Thread: B K Anvil in Sydney

Hi,

For anyone who's interested there's a B K Sydney anvil for sale at the Casual Markets, the seller wanted $550 for it. Way out of my price range. I think it said 100 on the side of it, it was man portable if that helps. Seemed in ok condition. I should of taken a photo but had the kids with me. He'll be there all day today and I've seen him there on many occasions.

Ben.

I wonder if it is the same one as listed on ebay??

Did the BK Sydney Anvils have a good reputation??

The first thing I did when I got home was to check ebay, and the ebay one is bigger and in Moe. But I thought I seen a B K for sale in Sydney on ebay as well.

My old workshop had a B K and it was pretty good. If I had the cash on me, I reckon I could of haggled the bloke down some. In fact I can't stop thinking about it now!!

Ben.

Here are a few
Anvil BK Sydney in Wantirna South, VIC | eBay

Blacksmith Anvil in Moe, VIC | eBay

The second is a 160 lb BK Sydney on long term loan from a friend. The third is mystery anvil with the heel broken off. The BK Sydney anvil is a cast iron anvil with a steel face bonded to it. The condition was good, but the casting has been very poorly finished at the factory and there were signs of abuse on one edge of the face. This turned out to be the result of inconsistent heat treating leaving a soft spot on the face (or perhaps some idiot heating the area with an Oxy-Acetylene torch and drawing the temper).

If this is correct I thought Cast iron anvils were considered poor and to be avoided. Only go for old forged iron or cast Steel anvils.

Just found out BK stands for Bradford Kendall



Bradken - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bradken Limited (ASX: BKN) is a global manufacturer and supplier of differentiated consumable and capital products to the mining and construction, rail and transit, energy and general industrial markets. As a leading heavy engineering company, Bradken can manufacture fully machined cast iron and steel products from a mass of 0.5 kg to over 25 tonnes. Bradken employs over 6,000 people globally and has a truly global footprint with 59 manufacturing, sales and service facilities throughout Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, China, the United States of America, Canada, Malaysia and Indonesia. The company is a component of the S&P/ASX 200 index, code BKN.History[edit]

Between 1919-1920 two BHP steelworks employees, Leslie Bradford (General Manager) and Jim Kendall (Chief Mechanical Engineer) and a group of friends backed a horse called ‘Jack Findlay' who completed a remarkable sequence of five wins. Each time the group rolled-over their bets, and by the 24 January 1920 they had won and pledged the £15,000 winnings they had accumulated to start the steel foundry business.
On the 28 April 1920, Bradford and Kendall used their winnings to establish the Alloy Steel Syndicate to build a steel foundry in Alexandria, Sydney to take advantage of what they saw as an untapped potential for industrial growth. The syndicate was officially incorporated as Bradford Kendall Ltd on the 20th March 1922.^[1]
In December 1974 the company officially changed its name to Bradken Consolidated Limited.^[2] Between 1981 and 2000, the Bradken business was a division of Australian National Industries Limited (ANI), an under performing industrial conglomerate. ANI was taken over by Smorgon Steel in 2000 and broken up. The Bradken casting business was sold to private equity firm CHAMP and subsequently refloated on the ASX in August 2004.
In 2005 the company acquired of Roche Castings Foundry, opened a coal mining services facility in Mackay, Queensland. In 2006 it acquired Firth Rixon Castings Ltd in the United Kingdom, a 20% share of Americast Technologies Inc. in the USA and a ferrous scrap business in Cannington, Western Australia.
In 2007 the company opened a manufacturing facility in Xuzhou, China, and acquired the Australian foundry supply company Cast Metal Services (CMS).
In 2008 it acquired the remaining 80% share of Americast Technologies Inc, and in 2010 it acquired the Canadian oil sands company ALMAC Machine Works Inc.
In 2011 it acquired Norcast Wear Solutions in Canada, a supplier of mill liners, and acquired the Australian companies Wear Protect Systems Pty Ltd Overseas Alloys Pty Ltd.
In 2012 the company opened a greenfield foundry in Xuzhou for the manufacture of mining consumables.

http://bradken.com/ourcompany/history

When Bradford Kendal had a casting operation in Sydney, back pre-2000 (1980's IIRC as Key Steel?) they used to make cast anvils as decorator pieces. Someone had provided them with a real anvil to make a pattern off, they cast up job lots of anvils and then dumped them in the slack tank to 'patina' for a few weeks/months.

It is entirely possible that someone else has obtained a BK anvil & made a pattern off that and is casting more, rougher anvil-shaped-objects from melted down scrap. The killer on all these things is the freight

For more background see; blacksmiths blacksmithing - Lists - Trove at the bottom of the page.
And a bit in; Aussie anvil? - Anvils - I Forge Iron except where Phil J. bit about Cpt Thunderbolts horse's shoes made on one!

A.

Originally Posted by bsrlee

When Bradford Kendal had a casting operation in Sydney, back pre-2000 (1980's IIRC as Key Steel?) they used to make cast anvils as decorator pieces. Someone had provided them with a real anvil to make a pattern off, they cast up job lots of anvils and then dumped them in the slack tank to 'patina' for a few weeks/months.

It is entirely possible that someone else has obtained a BK anvil & made a pattern off that and is casting more, rougher anvil-shaped-objects from melted down scrap. The killer on all these things is the freight

This BK anvil seems to fit the above description;

Vintage Blacksmith Anvil BK Sydney NO 7 20cm Long | eBay

It does look a lot rougher than the one I seen at the markets and a few other I have seen about the place.

Ben