That weld is original from the factory, it is not a repair. Arm & Hammer went through the same transition. Trenton anvils were forged welded at the waist for some time before changing over to arc welding the two halves together at the waist. Interesting historical aspects to look back upon. You find that same type of circular stamp on the early Trentons as well. Peter Wright anvils also had a circular "SOLID WROUGHT" stamp on them. Early Trentons forged in Germany (and some of the early U.S.-made) featured flats on the feet of the anvil, a characteristic of the biggest name in anvils at that time- Peter Wright. Early Trenton anvils may have "borrowed" more than one type of well-known advertising aspect besides the name. Fisher & Norris Eagle anvils were made in Trenton NJ since the mid-1800's, a well-known brand. The early Trenton anvils were forged for many years in Germany before eventual U.S. All of their advertising at the time was still very clearly "TRENTON". The X-looking stamp was just that, a stamp on an anvil. So maybe CF&I frankensteined the mark to "Trexton" to get away from the food fight with the other Trenton guys? They could always claim it was still "Trenton" but nobody would read it that way unless their lawyers told them to.Īnybody have any better ideas or info? I have always wondered. OK, playing forward from there, there was already an anvil company *in* Trenton, and they started pitching a fit about "fake" Trenton anvils that weren't made in Trenton. 1900, and wanting to capitalize on that when CF&I started making anvils, rather than CF&I inventing a new name. The only thing that comes to mind is that the 'Trenton' mark was actually an idea based on their NYC distributor owning the "Trenton" brand name from a previous company that went under c. Too crisp, and negative lines in areas where they wouldn't have been in an "N" stamp. For years? No.Īnd the "X" isn't the kind of thing that a damaged stamp, or fouled up stamp would produce. For a week, while you get a new stamp made, maybe. Yeah, I never quite bought the 'screwed up stamp' theory. 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. Either way, welding wrought iron by processes other than forge welding is a somewhat difficult proposition. 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. 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. A 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. I wonder as to the material of the anvil body. 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. 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. 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. Anvils with welds at the "waist" of the body were forge welded.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |