RR Track Anvil

[RockyAussie]

1 hour ago, Jake907 said:

@RockyAussie do you know how the square hardy hole was made in that anvil?

Now you got me thinking hard...I have done them but I don't remember doing it to this. I can remember doing the tip shape as it has been refined many times over many years but the back spike I hardly ever have a use for it. I may have drilled it and filed it out or an old friend Jack may have cut it out on this chisel type machine that shaves little slices off a bit at a time. It may have even been there already when I got it.

[Breorius]

13 hours ago, YinTx said:

Definitely a piece to be proud of.  And to have rescued it from the scrap heap, unbelievable.  Have you been able to determine the maker and the age? I don't know anvils, but that looks like a 400# at least!

YinTx

Well I couldnt see no makers mark anywhere - not on the side and well you can see hows the bottom looking. About the weight - never had it on a proper scale ; but all friends that tryed to move it have a similar opinion thats something frome 180 to 200 kg. so you have a good eye

[Nuttish]

13 hours ago, Jake907 said:

@RockyAussie do you know how the square hardy hole was made in that anvil?

A square hole that deep would be drilled and broached.

[Nuttish]

Great minds think alike, eh.

From a section of old rail that was so work hardened from use it ate a horizontal bandsaw blade before I could correct things. Roughed the top flat on a vertical mill because I use it for whacking more things than rivets.

[Jake907]

52 minutes ago, Nuttish said:

A square hole that deep would be drilled and broached.

 

12 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Now you got me thinking hard...I have done them but I don't remember doing it to this. I can remember doing the tip shape as it has been refined many times over many years but the back spike I hardly ever have a use for it. I may have drilled it and filed it out or an old friend Jack may have cut it out on this chisel type machine that shaves little slices off a bit at a time. It may have even been there already when I got it.

I'm pretty good on a metal lathe and familiar with most types of metal working, and since I'm working on a design for an anvil I asked a friend of mine who is a machinist and gunsmith about broaching a hardy hole like this, he told me that while it can be done, the time and experience it would take to broach a hole like this in 1 1/2" railroad steel, would be astronomical.

So I've changed my design to just feature a round hardy hole, since the intended purpose of this anvil is not blacksmithing, I'm just gonna be setting snaps and such on it, a round hole will work just fine for me. But I was curious anyway. Thanks guys.

I believe that chisel machine you're talking about Rocky is called a shaper, and that would make sense, I bet it would make short work of a square hole. 

P.S @Nuttish do you think I could rough it with a drill bit, then use a small diameter end mill bit, and cut out rounded "corners"? (I have a  very nice Smithy 3 in 1 here at the house)

[oltoot]

This is not first hand, I'm just repeating stories I have heard:

I got this RR rail anvil in 1963 in Alpine, Texas. This was the site of a recently closed machine shop for the SF Railway. The RR machinists, in order to test and tune the tools that they used (ie giant lathes and drill presses) would make these things for their own use and give them to friends. Back in the day, lots of cowboys carried them around to shape horse shoes with. The old original Big Bend Saddlery had 3 or 4 of them laying around and I still have this one (55 yrs later). As has been said: if I had a dollar (or even a dime) for every rivet that has been set on it or shoe shaped, I could buy a new diesel pickup and put fuel in it for a long time.

[480volt]

A round hole in an anvil is a pritchell hole, and is intended for punching. The square hole is the hardy, and is intended to support tooling. Good records of how anvils were made don’t exist, but the hardy hole and the handling holes on the base of my Peter Wright were probably punched while the anvil was being forged. On an ASO, the hole is probably cast.

I’m strictly a hobby machinist, but if I had to do a square hole like that, I’d probably drill (or bore) to the diameter, use an end mill to approach the corners and finish it on my die filer.

You probably could cut a hardy hole on a shaper, but supporting the work would be a PITA. As I have heard from real machinists, you can make anything on a shaper, except money.

[Jake907]

8 minutes ago, 480volt said:

A round hole in an anvil is a pritchell hole, and is intended for punching. The square hole is the hardy, and is intended to support tooling. Good records of how anvils were made don’t exist, but the hardy hole and the handling holes on the base of my Peter Wright were probably punched while the anvil was being forged. On an ASO, the hole is probably cast.

I’m strictly a hobby machinist, but if I had to do a square hole like that, I’d probably drill (or bore) to the diameter, use an end mill to approach the corners and finish it on my die filer.

You probably could cut a hardy hole on a shaper, but supporting the work would be a PITA. As I have heard from real machinists, you can make anything on a shaper, except money.

Thanks @480volt we are thinking along the same lines. And thanks for clarifying the terminology, I worked with a farrier years ago he used the term pritchell hole, then met a blacksmith later and he called it a hardy hole, I didn't know they were both right! lol 

[Rockoboy]

On ‎17‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 4:30 AM, Jake907 said:

So I've changed my design to just feature a round hardy hole

If you are trying to use the Pritchell Hole as a tool hole, you might find your tool can swivel around. If it does move, you might need to make an oblong tool hole (if square is too difficult).

[Rockoboy]

On ‎14‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 0:39 AM, Horsemint said:

(Don't look too close at the sheath, it was a quick and dirty excuse to play with the anvil.)

I like the "no welt required" axe sheath. Simple and effective.