jimmiduke

its a great idea. it will work like a charm, and your theories are correct. I have owned several of the cutlers anvils, IMO they are junk. great for making 16th century forks and such, but not much else. don't listen to anything anyone here has to say on the subject. I am a 9th generation smith. Black, Silver, Copper, and gold. the best anvil you can buy is one that you purpose build for yourself. no two people work the same way. if you buy an anvil you have to learn to work for it in a sense. custom building an anvile gives you more options. you can build it to work for you. not all smiths use features of a particular style of anvil. personaly i have never used a horn. i haven't had a use for one. the T Anvil that fits my hardy hole serves its purpose as well as the usual purposes of a T anvil. it takes work, it takes time, and often takes money but in the end you will have an anvil that fits you. after all there is a reason there are so many styles of anvil. they each fit a person. if you cant find or afford one that fits you, make it. it would seem after reading the replies to your post the collective creativity and imagination is slowly bleeding from our once proud heritage. IMHO