Anvil Chorus

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sbickford

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Aug 22, 2010
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am a brand new knifemaker and am looking for an anvil. I have a couple of questions:
1. what is the minimum weight I should accept?
2. I understand that steel is better than iron and forged is better than cast. Is cast steel ok?
3. How do I distinguish cast from forged and steel from iron when I find an anvil I think might be a contender?
 
I'm new myself, but I've done a lot of research into anvils.
For blade-smithing you will probably want something larger than 70lbs. The larger the better as long as you can afford it and can move it if you need to.
As for the material the anvil is made of, you should find that anything except the newer Chinese cast iron anvils will work ok.

Important things to look for are a flat working surface without a large amount of "sway back", and edges that aren't chipped up too bad. Most used anvils will have some deterioration of the edge, but you will want at least some fairly clean edge.
Anvils with flaws which have been welded up may be usable, but the price should reflect this less than ideal condition.

One note on weight. Many anvils are marked in "hundred weight", with three numbers to give you the weight of the anvil. The first number is hundred weights (112lbs) the second is 1/4 of a hundred weight (28lbs) and the last number is the remaining pounds.
Example: 1 1 4 would be 112+28+4=144lbs.
 
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