Anvil question

[Dopic1]

Guys, noobie here just getting started and looking at anvils not looking to do anything larger then maybe chef’s knives. My question is, will a railroad rail anvil be sufficient, and are the cheapies at Grizz and Harbor Fright just that? Should I take a dive and get a real anvil Thanks for any help.

 

[Cody Hofsommer]

RR anvil would be better then the crap at the hardware store. Watch Craig's list and you might find something cheap, never know. There are lots of old anvils sitting in the back of some old barn, some are great, some not so much. A good anvil will never lose its value, if not abused.

 

[Cody Hofsommer]

Where you at? Someone might be 5 miles from you with a starter anvil they might lend you

 

[Dopic1]

Reading, PA about 50 miles NE of Philly. Yeah I thought the hardware stuff was junk, seem too good to be true for that price.

 

[Justin King]

Avoid cheap anvils, most of them are cast from crap steel and not properly hardened, if at all. If you can get a piece of railroad track for free, that might work to start out but eventually if you plan to forge you will want a decent anvil, either cast from hardenable tool steel as many of the newer ones are, or one with a welded-on face made from tool steel, which most good quality vintage anvils had. This is a purchase that is worthy of some study before dropping any serious cash.

 

[Will Leavitt]

I tell new smiths that a real anvil is a joy to work with but a bad anvil leads to big arms and bad attitude. The anvil isn't just a chunk of metal to pund on, it rebounds your swing to reduce fatigue and make forging more efficient.

If you can't afford a real anvil go to the local junkyard and look for at least a 4x4x12-18" chunk of steel. Set it up vertically working on the 4x4 face. This is a Japanese cutlers anvil. The concentration of mass under the hammer face makes it work like a larger anvil. Build a stand out of 2x6 or 2x8s attach the 2xs to form a tube surrounding the anvil and place wood in the tube under the anvil to set your working height. This is what I currently use since I stupidly sold off my Sea Robin.

 

[Dopic1]

Thanks Guys looks like a real anvil after all.

 

[Michael Kemp]

... another factor besides the mass of the anvil is the hardness of the surface. On a classic western anvil the main bench surface is hardened, but the step is not. If you have a decent sized ball bearing with you to check out an anvil, if the ball bearing makes a bright ringing sound and bounces back from the anvil to almost as high as you dropped it from - that's a good anvil!