[matt87]

Just to play devil's advocate here, has anyone considered what we do to anvils to be wrong? Most of the anvils that we use are over 100 years old. They're antiques, and due to the two world wars and the decline of the craft, there aren't many left. Anvils may be designed to be pounded on for a long time, but our anvils may have come from a century or more of daily use, then be used by us. Metallurgy and heat treatment wasn't always like it is and accidents happen. Chisels slip, hammers miss, hardy tools jam and break heels, welds fail. Careful as we can be, we can only reduce the preservation and quality of our anvils. One could say that collectors are preserving anvils for future study.

The guy who goes duck hunting with a 1900 Browning Auto 5 every day of the season or the woman that carries a Webley-Fosberry revolver for protection is no different to you or I using a good old anvil. People might collect it, but we can easily damage it. There are modern alternatives, but their quality is possibly unmatchable once you reach a high price. Besides, it's grandma's shotgun and she put food on the table with it for forty years, or grandad's revolver that helped keep him safe in France in 1918.

As mentioned, new anvils aren't cheap. They are good value considering their projected life, but they aren't cheap. But there's a lot that a smith can do on an 'improvised' anvil. London, American, Italian, German, Hofi and all the other patterns are certainly not the be-all and end-all of anvils, they're just one way of adding convenient features to the core tool, a big chunk of iron for pounding on. Look at the Brazeal brothers' Easysmith for instance, or the vast majority of anvils until roughly the 18th century in the West. 'Most anyone can make an Easysmith for not much money, and it has a table, a butcher and two fullers. Add a stock stand, a bickern and a small home-made swage block and you've got the functionality of a London pattern anvil with the basic tools, for a much lower cost and a higher portability.

Perhaps collectors hate us.