wooginator Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 As I search for hours for a starter anvil I find myself running across many questionable anvils and hoping that someone will have experience with them and be able to say "yeah, this works" or "no, that's a POS cast-iron ASO". Other people, feel free to post questionable anvils on this thread and hopefully people will help out! My first one is this one: http://www.menintools.com/shop/anvil.html they're very cheap but they call them "cast-iron steel" and I have no idea what that is. Is it cast-iron? Is it steel? Is it a rock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I believe it's a Fisher and looks to be in fair shape.....Jump on it!..............Go carts and woodworking??? how do they come up with this stuff''........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Yo Woo! Welcome to IFI. You are going to get a bunch of answers/opinions. Since you are just starting out let me give you my advice er opinion. Searching for hours to find your first anvil is admirable. I searched for months. Hopefully your search will be quicker than mine. But, I did not let my slow search slow me down. My first anvil was a 3ft long piece of rail road track. I was happy as a clam to have it because it meant I could bang away at stuff. My next anvil was, and I still use it, a railroad car coupler knuckle. I was happy as a pig in slop. My next anvil was actually given to me by a friend that saw my love for blacksmithing. Now I'm humbly grateful. Credit goes where credit is due. Mr Thomas Powers gave this advice: Tell everyone you know and those you don't that you are in need of and looking for an anvil. (paraphrased) I followed his advice and it rang true. A door just may open to you allowing you to aquire an anvil at a good fair price. Mark <º)))>< ps: Be wary of the one in the ad. It gives no description of the anvil and the picture only says "Large anvils" which may be an example anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooginator Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Thanks for your advice! Everyone here is so friendly. I'm currently using (and have been for about five months in total) a baseplate from a railroad track, as I was unable to find an actual section of the track and this provided me with a broad, metal surface to bang stuff on. However it's gotten a bit dented and I feel like it's absorbing a lot of the force from my blows because it's soft metal. Also, I looked into Thomas Powers' method a bit. Unfortunately...I don't really know anyone. I'm only 20 and I'm at college most of the year. Anyone else have any opinions on that menintools anvil? I don't have much money so I'd like to be as certain as possible before I buy, especially if it's from a tool company rather than, say, a farrier or blacksmith supply website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooginator Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 I could deliver the anvil to you, if you live near the westchester county community center off the bronx river parkway. You would have to compensate me for my gas, tolls, and time though. wanna call me on my cellphone? I think I'm going to get one online. Thanks, though, and good luck selling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don A Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I would verify that the anvil pictured is actually the anvil for sale. You might reqest more pictures, just to be sure. Especially a picture of the face. Automotive and go-kart repair can be rough on anvils, as can cold-struck farm work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 looks like a sham to me and what is cast iron steel. Its either cast iron or steel not both. Though it could be a cast iron steel faced anvil but not at that price. also that sort of anvil is no longer made to my knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Looks to me like a cast iron ASO cast using a Fisher as the model from the mold. I would not believe that any company accurately reproducing the Fisher process would have such a bad website "Are anvils are made from heavy cast iron steel" Their hype is actually probably against truth in advertising laws here in the states and it's clear they know squat about blacksmithing! I'd trust this ad about as much as I would trust someone in Nigeria want ting to send me $6M dollars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 That site is not offering used anvils. It is offering new anvils -- a 55 pounder for $99 and a 110 pounder for $149. This is one of those cases that exemplifies the saying, "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is." I promise you these are cast iron ASOs. At those prices they can't be anything else. The picture appears to be of a real anvil, though. Very shady in my book. And Wooginator, limiting yourself to the Internet for anvil purchases really isn't going to help your cause. You're a starving college student, right? So you don't want to pay a lot? On the Internet you're going to find ASOs (which you don't want), or real anvils -- which dozens of other would-be anvil buyers will also find. That's sort of the nature of the 'Net, see? And those people will compete with you to buy the anvil you want. That drives up the price. To find the deals, you need to track down the anvil under the junk pile in the little old lady's garage, the one that nobody else in the world knows about. You say you don't know anyone, but that doesn't seem very plausible. You're at college; you're not dead. You don't know any fellow students? Students have families. Families have deceased grandfathers and crazy uncles. Professors? Ditto. Professors in the art department may even know metal workers. Some of them may even be blacksmiths themselves, or may have played with it at some point. Have you tried hooking up with a local ABANA chapter? Is there a student bulletin board (real-world or electronic) that you could post to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Yeah, the anvil in the pic looks like it would be worth looking at, but that one is just for show. They have some good tools there but good anvils ain't what they're sellin'...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I think I'm going to get one online. Thanks, though, and good luck selling. You may want to reconsider Stewart's offer. He owns many first rate anvils and is a perfect gentleman as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLMartin Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 That site is clearly lieing, don't buy anything from them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philip in china Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 I don't know anything about the company selling those anvils. They might be wonderful. I will confine myself to a few remarks generally. If a company is offering "large anvils" and these are new products then they are almost certainly being made for them somewhere. The only alternative is if they have found a collection of unused old anvils somewhere sufficiently extensive for them to advertise them. As that is virtually inconceivable let us assume that they have somebody casting them. If anybody has a classic anvil he can get a caster to put it in sand and produce a mould. The caster can then proceed to cast copies of that anvil in such quantities as the buyer wants and OUT OF ANY MATERIAL! So in the world there are cast iron copies of classic anvils which on a thumbnail probably look a lot like the original but are about as much use as a chocolate teapot. So if you see what looks like a 560 pound Brooks double bick anvil at a price that is "too good to be true", especially if it is a dealer who appers to have several, then it probably is "too good to be true". Unfortunately just because an anvil is expensive doesn't mean that it is genuine!! My advice to anybody would be: don't buy an anvil off the internet unless you can examine it personally. If you do buy without inspecting then expect to get something that is not what it might have seemed. If you are surprised and I am wrong then Mazl Tov. That is 1 up to you. Of course if you get a deal where people are specifically not allowed to inspect the goods and returns aren't accepted, confusing or meaningless terms such as "professional quality" "cast iron steel" etc. are used then please post details of your purchase. We all like a good laugh. Loads of genuine sellers on here and other reputable sites so why take the risk?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooginator Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 What about farrier supply websites? Those seem like they'd be trustworthy and legit. Though I'm beginning to think that I'm giving too much thought to this. Considering what I've been using for an anvil, my standards are pretty much just a bit above "it doesn't break when I use it". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Sure, legit farrier sites carry decent or better anvils, as long as you don't mind paying $5 or $6 per pound plus shipping. But you said you don't have much money . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 You may want to reconsider Stewart's offer. He owns many first rate anvils and is a perfect gentleman as well. I didn't read Stew's post as selling an anvil since he didn't actually say he had one for sale. I think he was offering to deliver the seller's product as they are in his area. I do however, agree with Thomas P; the seller doesn't seem to know what they are selling or what it is for. Run away from that one!! OTOH, yes, there are some reputable farrier suppliers but you will be paying them as the middle man for a new anvil. Do some home work. They are out there but when you find a new anvil for $150.00, be sure, its not likely to be of good quality. Hope this helps Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooginator Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 My friend Scott: I did post a pic, on another thread in here, of a surplus anvil I own that I could deliver to Mister Woog. I was willing to deliver it to him from 171 miles away, from binghamton new york to westchester county. Oh well! I appreciate the offer, Stewart. I just don't like to make someone go to all that trouble, even if they are compensated for it! Makes me feel bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 College student? So you must interact with at least a hundred other students; each of which has at least 2 parents plus uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. You need to overcome your reluctance to talk to people about anvils---or be willing to pay several times *more* for one you can do as a "zipless deal". Did you put an add in Craigslist as "young smith wanting to buy using anvil"? (And note that trying to buy anvils from blacksmiths is *rarely* the cheap way of getting one---like trying to buy their kids! OTOH it's generally not the expensive way of getting one either as most smiths *know* what their anvils are worth and not some stratospheric price pulled out of a sellers fundament) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Christman Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Looks like a ruse if you ask me. I wouldn't buy it if i were you, your better off looking on craigslist you don't want to end up with a huge hunk of cast iron. Goodluck on your anvil hunt. Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 My friend Scott: I did post a pic, on another thread in here, of a surplus anvil I own that I could deliver to Mister Woog. I was willing to deliver it to him from 171 miles away, from binghamton new york to westchester county. Oh well! Sorry Stu. I was just going by the context of original post. There's no reference to your anvil in this post until now. I could deliver the anvil to you, if you live near the westchester county community center off the bronx river parkway. You would have to compensate me for my gas, tolls, and time though. wanna call me on my cellphone? It doesn't say YOUR anvil but rather THE anvil which I mistakenly assumed was the anvil in the OP. Sorry. My bad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Farrier anvils will work but they generally are not made for heavy forging either but for fitting shoes to horses and most shoes are factory made these days. I visit a community college that has a equine science program and in their forge area they only have blacksmith anvils not farrier anvils. When the young me graduate they must either buy a somewhat inexpensive farrier anvil or a really expensive blacksmith anvil, however none of them buy a " cast iron steel " anvil that is like the one in the advertisement you have a link for. One young man there had found a Fisher 200# anvil for $3/# in Indiana and was driving up to get it over his spring break before graduation. From the pictures he had of it the condition was excellent, no chips on the face, no major dings on the horn, this will last him his entire shoeing career, it is a worthy investment to place in his trailer along with his gas forge, drill press and other pieces of equipment he needs to do his job. Yes, you can buy that anvil, a farriers anvil, go to a scrap yard and get the biggest chunk of steel you can pick up and use that for an anvil or get a rock but what ever you do remember to strike while the iron is HOT! B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edge9001 Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 http://cgi.ebay.com/Delta-Future-2-Blacksmith-Anvil-96-lbs-/320714043750?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aac0bf166 I found this wierd one on ebay, an aluminum base on an anvil seems like a detriment instead of a positive feature...but who knows right? what do you guys think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 ''Delta Anvils give you more weight up top where you need it!'':lol:What a sales pitch, It looks better than some I've seen. I wonder what a new one costs......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Well if you have to stand under a horse all day and schlep your forge and anvil in and out of your truck 10 times a day---you might get to thinking that an Al based anvil was just the ticket. In reality I think they could just put a plate on the bottom of the top piece for stability and skip the Al but *marketing* y'uh know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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