gamachinist
Member
From the wagon to the forge I would guess!
I would hate to have to tote one any further than that.
I would hate to have to tote one any further than that.
What Do I Need to Know in Buying and Anvil (and where to buy one)?
- Thread starter Kestrel
- Start date
- Status
First piece of advice on an anvil is "Buy as much as you can afford". You can always have too little anvil, but you can never have too much. I've worked on 150lb anvils and 400lb anvils and you can DEFINITELY tell the difference. It's a lot easier to move hot steel with a heavy anvil.
As for good places to get them. Check out EuroAnvils. They offer the best price/performance of any new construction anvil. They're high quality, cast steel, full hardened anvils from the Czech Republic. the horn will need a fair amount of work with a flap wheel on an angle grinder to smooth out, but I'd say the effort is worth it. My blacksmith guild just put a bunch of these in the teaching forge last year and they're very nice. Personally, I also like the European pattern as compared to the standard English pattern anvils.
I don't know if this was covered yet in this thread or not, but the hardie hole is the larger square hole in the anvil face and is used for holding various tools such as cutoff tools, etc. The pritchell hole is the smaller round hole in the anvil face usually used when punching so you can have the work piece supported but still have a place for the hot biscuit to fall through.
Also, if you're looking at used anvils, see if you can find a 3/4" or 1" ball bearing and take that with you. Drop it on the anvil face from about 12-18" high and notice how high it rebounds. An excellent anvil will rebound the BB almost as high as it was dropped from. If it doesn't rebound at least 3/4 of the way, keep on looking. You have to remember that the anvil under your work will help your hammer rebound from your work and save your wrists and arms a LOT. You CAN do a rebound test with a small ball pien hammer by holding the end of the handle between your thumb and forefinger to create a pivot point and dropping the pien of the hammer onto the face of the anvil and watching it's rebound. I wouldn't recommend this though as MOST folks don't like having their anvils hit with a hammer. If you're planning on using this method, ask first if the seller minds.
Also, a lot has been said over the years about an anvil's "ring" being an important factor to it's quality. The opinions on this are split, but I can tell you that the the historic forge at the farm museum my guild calls home has a 400lb Kolhswa anvil that is a joy to work on and has a fantastic rebound, but sounds almost completely dead. In the long run, all a ringing anvil will do is damage your hearing (so, wear ear protection if your anvil rings exccessively).
As has been pointed out, you should really check out AnvilFire. It has a lot of good info on anvil selection.
Personally, when I build my forge at my new house, I'll likely have a Euroanvil there.
-d
P.S. Also check out ABANA. Find a guild in your area and contact them. Blacksmiths as a whole are generally very friendly helpful folks who are more than willing to share advice, info, and anything else they can.
As for good places to get them. Check out EuroAnvils. They offer the best price/performance of any new construction anvil. They're high quality, cast steel, full hardened anvils from the Czech Republic. the horn will need a fair amount of work with a flap wheel on an angle grinder to smooth out, but I'd say the effort is worth it. My blacksmith guild just put a bunch of these in the teaching forge last year and they're very nice. Personally, I also like the European pattern as compared to the standard English pattern anvils.
I don't know if this was covered yet in this thread or not, but the hardie hole is the larger square hole in the anvil face and is used for holding various tools such as cutoff tools, etc. The pritchell hole is the smaller round hole in the anvil face usually used when punching so you can have the work piece supported but still have a place for the hot biscuit to fall through.
Also, if you're looking at used anvils, see if you can find a 3/4" or 1" ball bearing and take that with you. Drop it on the anvil face from about 12-18" high and notice how high it rebounds. An excellent anvil will rebound the BB almost as high as it was dropped from. If it doesn't rebound at least 3/4 of the way, keep on looking. You have to remember that the anvil under your work will help your hammer rebound from your work and save your wrists and arms a LOT. You CAN do a rebound test with a small ball pien hammer by holding the end of the handle between your thumb and forefinger to create a pivot point and dropping the pien of the hammer onto the face of the anvil and watching it's rebound. I wouldn't recommend this though as MOST folks don't like having their anvils hit with a hammer. If you're planning on using this method, ask first if the seller minds.
Also, a lot has been said over the years about an anvil's "ring" being an important factor to it's quality. The opinions on this are split, but I can tell you that the the historic forge at the farm museum my guild calls home has a 400lb Kolhswa anvil that is a joy to work on and has a fantastic rebound, but sounds almost completely dead. In the long run, all a ringing anvil will do is damage your hearing (so, wear ear protection if your anvil rings exccessively).
As has been pointed out, you should really check out AnvilFire. It has a lot of good info on anvil selection.
Personally, when I build my forge at my new house, I'll likely have a Euroanvil there.
-d
P.S. Also check out ABANA. Find a guild in your area and contact them. Blacksmiths as a whole are generally very friendly helpful folks who are more than willing to share advice, info, and anything else they can.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
