Old anvils

[Carper]

All the talk about Hersels anvil, leads me to impart a tale from the hills.  After an entire life of working iron my Great grandfather was  known as an extremely strong man. But age dulls even the keenest blade. At about the age of 80( in the early 1900's) he was entered into a cash wager by a young strongman while at Christmas party. Apparently the young man lifted a colt several times and bit the heads off of some pins !! My ancestor stated that he would cut the horn off of his dads old anvil with one blow.  The old anvil being so worn it was good only for "cracking walnuts" it was of what we called a "belgium " pattern. He set the anvil on a stump outside and the next morning  while the temperature was below zero  snapped off the horn with one blow of the hammer.   He won the bet. My cousin still has the mutilated anivl to this day.    Johnny

[PINYONE]

Hello Johnny- this is from The Great Pinyone- I have had many anvils over the years and my best one ever was made in Belgium, my Son is a Pro Raod Race Cyclist there and said we Americans would flip out at the antique Tools for sale there every weekend. He told me one man must have 50 different anvils there eerytime. When you get a good one the steel has a real high ringing tone to it when it is hit. The one that you have has good Family History with it. PINYONE

[rich pierce]

Not to take things too far off topic but here is an anvil owned by a mediocre journeyman riflemaker.  It is pre-1780 and may date earlier from what experts have told me.  It weighs about 175 pounds and came out of the Mohawk Valley in NY state.   The 1-2-7 marking is for the weight and I think the first number is the hundredweights, the next is something else and the last is stones.  I knew once upon a time.  Note the lack of a pritchel hole, the short horn and wide short face.  The face still rings like a bell.

[Elnathan]

Probably hundredweights, quarter hundredweights, and pounds: 112 + 56 + 7 = 175. That is the system the British used to mark their cannon weights.

I wish I owned a good anvil - I have a 10 pound sledgehammer head that I started grinding a flat face on, but now that I have a half-way decent job and consequently some money I am wondering if just buying a stake anvil would be a better choice.

[Carper]

I am by the far the least skilled of all the Carper smiths since they arrived in America  mid 1700's
however I manage to make all my own furniture and challenge anyone interested to try it. Truth be told over the years a professional blacksmith shop gathers a huge group of tools,anvils,blocks, etc. but almost none of it is needed to make your OWN butts,guards, thimbles, sights, plates, etcl. If I were in the market for an anvil I would not waste my money on a stake anvil or any asian junk. I you are going make steel furniture like you see on mountain rifles your anvil needs to have only a small section of good edge and flat which you will find usually in decent shape around the hardy hole because most folks who abused a anvil were afraid to hit it hard there. You wont be hitting hard, just tapping... cause your metal will be hot. One little crosspeen, one little ball peen, a hacksaw,  a little rivet forge is  the cadillac for this work. Ill bet you could find a little hundred pound anvil beat up but ok for your use for 100 or so.Again, if you have any interest in making rifles, try making the furniture, you will never, ever use storebought again. ( brass mounted need not apply) If you have never even hit a hot piece of metal , if you play around with it for a week, look at some example ( the cast storebought ones are useful after all) draw what you want it to look like, buy some little pieces of mild steel for next to nothing and start today. You will be more proud of that gun than any you have ever made. I bet.    Johnny