1841 mountain howitzer anvil!!

[Branson]

Couple flanges & stubshafts, 4 rollerskate wheels & a chainsaw make a pretty handy emergency lathe.

Thanks, Aunt Phil.  No chainsaw here, but the flanges and stub shafts come in handy!

[keykeeper]

Glad you got that anvil, Branson!

What else are you missing to complete your setup?

[Branson]

Glad you got that anvil, Branson!
What else are you missing to complete your setup?

The most difficult piece will be the vise that fits into the hardy hole.  The attached picture is small, but should give an idea of what it looks like.  The drawings also show the anvil on its stand. 

What I know I'll have to find yet is the double-edged straight hoof knife, and a shingling hatchet that were part of the kit.  I probably have most of the other tools.  We have yet to build the forge pan and back, and the bellows, but the frame is mostly complete.  There's a lot of hardware on the two forge boxes and the two carriage makers boxes, most of which we will have to reproduce ourselves.  I picked up a proper straight pein riveting hammer last month on eBay, and have a US marked farriers hammer.  Oh, we'll have to make the clinch block, but we've made one of these before.

[keykeeper]

That little vise looks similar to a gunsmith's hand vise. One of the guys in our association forged one a while back. I'll see if I can find the article from the newsletter on it. It had the forging instructions with it. Could easily be adapted to make one of those little vises on a hardy shank. Just a thought.

[Branson]

That little vise looks similar to a gunsmith's hand vise. One of the guys in our association forged one a while back. I'll see if I can find the article from the newsletter on it. It had the forging instructions with it. Could easily be adapted to make one of those little vises on a hardy shank. Just a thought.

This is exciting!  I sure hope you can find the article -- it's exactly what I would like.   This vise is very much like the gunsmith's or jeweler's hand vise.
I've wondered about this vise, and another small vise that were issued to artificers -- why?  Gunsmithing isn't one of the trades included in the artificers' duties, but that seems to be the only utility for such small vises.  Light artillery artificers were also issued a hand vise.  A mystery.

[Branson]

The anvil arrived a day early.  It's seen some hard use, but pretty much cosmetic stuff.  On the other hand, it's exactly, or nearly exactly, as drawn in the 1848 army drawings.  The table rises slightly from the heel to the point where the horn begins.  From that point, the horn tapers down.  Now to get the paint off and see what's underneath.  Might even be a maker's mark -- doubtful, since some time in its life people did a lot of cutting against the stake.
It's definitely an army issue from sometime between 1848 and 1865.

[keykeeper]

Branson,

Looking at that drawing, I can see reference measurements on the little vise, although I cannot read them.

 I can't quite make out the base, though. I'm running the steps through my head on what would be needed to forge one, but I think that base would be the obvious hardest part. To forge out the shank, and keep enough on there to forge out to make the pivot point for the other jaw, that would be the hardest, I think.

The rest of it, would seem to be a process of punching a square hole for the screw (I'm thinking use a carriage bolt in a square punched hole), round punched hole for the opposing side, and a hand forged wing-nut to tighten it.
The jaws would be a matter of upsetting and then splitting the parent stock, turning them out, and rolling them inward to form the wide jaws. Rivet the moving side into the base. Make a spring the same as a regular post vise, but on a much smaller scale...lol.

But that base has me stumped. It also looks to have a lip to hang slightly over each side of the anvil.

Of course, it would be tedious, to stay within the measurements, but could be done nonetheless.

I find the forging of tools like this fascinating. That's what got me started in blacksmithing....I wanted to learn about the process of forging tools by hand.

I can't wait to show a copy of this plan to some of the guys at the next conference. I know a few of them would really enjoy trying to make one of these vises. I'm considering making one to fit the hardy of my travel anvil, or a variation of it, to take to demonstrations.

Good stuff. Thank you for sharing it.

[anglesmith]

 Branson, Congratulations It's almost unbelievable that you now have an original army issue anvil! I will be looking forward to see how it cleans up and is mounted on the block.
Graeme

[johnsironsanctuary]

Wouldn't the little vice have been either  steel castings or a chilled iron castings?

[Branson]

I'll see if I can get a better picture of the vise plans -- if my step-son can get close pics of the full size plans.  As a quick reference, though, the jaws are 1.5 inches wide.  Height from the table of the anvil to the top of the jaws is 6 in.  The hardy is 1.5 in long by .5 square.  The saddle spans the width of the table, which is 2.5 wide.  The width of the saddle is given at .65 in, and the hardy hole measures 9/16 with my calipers.  The legs of the jaws are .8 in X .7 in.  The carriage bolt is .5 in by 4.5 in long.

Bob, the other fellow in this project, is confident he can machine the base.  I would think the original shank would have been a separate piece, forge welded in place -- this is 1840s technology.  What he is worried about are the jaws (.3 in where they meet).  The "lip" on the saddle joint extends .5 in below the top of the table.  I'd say it was designed to take more torque than the square hardy alone would take. 

When we get it all together, I promise pictures.  I'll be getting some live pics of the anvil to send to the guy who was going to make a repro since he asked, and he might add one of these to his line of old style anvils.

[Branson]

Wouldn't the little vice have been either  steel castings or a chilled iron castings?

Bob's under that impression, but I believe it would have been forged.  Looking at the ubiquitous small "table vises" of this period, I have only found examples that were clearly forged.  The original drawings came out in 1848 (Mexican American War), and are measured drawings of already existing tools.

I don't mind being mistaken, but this is how it looks to me.  Heh, if I find an original, I can be more sure...

[Edward Herring]

Branson, I am the First Sargent of Walton's Battery, a mounted, Mountain Howitzer artillery unit based in North Alabama.  We are horse drawn and I would like to correspond with you concerning your work on the Mountain Howitzer's Artificer's tools.

[Branson]

> Branson, I am the First Sargent of Walton's Battery, a mounted, Mountain Howitzer artillery unit based in North Alabama.  We are horse drawn and I would like to correspond with you concerning your work on the Mountain Howitzer's Artificer's tools.

I'd love to correspond!  There aren't a lot of folks interested in this stuff.  At this point I'm keeping my eyes open for a mounted artty group to reenact with.  I've got about 13 years worth of research in my files and I'd love to share.  One thing I can tell you right off is that the South still used mountain howitzers with the first style of carriage.  I have photos, and I think I have a measured drawing of that carriage.   I have downloaded the 1840 and 1850 Ordnance manuals.

There's vocabulary that has taken luck to translate, too.  And explanations of why this or that was part of the tools and materials issued.

[en_herring]

Would love to correspond.  You can contact me at en_herring@hotmail.com.  I live at Mount Hope, Alabama 35651.  Most of our unit is located near Moulton, 35650; Hartselle, 35640; and Decatur, 35601.  We always try to make the reenactment at Selma in the Spring.  Where are you located at?  I can send photos of our unit in action.

[Papaw]

en-herring- I have to pick your replies out of the spam posts since guest posts aren't visible until a moderator sees them and approves them. This will cause a delay in letting others see your posts.
How about registering and posting an introduction in the Introduction Forum?