foundryguy

Hey friends, We are closing out foundry and pattern shop, unfortunately we can not make the blacksmith tools without either shop. The anvil stuff was great, its business in today's world that is difficult. Making profit over the past 6 years has been the issue. In 8 short years we have put anvils and blocks on 6 continents and I have friends in all 50 states. I appreciate all of you and the kind words and friendships. Cheers, Greg

Everything is old, hahaha. We have some bridge anvils we will be listing soon. They were designed by a MS blade maker named Doug Noreen. He lives near me and ran a pattern shop, contacted us and wanted us to have the patterns. The dishing bowls were are popular with some folks. I just told my son its the item I wish i had brought more of. You never know when you load the trailer up. Thanks again for the purchase!

Thanks for the purchase and the mention. I visited Eric in Maine in 2023 and bought the pattern from him along with 3 dishing bowl patterns. I hope the block works well for you

I researched anvils and what to make them out of on this site before I ever made my first one. A couple guys asked me if I made anvils, never even thought of it. Stumbled on this site about 7 years ago. I greatly appreciate it I check on here every couple of weeks. I try not to get involved with the Holland comments on social media anymore. Happy to answer questions though.

Chad, it is my company. We are a working tool and die shop and do not have a typical storefront. We would love to have you visit, just reach out on the website and let us know the time and day you would like to stop by. We love visitors, it's just better when we know someone is coming. We have almost every anvil in stock right now. As mentioned, I am not on here very often so the website is the best way to contact us. Cheers, Greg

It was nice meeting you and thank you for the kind words. I hope you enjoy your block! Cheers

Thank you for the kind words my friends! 6 years now and over 60 Michigan made blacksmithing products! Cheers

Thank you for the interest in our Holland tools and the kind replies. We make everything in our foundry in Michigan and only sell direct. Hope you folks have a great month of August and stay cool! Cheers

Hey friends, Greg from Holland Anvil here. I was asked to toss in my 2 cents on this topic. Heat treating is a complicated topic as seen in the many comments on this tread. We out source our heat treating to a couple different companies. On our H13 anvils. They are fully machined then hardened in a vacuum furnace by quenching them with liquid nitrogen and then tempered twice. This is the only steel we make that is hardened in this process. It is very predictable coming out of temper which gives us great consistency in hardness. The down side is, it is very expensive costing us just under $1.00 per lb. We get very little scale during this process, in fact they look brighter coming back to us than when they are sent. Typical steel hardening leaves a dark scale that is blasted off. Another thing about this process, we do not see any distortion to the part itself. Most castings would get hardened, then machined. We do not need to do this on anvils. We pour 8640, 4140 and other steels that can be normalized or quench and tempered then machined by our customers. They would typically be done in a more traditional method that is not done in a chamber void of oxygen. Prices for a standard Q&T might be in the $.25 to $.45 per lb range Honestly, heat treat could be a college course as there are so many processes. Luckily west Michigan has quite a few companies that are specialists. Typically, large foundries have in house heat treating although a vacuum furnace with a nitrogen quench might not be part of it. Cheers friends!

This thread popped up today. Thanks for this idea Tom! It seems Armour people use it? We sell abou the same amount of ductile and H13 bowls. One famous artist I will not mention here uses is upside down as a floor upsetting block. The H13 model. He says it sits flat because of the bowl form compared to a flat plate he used for years. Thanks again for bringing your idea to us!!! We really appreciate you!

Holland/Fisher.... hahaha, kidding on that!!! Josh and I have been talking for a couple years about getting something going, time to get to NJ. I hope everyone has a fine holiday season.

Hey Josh, hope you have a fine Thanksgiving. Its time to pay you a visit and hit NYC. Lets make a plan for after New Years. On this block, I would scan the pattern and make iron core boxes, the boxes would be a ton of work. The pattern would stay exactly in its current condition. Too much going on to run air set cores on that one. We need to revisit that other project we have talked about as well. Cheers my friend

Thanks for the mention of our Michigan made Holland Anvil tools. We are trying to bring at least one of every product we have in stock when we pack up the trailer. Count us in on Iron in the Hat and Auction items. Cheers!

The guy bought the only anvil we make that does not have a prichel hole. We heard from him after he had drilled through it half way with a magnetic Milwaukee drill. If he would have contacted us before he drilled it we would have bought it back from him or advised him, do not drill the anvil. He was also upset that he did not receive a free T-shirt. Some folks may have received a T-shirt but it probably had to do with a delay or someone that stopped in our shop and we enjoyed their company. Someplace he heard that someone got a shirt and he assumed it came free with every anvil purchase, he assumed wrong. After dealing with him on some messages it was obvious that there was no good solution to the situation. That is when he started his video reviews on the anvil and our customer service. We appreciate everyone's support in our Holland Anvil project!

Hey friends, I make the Holland stuff. We are out of stock on a lot of items currently as mentioned. While sales have been good the reason is due to commercial casting orders in our foundry and tooling orders in my pattern shop where anvils are machined and horns are polished. We are swamped. Add to that the inability to hire here in Michigan, its crazy. It would be hard to find a business in Michigan that is not in need or workers. We never had issues like this pre Covid. The anvil items take a back seat to the commercial orders that have kept us in business for 75 years. We take small refundable deposits on anvils that are not in stock and we will be casting a bunch of sizes next week. Many of the anvils in process do not make the website, they are sold to those that put a deposit down. I do not want to use this group as a sales platform, just let you all know what we are up to. We appreciate the support we have had from all of you on IFI, its been a great 4 years making these tools! More sizes and shapes are in the works including a 190 double horn in the coming weeks! Happy Holidays, Salud!