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Thread: Buying an Anvil
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5th August 2013, 09:23 PM #1
Buying an Anvil
When someone wants to start blacksmithing, usually the first thing that comes to mind is an anvil.
Even though the most essential tool is in my view a forge, and an anvil can be improvised, the anvil has some romantic notion of old times.
Unfortunately in Australia we have little in the way of a blacksmith tradition and so the availability of second hand anvils is low.
And this brings me to write this thread.
When I decided to rebuild my blacksmith workshop I was faced with exactly the same dilemma and being an e-bay tragic, I thought it would be easy to find something in it.
Far from it.
The anvils on offer on ebay or gumtree are mostly useless lumps of metal but what is amazing is the descriptions and the prices.
First of all there seems to be a popular notion that old or antique is better than new. Ancient tiered and decaying tools purported as some vintage art piece that like wine or violins, improved with time.
Then there is the fanciful description of "little or no wear". There are two anvils on ebay right now, among a barrage of strange anvil like objects, both in poor condition chipped and worn full of marks with prices that are equal or more than a new one and barely of a reasonable size to do some work on it, the biggest being 89 kilos.
Don't get me wrong, they still can be used, and yes they can be repaired and brought back to life with a lot of work and know how. But why bother? if you can get yourself a 100-150 kilos anvil at say $200 and can make it good again with a few days work on it, OK, you got yourself a bargain. If you buy a 25 or 50 or even 80k anvil for $700 or 800 or 1000...chipped everywhere, full of marks, even deformed, the horn missing, one leg broken off...but hey! it has a mark that says made in kracovia in 1740 ... I don't get it.
A dear friend of mine is a mechanic and he has a large anvil kicking around in his workshop. It is probably 150 kilos and it belonged to his father who used to fix track springs on it. I asked him only once about it and he told me in no uncertain terms that it was priceless and that it would never depart from him.
The fact is that the anvil was way too small for the work his father done on it and the poor thing looks like if it was made out of putty and a giant had pressed his thumb on it and made a round indentation in it 8 inch wide and 2 inch deep and the material squashed to the sides.
Yes I know that you can not walk in Bunnings and buy an anvil, or if you can it is not but another lump of useless metal only this time new out of china made of scrap, and yes, I rather buy an old lump of useless metal than a new lump of the same.
So what to do?
Buy new. Made in Sweden, Made in Czechoslovakia, made in Germany, Spain, Italy, US, and until recently even in Queensland.
And yes it will cost you. But in relative terms it will be much cheaper to buy new then to buy old.
Kohlswa Gjuteri
BRANCO
Nimba Anvils – anvils made in the USA, double-bick blacksmith anvils, Italian-style anvils: Gladiator Anvil (450lbs), Centurion Anvil (260lbs), Titan Anvil (120lbs)
And if you want to buy second hand, have a look at what a good second hand anvil looks like:
Anvils for sale
And yes we still make anvils in Australia, Doug Slack Foundry in Emerald QLD 07 4982 4722
No known website
however see the products here:
brisbane blacksmith supplies - anvils, swage/swedge blocks
if you buy from them, keep some money aside to take it for heat treatment because they are on the soft side.
And if you still want to look for a bargain, keep your eyes peeled and keep looking. Eventually a good one will pop up, but don't buy an anvil neither because it is "old" nor because it has fancy marks, names, dates or wights on it. A good quality anvil that has seen a lot of proper work consistent with it's size will have a polished work surface and still sharp edges. Bashed up tools are a sure sign of either soft material or undersized for the weight of the hammer used on it. You can not use a 10k sledge hammer on a 40k anvil.
Test the bounce, look for signs of a face plate coming off and please don't pay what they ask for it. Try half to begin with, check the new prices and remember that shipping an anvil by sea is cheap.
Good Hunting
Marc
PS
Below is a medium size anvil at 95 kilos its ok for general blacksmithing providing you don't want to do large welding with big hammers. If you do, think 200k up
“We often contradict an opinion for no other reason
than that we do not like the tone in which it is expressed.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
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5th August 2013 09:23 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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5th August 2013, 11:59 PM #2Senior Member
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Thanks Marc, straight to the point!
I have been looking for an excuse to buy some of this;
All Steel Merchants and Brokers | Australia's premier Steel Merchants | Counter Weight Material Archives - All Steel Merchants and Brokers | Australia's premier Steel Merchants
Perfect anvil material, in my view.
However I already have 3.5 London pattern objects (bought long ago, when $2 per pound was affordable), so shouldn't be considering any more (unless a club starts).
Also in Sydney is 'Precision Patterns' who do this; Engineering
Their contact is on website (usual disclaimers: I haven't used one, buyers discretion...).
cheers,
AndrewOC'Waratah' spring hammer by Hands & Scott c.1911- 20, 'Duffy, Todd & Williams' spring hammer c.1920, Premo lathe- 1953, Premo filing machine.
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6th August 2013, 08:15 PM #3
I have to say that after posting this thread I was sort of sorry I stated that the only way to go is new. Clearly not everyone wants to spend 1000 to 2000 on an anvil.
It is also true that a decent welder would set you back just as much, not to mention compressor, drill press, power tools, air tools, oxy set, (dear I say plasma cutter, cold saw, power hammer), forge, hand tools, at the end of the day, the anvil is not the dearest tool in your shop and in fact you will buy more than one if you are like me. I have 4 not counting a miniature one I found and a rail one that is perfect to make bent nail straight again.
However, and even when I doubt i will ever consider doing this, it is possible if time is no objection, to make your own anvil.
Just like it is possible to fix an old anvil if the steel warrants such enterprise, to make your own anvil would be a journey that many blacksmith have thought of but discarded as unpractical, yet others have done with great results.
A search on Google.com would bring up many such projects
here is one guide to it:
Anvil Making articles on anvilfire.com : blacksmithing and metalsmithing reference
When I find the French copy anvil filled with concrete abhorrent, I particularly like the second German style made by this 16 year old Canadian kid. If a 16 year old can do it ....
Anvils by 16 year old Canadian Daniel Boettger : How fabricated anvils can look and be made well.
And if you are really keen, why not cut and grind down a solid block of steel, caveman style?
Fabricated Anvil by Justin Naylor : anvilfire.com
I think that if you want to do some smithing, you need a fire a hammer some steel and a place to bang on.
A forge can be made with little money. It will not be perfect and it will not be the last you make. I dislike brake drum forges and hairdryer blowers but they work and get you started with $50.
A couple of cross pein hammers and a square lump of steel 150x150x150 dressed with a grinder and a belt sander set on a tree trunk will get you going.
If you got past the objections of your family to the noise, the complaints from the neighbors about the smoke from your forge may be you have something going and then spending a couple of thousands on a good quality new tool like a nimba anvil or similar will not sound too alien.“We often contradict an opinion for no other reason
than that we do not like the tone in which it is expressed.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
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6th August 2013, 08:56 PM #4Senior Member
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video with a bit of anvil making
Just for laughs;
Australian Blacksmith Meet "Get Hammered at Moony's" 2012 - YouTube
At 4:05 we see our anvil making effort! Just another way, not everyone has a 1000 ton press.
AndrewOC'Waratah' spring hammer by Hands & Scott c.1911- 20, 'Duffy, Todd & Williams' spring hammer c.1920, Premo lathe- 1953, Premo filing machine.
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6th August 2013, 10:15 PM #5“We often contradict an opinion for no other reason
than that we do not like the tone in which it is expressed.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
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18th October 2013, 09:28 PM #6
From time to time I look at e-bay for anvils, I must say that I do so just for laughs to see what people call an anvil.
Today I saw two BK anvils both in very good conditions, One a bit overpriced, the other very cheap ... so far anyway.
Have a look
Vintage Blacksmith Anvil BK Sydney Aust NO 112 With Stand in Melbourne, VIC | eBay
Anvil 74 KG BK Sydney Aust 160 Great Cond in Melbourne, VIC | eBay“We often contradict an opinion for no other reason
than that we do not like the tone in which it is expressed.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
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18th October 2013, 10:48 PM #7GOLD MEMBER
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I reluctantly sold mine this year (140 kg) and the couple who bought it were going to put a glass top on it and use it as a decorator item in their inner-city warehouse apartment. Oh well, what a waste.
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19th October 2013, 09:06 PM #8
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20th October 2013, 01:28 AM #9GOLD MEMBER
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$750, it wasn't enough but I had stopped using it and couldn't see it rusting in the backyard.
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20th October 2013, 09:45 AM #10
Hare & Forbes have a 70Kg cast steel anvil for $649.
A020 | 117R Blacksmiths Cast Steel Anvil | machineryhouse.com.auCliff.
If you find a post of mine that is missing a pic that you'd like to see, let me know & I'll see if I can find a copy.
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20th October 2013, 11:35 AM #11.
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20th October 2013, 01:25 PM #12
Knowing Hares and Forbes, they source most of their stuff from Taiwan. 10 years ago I would have said like you that is a lump of useless metal, however, some of the manufacturers in Taiwan have improved a bit and who knows, making an anvil is not rocket science, It may be that they actually made something usable. For that money however I would buy the Doug Slack one, from memory $500 for 40 kg and 800 for 94 kg
“We often contradict an opinion for no other reason
than that we do not like the tone in which it is expressed.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
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20th October 2013, 02:46 PM #13.
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9th November 2013, 10:52 AM #14Senior Member
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Buying a anvil
I just bought a anvil 60lb not a large one but useful, I only paid $50.00 for it. It seems in reasonable nick nothing broken off. One question how does one mount it?
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9th November 2013, 02:13 PM #15.
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Pics?
There's a thread running on mounting an anvil in the MW forum.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/an...3/#post1715145
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