The Armour Archive

Answered an ad on Craigslist and stumbled into the most amazing deal. I had to share if for no other reason than hope that incredible deals do still pop up from time to time. And I wanted to brag

Right on to the goods...
The ad was for an anvil for $200. Wasn't expecting much but at that price I had to look into it. Also pictured in the ad was a swage block with a cast stand. Talking to the guy he said the anvil was "quite heavy" but he just wanted to get rid of it. He also thought there were some old tools and a second smaller anvil lying around too. Selling off Father in-laws stuff.

So I met up with him this morning with an extra $100 bucks just to see what was there. In the end I walked out with:

180# peter wright anvil, rough shape on the face but servicable and the horn is in great shape.

112# Vulcan anvil, decent condition for this "budget anvil"

90# swage block with the original cast stand, unbelievable. Try finding a matched set like that online for sale... really good condition too.

30+ blacksmithing hammers of differing design, all rusty and some in bad shape, most are fixable with some solid cleaning time. only 1 is thoroughly destroyed.

7 hammer heads in differing conditions.

several tongs and stoking tools as well as snips.. most are in very useable shape, just need some cleaning...

a 4 piece tinning set in good shape.


All for a grand total of $300 canadian dollars....

here are some pics. the shiny thing on the swage block and anvils is a 12" straight edge for scale.

more pics

more

You are one lucky S.O.B.



Well done.

last ones

I am so jealous dude you hit the motherlode

I am astounded. Well done!!

DON'T SELL ANY OF IT!!!!

No matter what you have to do to find space to keep it all, do it, as most of that stuff isn't made anymore, and you'll never again see the like for a price you paid.

Keep it all, and USE IT.

Wow.

...I ... am.... sooooo. angry!!!! But happy for you! Bring 'em down, we'll spend a day cleaning them.

Wow. I'm not sure whether to congratulate you until I'm horse or hate you with every fibre of my being. That is one heck of deal.

Jamie

Check ebay for hammer handles sometimes you can find a decent lot cheap....
About half of the handles will need to be replaced.
Also find a good welder to resurface the anvil only worth doing if done well.

PLEASE don't weld/resurface the anvil!!!! You can spend hundred's of dollars and just end up ruining the heat treatment.

Visit http://www.anvilfire.com/gurusden and ask about resurfacing anvils, they will be happy to provide a good explaination why not to do it.

Sand off the rust on top, radius the edges, and start using it.

Congrats!!!

Marco-borromei wrote:PLEASE don't weld/resurface the anvil!!!! You can spend hundred's of dollars and just end up ruining the heat treatment.

Visit http://www.anvilfire.com/gurusden and ask about resurfacing anvils, they will be happy to provide a good explaination why not to do it.

Sand off the rust on top, radius the edges, and start using it.

Don't worry, no resurfacing is in my plans. the various damage around the edges and nicks in the surface aren't too bad, and, as Mac said in one of his posts a while back, rounding out the chips provides interesting contours which are much more useful to armouring than a straight surface can ever be...

and this is NOT FOR SALE! I expect I will never get a deal like this on ANYTHING else ever so I will be sure to put it all to good use...

Or gift them to me!

WOW.....just......WOW!!

Threads like this is what this icon was made for:

Hi Estaban, wow that is a great deal for sure, Just that swage block would be 600 dollars on ebay, I paid 80 dollars for a cupping hammer like in the center of the first hammer pic. Happy New year.

Take care

Pitbull

that's just wrong......

I'm jealous


very jealous

Wow. You know though, just think of the stuff lying around your own house, then multiply it by all the houses in your neighborhood, then all the houses in your province, and you'll go cross-eyed about all the stuff that could be out there, waiting to be bought that people don't use.

Good buy. Ready cash wins, every time. I wonder if a show would fly where a guy just drives around looking for people puttering around in their garage, with a couple of thousand in ready cash, what kinds of deals he could get.

Best,

John

I hope you had good springs on your truck... that looks like you got one hell of a deal.

Reminds me of my first anvil... found it at a swap meet in Quarzite and got so exited I handed the lady the $60 picked up the anvil and never even thought about my truck almost a mile away... 55kg and one sore back later...

CT03 wrote:I hope you had good springs on your truck... that looks like you got one hell of a deal.

Truck? I put all that into the back of my 1987 BMW 325... bottomed out a couple times and had to take the long way to my shop to avoid the railroad tracks.... poor car...

Great find!

Steve

Estaban wrote:

CT03 wrote:I hope you had good springs on your truck... that looks like you got one hell of a deal.

Truck? I put all that into the back of my 1987 BMW 325... bottomed out a couple times and had to take the long way to my shop to avoid the railroad tracks.... poor car...

ROTFLMAO

CT03 wrote:

Estaban wrote:

CT03 wrote:I hope you had good springs on your truck... that looks like you got one hell of a deal.

Truck? I put all that into the back of my 1987 BMW 325... bottomed out a couple times and had to take the long way to my shop to avoid the railroad tracks.... poor car...

ROTFLMAO

+1 ( Tasha )

Note that the top swages and tools are not swung but meant to be placed and then hit with another hammer so you don't need much in the way of handles for them---some folks even prefer some of them fairly loose so that shock is not transmitted.

You may want to use commonly found local wood for their handles.

That's a deal I would be happy to jump on!

Thomas

Deals are out there, especially from younger generations unloading all the "worthless stuff" dad or grand-dad had diligently accumulated over a lifetime. I had a funny one from a few years back. My wife and I were at an antique "flea market" and I am always on the lookout for metalworking tools, especially older. We had seen the usual assortment of post vices missing their spring and chipped anvils with "rare antique" prices. On our way out I spied a good sized anvil holding up an open trunk fill of clothes, with a good sized brass milk bucket, urn, whatever you call it holding up the other end. It had to come up to mid calf. It was a Hay Budden, the older lady manning the booth told me it was 300# and it took two men to get it out of her trailer that morning. I asked her how much and she cackled how she had just sold it half an hour ago, the fellow had run off to find a wagon. She laughed some more and asked me how much I thought she had taken him for that old lump of steel. I said how much, expecting hundreds at least. She smiled and said "80 bucks! At least I won't have to haul it around any more!" Seems she had taken it to several of these fleas markets without a bite. Now two in one day! She thought that was hilarious.

Zweihammer wrote:Deals are out there, especially from younger generations unloading all the "worthless stuff" dad or grand-dad had diligently accumulated over a lifetime. I had a funny one from a few years back. My wife and I were at an antique "flea market" and I am always on the lookout for metalworking tools, especially older. We had seen the usual assortment of post vices missing their spring and chipped anvils with "rare antique" prices. On our way out I spied a good sized anvil holding up an open trunk fill of clothes, with a good sized brass milk bucket, urn, whatever you call it holding up the other end. It had to come up to mid calf. It was a Hay Budden, the older lady manning the booth told me it was 300# and it took two men to get it out of her trailer that morning. I asked her how much and she cackled how she had just sold it half an hour ago, the fellow had run off to find a wagon. She laughed some more and asked me how much I thought she had taken him for that old lump of steel. I said how much, expecting hundreds at least. She smiled and said "80 bucks! At least I won't have to haul it around any more!" Seems she had taken it to several of these fleas markets without a bite. Now two in one day! She thought that was hilarious.

now to truly get even..... tell her how much it was really worth

Ph@#ing A Plus!! That's an entire smithy there, less forge, quench tub, and blower. Yep, you scored. Swages, fullers, tongs... wowie. Never seen a cup/circular swage like that one before. Wonder what hammer you use to hit into it.

Hi Konstantin, Thats a cupping tool, from what ive seen smiths use it like a hammer sometimes, and like a swage other times, the cupping tool and the swages make excelent finger gauntlet forms.

Take care

PB[/u]