readytobeggin Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 to all blacksmiths in iowa: where is the best place to find an anvil? are there any places that would sell them or should i start by looking in estate auctions? any help would be great. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new guy Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 i am not in iowa but here is what worked for me: look at a junk yard (found a 70lbs farrier in awful condition), look at the historical socety, look at friends houses, another junk yard, and old shops and businesses. i found a fisher norris anvil at a reapair shop built in the 1910's. good luck you might even find one in your basement Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quonset6015 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Check: SearchTempest.com (fka: Craigshelper). several FS now eBay Search for distance from your location. Often some FS Henry Votel Forest Lake, MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new guy Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 even a rr track or steel lump will work. just beacause it does not look like an anvil does not mean it cannot be used as one. good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Ameling Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 (edited) What part of Iowa are you in? I'm up in the NE Corner. Check out the UMBA web site - Upper Midwest Blacksmith Association. They have regular meetings/hammer-ins south of Cedar Rapids in the little town of Haverhill. And another "chapter" meets over near Davenport all the time. Plus the guys working at Living History Farms down west of Des Moines can usually point you in the right direction. The big gas/steam engine swap meet near Waukeee (west side of Des Moines just off the big loop around freeway) is coming up Memorial Day Weekend. There should be near a dozen different anvils being offered for sale there. A number of years ago I picked up a 125# large T stump anvil there - about 2 foot high by 3 foot across from point to point. Tapered round on one long horn and tapered square on the other. And a year later I picked up a smaller stump anvil - 65# around 15 inches high by 12 across the horns. It has a big 3 and little 1 stamped on all four sides just above the fullered collar around the base above the tang --- really old English markings for 3 stone and one pound. The long tang has a hole/slot punched through it 6 1/2 inches down from the base of the anvil. This would be consistent with slipping it into a tapered hole in a beam and then pegging it so it would not come out. So ship-board use of possible a traveling forge anvil. So you never know what might show up at one of those gas/steam engine swap meets. Also ask the owner when you stop into an antique/junque store. Many times they have one, just not out on display. One shop I know had 2 in the basement. They just didn't have a good spot in their showroom to put them. Just a few possibilities. Anvils on farm sales/auctions are about over with. It used to be that every 3rd auction or so had an anvil. Then it went to one in ten. Now they are kind of rare to see on a farm sale. Hope this helps. Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands Edited May 18, 2009 by Mike Ameling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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