philip in china

How about Hofi and Rhino?

I have a 2.2.0 Brooks and a Bubba Rhino. The Bubba is about the size of the one you are talking about. I use the brooks more than any other anvil in the shop. It is as good an anvil as I have ever used. So to answer your question:

Yes, in theory a larger anvil is better. In practice I doubt if you would appreciate any difference between the 2 you mention.

A bigger anvil is harder to move and to walk round as you are working.

If I got the chance of a 3.0.0 Brooks anywhere else I would snap it up. Here I have 3 anvils and a swage block so have actually given away a couple of mid sized to big anvils purely because I did not have space for them!

In the old days most full time working blacksmiths managed fine on an anvil of around 1cwt or smaller. The big ones were for factories where they were doing big work and had teams of strikers doing huge forge welds. Unless you are going to do seriously big work a really big anvil is not necessary and, if limited in space, might be undesirable.

I use quite a bit of RR line and have never needed to harden it for any purpose- except as a demo on differential hardening.

I have just reread my above post. It might not be clear. The Rhino has a tapered heel which isn't quite a second bick but is almost one. You need to look at the photos at http://www.incandescent-iron.com/rhan.html to see what I mean. I am not good at describing stuff.

Most double bicks lack the step. I use the step quite a lot. I think that is one reason why I like the Rhino so much. It is almost a double bick so you get most of the advantages of that but there is also a step. I don't understand why most double bicks are made without the step.

The earthquake was quite a few miles down the road so I have escaped again.

Still scary enough!

Also if you write off the expense over the usful life of the anvil it is infinitessimally small.

For example, say you bought a Papa Rhino now. That is a modern, high quality anvil made in USA out of alloy steel. At about 100Kg it is a perfect size for virtually anything yo are ever likely to do on it.  It will cost you US$1,250 although if you are an ABANA member I think you get a discount. (I am not, so didn't). So how long is that anvil going to last? There are plenty of 100 year old anvils that were made out of lower grade steel. Let's say it will last 100 years. That is $12.50 a year or about $1 a month.

I tried to explain this to somebody when I bought a full size snooker table. I have sons who play the game. It could well still be around in another century. The cost is almost nothing. It is just having the cash up front to buy something like that in the first pl;ace.

It looks quite a lot like a "Euroanvil", complete with the two pritchel holes, the shelf, and the hardie hole right in the middle of the spot where I would normally consider the sweet spot of the anvil.

Speaking of which, what happened to the Hofi anvil? The sites were buzzing about them a few years back but I haven't heard or seen anything about them for ages.

The lines of the Hofi I think are less cluttered than the Blu one.

I measured my smallest hardie hole. It is 20mm square. My 3 anvils all have radically different sizes!

If you get a new anvil you know exactly what you are going to get. It hasn't been in a barn fire and been softened etc. You should also get a guarantee of some sort. There are considerable advantages, certainly. The only disadvantage is price but there are perfectly good anvils at not too steep a price. Written off over the life of the anvil the cost is very little.


Also depends what size you want.

I once heard that "Hardie" came from "hard edge" but I have never seen any evidence that that is any more than a guess.

I have an anvil with a very small hardie hole. If you are going to do some really heavy bending or anything of the sort I suppose the hardie stalk could shear but even at 1/2" that would take a lot on torque.

I wouldn't cast a commercial anvil into the concrete. Installing anchors and a vibration damping pad instead. I have built one of 2x lumber (2x8 I think) on end, and staggered. So a strap went across the Scallaps for tool holders. I think I actually got the idea here or anvil fire back a few years ago. I also use a 3 leg for my portable rig. I like the extra mass of the wooden stands, but I can't denie the stability of the three legged ones. I have ask seen one that was 2x lumber splayed front and back, with a 2x top and plywood sides ( here or anvil fire?) that would work well as a form for a concrete mass. Hm, I have some 10" Chanel and 1/8" plate in my stash...

Don't cast it into the concrete but standing the anvil on concrete worked well.

I made a concrete base for a Papa Rhino anvil I had.  I know people say that a concrete base eventually will break but mine lasted a long time without any sign of wear. It also adds a lot of mass to the equation. I was fortunate. I found an old cistern which had been scrapped as it was leaking. I cut some holes in both sides to take porter bars and then filled it with concrete. I had some scrap castings which I dropped in the mix to make it even heavier. As I reached the holes I put plastic water pipe in and just continued to pour. Once the cement had gone off I twisted the plastic pipe out to leave the holes through the block. The cistern was just an ideal size but was about 1" taller than I needed so I just left the rim of the cistern proud by that amount. The anvil never budged, The whole thing was very successful. I left it at my previous school where it is still in use several years later with a double bick anvil they have now got which is about a 280#.

Simple, cheap and very massive!

Pritchel hole?

It makes my protectors look very prosaic!

We tried on various bits of scrap in the smithy. I think aluminium is going to be favourite, punched on something hard such as a piece of plate. I punched some on my Bubba Rhino anvil and they worked really well.

Thanks for all your contributions.

BTW he also forged a knife and used the stamps to punch his initials into the blade which makes it rather nice.

I think I use my Bubba Rhino most. That, of course, is just over 150Kg. It is just very convenient having the big face and the mass is always useful.

A clue as to where you are might help. I sent an anvil via Ant Logistics. It got there OK.

These will just be struck with a hammer.

I would not think it is a Vulcan, Vulcans seem to be more blocky. It is important to remember as well his location. To me to looks a little like a Vaugh Brooks because of the mass under the hardy, also they were made in England and English anvils are far, far more common in Ontario then American anvils, at least the ones I have seen around.

I think the heel is much too thick for a Brooks.

My son needs to stamp out some dog tags. He has got the letter and number stamps but has not, yet, got the tags. He asked me for advice but I really don't know. Anything like that I have ever done has been done hot on an anvil.

Should he have a hard surface on which to work so as to cut the stamps into the metal? Or should he be working on end grain timber so the metal has somewhere to go- i.e. sort of bending the impression in?

Any help would be appreciated.

I have a 2:2:0 Brooks and it is the best anvil I have ever used.

BTW the name is Vaughan NOT Vaughn which is a different brand.

I bought my anvil new and have never regretted the decision. I f I could get a used one I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Catfisher, I have a good quality cast steel anvil you can have if you want it.

Vaughans have them in stock:

http://anvils.co.uk/products/list/42