.

It's not a huge anvil, 1 1/2 CWT is 77 Kg (or 77 KLGS if you prefer) but once it gets moving, it doesn't want to stop.

I think its a good size for me, I can just about lift it.

So the laborious task of wire wheeling the paint off.

Blue underneath the flaky black, I will need to chemically remove the remainder but there are no obvious signs of damage.

Kept expecting to see a crack or a weld but apart from some mysterious tack welds (?) nothing out of the ordinary.

The base has one cracked off bit.

But otherwise looks virtually as new.

That thick whitewash was/is very difficult to remove, another candidate for chemical removal.

...

 

[Screwdriver]

The surface imperfections from casting are a thing of beauty.

Cant wait to clean it up fully and get some oil or whatnot on there to shine it up. Very handsome little thing it is.

Starting to look pretty good.

And I am fairly confident there's been no welding or repairs made to it since the day it was cast.

Probably not even halfway there yet but my wire wheel wore down to the nub on the super hard, well seasoned and tempered steel.

Let's see how it goes!

Nice.

S.

 

[mr migwire]

ooohhh thats a nice straight top on that, very nice indeed.

 

[skotl]

Awesome! Like the stand, too

Welcome to the club!

 

[Screwdriver]

I'm guessing any old paint stripper should be ok but am mindful that cast steel (?) might be porous and affect repainting.

On the other hand, I like the idea of keeping it naked with boiled linseed oil to protect it.

Then I am going to need some accessories to make it useful and I guess I'm going to need to build a forge!

Can't believe it's in such good nick tbh. Almost a shame to let a numpty like me loose on it. That first bounce almost caught me out. It has a lot of bounce, almost feels active.

S.

 

[gordon stephenson]

Nice find, persistent searching paid off big time,

 

[Screwdriver]

Got chatting with the seller and he gave me a few other bits and bobs, including this:

Sorry for the poor pic, it will get a thread of its own if there's any interest. It's a foot powered grinding wheel. Might even come in handy for TIG tips!

 

[Parm]

You did well with that one, welcome to the club

 

[balmerchris]

That's a beauty! Looks like the blue paint of a Vaughans anvil.

 

[Digger6135]

That's an anvil that Mime would be proud to own (Mime Wagner's ring cycle.... Siegfried)

Digger6135

 

[Screwdriver]

That's an anvil that Mime would be proud to own (Mime Wagner's ring cycle.... Siegfried)

Digger6135

Well, he can't have it.

Too gay by half...

 

[BarrieJ]

Almost certainly a Vaughan's, not that old and looks in great nick, if you're new to blacksmithing and I guess you are, read as much about the subject as you can. I'd recommend Jack Andrews' 'Edge of the Anvil' as a good primer, look for a second hand copy on eBay (they're about £35 new). Lots of resources about and lots of blacksmithing forums. Look after the face of the anvil and try to keep the hammer off it, (if you radius the edges of your hammers, less chance) every mark on the face will transfer to whatever you're forging. As a full time job it doesn't bear much resemblance to Longfellow's poem, it's hard, dirty and doesn't pay that well but lots of job satisfaction. As a hobby it's great, enjoy it, you've made a good start with a quality anvil at a cheap price.

 

[Masterofnone]

Congratulations on an excellent find. Sometimes, you have to grasp the nettle. Well worth the journey.
I have a couple of smaller anvils but rarely see the big boys for sale.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Well done, that looks in very good nick indeed, and 11/2 is a good size too. The stand is really a swage block stand though and will probably be far too low. Get yourself a good big block of wood. The face should be at knuckle height standing upright.

 

[Screwdriver]

Interesting, I thought the stand was designed for the anvil, though I did notice the underlying paint was different.

Maybe I have seen too many on display in gardens!

Block of wood it is then....

 

[Gareth J]

Wow, that's nearly new. Want to feel even better?

http://anvils.co.uk/images/uploaded/CATALOGUE_JANUARY_2013.pdf

You have pushing £900 plus VAT's worth of kit there. Looks like the stand is designed for the anvil too.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Interesting, I thought the stand was designed for the anvil, though I did notice the underlying paint was different.

Maybe I have seen too many on display in gardens!

Block of wood it is then....

It's common to see them on these blocks, but its still very wrong unless you're a child or vertically challenged!

 

[Gareth J]

It's common to see them on these blocks, but its still very wrong unless you're a child or vertically challenged!

look in the link I posted above. It is made for that anvil. Very expensive when a block would do but as it's there, it might as well be used. Can chock to desired height from underneath

 

[julianthegypsy]

look in the link I posted above. It is made for that anvil. Very expensive when a block would do but as it's there, it might as well be used. Can chock to desired height from underneath

Kind of defeats the object then? It would need to be about 21 inches tall sepending on the owners height, and they don't show the height of them!

 

[Dee J]

Nice anvil and stand there. And you've scored what looks to be a Heyden all-ball vertical shaft grinder... useful bit of kit in a forge.