Hey everyone first post on here, I'm just starting up my own forge here in Cork in Ireland and been having trouble finding good quality anvils online secondhand although i do have a few friends looking out for some. This is one ad i came across that do new anvils from 20kg up to 50kg and was wondering would it be worth waiting for a good secondhand or picking one of these up!

Second hand!  Englans seems to be awash in old anvils at good prices---have any friends over there?  Is that one cast iron?  The terrible horn shape shows that whoever did it doesn't know squat about smithing.

24 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

The terrible horn shape shows that whoever did it doesn't know squat about smithing.

Paint it red and you could call it October. At least it has a hardy hole...

I knew it couldn't be much good when i compared it to some of the heavily banged up anvils being sold at the same price, cheers for the advice though i'll look into England but looks like ill be back to asking around!

Corksmith my family is from county cork.  I have never been over but want to get. There to research my family.  O'Callaghan.  

I would keep looking.  I think an old chunk of steel would work better than that for hot metal.

 

Just so happens my neighbors are O'Callaghan also! what are the chances of a link I wonder! Might try and pick up a bit of railroad and make an anvil until one pops up anyways!

Welcome to the forum, That don't look overly encouraging for an anvil, keep putting the word about you are looking for one and sooner or later something decent will turn up. In the meantime any heavy lump of steel you can find will serve to get you up and running......nothing fancy required, the free-er the better!

Cork that is pretty amazing, I think picking up some rail would be a wise choice.  If I ever make it over I will for sure look you up.  Forge well, MattO.  If you ever get this way let me know.

My wife's family are O'Dority not quite sure where the are from but my sister in law was over there last summer with my wife's aunt looking at graves and tring to trace their family line.

Welcome aboard Corksmith, glad to have you. (I started to call you Corky but don't know you well enough to stick you with a nickname yet) If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the Iforge gang live within visiting distance.

That's a clunker of an anvil, literally. You'll do much better with almost any largish piece of steel, RR rail makes a good anvil so do axles mounted flange up, or most any shaft larger around than the hammer face. Rail car male couplers make excellent if unconventional anvils. forget about "REAL" anvils, one will come along just keep your eyes open and some cash handy. Anything hard and heavy you beat hot steel on IS an anvil. Period.

Search Iforge for the "TPAAAT." It's a proven method of locating most anything though it has "anvil" in the name it works very well if you use it seriously.

Frosty The Lucky.

Hi Corksmith - I gather Ireland is a bit of an anvil desert. I see a few pop up on ebay from time to time. But to be honest you might be better saving the pennies up and getting one shipped over from England. - I have a buddy that has a few for sale, he's not the cheapest in the world but he'll certainly sort you out easy enough. 

Give me a shout via PM and I'll give you his contact details. 

 

That particular anvil is a cast iron one. Not utterly useless as it would get you going but personally I wouldn't bother. 

 

Other options are: A length of Rail Road track, a large sledge hammer head or even just a large block of steel. 

 

All the best 

Andy

Cheers everyone plenty of avenues to look into now so. And Frosty hopefully I'll be around long enough to get a permanent nickname!

Corky it is then.