CrushDepthCrucibles

Well, I feel much more equipped to continue my search for a good anvil. Glad I found this forum and I appreciate all the tips!

You're right, I never would have thought to look at a flea market! I'll have to go there this weekend, see if I find anything. I know there are tons of old machine shops around here, I'm going to start looking around at those too. And I love the idea of the business cards, but I am literally three weeks into this, and probably shouldn't be advertising anything at this point LOL. Thanks for the ideas!

Other than online, where else would be a good place to look for an anvil? I live just outside Buffalo, NY, and as a former steel town, I am guessing that there has to be some solid pieces around here, just not sure where to look.

LOL thanks for the input, and I totally agree with you, I would rather do transactions in person than over the web! But that's part of what drew me to here, to meet other smiths in the area and learn from those who have "forged ahead" of me, heheh. That said, I've been voraciously consuming the knowledge you are all sharing on here, and using that to make much wiser decisions on what pieces I need as I start out. Not needing to buy huge sets of tools or crazy forges to get started has been a big help in making this a great hobby and maybe more in the future. This anvil would be a huge upgrade from the cheap 15 Lb anvil I am using right now, IF I can get it in a good price.

Not sure on the testing, but it looks like OK shape. Here's a snip of it, I'd appreciate the thoughts of more seasoned smiths.

So really, the best practice is to know a price point you want to reach ($2, $4, $6 per LB) and then shop around and haggle to get a solid anvil at the price you want. I'm looking at a 125# Trenton that has been on CL for over a month, and figured that I would haggling down from $4/LB to $2/LB and that would be a good way to get a better quality anvil than my cheap starter anvil from Harbor Freight.