My first anvil was a largeish hunk of semi-rectangular mild steel set up on end, with a stage curtain weight set up on edge for a long face.


My second anvil was an import, with 2 hardy holes. It had a cast iron body and a fairly decent and thick steel faceplate.


Now I have all Brooks. 560#, 140#, and 56#


I use the 560 everyday and love it to death...


The 140 is my long term temporary setup anvil (setup for more than a weekend)

The 56 is my traveling demo anvil. It is almost embarrassing having a 56# anvil at a demo, all the other guys bring out thier 110#+ anvils and I am just ringin' away on that little hunk of english steel...

Mike Lambiase

this is my i nash and sons stourbridge dont see too many of these old girls around

My big anvil is a 425# Peter Wright, the little one a 125# Hay Budden. Each useful for some stuff, not so much for other operations, I probably use them equally.

This is my first anvil. I found it in a newspaper classified a couple years ago, shortly after i had started dabbling in blacksmithing. The seller thought it weighed 100-120 pounds, I believe it weighs much more. It sat in my parents garage for the past 2-3 years, but I plan to start using it this week once my new forge arrives. I started cleaning the anvil up today and I think I found weight markings (last picture), 1 . 3 . 2 is what I see, 198 lbs? I APPEARS to me that it has the punch marks between the numbers meaning it is a Mousehole. I am very new to all of this, so any other insight is greatly appreciated. I believe the anvil was listed for 220, paid 200 and got him to throw in a decent hammer.

Of my two anvils, this is my 189lb circa 1845. My other is a 94 lb Peter Wright for demos. At the heel near the hardy hole a corner is broken off. I leave a slight dish to the face for straightening and I tapered the edge radius from square to 3/8 round for corners. I dragged it outside onto a stump for a project.

140-150# unnamed London

70# Vulcan

250# cast steel gear

I just picked up this 280 pound John Brooks anvil at a farm auction today for $425. It's not flawless, but it is very nice. On top of it is a 100 pound Peter Wright I picked up a couple of months ago.

Bought a 110# PW today, nice looking face, $150

Once I figure out this new camera works I should do a group shot of my "harem"

Here is my setup. The large one stays in the shop on a nice oak stump. It's off the stump for now so i can move it around. It's a little small for the large work but i manage. The small one is the one i take to demonstrations and move around for smaller work.

Finally got a chance to look over my latest! Sure purty little thing: Peter Wright, Patented, Solid Wrought, (circa 1885-1910---AoA), CWT marked 1 0 2. FLAT smooth thick face. Extremely minor edge wear---dressing to a 1/8 would probably cover it all. 1" hardy. Hardly been used at all!

Only abuse I can see is that the end of one foot has been knocked off. Seems funny to have no other signs of abuse and then have such a major one.

(Of course I have another anvil with a decent horn and flat face where the heel has been knocked off---again I would have expected a lot of signs of over working the anvil before that failure. The vulcan I have that's lost it's horn was certainly ridden hard and put away wet many a time before that final incident.)

Very happy to have the new little PW to add to my traveling class set up and the price vs condition vs location was *excellent*! Funny thing as I get older the urge to move heavy anvils around often has decreased markedly. Of course it's always fun to see the faces of students who have used the travel anvils set when they finally visit the shop and see the behemoths.

Paid 150 or about $1.33 a pound here in anvil poor NM. It was a craigslist find.

Here is mine. It is ruffly 200Lbs no idea what it was in its past life. I just got it today and man does it beat my chunk of RR track . I need to make a stand for it simply to get it up higher I have some cinder block down in the basement that should work.

sitting on a stand fabricated from heavy plate

Now by golly, THAT is an anvil.

errr... looks like its gots some leg irons attached to the base.. .. for those apprentices always on the coffee break..


kiddin aside... the cinder blocks might crackup on you... go for a big stump and burry it in the ground to the right height.. maybe that'd work better



Greg

errr... looks like its gots some leg irons attached to the base.. .. for those apprentices always on the coffee break..


kiddin aside... the cinder blocks might crackup on you... go for a big stump and burry it in the ground to the right height.. maybe that'd work better



Greg

Thanks. I am in the process of finding a suitable stump.

Here's my starter anvil, an 8"x8"x2" 40 lb mild steel block welded to a 3" pipe (4' long) filled with concrete and sunk to height, weighs about 90 lbs, used with my Lively-style charcoal forge. It seems to work......Also have a 90 lb PW to set up when I cut up that log, to use with a coal forge.

zampilot
that is cool both the anvil and your forge.

Nimba. Great anvil. Large, wide face and lots of mass. I cannot remember the weight, I think it's around 275lbs.

http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/44

zampilot
that is cool both the anvil and your forge.

Thanks Jreed, it's what I had on hand at the time. In afterthought I should have had the pipe welded flush with a corner than offset by an inch, better hitting that way. I have to remember to move the work in toward the center to get more mass under it. We'll see!

I just set my newest anvil up on its stand, and I thought I should get a group shot of all my good anvils together.

This anvil and tools are not mine. Took the pic at the North American Model Engineering Expo (N.A.M.E.S.) last month in Southgate Michigan. Pretty nice work! NOTE the US ten cent coin (dime) in the pic for scale.
Joe B

This anvil and tools are not mine. Took the pic at the North American Model Engineering Expo (N.A.M.E.S.) last month in Southgate Michigan. Pretty nice work! NOTE the US ten cent coin (dime) in the pic for scale.
Joe B

Very cool indeed, I like the mouse!

Very cool indeed, I like the mouse!

Made me do a double take, that is so cool.
Phil

Made me do a double take, that is so cool.
Phil

Missed that the first time :lol:

I missed it too... and I'm the guy that posted the pic. When zpilot said "mouse" , I'm thinking what the heck kinda' tool is a mouse. Then I went back and looked real close at the stump.
Joe B

That is cool. However, if that were a real anvil in use it wouldn't be a happy home for the mouse! :blink: