New anvil purchase

[188]

I've been looking at the Old World Anvils web site and like what I see. I'm wanting to purchase a new anvil and the prices they offer are better than most others. I know the horns are not machined and left as they came from the mold. I would like to hear your opinions on the anvils they offer. Thanks for your replies.

[Frostfly]

I'm fairly new to Blacksmithing, but I did buy one of their anvils after a fair ammount of research. I like it. the shape is about what I wanted, the price was what i was willing to pay. (and the looks I got getting it delivered to my workplace was fun) I got a smallish one 114 pounds i think. From what I've heard they seem to do well on the smaller sizes, but have some quality control issues on the bigger anvils. This is all hersey mind you, I don't have any data to back up my input.

If your gonna buy a small one, i'd say go for it, but remember it's prolly more of a Starter anvil then a long term (10+ year) type investment. it's almost always true you get what you pay for.

[Ed Thomas]

I have the 50K and the 110K "German Style" from Czechoslovakia. Mine came by way of Euroanvils, and are now sold and supported by Blacksmith Supply along with the Euroanvil style, here in Virginia. The 110 kg (260 pound) anvil is my primary shop anvil. I prefer to use it over the London pattern anvils around the shop. The reason I bought the smaller anvil was to have something portable for doing demos that took the same tooling as my larger anvil. They have the same size hardie hole, so I don't have to re-tool or fight sleeves for each anvil. I make the tooling and it all fits everywhere in the shop, including treadle hammer, power hammers, and both Czech anvils.

The 110kg has been steadily used for 6 or 7 years and held up well. Yes, there are dings from using hammers and tooling that are harder than the face and occasionally missing. Overall, it feels good and is a nice shape.



In my opinion, these are decent anvils. The surfaces are somewhat softer than an equivalent Pettinghaus, but when I bought mine it was about 1/2 the price of a Pettinghaus. I've also found that the 110kg is actually harder than the 50kg, which is counter-intuitive. It is probably luck of the draw. You could shop based on location, since they are all Czech inported and shipping really adds up in a hurry at these weights. I can't speak for the Euroanvils directly, though folks I know that bought them seem happy enough with them. Apparently, similar performance, just different configuration/shape.

[Torin]

I've got a 473# double horned anvil with the upsetting block. I bought it at the Abana2K conference from a Canadian supplier, but it is the Old World / Euro style. It bounces a 1 1/4" ball bearing almost as high as it was dropped from and shows no dents from it. I haven't really been able to use it though as it has been in storage most of the time since then. Now that I've got my shop just about set up, I can't wait to use it.

[gerald]

I've used one of the 110 kg Old World Czech anvils for about 2 1/2 years. It's great. It took a little while to get used to the hardy hole being up by the horn, but it turns out that it's a good design feature from both a safety and working standpoint. It does have a very high pitched ring from the horn, so I put a deadener strap under the horn. Works great. See IFI Blueprints: BP0255 Stop the Anvil Ring.