cannibal

Thank you, all very good information. I didn't know about the portable field forge, i looked up some information on it and i have about 12 tabs open on my browser to take up an afternoon of reading! I didn't know about that "sweet spot" either, but it makes perfect sense once i think about it. I think this anvil will do me well for a long time, even the knife making i would be doing would be considered medium to light work. Thank you all for the input, I really appreciate your help.

I'd really like to get into knife making. It's a long term goal, I think it'll be a while before I can turn out a knife I'd be happy with. I still have a lot to learn before I get to that point.

"Or you could just ship it to me, I'll refund the $20 and you could look for something else. By the way that may weigh 75 on a scale, but NC marketed it as 70." Jack Evers: I can't imagine what it would cost to ship an anvil. How about I meet you half way? :P You're probably right on the weight, I'm going off memory and that's definitely not my best trait. As for mounting the anvil, I'll likely have to make a wide solid base to attach it to for now. Thanks for the insight on the horn, I hadn't noticed that.

Cool, i'll make sure I mount the anvil solid. I'll be building a garage/shop soon and there's a tree i need to fell. I'll see about keeping the stump in the ground and putting the anvil there. In the mean time I'll need to figure something else out that's a nice solid base to start making some hooks. Thanks for all the help!

It was, it was a good read too. That's what made me look into local programs for getting a proper foundation in the skill.

Hi, First post but I've been lurking for a little bit trying to read as much as I can. I tried to search around a bit for what I'm about to ask but couldn't find any answers. I have a 75 pound anvil and wanted to know if there's anything I should keep from doing on it. I assume that swinging an 8 pound hammer on it is a no go, but I'm not really sure of the limits of it or if this type of anvil is really up to blacksmithing. It's an NC brand anvil for horseshoes. I picked it up at a garage sale for 20 bucks. I've mostly done cold work on it for various small projects, but have done minimal hot work. I've moved around a bit in the last couple years but have finally settled down and pulled everything out of the storage unit, along with the anvil and my old little breakdrum forge. I want to start swinging a hammer again but don't really know what I'm doing. There's a class i signed up for but that's not for another month. I've been reading all I can but are there any basic projects anyone can recommend for beginners? Sorry if this post is a bit scattered in thought, and if this is not the right place for this post. Billy