Hi I'm new here and just starting out [so please take it easy on me]

I've been seeing some makers like peter wright , Hay -budden , Fisher & Norris, Kohlswa ,trenton ,Emerson.... etc... Have commanded higher prices .

Is one maker supperior to others ? How would they rank in order of worth?

Also since I'm just starting would ther be a "good value" maker to look for

I'm in N.Y [Long Island] and I'm sure there must be some good resources witin a 100 mile radius

Thanks for any help

Well Hay Buddens were made in Brooklyn and Brooklyn is on the western end of Long Island and your form Long Island so you need a Hay Budden. Im a good resource by the way, all those other ones are good too.

What he said I'm fairly new to this so I can only speak of a handfull that I've used. My rank would be Hay Budden, Peter Wright/Fisher, mousehole/arm and hammer, vulcan. the slashes are brands I would consider to be even. But that is my limited experience also on a very small selection of anvils. Just like anything else you're asking for peoples opinions and opinions are like a belly-button, everybody has one (nice version).

Personally I REALLY like the way the Hay Budden works steel, but its also the anvil I have the most hammer time on (which isn't saying much). Timothy is a MUCH better resource to listen to. But thats my .02 :D

A lot has to do with the condtion of any given anvil. A 200# Peter Wright with a broken face, heel, horn, etc is worth a lot less than a 100# Acme in good shape. Yeah, maybe when these anvils were new, the names meant a lot more. However, today, individual quality, IMHO, is the key factor.

Like your dog, the anvil you OWN is the best.

Ditto on the dog !! I like my Soderfors anvil best. I also have a 125 PW.

By the way if you are intrested in blacksmithing and live on long Island you should come and visit me. There are other smiths but no one out here has tools and space that I do. I will hook you up with some steel I have drums of scrap.

Thanks for the feedback . Funny I was favoring a Hay -Budden just because of the Brooklyn heritage .

Timothy Thanks for the invite . I think that would be great ,love to see a working shop .

ok no one yell at me but i have really enjoyed working on fisher anvils they have good rebound and are fairly quite i have owned a 80lb a 120ish and a 150lb fisher and i like the shape of the horn and in general they have served me well admittedly my current one has disintegrating feet but once i get some free time and a good deal on some welding rod i am planing on flipping him upside down and doing some reconstruction

I have worked these brands and found them to be good anvils. Hay budden, Peter wright, Mouse hole, Trenton, Arm and hammer, Fisher, Kohlswa, Rat Hole Forge, Brooks and Wilkinson. The only brand I have tried and did not like was a vulcan anvil. There many anvils that were hand made so some anvils by the same maker will vary in quality.

I have always enjoyed working on a Fisher, if only for the lack of ring. That said, I usually still wear ear muffs most of the time in the forge to help preserved the hearing I have left. I have never like the sharp ring of forged anvils.

Well I'm a bad one to give advice about anvils, so I won't, all I'm gonna say is I have seven anvils, they all work good...who cares who made them? not me...get one with a good rebound for a good price and you have a keeper

Starting out as a horseshoer in the 1960's, there was no internet, no national farriers' organization, and no house magazine. I learned of Hay-Buddens by word of mouth, and all the shoers I talked to either had one or were longing for one. However, the HB farriers' pattern was a specialty item. In the old Blacksmith & Wheelwright journal of the 1890's, it was stated that there was no farriers' pattern until a Chicago dealer, S.D. Kimbark, designed one in 1882. It was made in Germany for 10 years and then started to be made in the U.S. Eventually, Hay-Budden became the big manufacturer. The farriers' pattern had a narrow face, usually about 3 7/8" to 4" wide. It had a "swelled horn" meaning that the cutting table was eliminated and the vertical side indentations where the horn met the body were eliminated. The anvil had a clip horn, a semi-circular projection for drawing thin projections, called clips, from the edge of the horseshoe. The early patterns had one pritchel hole and the later patterns had two pritchel holes. The anvil heel was fairly thin compared to a blacksmiths' pattern anvil. I used to have a 211 pound farriers' H-B that had a scant 4" face, but a 5" swell the horn. I've had three of the farriers' anvils over the years, and still retain a 140 pound one. As a traveling farrier in the long ago days, I carried a 158 pound one in the rig (pickup).

So, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Hay-Buddens. Currently, at my school, I have four of them, three being the blacksmiths' pattern. In addition, I have two Trentons and one Rathole. I got a 250 pound, mint condition Trenton 35 years ago, and I used it as my personal anvil for 32 years. I'm now using my Rathole. I have had other brands go through my hands over the years. I have tried all the ones that Timothy mentioned except for the Fisher. They were all pretty good.

Can't really say I have experience with anything besides a 100lb-ish Kolswa, but I really like it. The hammer bounces, and a magnet keeps the ring down a little.

Are you in a thickly settled area? Will your forge be a dedicated set up or will you be moving it around a lot?

You can mount anvils to quiet the ring; but most such mountings make it harder to separate the anvil and the stand if you need to move it on a regular basis.

If you are in this situation I would strongly suggest a Fisher! If you will be setting things up and not having to move them around than any good brand in a silencing mounting would work. Hay Budden made a great anvil as did Trenton, Arm and Hammer (not to be confused with Vulcan!), Peter Wright, the Swedish imports, ...

It seems to me that the best anvil is what ever the poster has currently in their shop. Is it hard, heavy, bounces your hammer back up and doesn't move when you hit it? Then it is a good anvil.

I must have had 20 or so anvils now and I could happily work on any of them. my only observations are that the brooks and JB cast steel anvils have quite a tendency for the edges to chip. I like the aesthetics of some anvils more than others . there are some really beautiful french and german anvils with wonderful lines and double bicks.

For what little experince I have, so far I like Peter Wright , Hay Budden , and my Fisher. Range in weight from 80lb to my newest 400lb(Still need to build a stand for the 400) but it is all in what you get use to working on. Just dont get in a hurry and buy a bad deal.

I have two Hay Buddens and that's only by accident. It's what I found when I was shopping. The best anvil might be the one you find and can buy.

I have a few comments on my two H-Bs; the faces are narrow, no more than 4 inches;and the waist is narrow and the heel relatively long, leading i believe to a aggravating ring if you hammer to close to the heel. But they are what I have and what is working in my shop.

Good Luck!

The late 19th century "American" variation of the London pattern with long horns and heels and narrow waists makes them LOUD ringers; but they can be quieted down and I strongly suggest you do so at ONCE!

I really like my nimba titan, but she is only 120lbs. I bought an 85lb fisher for my father in law and really like the lack of ring it has. I know I'm going to be keeping an eye out for a good deal on a fisher in the 250-400 lb range.

Why stop there? I find my 515# Fisher to be a great main shop anvil!

I'm not saying I'd turn one down in the 500-700 lb range, but I work as a hobbiest out of my garage and do need to move it occasionally. Besides, I'd rather see one of the big old ones get some proper use.