Subject: Anvil help!

From: [email-masked] (Kevin Daniel)
Date: 13 May 1995 03:01:19 GMT

I need help to determine the quality and use of an anvil I recently 
purchased. 
I bought it used from a man that bought it used in 1945.  The stamp on it 
has the name "Vulcan Reg US Pat. Off.."  It has a picture of a arm 
holding a hammer.  On one side of it has the number 10 and on the other 
side it has the number 42.  I am surprised to find that it does not have 
a harden table.  Is this an antique? Or a piece of junk? or both?.  This 
is my first anvil and I'm very courious about it's history.

Thanks,
Kevin

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From: [email-masked] (ErnieLeim)
Date: 13 May 1995 07:45:32 -0400

Anvil help ?
If the anvil has no ring at all to it and looks like a fairly clean
casting, I would say you are the proud owner of what I would call a
catalog anvil.
Really good American, steel anvils haven't been made since sometime in the
20's however there was still a demand for anvils for all those farms and
handymen who wanted an anvil for their shop. So catalog companies like
Sears sold a lot of cheap cast , unhardenned anvils for these non-
industrial applications . They are worth more as antiques than as anvils.
The value as a tool is somewhere around $1.50 - $2.00 a pound depending on
the pattern and condition.
Any anvil is better than no anvil at all so if you don't require a great
anvil go ahead and keep it . 
It really isn't practical to hardface a cast anvil.
Theoretically you could lay down a surface of high nickle content welding
rod and then lay hardface rod on top of that , but other than that I can't
think of how to make it stick.
Hope this helps.

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                    Ernie Leimkuhler                                      

                  Stagesmith Productions                                  
                                          
                 Custom Metal Fabrication                                 
               
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