The following article on how anvils are made was taken from "Practical Blacksmithing" complied by M. T. Richardson, originally published in four separate volumes dated 1889, 1890 and 1891.  The article specifically speaks of Eagle Anvils.

 HOW ANVILS ARE MADE.*

 “So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil.”

This is the first and only mention of the anvil found in the Bible. But it is of more remote origin even than the prophet Isaiah, as we read of Vul­can forging the thunderbolts of Jupiter, arid he must, of course, have had an anvil of some sort for that style of blacksmithing; probably, however, nothing better than a convenient boulder.

The anvil and the anchor are two of the oldest implements known, and for thousands of years about the only ones that have not changed in general form.

The modern “vulcan” now has a hardened steel face provided with the necessary holes for his swedges, which with the round projection at the other end terminating in a point, called the “horn,” is sufficient for every kind of work.

Except those made in the United States, every manufacturer of anvils has a body of wrought iron under the steel face. The horn also is simply of wrought iron. With slight modification, the method of making these has not changed for hundreds of years.

The body is roughly shaped out under tilt ham­mers. In the better grades this is in one piece, and called “patent,” while in the German and most Eng­lish works the four corners and the horn are “jump­ed” on in separate pieces. Though called “wrought” this is of the lowest grade of iron, adopted both on account of cheapness, and because the subsequent process of welding the steel face to it is easier than with the more refined of these materials.

For the same reason only the lower grades of steel—viz., “shear” steel, or even “blister” steel, are used for the face, cast steel never being used on account of the greater uncertainty of a perfect weld under the hammer to a large mass of wrought iron.

The common grade of English anvils and all those of German make weld the steel on in two or three pieces according to the size of the anvil; the best English brand, however, of late years, has the face in a single piece of shear steel.

For this the wrought iron mass is brought to a welding heat, as also the steel plate, the welding of which begins at one end.

Four strikers swinging heavy sledge hammers together, do this welding in portions of about five inches of its length at a time, and this process is con­tinued by successive heatings until the whole length of the face is finished.

The cutter hole and the small round hole in the tail are then punched out, the iron horn rounded off, and the whole dressed up into its finished shape at a subsequent heating. By long years of experience at this work a symmetrical, good-looking job is made.

Any inequalities or imperfections in the face are taken out by grinding crosswise on a large stone, and the anvil is then ready for the final process of hard­ening.

This is done by reheating the upper portion to a red heat, and a stream of water is let down upon it under a ten-foot head. The temper will be more or less uniform according to the quality of the steel which has been used, and the greater or less care in the heating at the previous stages. The soft spots so much complained of by blacksmiths are due to these inequalities of the material and workmanship. The thickness of the steel used varies from three-eighths to three-quarters of an inch, according to the size of the anvil.

The whole process is almost entirely one of man­ual labor and judgment. Extreme care must be used not to burn some portions of the steel during the welding operation, resulting in cracked faces and crumbling edges, which the blacksmith frequently finds to his sorrow developed in his anvil, apparent­ly of the best when new.

A perfectly welded, wrought iron anvil has a clear ‘‘ring’ when struck; otherwise it is a pretty good sign that there is somewhere an imperfection.

From the nature of the operation as above describ­ed, it is evident that the size of such an anvil must be limited. They vary in weight from one hundred to five hundred pounds; the largest ever made being one exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial, which weighed 960 pounds.

There are no wrought iron anvils made in the United States. As it is almost entirely a question of skilled manual labor, and as there has never been any but a nominal duty imposed (it is the same as on spikes, nuts, and washers), all the wrought anvils used in this country are imported from Europe.

In 1847, the late Mr. Mark Fisher, believing in the possibility of welding cast steel to a high grade of cast iron, which had up to that time been unknown, discovered a perfect and successful process by which the two metals could be welded together in any desir­ed dimensions. [The largest anvil in the world was made by the Fisher Eagle Anvil Works for the Cen­tennial Exposition in 1876. Its weight was 1,600 lbs.]  The value of this process for anvils was apparent, as there could thus be obtained a perfect working surface of the best quality of cast steel, capable of hard and uniform temper on a body which from its crystalline and inflexible structure would never settle or get out of shape in use —one of the defects liable to occur by continued hammering in anvils with a fibrous wrought iron body under the steel.

It also enabled a steel working surface to be ap­plied to the horn, which previously had been only of plain iron.

The first manufacture of these anvils in this coun­try began under his patent in 1847, and though re­quiring many years to perfect and establish this new and essentially American anvil, it is now recognized as a better article than the old-fashioned imported kind, over one-half of the anvils used in this country, it is said, being made by this process, and so certain and successful is it that they are the only ones in the market fully warranted against breakage, settling of the face, or failure in any respect.

It is needless to say that ordinary cast iron would not answer for a tool subject to such severe usage as an anvil.

The metal employed must have a strength equal to that in gun castings, a certain elasticity to stand the strain of high heating and sudden cooling of the tempering process, and perfectly sound in all parts. Though many so-called “cast “ anvils have from time to time come upon the market, only one concern in the country, and that the original one operating under the Fisher patents, has continued to produce anvils with all the qualities described as necessary in these tools. The mode of manufacture is naturally quite different from that of wrought iron anvils.

The steel used is one piece for the face, of best tool cast steel.

The anvil is cast bottom side up, having this steel, as also the steel horn, placed in the “drag” or lower part of the mold.

Before filling it with the metal, which is not only to form the body of the anvil, but also to effect in its passage the perfect welding required, the steel face and horn are heated to a bright color, and every part of their exposed surface is covered by the molt­en metal. After the necessary annealing this rough anvil is removed, trimmed, planed true, and put into its finished shape, the cutter-holes made exact, and it is then ready for the hardening and tempering process. This last is the crucial test, for both iron and steel must be heated to a high point and then suddenly plunged into the cold hardening liquid. Should there be any spot between the two metals not perfectly welded, the steel will separate, or the whole anvil will crack and fly into pieces; so that if it passes this stage successfully it is reasonably sure to be perfect, and therefore the makers can safely give a full warranty to the purchaser.

Recent improvements have added much to the value of this make of anvil. By extending the steel part of the horn down into the body, all danger of breakage of the horn where it joins the main part is prevented. Also both edges of the steel face are made of double thickness, which prevents crumbling or splitting off of those places most exposed to severe usage, so common with the old-fashioned anvils.

Two peculiarities distinguish the American from the foreign anvil. They are more solid from the crystalline structure of the body, and therefore do not bounce back the hammer or sledge, thus retain­ing all the effect of the blows in the piece worked on, and the steel face always retains its original true surface for the same reason. Also there is very little “ring” in them, and this peculiarity is sometimes urged as an objection by those accustomed to the wrought iron anvils.

Nearly every metal trade has its special form of anvil, and differing from that of the blacksmith—such as saw, axe, razor, silversmith, coppersmith, shovel, hoe, plough, and many others, which are simple blocks of iron with steel faces, made by one or the other of the two above-described distinct and oppo­site methods and materials.

The annual importations of anvils from England and Germany into the United States exceeds one and a half million pounds.

The price of all anvils is now less than one-ha/f that of former times, when we were compelled to ob­tain our entire supply from foreign manufacturers and importers, and before the discovery of the pro­cess above referred to made American competition possible.—By “EXPERT.”

* This article on the history, description, and manufacture of anvils will undoubtedly be found of interest to our readers. We have taken some pains to inform ourselves on this subject in consequence of some unfavorable comments which were made on an article on the same topic which appeared in the columns of The Blacksmith and Wheelwright a few years ago.—EDITOR.

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