Found some new raised(stands out to the touch) writting on my anvil

[Troels Saabye]

Okay, so I have yet to weigh my anvil xD I simply cannot find a way to do it, so I tried investigating.. after a few tries with a pencil and a piece of paper this is whay i found : RV976.6 and some more indistinguishable on the opposit side of the anvil. It is heavy as a... but it is only 119 cm in total length 37 cm tall and 16 cm wide face, so I can't see that fitting with 976.6 lbs ? That ought to be a bit bigger right ?

[Geoff Keyes]

It's a big boy, that's for certain, but I think if you look at this chart, it's just a bit bigger than the 260 lb (118 K) one listed.  Maybe 300-350 range?

 

Nice tool.

 

Geoff

[Troels Saabye]

That would make some sense Geoff , the 976, part of a serial number perhapse ?

[Geoff Keyes]

If you could identify a maker, that might tell you.  Sometimes they were (US made anvils sometimes have serial numbers) sometimes not.

 

Geoff

[Troels Saabye]

Okay thank you Geoff, well that is just it - the blacksmith i got it from is dead, I know he used to work at Helsingør(northern Sealand,Denmark) when they had heavy industry for ships and trains i believe ?- and when he had it, even when he started it was old   and that's got to be the early 1920's, Don't quite want to ask the son - seems he and the old smith had a falling out.

Any particular places makes liked to slap their mark on anvils ? I can feel something raised on the side, probly need a lot of restoration to find the writting though... I was thinking of using a pressure washer  see if it can remove a surface layer of grime/gunk to reveal more writting perhapse ?

[Alan Longmire]

On most marked anvils, the makers mark is on the side with the round horn to the right, but not always.

[Troels Saabye]

That would make good sense, the numbers are on the opposit site of the wooden chair on the pictures Thank you Alan about cleaning it in order to find a makers mark easier, is there any less than others destructive way to clean the anvil ? They previous owner had her sitting in the rain for 25+ years, I know they don't take much damage other than rust - but I would however like to atleast secure her from future rusting  

[Alan Longmire]

Paint is traditional, as is just oiling it and letting it develop a natural brown patina.  As for cleaning, a power wire brush, pressure washer, or careful sand/grit blasting all work. 

[Troels Saabye]

Yeah I just want to find out if the area around the number contain more info I found no more markings on her, nothing besides the number and letters RV976.6  -the V could have been a Y but the numbers i am sure of :b or as sure as running a pencil over paper to trace it can be.. I would imagine he(the old smith) got it from the warft(Helsingoer) as a gift or a bargain idk. but his(mine now) fan was made in 1920   which is quite nice imo as it still is going strong after an electrician put new wires in it(all connectors were fine)

As i start looking at it: Much of the horn,and other places you normally would not strike (side of the anvil..) has hammer marks from something big :b but I think it has a cast part to it,

[Alan Longmire]

At least one anvil maker in this country used a cast steel base with a forged steel top half, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was done elsewhere.  Raised letter means cast, after all.

[Troels Saabye]

Exactly - the raised letters was what got me on to casting :b man I got to get a shop weight for sumo sizes, just to weigh the thing xD just one more reason to install an overhead travelling crane with integrated weight