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Refflinghaus Anvil Finally


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After many years of wishing I finally was able to swing the purchase of a new Refflinghaus anvil. I decided that I could part with a lot of duplicate tools and a few of the anvils I had accumulated and called Dick Nietfeld at Shady Grove Blacksmith shop to find out what he had in stock. I wanted at least a 275lb south German pattern (#58) with the small side shelf or something bigger, I had worked on some of Helmut Hillenkamp's anvils last year and knew I had to have that pattern. Dick said he was out of the 275 lb size but had a nice 330 lb (150kg) one with my name on it so I began selling off my tools. It only took about 2 weeks to raise the money and place the order. I received the anvil on Monday after 4 days of shipping. It took a few hours to make the stand and I was able to give the anvil a test drive yesterday, it was every thing I had hoped for.post-25611-0-27362000-1410954800_thumb.jpost-25611-0-89863000-1410954814_thumb.j

 

If you are ever in the market for a truly outstanding anvil give Dick a call (check out his website). They may be more expensive than Nimbas, ratholes euroanvils Kanca's and many other fine anvils but I believe the quality and workmanship warrants the price. With the entire face and horn hardened to a depth of one inch of at least HRC 59 the rebound is extraordinary. 

post-25611-0-56295900-1410955228_thumb.j

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Actually Dick is truly a very fine honest person. As we were discussing my anvil purchase he was deeply concerned that I would like all aspects of what I was buying and said that if anything wasn't just what I wanted I could back out of the deal, His words were, "I want a happy Refflinghaus owner". 

Believe me, I am a very happy Refflinghaus owner! I have had nearly every brand of anvil or used nearly every brand of anvil and none compare to my new anvil.

As Yesteryearforge has said in earlier threads, "If I could only keep one it would be one of the Refflinghaus anvils. My favorite is the big Refflinghaus..

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congratulations, you're a happy man! you didn't put your bed near it to sleep at it's side?

 

It's a pity that the US is quiet deprived (I don't know if I'm using the term right) of the european double-horned anvils which are, in my opinion (and some experience) way more versatile, especially when it comes to ornamental work. and that smooth transition from face to horn is also a great feature find on the southern-german pattern, some  french patterns, or austrian patterns... even great is that little triangular flat surface when the face "blends" into the horn. this design is maybe the best one available, a well thought design, everything is useful and nothing stays in the way when you work (except the side-shelf for certain people, but the others are big fans of it). I think that design extracts the maximum of usefulness an anvil can do. 

 

once you have it, you'll ask yourself how you could have been able to live without it.

 

unfortunately, in US it seems that the best way to have one is to buy new, (or the few old ones at very high prices), but is a life-long investment. and in no time it pays for itself.

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On 9/18/2014 at 1:58 AM, matei campan said:

congratulations, you're a happy man! you didn't put your bed near it to sleep at it's side?

It's a pity that the US is quiet deprived (I don't know if I'm using the term right) of the european double-horned anvils which are, in my opinion (and some experience) way more versatile, especially when it comes to ornamental work. and that smooth transition from face to horn is also a great feature find on the southern-german pattern, some  french patterns, or austrian patterns... even great is that little triangular flat surface when the face "blends" into the horn. this design is maybe the best one available, a well thought design, everything is useful and nothing stays in the way when you work (except the side-shelf for certain people, but the others are big fans of it). I think that design extracts the maximum of usefulness an anvil can do. 

once you have it, you'll ask yourself how you could have been able to live without it.

unfortunately, in US it seems that the best way to have one is to buy new, (or the few old ones at very high prices), but is a life-long investment. and in no time it pays for itself.

 Well said and explained!

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Rockstar, I think it might be because a lot of early anvils were made from wrought iron and had a hard face forge welded on, the horn was wrought iron and the step was where the hard steel was.  Casting or forging from one alloy makes things different.

 

Fatfudd, I've got that exact anvil except I went for one without the side step.  In some ways I wish I'd gotten it, but am non the less extremely pleased with mine.  Especially after using an ASO for years.  To be fare, I really don't need a nice anvil since the majority of my work is blade smithing, but it sure is nice to play on. 

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I'm not sure on cast anvils whether any manufacturers harden the horn or not, except for Refflinghaus.  With a cast steel anvil some makers might be induction or flame hardening, depending on alloy, instead of heating the whole piece to critical temp.  That would be a way to have a soft horn on a homogeneous alloy anvil, though after using the Refflinghaus I can't think of why a soft horn would be a good thing.

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I'm not sure on cast anvils whether any manufacturers harden the horn or not, except for Refflinghaus.  With a cast steel anvil some makers might be induction or flame hardening, depending on alloy, instead of heating the whole piece to critical temp.  That would be a way to have a soft horn on a homogeneous alloy anvil, though after using the Refflinghaus I can't think of why a soft horn would be a good thing.

 

I'm pretty sure that all cast tool steel anvils have a hardened and tempered horn, no matter if it's a Refflinghaus, Kohlswa, or one of the Czech anvils sold by various companies.  They harden and temper them upside down, from the face up.  They do not isolate the horn when they do that.  I'm sure this is true of today's forged anvils as well.

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I have two old forged French double horned anvils, both of them have the horns hardened. one has a thick (~3cm) plate for the face and thinner plates on the horns, but all are hardened. for the London pattern anvils, maybe it was too difficult, due to the step, to bother facing the horn with steel, as it wasn't absolutely necessary.

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