Redmeadow Model 1 (2nd run)

You look positively svelte there :thumbsup: scarry too! ;)

R
 
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Ha, that's the look of confusion. Actually a pretty neat feature. I also found a selective focus setting that blurs out the background, that should come in handy to hide the messy shop!
 
Looking good brother! :thumbsup:

Confession time: God willing and the creek don't rise, eventually John, you'll have another Birthday; wanting to surprise you and put a smile on your face, when a local auction house put a vintage anvil up for sale, I tried to buy it. My first bid was $20, my last was $80 (+15% buyers premium) - who'da thunk such an item would sell for $610?
 
If a guy had a time machine, he could make a few fortunes on anvils nowadays!

It's easier to find them back east, but man they go high. I think the forged in fire craze had a lot to do with it, maybe not. Quality ones always went for a couple of dollars a pound but now even lesser makes go for twice that.

Swage blocks are what I never see in Montana. I think a lot if people didn't know what they were and went the way of the scrappers when steel was high a few years ago. I'd really like to get my hands one of those.

A friend suggested I try Craig's list for an anvil a few years back, I didn't know Craig, or anything about his list, but when I looked, sure enough there was an "old anvil" a hundred miles away. The picture was fair and it looked like a decent anvil so I called the seller. He said he was heading to Nevada for the winter but a friend would proxy the sale for him.

Called the friend, set up a time and met at an airplane hangar. Anvil looked solid, the edges were beat up but the tail wasn't broken and it had a nice ring to it. I could make out enough letters on the side to know it was a Hay Budden and handed the guy the $250 asking price. He said "Really?" I guess he was prepared but nervous about negotiations but I was good with the price. I like to barter, but I knew it was more than fair.

So I hook an arm under the tail and one under the horn the and asked if he could grab the door and my tailgate for me. He offered to help, but I had it. Called the much better half and told her that I bought around a 100 pound anvil and was on my way home.

Got home and weighed it in the driveway.... 199 effing pounds. Couldn't pick the damn thing up after that, had to get a dolly to wheel it back to the shop. When I thought it was around a hundred pounds, I hauled it across an airplane hangar and loaded in the truck, once I knew it was 200, I could barely get the damn thing off the ground! The mind is a funny thing and the body is even funnier. At one of my first jobs, me and two other guys lifted a very awkward 700 pounds of machinery off a friend of mines head like it was nothing. That's a hell of a way to end a boring anvil story, but it just reminded me of that.

The best part about the anvil is that it's a solid steel body all the way to the waist, not just a steel top plate. It dates to the early 20's.
 
lessismore said:
If a guy had a time machine, he could make a few fortunes on anvils nowadays!

It's easier to find them back east, but man they go high. I think the forged in fire craze had a lot to do with it, maybe not. Quality ones always went for a couple of dollars a pound but now even lesser makes go for twice that.

Swage blocks are what I never see in Montana. I think a lot if people didn't know what they were and went the way of the scrappers when steel was high a few years ago. I'd really like to get my hands one of those.

A friend suggested I try Craig's list for an anvil a few years back, I didn't know Craig, or anything about his list, but when I looked, sure enough there was an "old anvil" a hundred miles away. The picture was fair and it looked like a decent anvil so I called the seller. He said he was heading to Nevada for the winter but a friend would proxy the sale for him.

Called the friend, set up a time and met at an airplane hangar. Anvil looked solid, the edges were beat up but the tail wasn't broken and it had a nice ring to it. I could make out enough letters on the side to know it was a Hay Budden and handed the guy the $250 asking price. He said "Really?" I guess he was prepared but nervous about negotiations but I was good with the price. I like to barter, but I knew it was more than fair.

So I hook an arm under the tail and one under the horn the and asked if he could grab the door and my tailgate for me. He offered to help, but I had it. Called the much better half and told her that I bought around a 100 pound anvil and was on my way home.

Got home and weighed it in the driveway.... 199 effing pounds. Couldn't pick the damn thing up after that, had to get a dolly to wheel it back to the shop. When I thought it was around a hundred pounds, I hauled it across an airplane hangar and loaded in the truck, once I knew it was 200, I could barely get the damn thing off the ground! The mind is a funny thing and the body is even funnier. At one of my first jobs, me and two other guys lifted a very awkward 700 pounds of machinery off a friend of mines head like it was nothing. That's a hell of a way to end a boring anvil story, but it just reminded me of that.

The best part about the anvil is that it's a solid steel body all the way to the waist, not just a steel top plate. It dates to the early 20's.
Click to expand...

TL;DR... ;) :p
 
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Melvin-Purvis said:
Looking good brother! :thumbsup:

Confession time: God willing and the creek don't rise, eventually John, you'll have another Birthday; wanting to surprise you and put a smile on your face, when a local auction house put a vintage anvil up for sale, I tried to buy it. My first bid was $20, my last was $80 (+15% buyers premium) - who'da thunk such an item would sell for $610?
Click to expand...

lessismore said:
If a guy had a time machine, he could make a few fortunes on anvils nowadays!

It's easier to find them back east, but man they go high. I think the forged in fire craze had a lot to do with it, maybe not. Quality ones always went for a couple of dollars a pound but now even lesser makes go for twice that.

Swage blocks are what I never see in Montana. I think a lot if people didn't know what they were and went the way of the scrappers when steel was high a few years ago. I'd really like to get my hands one of those.

A friend suggested I try Craig's list for an anvil a few years back, I didn't know Craig, or anything about his list, but when I looked, sure enough there was an "old anvil" a hundred miles away. The picture was fair and it looked like a decent anvil so I called the seller. He said he was heading to Nevada for the winter but a friend would proxy the sale for him.

Called the friend, set up a time and met at an airplane hangar. Anvil looked solid, the edges were beat up but the tail wasn't broken and it had a nice ring to it. I could make out enough letters on the side to know it was a Hay Budden and handed the guy the $250 asking price. He said "Really?" I guess he was prepared but nervous about negotiations but I was good with the price. I like to barter, but I knew it was more than fair.

So I hook an arm under the tail and one under the horn the and asked if he could grab the door and my tailgate for me. He offered to help, but I had it. Called the much better half and told her that I bought around a 100 pound anvil and was on my way home.

Got home and weighed it in the driveway.... 199 effing pounds. Couldn't pick the damn thing up after that, had to get a dolly to wheel it back to the shop. When I thought it was around a hundred pounds, I hauled it across an airplane hangar and loaded in the truck, once I knew it was 200, I could barely get the damn thing off the ground! The mind is a funny thing and the body is even funnier. At one of my first jobs, me and two other guys lifted a very awkward 700 pounds of machinery off a friend of mines head like it was nothing. That's a hell of a way to end a boring anvil story, but it just reminded me of that.

The best part about the anvil is that it's a solid steel body all the way to the waist, not just a steel top plate. It dates to the early 20's.
Click to expand...


John,
when I was a member of a local blacksmith hobby group, we could buy a small (65#) swage block for $100, now they are $200.
You can purchase one, but don't know what shipping will run, or if it's the type you're looking for.

https://www.saltforkcraftsmen.org
 
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lessismore said:
If a guy had a time machine, he could make a few fortunes on anvils nowadays!

It's easier to find them back east, but man they go high. I think the forged in fire craze had a lot to do with it, maybe not. Quality ones always went for a couple of dollars a pound but now even lesser makes go for twice that.

Swage blocks are what I never see in Montana. I think a lot if people didn't know what they were and went the way of the scrappers when steel was high a few years ago. I'd really like to get my hands one of those.

A friend suggested I try Craig's list for an anvil a few years back, I didn't know Craig, or anything about his list, but when I looked, sure enough there was an "old anvil" a hundred miles away. The picture was fair and it looked like a decent anvil so I called the seller. He said he was heading to Nevada for the winter but a friend would proxy the sale for him.

Called the friend, set up a time and met at an airplane hangar. Anvil looked solid, the edges were beat up but the tail wasn't broken and it had a nice ring to it. I could make out enough letters on the side to know it was a Hay Budden and handed the guy the $250 asking price. He said "Really?" I guess he was prepared but nervous about negotiations but I was good with the price. I like to barter, but I knew it was more than fair.

So I hook an arm under the tail and one under the horn the and asked if he could grab the door and my tailgate for me. He offered to help, but I had it. Called the much better half and told her that I bought around a 100 pound anvil and was on my way home.

Got home and weighed it in the driveway.... 199 effing pounds. Couldn't pick the damn thing up after that, had to get a dolly to wheel it back to the shop. When I thought it was around a hundred pounds, I hauled it across an airplane hangar and loaded in the truck, once I knew it was 200, I could barely get the damn thing off the ground! The mind is a funny thing and the body is even funnier. At one of my first jobs, me and two other guys lifted a very awkward 700 pounds of machinery off a friend of mines head like it was nothing. That's a hell of a way to end a boring anvil story, but it just reminded me of that.

The best part about the anvil is that it's a solid steel body all the way to the waist, not just a steel top plate. It dates to the early 20's.
Click to expand...

Anvils be egg-spends-sieve. Even before the Forged in Fire craze they were pricey back here. We do have a plethora of them around though, mainly down in the Dutch-e country wit dee Amish. See a bunch of them listed on Craig's list reasonably priced but they get gobbled up fast.
 
Caps are all peened up. Happy Halloween, here's some spooky fingers. I don't know what's goin on there.
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