stuarthesmith

A teenager in Canada wants to buy a 250 lb. Fisher Eagle I just acquired. I checked with a trucker, and they want a small fortune to ship and lay paperwork(invoicing and brokerage fees) to ship this anvil to canada, far more than he is paying for the anvil itself. It is too heavy for UPS, and Greyhound doesn't ship to canada. Does anyone have any thoughts as to how I can accomodate this young man and his need for an anvil? Please tell me how to ship this anvil reasonably to canada. Thank you in advance. Helpppppppppppppppp!!!!!!!

a very highly evolved hammering technique, bravissimo!

this master, 84 years young, hits THUMBS UP..................bravissimo! http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/29834-oldest-blacksmith-still-banging-away-at-84-years-old/#entry305636

Notice my exemplar isn't wearing safety glasses!

Nice Hands!

I bought this 70 lb. vulcan, about a year ago, at a flea market in a package deal for a beautiful 138 pound Peter Wright anvil that I sold to a newbie on IFI. I hate this anvil with a passion, it has crumbled edges. My wife is currently battling our next door neighbor, who has decided to put up Christmas Ornamentation in the middle of October. Our return salvo is to put plastic flowers in the hardy hole, as OUR mode of decoration of our place. What do you guys think?

not really.........................the POINT of this is that if it works, do it, but there is no tried and true orthodoxy in america...........................unlike the guild system that created ME. This thread started over a year ago, when someone NOT familiar with how I was trained criticized my hand position at a public demo, not realizing that I am the culmination of a thousand years of passed-down technique from eastern europe.................and THAT is the point of this exercise!

mystic seaport museum blacksmith shop

I gotta admit, this is almost as fun as thumb wrasslin'!!!!!!

how many thumbs does it take to "hang" a hammer handle?

another nice pic

pretty lady with prettier technique Copyrighted image removed.

texas too!

I bought several thousand of those handles from a company called "Coopersburg Handle Works", who may or may not still be in business, here in Pennsylvania. Egad, I am editing this post because they are still in business!!! http://www.coopersburgsports.com/about-us They have been in bizness since 1791, and are one of the oldest companies in continuous operation in America!!!! I have been dealing with coopersburg handle works for many years, but I was unaware that they had changed their name. The hickory handle on the ring driver pictured here is also made by coopersburg handle works. They are courteous, prompt, and their quality is nonpareil. Not to mention that they are reasonably priced!

It has been awhile since I had an order for cooper's tools. Just forged these yesterday, a cooper's chamfer knife, a cooper's drawknife, and a cooper's ring driver. All three forged out of 1080 high carbon steel. Enjoy! I am adding these to my online catalogue.....forged several of each!

I am not rehashing other people's opinions. I am relating personal experience with all sorts of anvils. Timothy is right, btw, I have only seen two arm and hammers in my life.

it is not a rehash because this is an amalgamated post, generalist, on buying anvils....................it is a "rehash" of a compendium of information, all drawn together into a primer on anvil selection...............which I do not see on this forum, so this compendium is in fact original

Nothing wrong with unorthodox anvils or new ideas for anvils. If you reread my original post, I wrote this to help newbies; to point them in the right direction. Is anyone here disparaging new ideas for anvils? I am absolutely sure that Brian Brazeal does wonderful work on the anvil you pictured. Most newbies won't come in contact with that style anvil, though...................hence this roadmap post describing commonly available choices for anvils..............by the way, do you like your Peter Wright?

I sure wish I was ambidexterous.....................then I could face my anvil horns towards each other with no worries, like two charging rhinos!

to both thomas powers and technicus joe, excellent addenda to my thread.................

excuse me, Mr. Wooldridge, but were we talking size or brand name.......................size is a topic for another thread, sir! And I love your profile pic, showing that name brand anvil in it!

I have had, over the last 38 years, well in excess of 100 london pattern anvils. I have used many of them, and noticed some patterns regarding quality and differences between the different brands of anvil available. This is what I have learned, after buying, using, selling, and lending all these anvils over the years. A lot of newbies ask me, on this forum, what type of anvil they should get. Maybe this can help them I have owned a number of hay buddens. I currently have four of them in my shop, ranging from 700 lbs. down to 240 lbs. They all have several things in common. First of all, they all have hard faces. I have used them HARD for decades, and yet they still show no signs of sway. They all ring loudly, indicating sound welding when they were manufactured. And all of them have pretty hard faces. The taper of all my hay budden horns are very graceful, not too fat nor too thin. The dozens I have sold, many to IFI members, all had these traits in common. I really like hay buddens, as you folks can tell! Not to mention that they were made in the USA! I also like the fact that the three hay buddens I own over 300 lbs. all have uniform hardy hole sizes, a smidge over inch and a quarter square. Methinks that Hay Budden had high standards of quality control in their factory. I have owned many more Peter Wrights than Hay Buddens. I think the reason for this is that Peter Wrights may be more common, even in America. When I served my apprenticeship, back in the late seventies, we had a 512 lb. Peter Wright in the shop that was wonderful. It had the same characteristics as Hay Buddens, graceful, hard, ringing, and tough. However, I have had Peter Wrights that were dogs! Delaminated face plates, crumbling edges, bellied faces, and other woes found on these anvils indicates to me that Peter Wrights are either hit or miss, you get a wonderful one, or you get a mutt! The first anvil I ever owned was a Peter Wright 220 pounder that was beautiful!!!!!!!!! My younger brother still has it in his shop, and is still using that anvil, which is an excellent anvil. When purchasing a Peter Wright, the prospective buyer needs to examine the anvil carefully, looking for faceplate delamination. The buyer should also do a ball bearing test to make sure of rebound. All the Peter Wrights I have sold in here were carefully examined by myself, to make sure that none of them were faulty. Caveat Emptor! Another excellent anvil is the Fisher Eagle, made of cast iron with a thick steel plate atop of it. These anvils are extremely tough, and I have rarely seen them belly out. They do not ring, because of the way they were manufactured. They are ideal if you want a hard, tough, durable, rebounding anvil that is not going to deafen you. I have a 400 lber that I use regularly in my shop, and I love it! I manufacture anvil hardies, and drop the forged shanks of them into my fisher eagle hardy hole to shoulder the shanks with sharp shoulders. These anvils are perfect for this because they are thick at the heel, so there are no worries about breaking the anvil's heel off while striking the fat end of the hardy with a 20 lb. sledgehammer. Like I said, fishers are workhorses. And, by the way, they are also american-made! I have also owned Swedish steel anvils, such as Kohlswas and Paragons. They were all excellent anvils, with the same good characteristics as Hay Buddens, and even a tad harder than Hay Buddens. There is only one drawback to these anvils. I am hearing impaired because of using a Kohlswa. The ringing produced by these anvils is deafening. This is why I gave all my swedish anvils to my two brothers, who have shops. I recently also acquired a Mousehole anvil. The anvil had a stocky shape, with a thick heel and a horn shorter than peter wrights and hay buddens. What I didn't like about it was the belly in the middle of the face. I have had conversations with blacksmiths who resurface and retool old anvils, and they all tell me that Mouseholes lacking bellied faces are a rarity. I pointed out a flat-faced Mousehole at a local flea market to one of my guild members, who jumped on it with the quickness, appreciating the fact that this particular anvil wasn't bellied. Just call him "Lucky", I guess! Lastly, I recently acquired my first Trenton, forged in Germany. It is very much similar to my Hay Buddens, right down to the shape. I actually LOVE this anvil. It has all the good characteristics intrinsic to a good anvil, hard, tough, rebounding, and ringing. I highly recommend these anvils. As far as other brands, I have bought and sold Vulcans, which are mediocre in quality(most of them have cracked or crumbling edges on the face), and aso's, both new and old. Many of the old aso's I have had, made out of cast iron and such, had severe damage to them, like busted off horns and heels, severe chipping, etc. Stay away from them unless there is no other alternative. It is better to save one's money to get a good anvil to start off with than to suffer the vicissitudes of a junker anvil and get turned off to this craft.

matter of fact, that guy is handling that sledgehammer incorrectly, according to my training..................good heads up, anvilfolk!

yet another one

another interesting picture