mrfleck

Thank you Neil and SLAG,  I will look him up and see if I can connect with some local folks. 

I have about a 5k budget to get started. I have ton of regular tools, but none of the tools you list above yet. I think the best thing that happened is that I found this site before I spent any of my budget. I think I will spend the next couple of weeks reading a bunch of the posts here so that I am more educated before I buy anything. I just have not seen many of the tools come up for sale in Alaska so I thought I would check this one out. Thanks again for all of the advice. 

Sound like a plan Thomas. I really appreciate the help here. 

I talked with him more today. He is actually a rather well-known metal smith and artist in Alaska.He made larger traditional items from gold and silver and has several museum pieces. Very cool stuff. You are spot on, he kept it pristine to minimize finish work. He is stuck on 2k though, so I may have to pass just because I am starting from scratch and need to buy many things to get started. 

Thank you all for your help and comments. I think I will offer him 1500 contingent on an inspection when I get there. It almost looks too good to be true, so I am worried about what may have been done to it to make it "look" better. I have a friend who works with gold and silver and his tools are much much smaller, so that also seems a bit off, I would agree. 

Thank you and I will go read the new to the forum post now. I am in Alaska, so finding Anvils here is pretty tough. He is asking 2000. Sorry if I did not follow all of the posting rules, I will go look now. 

Hello everyone, I am completely new to this forum and to forging. I have been looking for an anvil and ran across one that is interesting and I was wondering if you have any advice / knowledge about this one and what you think I should offer for it. Here is exactly what the seller says about it and I have attached a picture:

Quote

Here’s my anvil. I was working primarily in gold and silver and didn’t do any heavy work on this anvil. I bought it new from Centaur Forge in 1972 when they sold Kohlswa for a few years. I consider it to be one of the best anvils ever made. They were cast from a steel specially developed for anvils. It was heat treated as a single piece with the face hard and the hardness diminishing as you go deeper into the steel. That makes it resist damage on the surface but the softer areas give it resilience and strength. It weighs 365 pounds

What does he mean when he says it was cast from steel designed for anvils? I have been trying to find some history on this one. Looks like it is in great shape, but I have not seen it in person and have to drive 400 miles to see it. 

What do you think a fair price for this anvil would be if it is truly in great shape. 

Thank you for your time and I will continue to search the forum for any additional information.