archiphile Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 To bad you don't need a larger onehttp://stlouis.craigslist.org/grd/1080512199.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 I do appreciate all the help. That looks like a pretty good anvil on craig's list, but by the time I pay $190 and drive to and from Topeka, KS that would be a fairly expensive anvil for me. I will keep an eye on craig's list though. I go to a lot of antique shops and flea markets all over in my travels to black powder events. I go to estate auctions also. I've seen anvils at these but they were either in real bad shape or went at an unbelievable price. I think collectors must go looking at auctions. Any way, I will keep looking and I'll let you know if I ever get one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Good attitude Cindy you'll find a good deal if you don't get anxious about it. I just had a thought. For a temporary (maybe) stake anvil you could buy a short 3-5" piece of 4" x 4" +/- steel bar and have a short piece of RR spike welded to the bottom, just a couple inches should do fine. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sawyer04 Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I bet if you would travel the byways around Columbia, especially Callaway county you would find anvils. Never know what you can find in the Ozark region, just need to let people know what you are looking for. I use an old railroad iron for bullet pullers and patch worms, even have used it to make silverware jewelry, coat hooks, camp utensils. The light anvil serves the purpose for trade goods and trinkets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 I've got a piece of railroad track that might work for a while. If it's not long enough, surely I could locate a bigger one at a scrap yard or welding shop or some place like that. Maybe I'll try that til I find that perfect smaller anvil. I'm only anticipate forging small quick demo pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 There are lots of options Cindy, virtually any reasonably heavy piece of steel will do. RR rail makes a fine anvil, I used one for years and it's still handy. Other things are pieces of round or square shaft 3-4" across. If you end up with round, set it end up so you have a flat. You can use it sideways for a horn. Axles and spindles also make good anvils and horns. Next time you're in the scrap yard look around for pieces of steel around the weight you want. The more interesting the shape the more useful forms you'll have to work with. You don't really need a large flat face, only a little wider than your hammer. Good hunting. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 I'm so envious of you folks who have the ability to wander scrap yards at will. I haven't yet been able to find a scrap yard around here that'll let me past the front office. And even then they're not much interested in selling to me. (Around here they don't even call themselves scrap yards. They're recyclers.) They only seem to want to buy scrap in bulk and sell it to the Chinese (or to some company that sells it to the Chinese) in bulk -- period. Cindy, here's a search that I run pretty regularly. By looking at the URLs you can get a good idea of where most of the results are without clicking on every individual link -- at least if you're reasonably familiar with U.S. geographysite:craigslist.org anvil -case -drum -micrometer -crate -cases -guitar -speaker - Google Search Some of the links will turn out to be expired, but many won't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Matt, Thats the way it is here. The place I used to work sold good plate scrap to the public but anymore, even they are reluctant to let individual rumage. Blame lawyers and lawsuites.... :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 So suborn the staff! Doughnuts, a few hand forged trinkets, (a dragon business card holder for the secretary's desk worked wonders at one place). You still may not be able to dig the piles but sometimes they will start placing things aside to show you on your next visit! Also look upstream. I used to get hundreds of pounds of useful steel from an ornamental iron place---they were small enough that they had to pay to get their scrap bin dumped and large enough they didn't store drops from projects. I suborned the staff and got free run---always wore proper safety gear, never interfered with their work and left the bin neater than I found it. Great finds! (including some real wrought iron from a fence they replaced after someone hit it with a car!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Cindy...if you pay the postage, I'll send you a RR rail piece as long as you want...or an anvil about 120 lbs.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy Posted March 29, 2009 Author Share Posted March 29, 2009 Thanks for everything regarding this thread. I've located an anvil and will probably be purchasing it soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Congratulations Cindy. Post a picture please so we can celebrate with you. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 I'm not sure I have the smarts to post a picture. Would I pick the insert image icon and then download (or is it up load) a picture from my digital camera? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Dakan Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Don't know exactly the coverage on the stores (I wouldn't waste the money on shipping) But for any future people reading this post you can get an anvil shaped chunk of cast iron 50-100lbs depending on what they're selling at the time from harbor freight. I wouldn't recommend it as a first choice particularly, but it'll get you going and if you don't beat the hell out of the face (which you shouldn't do to a steel-faced anvil either) it'll last you for awhile. The seem to run $1/lb or less and mine needed a significant amount of grinding on the horn to get it to a decent shape, but for the small amount of time I have to devote to forging right now it's a reasonable compromise between cost and value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan12 Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Hi Cindy If you can get hold of a piece of railroad track, you could just weld on a horn(You could use a small mandrel)and punch a hardy and pritchel hole. Jordan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Having once used a cast iron ASO and found that it dented the face *under* a piece of red hot spring steel. I would go with a piece of scrap steel over a cast iron ASO. (should be cheaper too!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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