Buying an Anvil.....

[gizamo]

The reason I asked the OP is that I found a Peter Wright anvil marked 1 2 20 for $395. I wanted to test it before making an offer. It seems like it's pretty reasonably priced

On English anvils like Peter Wright, Mousehole, and so on, the weight markings are in the old hundredweight system. The first number is whole hundredweight, or 112 lb increments, the second is quarter-hundredweights, or 28-lb increments, and the last number is straight pounds. So, for one marked 1 2 20, that means 112 + (2*28) + 20, for a grand total of 188 lbs.

giz

 

[elcruisr]

Might want to go to the Knifemakers Guild here:

The Knifemaker's Guild

and find a few nearby you. These guys seem to have a line on where the really good anvils are. They make their living on them every day. One old friend had a beautiful cast steel swedish post anvil that sang a mighty sweet song while he formed up damascus knife blanks for me!

 

[J.M]

That price seems a little high to me. I have the same anvil, got it for $200 about 2 years ago in very good shape. I found it by going to some events where there were blacksmith demos and asking them where I might find an anvil. By getting into the "network" I got several calls, found what I wanted at a good price, and bought and resold a couple of other anvils to other knifemaker friends for what I paid for them. I am pretty sure there is a blacksmith school in Maine and also a guild. Might try to contact them.

 

[gizamo]

J.M.

I'd like to agree with you. Have to admit I was shocked to see how much these have gone up. Heck, folks used to sell them to the salvage yards for the price of the metal...But I guess time passed me by on this. I'd have to expect to pay around 3-4 bucks a pound for a pristine anvil by Peter Wright and some of the other famous makers.

I think you offered excellent advise and I have put the word out with the folks that are in the know, in my area. If nothing pops up in the next few weeks, I'll make an offer on the one I found and negotiate from there...

giz

 

[Sgt 127]

Thirty something years ago, my dad wanted an anvil. So, we went to the first monday trade day in Canton Texas. Walked all over that place and finally he found "the" anvil he wanted. At the far end of the fair. My buddy Don and I carried that damned anvil at least half a mile back to his truck.

It sat on the back porch of my parent house.

My parents passed away, I sold the house and carried the anvil to my house.

About three years ago, we moved into a new house. As I was finally finishing up the last lot the stuff in the garage, I picked up that anvil and carried it into my new house...and it occured to me, I have lots of heavy stuff, that anvil just symbolizes pure dead weight..but, for all the times I've picked that thing up and carried it around...I like it...rarely use it for anything major..just peening and things like that, but, I doubt I will ever sell it

 

[model10]

remenber the old west was built by most blacksmiths ever town had one , u can dam near build everthing u need an they last for years with a little care , never hammer on one cold only hot metal , coal or what ever u can use for a fire to heat iron with will work just as good an yes the rate is going up on them a 75 pounder will serve u well an they can be resurfected , its kind of a lost art now day s but can be a lot of fun read an learn from books or web sites , do a search on it with the web

 

[CJofWolfcreek]

Interesting reading in this thread. I recently found out that my great grandfather was a blacksmith when he joined the US Army shortly after immigrating from Quebec. I never met the man, he died before I was born. But learning something relating to what he did for his family and his adopted nation is cool. Thanks for posting up this topic.