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I Forge Iron

What would you pay based in this picture?


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I have only bought a new anvil from him. I find that individuals offer used ones for less.

I'm not suprised to see the above anvil sell for $500, but I don't know the weight and name brand.

I have never seen an actual anvil sell for 1 or 2 a pound, though I have read that here. More realistic is 3.00/per. I would have to say that if one was to stick to a max price of say 2.00/per, one would have quite a wait.

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I generally get about 1 good brand good shape anvil a year at an average price of under US$1 a pound so far for the last 15 or so years.

Ohio is dripping with anvils and they should be cheaper there than just about anywhere else in the USA.
NM has a dearth of anvils but since I moved here I've had 2 free ones (Bridge anvil and a swedish cast steel), one $1.34 (Peter Wright) and one $0.69 (Hay Budden). More work to find them out here though. In Ohio I never even had to leave Columbus city limits though I did trip over several while traveling elsewhere in Ohio.

Granted I put some effort (but pretty much no cost save my time) in finding them. If you want to just walk up and buy one then perhaps the higher prices are to be expected.

As an example of cosmic irony there is a local farm implement auction company 2 miles from my shop that gets smithing stuff showing up. However it's owned by a relation of NM's biggest anvil collector and so generally not worth my time to attend auctions there.

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There is a local collector here in town who is selling off his anvils. He is getting 3.00/per and travels around to the swap meets and shows. He informed me this past summer that he is offering one heck of a deal at 3.00 as the going rate in these parts is 4.00/per.

I didn't care if it is 1.00 or 5.00/pound. I needed some anvils and so I bought them. I don't plan to collect them though nor resell them, so what I have is what I need.

I'd seriously doubt you'd find any thing here in Ohio any more at 1 or 2 bucks a pound. I have looked at the Craig Listing and for the most part, they seem pretty proud of their iron.

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Seems like I've posted this a dozen times this year already: to get inexpensive anvils you DON'T want to find the ones on Craigslist or E-bay. You want to find one of the thousands lurking in garages and basements, (few are found in attics for some reason...), that the people have no real use or attachment for. They will often go cheap---or not go at ridiculously high prices...it's a toss up.

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...in the attic? Sorta strange local I would admit.

I was informed early on when I got into the hobby to ask a farmer. So I did just that. They all seem to have one they don't use, but have no itention to part with it.

Then I was informed of the anvil dealer and I stopped looking. Bought a new one. An anvil dealer.......kinda odd, but yeah. Why not. I tell the tourist folks who visit the shop about that and they don't seem to believe me.

The local collector came about by word of mouth. His son works in the shop where I source some steel. I wasns't looking, but thought "why not" and took a look; bought two more.

I hate auctions. Never did care for wasting my time to see if something would sell cheap. But you always hear of this "great deal" somebody found.

I have zero intent to look for another, but if I'd find one that was cheap like dirt, I'd buy it for a door stop, just to have one.

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I quickly burnt out on auctions myself. Bad waste of time, often very mislabeled items or condition. I could do better going door to door I think.

(There are exceptions; bought my first HB at an auction of a HVAC company going out of business as the owner, quite elderly, didn't have anyone to run the family business. They moved into their "new building" in the 1930's... So a commercial auction held on a holiday weekend; nothing for the antique-rs and modern businesses tend not to be interested in old tech---as well as not liking to be there on a holiday weekend)

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