$24.99 H.F. anvil

P

Patrick56

Joined
Mar 27, 2001
Messages
48
The local Harbor Freight has 55lb cast iron anvils on sale for $24.99. Is this big enough to get started on? Is there any reason not to buy this anvil at this price?

Thanks,
Patrick

------------------
A Democracy: Three wolves and a sheep voting on dinner.
A Republic: The flock gets to vote for which wolves vote on dinner.
A Constitutional Republic: Voting on dinner is expressly forbidden, and the sheep are armed.
 
Those anvils are JUNK...... You really want to look around and find an old good one with a hard top and as much weight as you can afford.....kinda like everything else in life..its best to start out with what you want to end up with......keep looking and you can find a decent one for $100 or $150
 
I have a HF anvil, and Tom is dead on with that one. I even "splurged" and got the steel anvil which is a step up from the cast iron ones and it's still a turd. (I mostly set rivets on it, it works OK for that.)

If you have other grinding and shaping tools and would rather spend time than money, stop by the railroad yard and get a chunk of railroad rail. (Usually free)

There are tutorials on the net that describe it better than me, but the idea is to rough cut it with a torch, toss it in big bonfire and let it stay there till the fire dies to anneal it. Then you grind away until you are happy with the shape. The only expensive part is you have to get it heat treated, I think they just treat the surface. (Or you could try it yourself.)

Anyway, like I said there are more detailed and accurate tutorials out there on the web, do a search and I'm sure you can find one.
 
Thanks for the heads-up guys. I'm really in no big hurry to get one, think I'll hang on to my $$$ 'til the right one comes along.

Patrick
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top