Dean1017

Howdy AK -been using one of Cliff's anvils for many years with zero complaints. Good to see you on here and look forward to hearing more about your progress - have fun!

Mr. Reynolds - Regarding Cliff Carrol anvils - I bought my last anvil - a Cliff Carroll 125 lb - at Cliff's, from Cliff, at his place there in Larkspur, Colorado. That's it in the photo. He took me around his shop and building in the back where he prepares his anvils after he gets them from the iron/steel works and before he ships them. Has a very interesting setup and process for hardening the face and I'm not smart enough to adequately describe it, but it's where the face (not the horn) gets hardened, they are cleaned up, painted and shipped all over the place - I even saw one of his anvils in Afghanistan! Anyway, if you get a chance to ever stop by his shop - Larkspur is north of Colorado Springs - you should, as he's about the nicest guy you'll ever meet and you'll learn quite a bit about how anvils are made these days. Most of all - enjoy that anvil.......Dean

Good on ya for using what you had on hand! You'll come across all sorts of other stuff you can use as time goes on - anvils, vices etc.... Good luck buddy and keep having fun!

FREE is my favorite 4 letter word! I only need one vise so this will be the only one I get....which in no way explains why I have 5 anvils....;)

Now on year #2 of heatin' & beatin' on this anvil.....still very happy with it!

Call Cliff on the phone - I picked up an anvil from him there in Larkspur...nice guy who showed me his entire facility, including all of his forges he was assembling at the time. Great customer support - my experience anyway. Try that old fashioned way of contacting someone - call them on the phone! Phone:303-681-2643Fax:303-681-2343

Once you get it you'll completely forget about any shipping charge.....some of the absolute best money I've ever spent was to get my 2 burner Chili Forge! And Bruno is dead on about the packing - they do a fantastic job and everything arrives in perfect condition.

Have my anvil on a stump...which is OK.....but now I have a good excuse to build a long planned stand for both my anvil and now this vise. I usually come across pretty good deals out in the middle of nowhere. Found a really nice 240lb anvil a few years back that was being used as a mailbox base - it had been painted about every year or so, so when I stripped the paint off, it was very lightly used under there and in excellent shape. Just saw it at the end of a drive on a gravel road in Linn County, Kansas and pulled in to see if they would sell it. Old guy asked if I was going to use it or sell it...I said 'use it' and he said I could have it for $50 if I'd help him set a new mailbox post. Couple of hours and $50 later and I had that anvil. Wound up buying some acreage over there to retire on and they are still friends of mine to this day!

Picked this up yesterday at a yard sale way out in the Flint Hills near Cottonwood Falls, Kansas......wanted $12...I offered $10.....took it home with me....;) Works fine, good square threads, I'll clean it up some.

125 lb Cliff Carrol from Larkspur, Colorado. Drove out and picked it up right there at Cliff's shop - one of the nicest guys I have ever met and dealt with. Big enough to handle what I do, which is not all that much but works great for me. A 125 is nice to travel with and easy enough to horse around at the demos I like to do. Also looks like the majority of us use an anvil in that range. My other anvil - the one in my photo - is my Grandpa's farm anvil, unknown make and about 147 lbs....pretty beat up but still more years left in her than I'll probably have on this earth.....;) And besides, it's Grandpa's...from the farm....and you just can't beat that! Dean

Have done a couple of demos where I just took the anvil, stump, couple of hammers and a set of tongs and beat out some softer, malleable metal into various 'stuff' for folks. That was OK - and definitely easy to haul my gear about, but there's nothing like having some fire to liven things up! To be a good neighbor among the other craft folks at such events I take my gas forge and get things good and red hot, pound away and give a good show. People want to see hot iron getting shaped with a hammer and it IS more fun that way.... ;) Coming from the Great Plains it took about 3 seconds of adjustment on my Chili Forge to have it really cranking out a good flame at over 10,000ft in the Colorado Rockies this past July. I make sure I do it safe and easy, don't get ahead of myself and make sure everyone's questions are answered....and so they all walk away with a smile and a little hammered iron souvenir to remember their first experience of seeing a forge, anvil & hammer in action. But most of all - they see me having FUN doing it! Dean

Just started seeing armadillos up this way over the past few years - which is a new thing for us this far north. Have spooked him/her a couple of times when I've gone out there late at night. Used to have a groundhog - 'Gus' - who had made himself a place under part of the slab...he moved on after a few years. Always a big 'ol blacksnake or two out there and I'm with several other guys on here - I don't mind them as they take care of any mice or other vermin.

My favorite anvil - my Grandpa's 140lb unknown make from the farm.....it's a little beat up, been definitely used for many a year - but still solid as a ....well, anvil! Dean

Got a Chili Forge some time back and really like it - for all the reason Bill said. Have absolutely no desire to build my own (if you do, that's great) and like the quick & reliable aspect of my forge and the truly kick-ass burners the Chili Habenero Forge has. Have my coal forge too for when I want to do that - but for pure convenience and the fact that I do this for fun and it's not a business for me my 2 burner gas forge works fine. Works for me - your mileage may vary. Dean

Neil - that's just a big piece of leather draped over the stump - and it's only on there because I liked how it looked! I get carried away with talking to everyone also - but that's just me and I really enjoy talking about this stuff. I have very little talent and don't make anything very complicated or artistic....but it sure is fun to bang out little stuff and the looks on their faces when you hand them something and tell them it's FREE just makes my day! I use junk I find or buy dirt cheap, my equipment is all paid for, I get more vacation days at this stage of the game than I can normally use.....and most of all it make me feel good......can't find a better reason than that....;) Spanky - I'll find a photo and send you....mostly take old junk that I get at farm auctions and cut, heat & pound the hell out if it...darn near anything is liable to come out of that. Nuts, bolts, washers, barbed wire or whatever....makes me use my imagination! I also buy boxes of spoons at garage sales (best yet was 200 for $2!), cut off the handles to make rings and pound out the spoon into leaves, curl over the neck and hang it on a piece of cord for them to wear. One thing I like to do it ask them if they want to take a few whacks on the item I'm making for them....'for luck'....and they always want to! I do 2 or 3 of these a year.......it's fun and I enjoy it. Dean

Anybody do demos? By that I mean at non-traditional places so as to expose folks to blacksmithing, not at hammer-ins or places you would normally expect. Recently did this at a music and craft festival in Colorado and the response was overwhelming! It's surprising how many people have never even seen an anvil...oh sure they all know what one looks like.....but the number who wanted to touch it was pretty cool! I hammered out about 300 very simple little iron amulet doo-dads with a string to wear them.....gave them all away for free and the response was amazing. Lots of questions, lots of great folks who were fascinated by the process and - I think - a great deal of good positive exposure to what we do! I met hundreds and hundreds of good folks, had a blast and got to show, at least in a small and simple way, what we do to a large group who would have never seen this before. Dean

I use the heck out of stainless spoons, forks and knives that I usually get at garage sales for pretty darn cheap. Pay around a buck or two for maybe 20-30 in a bunch. Usually cut the spoons at the midway point on the handle - use the spoon part for leaves and the handle for rings, fobs and such. The blades of the butter knives - as Thomas Powers suggested - make good wings for the bugs, monsters and dragons I make for the Grandkids and their friends...;) Dean

'for what I use it for it's a good little anvil' I like that way of looking at these. Really believe that attitude is just lost on so many folks who think they have to have 400lb + anvils or whatever to do anything. I use what is commonly considered a farriers anvil for all of my blacksmithing work - and it does great! Glad your anvil works for you too! Dean

Hey Bill, I have the exact same forge! Going on 6 months now since I got it. Have absolutely no interest in building one - more power to those that do - but not interested. Have found my 2 burner Habanero to be an excellent piece of equipment and when I don't need 2 burners, well, I just turn one of them off! Your going to be very happy with it - and YES - those folks at Chili are the best to deal with, treated me like family and answered every question I had, and there were plenty. The quality, fit and finish on this is amazing - and as a new guy I like that it's about as easy to use and get good even and HOT temps (if needed) with ease.

Size - 125lb Made in 2013 Iron w/a hardened face Picked it up from Cliff at his shop there in Larkspur, Colorado Have now had it for a year. Excellent anvil with good rebound I like this anvil because of it's ease of use, easy to carry and move and has some good features such as the turning cams which - although this is a farriers anvil and the cams are for shoes I'm guessing - have been pretty darn handy for other uses. I picked up this anvil right there at Cliff's place in Larkspur and I'm here to tell you he's the nicest guy you could meet. Showed me his entire setup and shop area where they were prepping anvils for painting and shipment. I'd never met the man before in my life and he treated me like family. Also got to see how he does the surface hardening/treatment and really felt good after that about my new anvil. I'd easily recommend any of his anvils to a friend. I do small projects and this 125lb one is perfect for me and I can still carry it to county fairs and such where I like to do demos and make fun little stuff to introduce folks to our 'sport'... ;) I know lots of anvil snobs who turn up their noses at iron anvils and farriers anvils....but this works great for me and you don't often get to meet the actual craftsman who made your anvil anymore! Dean

Have had Cliff's 125lb anvil for some time - works great! Picked mine up at his shop there in Larkspur, CO and saw how he does the hardening, finishing etc....about the nicest guy you'll meet. I use mine for light blacksmithing - easy to transport (which I do for demos) and a great all-around anvil.

Habanero arrived a few days ago - got it set up and fired up today....WOW - what a great piece of equipment! Nice folks to deal with and a well designed and very well built forge...just doesn't get any better than that. 3psi and it will do anything I want....looking forward to seeing just what it's capable of. Really is so much easier to concentrate on having fun with the hammer & anvil when you don't have to worry about your heat. Dean

Well folks, couldn't be happier! Followed the directions for placement of the interior forge armor, hooked it all up, bolted it to the stand - legs were cut to the exact length I ordered - and fired it up. Incredible amount of heat in very short order at just 3 psi. Cranked it up to various other pressures and this does way more than I asked for! So far so good - very happy with this purchase and as this is my first gas forge I'm very happy with the time it takes to get to work compared to my coal days. Always glad I learned the basics on coal...but won't go back now. OK then - it's only 9:00pm here so back to the shop....;) Dean

Chile Forge - two burner Habanero model - arrived. I have never seen a product packaged as well as this was - everything is absolutely perfect upon arrival. Set up and firing it up today. Have had the opportunity to use 1 and 2 burner models at knife making demos and other blacksmithing demos - that's what sold me. I can read and read what others say about this and that on this and other sites - but actually trying out a forge is, at least for me, the best way to decide. And I tried out 6 different makes. Thanks to Stacie for answering every question I had - and there were quite a few! This thing is built like a tank - will post some photos and a report some time soon....but right now I have some iron to heat and beat! Dean link removed due to advertising issue

Just today contacted by Megan at Chile Forge - new Habanero ships next week - that was pretty darn fast! I'll let you all know how it goes when I get it - really excited about this and just at the right time too. Been getting my shop ready and it gave me an excuse (like I needed much of one!) to pick up some new 'stuff' for the shop. Dean