Anvil question

[BChou-E29]

Howdy. I hope everyone in the North East is enjoying their snow :barf:
Anyways, I got a question about anvils. I have the opportunity to get a 12 lbs anvil fairly cheaply but I'm not sure if it has enough mass for forging. Would you suggest buying it?

 

[silver_pilate]

If it's a 120 pound anvil, I'd say go for it. Plenty of mass for general bladesmith work. If it's a 12 pound anvil, I'd say leave it lay .

A bigger anvil is great if you do a lot of forging/blacksmith work. For bladesmiths, 150 is usually a good size, but 120 will do just fine. Mount it securely in a high-mass mount (stump, solid mount, sand barrel, etc), and you'll be set.

--nathan

 

[hathegkla]

if its very inexpensive you could probably use it. I have a 66lb at home and think its too small though. if you're just forging knives you might be able to make it work but a chunk of railroad track might be even less expensive and have more mass to it.

 

[Russ Andrews]

A 12 lb anvil is not for bladesmithing. It's for bench work.....pin setting etc....

For bladesmithing an anvil in the #100+ is best, and most smiths prefer #150+.

 

[BChou-E29]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm on a tight budget here so I think I'm gonna hold off on buying an anvil and just stick with a piece of track as I have seen other beginners do. I got influenced into this 12 pounder by Old World Anvils, which advertises a 3 lbs stake anvil that is "similar to the ones used by Middle Eastern swordsmiths". I thought this was a little misleading...