Peter Wright Anvil – help
As I’ve written, I have a 145# Peter Wright that definitely has some age on it, as well as was more than a paper-weight. After the anvil was cleaned up (thank you Andrew), I noticed a thing or two that was hidden or perhaps just blended into the background.
One of the things I couldn’t previously make out (not that it is easily legible now), was the fact that below the line that has Wright on it, there is a partial line that looks to say Patent. One of the previous owners seemed to make a lot of punches or similar, and liked to test at least some aspect on the body of the anvil. I’m sure Peter Wright fans are probably cringing right now, and believe me, I understand. As far as I can tell, the weight stamps on the side of the anvil have all but been obliterated, and I can’t tell whether there was any indication regarding being made from wrought iron or not.The rebound characteristics more than offset the damage to the anvil’s body, otherwise I’d likely have kept looking for another anvil.
There are some letters on the front edge of the foot below the horn (bick), facing in the same direction. There are two capital “E” stamped extremely deep, each a couple of inches from the outside tip of this foot, but on different sides of the anvil center-line. With some of the anvils that have been around for a long time, some of the details can easily hide in dents, scratches, dings or the such, and the darkening/staining resulting from previous rusting, can make it quite difficult to know for sure if what you are seeing is a letter or an intended mark, or just a mark from time. These two stamped letters on the other hand, are absolutely part of the anvil, and just based on the depth of strike, look like they were applied when the body was still at a strong heat.
I’ve read that some of the Peter Wright anvils that were intended for export, had a Made in England stamp on the body. On the anvils that were sold to customers or businesses in England, is there any chance they might use the capital E in this manner, as a abbreviation as the purchasers would already know where they were made? Heck, I guess it could be as simple as an indicator of who made this specific anvil, so if someone complained they would have a trail back to the slacker. 😉
I would really appreciate anyone’s input in this mystery. If you have a thought, you can either add a comment to this page, or email me direct at LeeLairdWoodworking@gmail.com . Thank each of you for stopping by and checking out the article and site. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Lee Laird
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Whip it good
The mild Winter in the South really gave the weeds a strong foothold, rather than getting cold enough to really kill the little buggers. In the last couple of days the weeds have just shot up, and rather than pulling the lawn mower out for these problem plants, I grabbed a grass whip (photo below) I’ve had since the mid ’80s.
Before heading outside, I looked at the the whip’s edge, and it was pretty dull. By now we know that I can’t let a tool stay dull, once I know about it. Haha. The edge of the whip has a wavy back-and-forth sort of pattern, which looks like it’d be a pain in the rear to try and sharpen, but I’ll share a tip on how I quickly had it back to decently sharp.
I started off using a black Sharpie to color the portion of the edge that I planned to sharpen, much like I do when sharpening a chisel or an iron for a hand plane.
Instead of going to one of my sharpening stones, I grabbed two (Coarse and Fine) Dia-Fold diamond hones (which are coincidentally about as old as the whip), since the area I planned to hone had a small footprint. I ended up only using the fine Dia-Fold, as it removed enough material quick enough, and it left a decent surface behind.
I start with the hone making contact with the the wavy section, but only the part farthest from the cutting edge, and gradually lowered the hone until the Sharpie was removed from the the cutting area. It was easy to hold the whip and the hone, so they stayed in the same relative relationship, and work my way quickly down the surface. Once I got into the swing of it, I finished both cutting edges in less than five minutes.
Now that the grass whip was again ready to slice and dice, instead of mashing and tearing, it was out to work on my golf swing. Oh, I was actually out in the yard cutting the weeds, but there’s no reason you can’t work on your golf game at the same time, especially with the way a whip feels in the hands.
While I was “working on my golf game” one of our city’s refuse trucks drove up to get our refuse. The guys in the truck stopped for a moment, as they were a bit intrigued, and asked what exactly I was doing. It seemed that they hadn’t ever seen someone that cut their grass with one of these whips, while basically practicing their golf swing at the same time. I could be wrong, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they stop at the local garden center, and pick up a grass whip for their house/yard. (*If my buddies at the City happen across this article, it was nice visiting with you today, even though it was only for a few moments.)
As a reminder, always remember to check your tools to make sure they are sharp, before putting them to use, as they can be more dangerous when they are dull.
I hope you enjoyed the article and find a way to integrate a necessary chore with something you enjoy, which can make it fun! As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments.
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