wooginator Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 http://www.nctoolco.com/pages/anvils3.htm It seems kind of oddly shaped, sort of thin in spots like the heel and the horn is weird. I know it's because it's a ferrier's anvil, but is there any reason this wouldn't work for more standard blacksmithing work? The largest stock I use is 5/8 mild steel or else railroad spikes which I think are a bit thicker. I'm looking for a horn that I can use to make circles and things since right now all I have is a flat steel plate. Is there any reason this horn wouldn't work for that? Thanks for any help you can give me, I'm pretty new at all this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gayle Brooks Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Really is up to you. A cone mandrel could also be helpful in a circle, as well as, a jig that is already round and mounted and can fit to a vise and/or table. Personally, and is just my opinion, I would spend the money on an anvil that didn't have the "extras" that the farrier anvils seem to have. I have a peddinghause that I have really grown to forging on. Here is a link to one: http://piehtool.com/contents/en-us/d1330.html Hope it helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdbrnr Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 those nc anvils are nice little anvils they are light the calvary is heavier and has a rounder horn out of the two the calvary would probaly be best choice also look at jhm anvils and emerson while still technicaly a horseshoer anvil they are pretty nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric sprado Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 I don't know for whom the so called "farrier anvils" are designed.The turning cams are for "cold shoers". I crawled under probably 20,000 head of horses before I stopped shoeing and I don't recall ever seeing a shoer use one of the new highly altered "shoers" anvils. The real US Cavalry anvils were around a 115-125#(Never weighed one but spent lots of time at one) basic blacksmith anvil. Shop around and get a blacksmith anvil. I think you'll like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooginator Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 I'm afraid those peddinghaus anvils are a bit out of my price range. $250 is around my upper limit. Blacksmith anvils just seem harder to find and much more expensive (unless you search high and low to buy one in person from a yard sale or whatever and I don't really have the time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 For $250 and some time spent looking and asking you should be able to score a 125# or larger anvil in good condition. Ask everybody, your boss, your parents, your preacher, friends, delivery driver....EVERYBODY Take time on Craigslist and looking in the classifieds. Ebay may be lucky, but usually isn't. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooginator Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 What about this Cliff Carrol 35 pound anvil? It's a bit light, but it looks more like a standard blacksmith anvil than the heavier, farrier-y anvils (thicker heel, shorter, less curved horn). http://www.centaurforge.com/Cliff-Carroll-35-lb-Anvil/productinfo/18CC%2D035/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 35# is a toy. 70# is light. You really want to get over that 100# hump.http://www.speedymet...lled-plate.aspx This will work better, stand it on edge. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooginator Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 35# is a toy. 70# is light. You really want to get over that 100# hump.http://www.speedymet...lled-plate.aspx This will work better, stand it on edge. Phil Eh. What I'm using now can't be more than 35 pounds and it's been serving me in good stead for a while now. It's just a baseplate from a railroad track. I mostly wanted an anvil for the horn so I could more easily make round stuff, but now that someone told me about cone hardies I might get one of those instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Have you ever forged on a 100+ pound anvil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooginator Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 I've never forged on an anvil, period. I'm not saying a 100 pound anvil wouldn't make a world of difference, I'm just saying that 35 pounds isn't non-functional, and I'm short on both money and time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Where on this planet we call Earth are you? IFI is represented by over 50 countries. There may be people willing to help not too far from you. If the scrap yards sell to the public in your area check them out for a large block of steel. You can grind a curved face on a section and have half a horn. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooginator Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 I'm from Westchester county, NY. There was one guy up in Binghamton who was willing to sell me a 50 pound vulcan and deliver it even for a total 175, so I still might take him up on that if he's still willing to sell/deliver. Would that vulcan be better than those various farrier anvils? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unforgivun Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I'm from Westchester county, NY. There was one guy up in Binghamton who was willing to sell me a 50 pound vulcan and deliver it even for a total 175, so I still might take him up on that if he's still willing to sell/deliver. Would that vulcan be better than those various farrier anvils? Listen man I haven't had the priviledge of working on a true 200 lb anvil yet... The heaviest actual anvil I've worked on is an 80lb fisher. A buddy and I have only recently started doing this stuff but they are right. The heavier you get, the better off you are. We started off on a 35lb section of rail. Came up with a 2nd section (of which I'm going to turn on end and put an A2 steel plate across the top from ebay) Then my buddy came up with the 80lb fisher at a scrap yard and traded 50# work of scrap and paid them like $30 for. It isn't the heaviest anvil, but it did give us a funtioning horn. I came up with a 60# bottom die from a machine shop. The die was supposedly worn out and being replaced... Its 2" wide (a bit narrow for some) 6" tall on its end, and 14" long. Most of they stuff we're doing at the moment is small meat turners, wall hooks, etc. We're still practicing. The die also has 2 holes drilled all the way through it, so we're creating little exchangable horns using steel pipe and an L shaped bend. What Wooginator is talking about is when you're working small stuff, just getting your feet wet, and on a limited budget you work with what you have. We haven't been able to come up with anything directly heavier than that 80# fisher. BUT it gave us a true horn to work on. Since then we've found a few hardie cones like at kanye & son Hardie Hole Cone So yes Woog, a bigger heavier anvil is easier to work on... A true horn is easier than that... But you can get bits off of ebay and mount them if you want. Make your own exchangable horns using assorted A2 roundsthat heat to 58-62rc hardness or just buy a big flat peice like this Large Roundor this Large Squareand then attach a hardie cone to the side or make the cone its very own stand. For me black smithing has never been about following a set pattern or norm. Yes, I would love to have a 250lb fisher or peddinghaus or what ever, but at the end of the day black smithing is about being able to take fire, metal, and a hammer and after a little time stepping back having made something. Its primal, its fun, and rather than frustrating the hell outa someone who doesn't have $1000 bucks to drop on something, maybe put on the thinking cap and ask yourself what you would use if you had limited resources. That being said Woog, there are LOTS more anvils in the northeast than down here in Alabama. So definately keep an eye on craigslist. You can search entire regions by using sites like Crazedlist as well. Anyway, hopefully this will give you some ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajajoaquin Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Eh. What I'm using now can't be more than 35 pounds and it's been serving me in good stead for a while now. It's just a baseplate from a railroad track. I mostly wanted an anvil for the horn so I could more easily make round stuff, but now that someone told me about cone hardies I might get one of those instead. If it works for you as-is then you don't need to rush to buy a replacement. The advice here to save your $250 and buy a heavier blacksmith-pattern anvil is solid. If you look around and read some of the threads about anvil size, you'll see that one of the things that's important is the amount of mass under the hammer. The farrier-pattern anvils have a lot of the mass in the horn, not directly under the face. It's a compromise that may be worth while for a single task, but is generally less useful for most forging. I found a 185-lb Hill wrought anvil on eBay just 45 minutes from my house for $200. It took about 8 months of searching Craig's List and eBay almost daily. Since then, I've seen several other anvils come up for sale in my area. They seem to come in waves. Wait and get a general forging anvil over 100lb. You really won't be disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 You can spend time or you can spend money. I consider my "hunting" time to be entertainment. I've only paid $250 and over for two anvils so far in my 30 years and I've bought about a metric ton of them over the years. Funny but the best ones were not necessarily the most expensive too! Scrap yard finds for Cones: One was a large valve that had a conical cover for the shaft, one was a ballistic missile nose cone ($75 at Quad-State!). For small items I like taking a spud wrench and using the tapered handle---just picked up one at the fleamarket last Friday for US$7. Some of them I bend 90 in the flat part just before the wrench end, others I use vertically, some I have forged the wrench end to fit in the hardy hole of my anvil; though the flat section sits in a large postvise well! You will find with use that a cone is not the best thing for turning curves. If you want nice even curves getting a set of pipe sections and using them as needed works better. I have a shelf of short sections of round stock and pipe of different diameters to use when needed but for hooks I often bend them on a medieval styled anvil with no horn at all! If I was going to spend $250 I'd rather go with a top notch large postvise and not an anvil specialized for a different class. With the postvise you can weld pipe sections to a piece of angle iron and then use a vise grip to make an upright holder and bend all the hot metal you want exactly the same! (not necessarily a good thing...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 NY is good hunting for anvils as well. Keep looking. Even a sizable anvil can be transported in a small car. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooginator Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 I run into anvils all the time, and some of them NICE ones in upstate new york and pennsylvania. I am attending an auction this friday night, and may come home with a 100 pound trenton, a very good anvil........and if you ask around in the forum, I am a very reasonable guy! Haha. I really do appreciate the offer. I've found a guy an hour upstate from me willing to sell me a 120# fisher for $240. Seems like a great deal to me. Craigslist + searchtempest. I don't suppose the "guru"-ship offer still stands? Heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Plate on edge. Stu is a good guy. I've talked to him on the phone before and he is very helpful. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.