first anvil advice

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reiko1078

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Sep 1, 2011
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I want to get an anvil to start forging small blades and projects. One option I've seen is the stump Anvils on old world anvil.for 47$ I get two small hardened stump anvils one flat and one fuller tool. My second option is to search out my local scrap yards for a large chunk of steel to put together a post anvil. Question. Would the smaller anvil set be better since they are hardened? Or would size be more beneficial on an unhardened price of steel. ?
This will be my first anvil and attempt at forging

Side note. I've seen crosspeen hammers at homedepot and other big box stores. The price is right on these hammers but how is the quality?
 
Really for your first one you can use anything, my first was a 40lb tractor weight strapped to a 6' tall post buried a foot deep. Which I still use sometimes . Also before you spend any money talk to a rail way worker in your area they usually have scrap cut track pieces. Those work really well for small pieces and blades. I guess what I'm saying is that if you have a piece of hardened steel that's heavy enough to not move and a hammer than you have an anvil.
 
I just ordered the stump anvil set from oldworld Anvils. So we will see how it goes. At 47$ I don't think I can yo wrong. Now to find a massive stump to mount these suckers in
 
a 1.5x1.5 inch square is not gonna be easy to work on. I believe those were mainly used for sharpening iron/bronze edges.
 
Find a hammer with a very similarly sized face, and you could do a ton with these, on top of teaching you solid technique. I've been training myself to only strike one place on the anvil and move my workpiece, unless working the horn or edges for specific purposes, and it's difficult. We naturally gravitate toward wanting to move the hammer hand around the work piece as opposed to the opposite.

Have fun with the stump anvils, play with some other people's larger ones, and then you can make an informed decision about what you like, based on that, and the style of work you do.
 
I work at a steel shop, and could probably get you a deal on a CHUNK of steel if you ever need one. I'm going to pick up one from them this week, made of ar400 (not sure of the carbon content but it's the hardest stuff we carry). The chunk of scrap I like is about 6"x8"x12"
 
Coolhandluke. Man that would be awesome. Do you ever make it down to the savannah area? What would a chunk like that cost?
 
now that I'm actually trying to buy some off them, they're acting like they're made of gold or something. I keep harassing them every day to get them to sell me some. The price will probably be just a bit over scrap price
 
I made a post anvil out of 4" ID square tubing with a piece of heavy C channel as a base. I use a piece of redwood 4x4 in it for straightening blades. Yeah, its overkill, but I like overkill. It beats the hell out of underkill.

Anyway, it would make a great steel anvil with a piece of hardened steel in place of the 4x4, and it didn't cost much. The bulk of the expense would be in the piece of hardened steel. They don't like to give that stuff away, for some reason.
 
Here are the stump tools I purchased from old world anvils. I have them mounted in an oak stump that I would estimate to weigh close to 100lbs. I'll admit when I first saw the little anvil I didn't think there would be any way I could use it but after a few forging sessions I think I will be able to get the hang of it. I mean you shouldn't need any more area then the size of your hammer head right? I've been practicing drawing out and rounding some mild 1/4 inch square bar from home depot as per the lessons link posted in the hammer techniques thread I also started making a set of tongs.
The anvil face is slightly convex but I'm waiting to grind it flat because you know what they say. You can't put metal back.

Of course now I've decided my two brick mapp gas forge won't cut it Haha
 

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