Great find on Sawyers anvil for my Tansu Work

[glstrcowboy]

Nice find! I've never seen one of those before, that's a whole lot more work area for the relative weight. The only place in eastern VA you will find a used anvil seems to be the wanted section of Craigslist. I ended up buying one of these a couple years ago. http://www.nctoolco.com/Cavalry_Anvil.html Its more of a farrier's model than a true shop anvil, but overall I'm very pleased with it.

 

[bigransom]

Quality made in USA anvils, www.cliffcarrol.com

Correction to the link: http://www.cliffcarroll.com

Thank you, Dave! These mfg'ers are hard to find and I'm glad to have another US produced product.

That's another nice one, Cowboy.

One thing to be aware of for prospective buyers, and I'm by no means an expert on this but I know of the practice so I pass along for info, is that current anvils are typically cast, machined, and then heat treated; but the one thing they don't do much anymore is hammer-forging. It's a process of hammering the working steel into a consistent grained high-strength tool steel, using extreme force, high heat, and water spray.

That process alone makes those old anvils another animal, to an extent. One reason they are so expensive, and very hard to replace.

There is much info on old and new anvils if you look. I'm just passing along my understanding of some of the merits of those old dogs, and why they are sought out even today.

Happy hunting.
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[scott99]

HI, if you have a way to mill it fine and dandy, I am not so sure you will want it that flat though. If that baby was mine I would take it down a bit with an angle grinder and draw file and stone it . But all that is a bunch of work. Milling would certainly take less time.

A bit of cup on an anvil make many jobs easier, things just draw better.

Have a good one
scott99

 

[bigransom]

I would have to have it done at a metal shop here. But I like your idea and I think I'll try that first and see how it comes out. Thanks for the advice, Scott.
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[tundratrekers@mtaonline.n]

Be carful if you remove any of the face, they are glass hard and not very thick.

In General the face is only half the side thickness,the body is fine cast iron.

Please dont damage it.

You cant mill it, would need surface ground.

 

[bigransom]

Be carful if you remove any of the face, they are glass hard and not very thick.

In General the face is only half the side thickness,the body is fine cast iron.

Please dont damage it.

You can't mill it, would need surface ground.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm not really knowledgeable enough with these, and I'm not willing to risk it. I have a few guys who are custom blacksmiths and I'm going to take it to one and get some input from them prior to doing anything with it.

Not milling makes sense... typically a piece is milled, then hardened. If I'm not correct, any metal guys or blacksmiths feel free to correct me.

Thanks Tundra. I'll let you know what they recommend.
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[tundratrekers@mtaonline.n]

Every one wants pristine tools.

I would work with it as is.

If the piece of work is marred more by the anvil surface than your hammering technique, THEN think, about cleaning it up.

If you decide to sell it in future , please email me .

Enjoy it!!!!!

 

[bigransom]

Every one wants pristine tools.

I would work with it as is.

If the piece of work is marred more by the anvil surface than your hammering technique, THEN think, about cleaning it up.

If you decide to sell it in future , please email me .

Enjoy it!!!!!

You are correct and it's hard to say what the effect of that top will be, but luckily for me, I'm no hurry to evaluate it - but, it's on 'the list."

I'm quite certain you all have your style of 'list' too, but for me, everything runs on priority and projects and goals change in a small shop. At least they do here. lol.

I appreciate your insight and as I keep a watchful eye out for a wide array of antiques that intrigue me, if if see another one I'll give you a heads up. I can say with some level of certainty that if anyone buys this one, it'll be from my wife when she cleans out my studio.

It is, in my opinion, refeshing to exchange the appreciation of tools with a heritage and provenance with so many users of the caliber here. In this, the Internet has changed our world for the better.

Thanks to you all!
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[Chapi]

Learned a lot from this thread! I'm surprised that more engravers aren't interested in the fabrication aspects of metal work. Thanks for the info guys!