I just got back for picking them up. The Vulcan is a 50 pounder, so I am I little disappointed with that. I wish it was at least 70 pounds, but it is in great shape with one small ding on one side, hardly used at all. The large one weighted in at 111 pounds and you can still see the original tool marks in the top plate. I don’t think it was ever used. I cannot find a name or mark anywhere on it, so I am not sure who made it. Both have real nice rebound and ring to them, so all in all, I am happy with the purchase! Time to put some hot metal to them!!!!!
Wow, I was really off with the weight, I stand corrected!!!
But I was right about the condition....which wasn't to hard to...I'm just trying to find something to be right about! The best thing I know about being wrong so often is that I don't have a problem at all with admitting it...I just need to learn to shut up more often!
The main thing is you got what looks like a great anvil! If there are no markings on it anywhere it will be difficult to pin down any kind of info on it. The only problem with that might be in reselling it, if your not planning on that, then your in great shape, if the rebound was good, you should have an anvil that will provide you with years of service. A piece of advice, when you start hammering on it, hit gently, get your hammer blows under control before you start trying to move a lot of steel at one time, you'll be happier for doing that years down the line...I only wish someone would have told me that! Not that I did a lot of damage to my Hay Budden, it's just that I did a lot of little dings, not bad enough to transfer to my work, but I just would have preferred they weren't there, it's such a beautiful anvil, I really didn't deserve it, it just kinda fell in my lap!
One more thing, if you haven't done a lot of forging, there are some things you need to learn, that will help you immensly. I recommend Ed Caffreys video for beginning forging, it is excellent, and you will learn things you never thought were important! Also, you will need to build a stand for your your anvil, you want the top of the anvil to be at about the top of your wrist, they used to say at the top of your knuckles, while standing straight up, but that was changed a couple of years ago. Wayne Coe is another great resource for forging info.
The stand for your anvil, if you don't have the perfect sized stump laying around the best thing to do is build one, I built mine out of 6 x 6's, standing on end, I ran some 3/8's all thread through the middle, I think. I haven't looked at it or thought about it since I built it, I can go back and take some pics of it if you want me to. I think mine ended up having a total of 6 pieces of 6 X6's. I used these because I had these laying around, most folks use 4 x 4's, they're cheaper. Once I got them bolted together I had some leveling to do, it seems easier that way once they're all bolted togther. Whatever else you need feel free to ask, I don't mind helping anyway I can.
I still think you did good, you make both of them work, you just need to add a lot of heavy chain, wrap around the base. The prices of anvils is going up, I've recently been watching them on eBay, and they goodones are bringing premium money, actually more! Rex