Anvil Reviews by name or brand

[Cris J]

I will look up the TPAAT method again then for sure, thanks Glenn. We most certainly do have both of those things, well the feed store anyway the welding supply place is a little farther away, but I’ll definitely do that. Once we can actually meet in our church again, that’ll be a good idea tooThomas I’ll see to that as well, thank you. 

[Frosty]

Have a: supermarket, service station, laundromat, any place lots of people pass through daily? Don't limit yourself to an anvil, ask about blacksmithing tools in general. I've made some nice finds mentioning "weird hammers" and shapes with square posts on the bottom. Most folk have no idea what a top or bottom tool is but have been kicking them around for years.

Frosty The Lucky. 

[John McPherson]

Put a poster in the side windows of your vehicle with "I buy anvils" and your number, it pays to advertise. The first real anvil I ever bought, the guy had an anvil for a front plate. (NC only uses the rear plate.)

  

[Ferritic]

Diamond Large Face Alu-Anvil

 

The following is a brief review of a Diamond half steel, half aluminium, Farrier’s anvil.

Designed to minimise weight, while providing a ‘large’ working face, for use in the vans of mobile farriers.

Weight 55lbs

Overall length 19”

Width 5 ¼”

Length of bick 7” 

Height 9”

1” hardie hole

Rebound approx. 75% (12” drop)

Price New £630

I love the weight and mobility of this anvil. The wide face makes it easy to keep shoes flat when forging. Never used the turning cams on the heal, that’s what the bick is for. However, there lies the problem with this anvil, the shape of the bick… Given all of its positive attributes, I have been unable to get on with the bick, hence the purchase of the Bakers American pattern anvil.

[Ferritic]

Soderfors 227lbs

A brief review of a recently acquired Soderfors anvil. 

Weight 227lbs

Overall length 28”

Width 5”

Length of bick + cutting table 10 ¾ “

Height 12”

Rebound (12” drop) 90%

 

Year of production 19?3 (illegible)

There is a large number ‘7’ on the markings, not sure of the significance.

 

This is up there with the best anvils I’ve had the pleasure of using. Although relatively new to me, the dimensions, weight and condition are perfect for my requirements. Primarily this is used for making horseshoes but is also used for tool making and small forging projects. The working face is in great condition, nice and wide with no dips or chips. The edges are in good condition, they have a small radius but are sharp enough for drawing clips. It’s hard, hence the 90% (approx.) rebound, so hammer blows have to be accurate. This is now my go-to anvil.

George Blair anvil (Gateshead, UK).

 

Weight 150lbs

Overall length 22”

Width 4 ½”

Length of bick + cutting table 8” 

Height 9 ½”

90% rebound

 

Bought (rescued) for £20, from a garage using it as a welding bench, approx. 30 years back. Used for shoe making until a few months ago. Superb anvil, no real wear and tear, no dips, or chips but not quite as wide, or long as I’d like. It’s given me great service over the years, now safely stored away.

[JHCC]

16 minutes ago, Ferritic said:

The edges are in good condition, they have a small radius but are sharp enough for drawing clips.

Make sure to keep them that way! I know a farrier with a formerly lovely Soderfors anvil whose edges he has completely trashed by careless hammering and then made worse by "repairing" with arc welding. It makes me sad just to think about it.

[Ferritic]

 

Bakers American pattern Farrier’s anvil, made by Vaughans, Stourbridge, UK.

 

Used on the back of my van, predominantly for shaping and occasionally making horseshoes.

 

Weight 80lbs (approx.)

Overall length 21 ½” 

Width 5”

Length of bick 9 ½” 

Height 9”

Rebound area 1: 65%, area 2: 90%

Price New £650 (paid £175 with stand)

 

Bought from South Wales – 500 mile round trip. Had a great weekend away with my son, fetching this. We slept in the van, ate takeaways and soaked up the sun. A proper bonding weekend, with great memories, so at that point, the anvil had already paid for itself! 

I’d used a couple of these, over the years, when helping other farriers. It is by far the best suited ‘mobile’ anvil for me. This was a welcome replacement for the Alu-Anvil, which I just didn’t get on with.

The only two downsides are the variability in hardness, across the table (second image). The large expanse of table behind the hardie hole gave approx. 90% on the rebound test, whereas the main working area of the table only returned 65% on the rebound; this area also marks up very easily. My colleagues Baker anvil also has a clear line, at the same position, where the mechanical properties differ (but hard either side of the line). It’s not clear what causes this, it appears to be either a weld line (two part construction?), or the effects of different temperature regimes (manufacture, or heat treatment).

The second downside is the clipping horn; this addition to the bick, sits right in the way of my tongs should be, when drawing clips on the edge of the table. I understand the clipping horn is there, so that `I don’t use the edge of the table but it’s not the right shape.

The previous owner made a couple of modifications, the main one is the V-shaped cut out at the heal. I thought I could work around this but to be honest I’ve found myself making use of the mod on many occasions. 

 

 

[ThomasPowers]

Hmm the heel being harder than the sweet spot, I wonder if that was an artifact of auto tempering or leidenfrost during the heat treat?

[Ferritic]

Here's a better image that goes some way to indicating where the hard region is. As I said, my colleagues anvil has an apparent 'difference in properties' in the same locality.The difference being that his anvil has a 'soft line' just behind the hardie hole and hard either side of that, whereas my anvil has this hard 'patch'.

 

[Dororo]

Does anyone recognize the markings on this anvil?

[Frosty]

Only the numbers. Sorry.

Frosty The Lucky. 

[Dororo]

On 3/1/2014 at 3:14 AM, Glenn said:

I am sure there are others but this will be a start. If you know of other brands please all them to the list so we can write a review.

Carl Schlieper Anvil (Germany) 

Single Horn 365,9 Lb/166 Kg

Double Horn Anvil 154,3 Lb/70 Kg

 

[DerFeldschmied]

On 8/30/2021 at 2:04 PM, Dororo said:

Does anyone recognize the markings on this anvil?

This may be a german „Sichelschmidt und Schlasse“ anvil. Also the pattern seems to fit.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I think that is what it is, I've seen some with the S&S stamping. Here is one thread.

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/64789-const-info-on-sichelschmidt-schlasse/

[Julianb]

On 8/30/2021 at 6:46 PM, Dororo said:

Carl Schlieper Anvil (Germany) 

Single Horn 365,9 Lb/166 Kg

Double Horn Anvil 154,3 Lb/70 Kg

Most interesting, do you have more information on the origin of those anvils?

Carl Schlieper isn't an anvil manufacturer though, but primarily a knifemaker from Solingen. They seemed to have dealt in different export goods as well, so your anvils could either be rebranded and exported, or used in their manufacture and stamped with the company name and logo. I'll look into them nevertheless, but right now I doubt that they produced those anvils themselves.

And yes, the other one in question above is definitely made by Sichelschmidt&Schlasse.

[Frf]

Here is my 161.5kg Holthaus South German Pattern double horned anvil with side shelf and upset block. This is hand forged from 8 pieces forge-welded together.

On 8/30/2021 at 5:04 AM, Dororo said:

Does anyone recognize the markings on this anvil?

Sichelschmidt und Schlasse, made in 1955. 

[Frf]

This is my 185kg 1927 Söderfors South German Pattern single horned anvil with a brust or chest.

[FlatLiner]

Both anvils are beautiful and a couple of my favorite looking anvils.

[Frf]

This is my 162kg/357lb Holthaus South German Pattern double horned anvil with the upset block, but no sideshelf. 95% rebound, forged construction from 7 pieces.

This is my 274kg/604lb Holthaus North German pattern with upset block. This is our favourite anvil for working with striker. The large mass makes a huge difference in moving metal and it is set at a lower height to offset the height of the upper swage tools. 85% rebound, forged construction from 7 pieces.

[Frf]

This is my 175kg/386lb UAT Belgian pattern anvil. Very similar to the North German pattern with the abrupt face to round horn transition, but the horn has a belly, the square horn is not notched where it joins the body, and it is low and wide similar to a french pattern anvil. 98% rebound, cast construction. This would have been for tool making.

This is our senior blacksmith’s anvil. It is a 204kg/450lb South German pattern with side shelf and upset block. This was forged from 8 pieces in the latter half of the 1800’s. 90% rebound.

[Frf]

From left to right, a 4.5CWT/504lb John Brooks London pattern 95% rebound, cast construction, in front of that a 145lb Peter Wright with a broken back 45% rebound forged construction, next a 189kg/416lb Söding und Halbach South German pattern with side shelf and upset, forged construction from 8 pieces, and far right is a pre-Rigid Peddinghaus 125kg/275lb North German pattern with upset block, 99% rebound, drop forged construction welded at the waist.

[Rojo Pedro]

Nice to see those beauties being used. I can't say which one I like best but that '27 Soderfors is really sweet. Thanks for sharing. 

[Donal Harris]

Vevor. 132lb. Estimated delivery 1/19/23. Evidently it is stuck in Hutchins, Tx with a FedEx “Shipment Exception” whatever that is. I assume it means I am very unlikely to be getting the anvil on the 19th.

 

I was hoping to have it mounted before my wife came back from visiting one of our daughters on Saturday. That way I could have said, “New anvil? No way. That old thing has been back there for a long time now.”  Kind of hard to do that when they end up delivering the busted crate right about the time she pulls in.

[Donal Harris]

It arrived last night. Crate was in good shape. No chips or dings on the anvil. Now have to dress it and remove all the ugly blue paint and check for Bondo. 
 

It doesn’t appear to have nearly as much rebound as my little Mousehole. 

[Candidquality]

On 9/8/2014 at 7:28 PM, ThomasPowers said:

Rich Waugh shipped a NIMBA to the US Virgin Islands and spoke well of it.

Forgot I had shipped that for him.  Was really beautiful and definitly jealous at the time.  Would absolutely recommend a  NIMBA anvil.