[TheForge] broken anvil

[Andrew Vida]

On 12/17/2011 7:02 PM, Bob Ehrenberger wrote:
> We stopped at an Amish harness shop to get neatsfoot oil and saw the worst
> abused anvil I have ever come across (except the Tom Clark anvil repair gone
> wrong).

	The BAM anvil?

	I still want it.

 > I've seen anvils with missing horns, and anvils broken through the
> hardy hole,

	I have a pristine 200# Hay Budden missing the tail at the hardy hole. 
No idea how it came to break.  I got it that way trading it for a 250# 
Fisher with dodgy edges that has been used as a burning table.  I was 
happy with the trade.

 > but this one had the base, horn and about 4 inched of the face
> left the rest was gone. The brake started over the center of the base and
> angled towards the rear of the base.

	Any idea of the manufacturer?  If it was a 7 piece anvil, perhaps it 
failed at one of the joints?
>
> I asked the owner if had the rest of it. He did not.  He also had no
> knowledge of how it got broken.  For a brief moment  I considered offering
> to buy it, but without the back half the repair would be a monumental job.
>> From the size of the horn, I would guess that it started life as a 170 to
> 200 pound anvil. There was about 100 pounds left. I couldn't make out the
> name.

	I have an anvil at Marshall's shop with the horn broken off.  My plans 
for it is as a cutler's anvil.  Retasking a broken anvil is my idea of 
perfect recycling.

	Worst anvil I ever saw was when I went to Washington Crossing with 
either Marshall or Bruce Freeman.  There is a shop there and the anvil, 
a colonial era example, had almost no face left.  Most of what was left 
was separated from the body, representing a major repair.
>
> On top of it all, he didn't even have neatsfoot oil for sale.

	Figures.