![]() ![]() IMO, one of theother attractions to a Peter wright anvil are the shape and proportions. Both are fine anvils with a reasonable ring to them. His dad had been a working smith who died in 1952 or so, and that Peter Wright anvil came from his dad's shop. The other Peter Wright came from a friend who got it from his dad. She sold me a mess of tools with the anvil for 25 bucks. I was a kid of 14, so the widow treated me right. The older of the two I got in 1964, from a quarry blacksmith's widow, and it was old then. I have two Peter Wright Anvils in my shop. The round hole is the "pritchel" hole- used for punching nail holes thru on horsehoes for themost part. Other tools for forming such as "swages" (for forming round work) or "fullers" (for necking and grooving or reducing the size of stock), or flatters, bending forks and anything else the smith needed to shape or cut the work were made up to fit into that hardy hole. The "triangular piece" you mention is likely a hardy or cutoff tool that fits in that hole. Anvil tools with square tapered shanks fit into that hole. The square hole you name on the anvil is the "hardy hole". For this reason, a good quality old anvil in reasonable shape is sought after. In reality, there are few remaining anvilmakers and the prices charged for a new anvil are astronomical. They are, IMO, a sought-after anvil by today's blacksmiths. They were popular with blacksmiths of all types as well as farriers (horsehoers). Peter Wright anvils were made in England and imported into the USA in large numbers. This was a popular weight of anvil for horsehoers and light-to-medium smithing. So, the weight of your anvil then = 110 lbs + 11 lb + 1 lb, or 122 lbs. The next "1" is the weight in tenths of a hundredweight, or 11 lbs, and the last "1" = the todd pounds, or 1 lb. 1 hundredweight = 120 lbs (if I remember right). The first "1" = the weight in "hundredweights". The 1-1-1 on the anvil is the weight of the anvil in an old system of units. Now an anvil more than a ton in weight would likely have four stampings in its side each separated by a space and/or a dot in the traditional way, ton + hundredweight + quarters + pounds.Peter Wright Anvils are some of the finest quality anvils. Having visited his anvil shed I can well believe the truth of his admission. I know someone like this and years ago he was negotiating the purchase of an anvil weighing more than a ton. ![]() Mklotz it might surprise you to know that there are fiendish individuals over here who pay outrageous amounts of money to buy anvils so that they can paint them and look at them and deprive those who would like to pay a reasonable sum for them and actually use them. It was my own fault so I can only blame myself. Note that I used the standard abbreviation for pound "lbs", do you know what that stands for and where it came from? Is there a connection to the British unit of currency, the Pound?Īnd apologies to Forrest, I was shirty at losing my post. Please do a Google search using "aviordupois" and more will be revealed. The bushel was likely to have a relationship to volume but since I am not sure I will not state my supposition as fact. Something less well remembered was bushel weights which varied with the commodity viz., corn, wheat, barley. I can't tell you the history why 112 lbs should be one hundred weight but from early primary school I have known this to be the case. There are twenty hundred weight to one imperial ton. ![]() One hundred weight has always been 112 lbs or 8 stone. Like I was saying before, I hate it when people make dogmatic statements and don't make any attempt to verify their facts. And modern production techniques ensure relatively consistent weights from part to part- whereas these older anvils were made by hand forging them, and varied a fair amount- you could order one approximately 125 lbs, for example, but it might be 10 pounds plus or minus. Nowadays, new anvils are not sold by the pound, so its not as essential to mark them with weight. I doubt that even if you had complained in 1900, the british would have listened to you- at the height of the empire, they certainly felt that their way was the right way.Īmerican made anvils seldom have any weight designation stamped on them. The vast marjority of anvils with these befuddling stampings were made before the second world war, and a goodly number of them were made before the first world war, so its a bit late to chide them for not being clear about their marking technique. At this point, I believe there is only one manufacturer of anvils left in the UK, Vaughans.Īnd yes, they probably still stamp 3 digits in their anvils, for tradition sake. ![]()
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