Review of TFS 100 Anvils

[Quenchcrack]

I have been looking for a 100-lb. anvil to use for demos and to take to meetings of the Houston Area Blacksmith Association. After about a year of fruitless searching, I purchased a new Texas Farrier Supply 100# Blacksmith anvil. My shop anvil is a 170# Old World German Pattern that has served me very well for the past 5 years.

I ordered the anvil from a local Farrier Supply who said they bought from Delta Horseshoe. It took only a week to get the anvil to Houston and I paid no shipping charges. The anvil retails for $550 and county taxes added another $32. Not cheap but not that much more than an eBay anvil of questionable heritage for which premiums are usually paid.

The anvil came wrapped in cellophane, no crate. The anvil body was painted flat black and it had no rust on it. The horn and face were ground to an acceptable finish, not further grinding is necessary except for rounding the edges. Evidence of grinding to remove superficial defects was found on the horn near the cutting table. It is only an aesthetic issue and the blemish will cause no problems. The anvil appears to have been cast on its side. The parting line was ground but not cleanly. The casting gates were roughly ground off and evidence of their presence remains. My question is: how much longer would it take to grind these castings with some workmanship and pride?

I put the anvil on my garage floor and did the ball bearing test. After repeated testing, I would say that this anvil averaged about 80%-85% rebound over the entire face. I put it on the wooden stand and repeated the test with the same results. The manufacturer says the anvil is hardened to Rc52 and the rebound and file bite suggests this is about right.

Last of all, I fired the forge and made my first tool for this anvil: a bench dog type hold down. The anvil rang more than my 170 pounder but my big anvil is chained down to the stand. The TFS anvil is just sitting on top of the stand. I plan to chain it down to reduce the ring. While my hammer control has improved since I did the review of the Russian Anvil, this anvil showed no marking of any kind after my first project.

The anvil returned the hammer well enough. Not as good as my bigger anvil but it will work just fine. I like the longer conical horn as it tapers to a finer point than my Old World German. The hardy hole is almost perfectly 1” square but seems to taper inward slightly. I will have to make some new hardy tools for this anvil as my Old World has the 1-1/8” hardy hole.

I can recommend this anvil for amateur and professional use. Other than some surface imperfections, which do not affect the performance, this is a nice anvil and it should last longer than your average blacksmith. It is vastly superior to the Russian and Chinese ASO’s now selling for up to $350 on eBay. If you are going to spend that much on a new anvil, save your money and buy one of these.

[racer3j]

The word I would use describing this anvil is, "crisp." As for aesthetic grinding, add $75 to the price. Or get out your 4 inch angle grinder with flap wheel and clean it up.jet

[KYBOY]

I like it. The way you described its forging characterisitics Id say its a real nice anvil Id be proud to own it. Very good post.

[Quenchcrack]

racer3j, I worked in a foundry right after college graduation and I can assure you it would only take an extra few minutes to grind the gates flush. They do not pay the grinders so much it would add $75 to the price of the anvil. It is a very serviceable anvil but it could be made more aesthetically appealing. My Old World Anvil has no such cosmetic imperfections.

[Drew]

Does anyone know what these are made of? I like them a good deal, but I've always been curious, and I've heard about three different rumors as to what the steel (or malleable iron) is.

[racer3j]

As much as I have done from scratch fabricating( did not make my own steel) and grinding I was exaggerating a bit. But if it costs $8 in labor time to detail, you can expect 5-6 times that in retail price. I still have not put hot steel on my fairly big(196 pounds) Vaughan anvil- considering a Delta Future 100 pound and selling the V & B. So, I know nothing about anvils to be commenting- should have kept my mouth shut. It is a very crisply shaped anvil and so I can see that flash would be distraction.jet

[rthibeau]

wouldn't take but 5 minutes with a flap disk today....five more minutes tomorrow, and the next day, etc.....until you got it the way you like.....no expense to speak of and just a little something to do each day

[Quenchcrack]

Drew, the anvils are cast steel, probably about .40% Carbon and 1.50% Manganese but that is a guess. It is not malleable iron. Malleable iron is just grey cast iron that has been normalized for an extended period of time that causes the graphite flakes to dissolve into little colonies of pearlite in a ferrite matrix. It is still basically cast iron and this anvil is NOT cast iron. And yes, I could dress it up a bit and maybe I will do just that.

[blksmth]

I believe the TFS/Delta anvils are all made of ductile cast iron. This can be confirmed with the Delta factory.

[tetnum]

no they are mad out of cast steel witch has a lower carbon content than cast iron so they are not as britle