The Armour Archive

Hi All,
I have had this beast knocking around in my garage for a decade or so, and am looking to define just what it is, and what it may be worth.
Any clues would be helpful.
My best guess is it's about 30 lbs.
I have better resolution pics, but don't want to eat significant bandwidth.
It's patinated with rust, needs refinished to be a perfect whupping surface, but I always used it wrapped in junk leather of canvas, and it was fine.
I saw one of these new once, and it was a beautiful thing, and stoopidly expensive, like 600+, I got this one at auction for far less.
I was told it was some kind of Farriers stake.

Any Ideas?

Sir Thorfinn

It's called a bickhorn stake. Probably made by Pexto by the look of it. It's a classic sheet metal stake. Very handy for most of what we do. It looks a very nice version of itself - appears to be forged , not cast. Take some emery cloth to it and see what shape the horn, face and edges are in. They can go for a good chunk of change, but $600 is too much. Nice find.

Valerius

Yep, it's a stake for tin and sheet metal working. I have one myself, mounted in its own stump. Very useful for up to 12 ga. sheet, and maybe beyond that (although at that point I usually work hot on my regular anvil.

Your classic bickhorn stake is pointed at both ends (a bick and a horn). This one has a nice square heel, useful for sheet metal corners.

I bought mine (after shopping and looking a couple of years) for ~$75 at a Blacksmiths' Guild of the Potomac tailgate.

Hi there, Actually, A bick horn or bick iron, is always a smaller horn that mounts to your anvil or stump as far as ive ever seen. Theres an example of one at the base of the 350 lb anvil thats just to the left of the Beakhorn Stake. What you have there is a Beakhorn Stake, (Pexto 920?) about 40 inches long and about 50 lbs Im guessing. Its got a tapered bottom to use in a stake plate like this. A huge stump would be great also. I use mine alot for vambraces. I think those stakes make great anvils by themselves. How much did you get that one for? Usually they go on ebay for around 150-250.

Take care

Pitbull

I just missed one for $125 CAD recently. $600 is waaay too much.

I may have mis-stated that, I saw one in a catalog years ago for about 600.....I got mine at an auction for about 100.00 I think. It's been a long time.
Mine is pretty pitted, but it look slike if I took an angle grinder to it, i could resurface it, assuming it's not like older anvils that have a case hardened exterior.
Does anyone know?

Plus, I'm pretty sick of looking at it, so want to sell it.

My concern is that shipping would kill any reasonable sale, because it does weigh in the 40-50 lb range.

It's a sweet stake, for the right armorer, but that guy isn't me...all teh stuff I do, I can do on my small RR anvil.

Well, Thorfinn, I wouldn't give up on the thing yet unless I needed a hundred bucks more than I needed the bick iron to make stuff I could sell for more than a hundred. It's like a rounded edition of your RR anvil and its tall T shape makes it excellent for seating rivets in helms: squared end reaches all the way in and backs those tinners' rivets right up.

Angle grind, or buff at it with suitable grits of emery cloth run over it like a shoeshine guy using a buffing cloth.

That's just it...
I have this wonderful tool, and have not used, or needed to use it in 10 years...so I want to ultimately find a home for it...where it will get all the love and beatings it deserves.
It's funny, I have favorite ball stakes, oddball custom tools, and this thing I've used maybe 3 times, just because I could...
Seems a waste of a nice tool.
Plus, my new garage will cause it to rust like mad compared to where I used to live, I just can't store it properly.

So, anyone near Cincinnati interested?

Yup, sure am.

Where in Cincinnati are you?

How much do you want for it?
I live just in Athens and a good buddy of mine has a full 1860s forge at one of the colleges and could more than likely find a home for it.
I will send this to him.

Destichado wrote:Yup, sure am.

Where in Cincinnati are you?

beat me to it.....

"I have this wonderful tool, and have not used, or needed to use it in 10 years"

But you HAVEN'T USED it....so how do you KNOW?:wink:

You just didn't know you needed to use it, that's all!
(Guilty of the same thing myself from time to time!)
Mess with it, you'll love it.
We had on in a shop I worked in, and I miss that thing.

Never heard of nobody wanting to sell such stakes.. I had to have someone make one for me... Start using it.

Take it to Quad-State and throw it on a table with a money can next to it!

I picked up mine in a pawnshop in OK back in the early 1980's for $25; but it wasn't rusty...

I mainly use it to form penannular brooches on.

The good Baron and I are both locals. (How's the forging going, btw?)

Honestly I could make my own, it's just that at your asking price I'd be foolish to try. If another needs it more than I, he's more than welcome to it.

I see them on ebay frequently, usually sell around $250.

Sir Thorfinn wrote:That's just it...
I have this wonderful tool, and have not used, or needed to use it in 10 years...so I want to ultimately find a home for it...where it will get all the love and beatings it deserves.
It's funny, I have favorite ball stakes, oddball custom tools, and this thing I've used maybe 3 times, just because I could...
Seems a waste of a nice tool.
Plus, my new garage will cause it to rust like mad compared to where I used to live, I just can't store it properly.

So, anyone near Cincinnati interested?

spray it down with break free, let it sit for a couple of days and take a fine wire wheel to it - damn good tool