Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Jym Hoffman Continental Pattern Anvil with shelf


Iron Poet

Recommended Posts

I was pretty desperate for a new anvil this year and so I went shopping around. I wanted something squat, with two horns, with a shelf, and for a reasonable price. I looked at peddinghaus, NIMBA, and a few other brands and they either didn't fit the physical characteristics I wanted or where too far out of my budget. Eventually I ran across Jym's website and found what I was looking for, a nice 110lb anvil. something small enough where I can move it by myself while still being substantial enough to work on.

The anvil is nice and squat which makes it act like a far heavier anvil, especially on a nice stand made of pressure treated 4x4s. The horn has a very nice curvature that lends itself nicely to making bracelets or starting scrolls. The shelf is good for forgewelding smaller objects since it retains heat very well, I've also found that you can also use for for making forks or even just splitting a chiseled piece of metal apart. The square tapered horn is nice for beveling knives or for making bends on finicky material. It also came with a free hot cut (which I've placed somewhere)

.The only problem that I've had so far is that it's a little soft as you can see by the dented edges in the 4th picture, but I haven't damaged the face much if at all even with how shoddy my hammer control is.

anvil1.jpg

anvil2.jpg

anvil3.jpg

anvil4.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/30/2016 at 1:24 PM, Stash said:

Well, if you mis strike an edge, in most cases it will either dent or chip. That looks like a nice anvil. If I recall correctly, Jymm makes his anvils from H13. Oughta work pretty well.

Steve

 

My first anvil had an incredibly hard face that I couldn't dent, it did however have some rather large chucks missing from the sides...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

for heavy forging, when the risk of miss-hit and force is greater, I prefer to use softer hammers than the anvil. dressing a hammer is preferable to a dimpled anvil.

congrats for the anvil, that's a very useful pattern.

for heavy forging, when the risk of miss-hit and force is greater, I prefer to use softer hammers than the anvil. dressing a hammer is preferable to a dimpled anvil.

congrats for the anvil, that's a very useful pattern.

 

the only problem I see there which may impact the efficiency of the anvil is the upper layer of 2/4s laid horizontally. that layer may absorb a lot of hammer's energy (your anvil is also being on the lighter side), but also tends to bounce the anvil. so a good stiffer base may improve your anvil "response".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/3/2016 at 3:53 AM, matei campan said:

the only problem I see there which may impact the efficiency of the anvil is the upper layer of 2/4s laid horizontally. that layer may absorb a lot of hammer's energy (your anvil is also being on the lighter side), but also tends to bounce the anvil. so a good stiffer base may improve your anvil "response".

Those are 2 pressure treated 4x4s and I haven't noticed to much bounce. The base is a bunch of 4x4s lag bolted together with some angle iron on the bottom so I can secure it with spikes, I made it immediately after I got the anvil and I haven't had much reason to build a better one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my first anvil, a 32kg (~70pounds) was, at first, bolted on a big oak stump. it worked very well. then I got a 101kg anvil took the little anvil off that stump and moved it on a walnut stump I had available, but I have to put 3 pine wood blocks under it to gain some height. the blocks are with the grain horizontally. the difference now is HUGE. there's less difference between the small and the big on the same stump than the difference between the same anvil on different stumps. installed on the new stump, I have the feeling I forge on rubber. not doing heavy forging on it anymore, it doesn't bother me much, so changing for better isn't urgent.

I recommend you to bolt it rather than use spikes. the spikes will soon get loose. on a really big anvil it doesn't matter too much, but on a lighter one makes a big difference. on your anvil I would pass two long bolts through the slits between the feet, using big washers or some drilled flat iron pieces as stops (I don't know if I'm clear)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...