Look at the bottom of the horn, that area was left unground from the factory. Top was done in loose drop hammer dies, so it'll have 'parting lines' but they may shimmy around a bit. Top is tool steel, bottom is cast (something). The Trentons were a two piece design, electro-welded together at the waist. The 'Trexton' bit was from a screwed up punch that they ran with for a number of years. Hi Lester, According to _Anvils in America_, it's a Trenton anvil, made by Columbus Forge & Iron, Columbus OH. I'd run a wire brush over it and get to work. Have you weighed the anvil and, if so, does it correspond with the hundred on the foot? Trentons are good anvils, one of my favorites. It may contain the weight information as well, since it's not marked anywhere.
TRENTON ANVIL HISTORY SERIAL NUMBERS
Numbers on the feet of the anvil, like this one, are usually serial numbers or other identifiers. I'm pretty sure they come from the factory this way, I've only ever seen one anvil broken at the waist and don't really have any idea how that would have happened.
![trenton anvil history trenton anvil history](https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/attachments/f19/209721d1507643446-trenton-anvil-information-fb_img_1507641181732.jpg)
This weld may have been dressed by a previous owner, since the rest of the anvil has straight grinding marks. Often the weld isn't ground down at all and the round grinder marks here suggest. I have seen numerous Trenton anvils arc welded at the waist, a big wide weld because they probably started in the center. Interesting bit of detective work to determine how the anvil was made. Possibly, the body was cast from a mild steel or semi-steel to 'take weld' as it did. As I said, I plead ignorance as to the material the body of a Trenton anvil would be made from, but the appearance of the anvil (parting line on the beak or horn of the anvil seems to point to some kind of casting. Whoever welded this anvil at the waist seems to have gotten a good weld, with good fusion and no undercut. Oxyacetylene welding is a process which can give a good weld on wrought iron as the welder can work the puddle to fuse in the wrought iron and float up the slag.Įither way, welding wrought iron by processes other than forge welding is a somewhat difficult proposition. Stick welding with a small diameter electrodes using low heat will work, but some of the entrained slag in the wrought iron will often float up into the weld pool. Forge welding is the best process for welding wrought iron. It has a stringy kind of structure with slag laying in the laminations. Wrought iron is not the easiest material to weld using welding processes such as stick or MIG. This would point to the body of the anvil being a mild steel or semi-steel casting. The weld was run using a mild steel filler rod. I wonder as to the material of the anvil body.Ī weld on cast iron or semi steel would be run with a nickel-based repair rod, and would appear brighter than the base metal and not so neat of a bead. My belief is the anvil had been broken at the waist and re-welded. It has a typical weld bead with a wide weave, and there are 'dingleberries' as would come from a poorly run stick weld or MIG weld. Looking at the weld in the photos, I do not think the weld was run when the anvil was originally made. With soapstone or flour and look harder for a serial. Need help identifying this Trenton anvil. The face plate had 'lugs' to 'key' the face plate mechanically to the anvil body. A common method was to pour the body of the anvil with something like malleable iron or semi steel, incorporating a tool steel face plate in the casting. I admit to not knowing how Trenton anvils were made. This face plate was then quenched to harden it. The anvil was then forged to nearly final shape, and the steel face plate was forge welded on. Once these pieces were rough-forged, they were forge welded at the waist. These were forged the approximate shape of the top and bottom of the anvil body and horn. The wrought iron was cut into short bars and forge welded to form two large lumps.
![trenton anvil history trenton anvil history](https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/115181163382_/80-pound-ACME-TRENTON-ANTIQUE-BLACKSMITH-ANVIL-g1037.jpg)
I am unfamiliar with Trenton anvils, however, a lot of older anvils (Hay Budden, Peter Wright coming to mind) were made with wrought iron bodies. The forge weld was made under steam hammers. There are a few deposits from an arc welder on the anvil face.Could all this nasty on the anvil waist be from striking a stinger? Also what do the numbers indicate? Weight and serial #?Īnvils with welds at the 'waist' of the body were forge welded. What do you think? Original construction? But this weld on this anvil is so ROUGH.I wonder if it HAD been broken and rewelded. A good friend gave me this Anvil.We laughed because we couldn't understand how anyone could break an anvil.I figured I could use it for what I do.I googled TREXTON and discovered Trenton then found they were a welded assembly to begin with.