Anvil ID help needed

It's a Vulcan. I have a 150 pounder with the same cast-in logo. The top plate was probably put on to resurface it. Good anvil, definitely a keeper. Clean it up and put it back to work. I suggest a quick trip to the sandblaster, followed by a coat of Rust-O-leum black.

Charly

In article , Charly the Bastard wrote

Going by the look of it, I'd say there's nothing wrong with the face a good cleanup with a cup wheel wouldn't cure. That, of course, assumes it passes a ring or bounce test.

Beware, all Vulcans don't ring. My old 125-pounder sounded as dead as could be, no ring at all, but would bounce a hammer back into my face if I missed a hit and caught a bit of anvil face. (Ooooh, Darn! I admitted I missed a few strokes in my misspent youth. :)

It was one of their solid cast steel ones.

The seam you see between the face and body of the anvil indicates it might be a wrought iron one with a forge-welded face plate. That step down to the horn is supposed to be there, with the soft table right after it, then the horn proper.

There _is_ an anvil brand called Arm and Hammer too. If you can get a look at the book Anvils in America by Richard Postman it might answer you better. It's about $60 to buy the book. Another place to try is subscribing to theforge mailing list and ask there.

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Cleaning up the body is optional: My old Peter Wright is as rusty (Ahem...That's _patina, don't y'know!) as the day I got it except for the face and where use has vibrated some of the rust off. :)

It rings loud enough I need to wear ear protection when forging or even at welding heat. (Made by a frippin' bellmaker if you ask me! :)

Ah, well, have fun, hit iron, make something. Squash - make flat. Get it hot, hit it hard, repent as necessary. (That "n" is _not_ a typo!:)

Lather, (your sweat) rinse, (Dipping your hand in the slack tub will take some of the ouch out of your inevitable burns) repeat! (Keep hitting hot iron until it looks like what you have in mind.)

Welcome to the addiction!

Best, John

Well Jim, it looks like you're in luck. The anvil you have is an "Arm and Hammer" produced by The Columbus Anvil and Forging Company" which was a spin-off of the "Columbus Forge and Iron Company" (which made Trenton anvils) and was started by a Mr. Tom Long, an ex-employee, which is why, without the logo, these can be misidentified as Trenton anvils. These A & H anvils were produced from 1900 to 1950.

For reference the cast iron Vulcan anvils, with a similar logo, were produced by the Illinois Iron and Bolt Company in Carpentersville, Illinois from 1875 to about 1969.

Richard Postman in his book "Anvils in America" calls A & H anvils (he's inspected 30+) the very finest American built anvils he's inspected due to the higher quality of the steel in the top plate and the fact they were partially forged wrought iron (unlike the cast Vulcans), of the 3 parts the anvil was made of, the base was cast steel

welded at the waist to the forged wrought iron upper portion. This means you will find the logo "stamped in" rather than cast-in (as on a Vulcan). In the late 1930s the wrought iron was changed to low-carbon steel because of cost considerations and in 1940 the process of welding

the upper and lower portions was changed from forge welding to arc welding due to forging difficulties with impurities in the (reclained) steel base, although the top plate remained forge welded.

The top plate of the 300# anvils should be either 5x20 or 5 1/2 x 22". If your anvil is different and you let me know the size I can provide a

weight which should be close. Look on the front of the foot under the horn and you may still find the serial number, on earlier anvils it will be toward the middle or right and after 1930 it should be toward the left. If you can wire brush it clean enough post the serial number

and I should be able to come up with a close age.

Congratulations on having such a fine anvil and talk to us more about the condition of the top plate and how it can be "correctly" refurbished without damage.

dennis in nca

Thank you Charly, John and Dennis for your replies, I certainly appreciate the info. I will look for the serial numbers you mentioned Dennis, as well as the dimensions on the top plate, but it will probably be this weekend before I get a chance.

Regards, Jim C Roberts