Grizzly G8148 anvil, is it good?

D

Dmitry.M

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Jun 13, 2006
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I am looking for an anvil and found this one relatively cheap. Did anyone try it?
I need it for forging pertty tough steel and relatively big chunks, like 2" diameter and 2" long pieces. I understand that bigger anvil is better and good face of hardened steel is ideal. But I will forge my pieces roughly in shape and than ground anyway. So a bit uneven face and may be not very high HRC is OK.
My main concern is the weight. Is 100Lb enough for froging 2lb pieces or not.

Plus another question. If I'll put the base of the anvil in the sandbox or will make a sandbox around the stand. Will it reduce the ringing or not much? How can I make it as quiet as possible.?
 
Don't know about the anvil quality, but a tip I read one time suggested hanging an old automotive accessory belt from the horn with a weight hanging from it to dampen the ring a bit.

--nathan
 
They are no doubt cast iron, which means not suitable for bladesmithing, or really any smithing of any kind, or anything other than a boat anchor:D. A peice of railroad track would be better.
 
Dmitry, I doubt that you'd be happy with such a small anvil for forging pieces of that size. You have to remember that if you're doing heavy forging and the anvil is light enough to move when you hit it, you're just wasting energy moving the anvil instead of your steel. Personally I'd look for at least 200lbs for that type of forging, and attach it to as heavy a base as you can find.

I'm not that big a guy and I can make a 175lb anvil bounce all around a shop hitting it hard. If you just need to work down these large pieces into workable stock, you might see if somebody with a hydraulic press or power hammer would be willing to forge them down some for you for a reasonable fee. It will sure save your arm a lot of wear and tear.

-d
 
Deker how is your anvil mounted? Mounted properly a 22 pound anvil will not bounce around. The base for an anvil makes as much of a difference as anvil size itself, mounted properly (and within reason of course) most any size anvil can be used. But also DEFINATELY get the biggest anvil you can find, bigger the better. There are two 500+ pound Peter Wrights at this spring shop an hour away from me, covered in dust and rusting.
 
Thanks everyone for the answers. I know that 200 and more lb will be the best, but as usual... my "want" and my "can" are in the different corners of a room.
Currently I am "forging" on a 3" diameter and 5" long round piece. It surely bounce and jumps like crazy. So I have to cut my pieces ahalf at least.

What if I'll buy this cast iron piece of junk and TIG weld a 1" thick face of good steel on the face? Will it work or it is just waste of money?

PS. I think I might afford $300-400 for an anvil, but not more.
 
A watse of money to tig onto it IMO. Dmitry, take your section of round, and weld angle iron "feet" to it then screw down the whole anvil(through holes drilled in the "feet") to as big a stump as you can find. That shouldsturdy it it up a bit.
 
I would weld a stand and mount it on a stump surely. The only problem is... I BORROWED this round piece... It's not mine.
 
OH ok, then for drawing out that thick bar, things would go easier if you turn the round bar on it's side, and forge on the radius, it will focuse the force of your hits and the rebounding force from the anvil onto a smaller area and move more material.
 
Yes I tried it. Not much of a difference whan the total weight of the "anvil" is less than 20 pounds. So I prefer to have it standing and use tip of the hammer to draw. The tip is way more narrow and all the kick goes where it should.
I think my main problem is wheight of the anvil. As far as I do not hesitate to bit a hell out of the piece I drive the "anvil" pretty hard. To reduce the bouncing and to make it heavier I put my round "anvil" on a led plate ~1" thick. After few pieces forged my round just pierced the lead base. Like it is a playdough.
With my 3lb hammer(small one) I can play golf with the "anvil"
Thats why I thought just heavier one may do.
Looks like I need to search for a used old ones around again. I did it ones with not much of a success.
 
Ahh I see. Well no one ever said an anvil needs tolook like an anvil, they can be any large size chunk of scrap steel with a large enough weight and large enough flat clean face to work on. Search your local scrapyard for peices that you think would work, large mass and a flat smooth face on any one side.
 
No problem, Alot of times you can get a peice of scrap in the 200 pound range for 1/2 of the price of an anvil of the same size. If you were closer to me in NY i would happil lend you one of my anvils.
 
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