GMikeH Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 Out of these two anvils which would you rather work on? First is the anvil I have now which I just purchased last week. Its a 120lb Wilkinson in pretty dang good shape. This anvil was found and purchased for near nothing but its age is condition kind of make me want to just have this as a non working anvil. Second anvil is a nice looking John Brooks which weighs in at 140lbs. The face looks nice and flat and the edges are still crisp. Problem is this anvil is not where I can personally look at it although the Owner claims it has great rebound and of course that loud ring of a cast steel anvil. I can purchase this anvil for about $500 shipped. First off would you pay that for this anvil? Any known issues with these anvils? I had read that they are among the high quality cast steel anvils that are available. Here are some pictures of my Wilkinson and the John Brooks i was looking at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 One can never have too many anvils! If you can afford the Brooks, buy it. Use them both, and eventually sell the one you do not like. But I would bet you will keep both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMikeH Posted December 6, 2016 Author Share Posted December 6, 2016 Would you say the brooks is worth $500? I mean anvil prices are mostly outrageous but with the steal i got on the Wilkinson it would almost be like having two anvils for $500. I honestly need to be collecting some tooling but I saw this anvil and it caught my attention. I have always wanted to get into forging and my daughter has been showing interest at just 12 years old so I might as well get setup to do some forging and enjoy the time with my daughter making whatever we end up making. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John in Oly, WA Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 If the $500 includes shipping, that's a pretty good deal from my point of view. It looks like it's hardly been used. I'd be happy with either anvil, or doubly happy with both! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 I am a tool tragic and buy everything I can lay my hands on, so I would probably buy the anvil even if I don't need it. But if you want some support in your reasoning, the logical thing to do would be to buy a different size anvil from the one you already have (that I like better than the red one by the way.) So ... since $500 is not a bargain, I suppose there are plenty of $500/60 kilo anvil to be purchased, shop around for a 80 or 100 kilo one. Yes, it may cost a bit more but you save your $500 and save some more as you look for it. http://www.listlux.com/atlanta/a,41,1691460,--100--Blacksmith-Farrier-Anvil-----x0024-175--Canton-.htm A quick google search in your area came up with this. $175 for a 100 pounder. Conceded i don't know what that thing is, it may be a boat anchor ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 hot link removed at the request of Anvilfire. A few more ads, including a "complete blacksmith shop" for $700 ... (from last year) just to show some going prices. I wish we had that sort of prices here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMikeH Posted December 6, 2016 Author Share Posted December 6, 2016 Not sure why but Anvilfire never seems to work for me. I have clicked on a lot of links to that site and the page never loads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwistedCustoms Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 I have a Wilkinson a little smaller than yours and it has been a great little anvil. If yours has good rebound and you're just getting started $500.00 will go a long way on tooling. Four pair of tongs and two hammers for around $200.00 leaves a tidy amount to spend on coal ;-) If money is not an issue and the Brooks is in fact as it's represented then $500.00 shipped isn't terrible. Not great but not terrible. The only drawback is that there remains a lot you can't know from a photo. One phenomenon I have experienced and witnessed over and over is this; when you don't have an anvil they are illusive, once you acquire a good one they will suddenly start turning up all over the place. That Brooks looks good in the photo but it won't be the last one you will encounter and the price is likely to better on the next or third or fifth one that pops up. The short version, I wouldn't pay that without a hands on inspection. Good Luck and happy hunting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMikeH Posted December 6, 2016 Author Share Posted December 6, 2016 Twisted, I like that a lot an I totally agree. I need to build a forge which I am researching now. I have a good hammer but would like a few others in various sizes so my daughter and I both will have something to swing at some red metal. I already have a good many tongs which I aquired years ago. I recall many timing having to move that heavy bucket of tongs out of the way and thought "will I ever even use these tools" hahaha Marc1, i agree with you as well. I think the appeal of the Brooks is the nice clean edges and that perfectly flat top but, my Wilkinson is pretty dang flat and if i need a shape edge I will make a hardy tool to help with that. I kind of look forward to making tools more so than anything else as I have some cool ideas which I am going to explore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 You know you don't really need a sharp edge? ... more the opposite. The first thing you would need to do to that Brooks is give it a bit of a radius on one side at least. And dare I say ... you can straighten up those small chips on yours with a nice radius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatfudd Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 Marc1- $175 for a l00 lb vulcan isn't even a comparison to a Brooks anvil. As the prices of anvils has skyrocketed I would be willing to bet that the Brooks at that price won't last long. If that Brooks anvil were here in NM it would have been sold within a matter of minutes. It may be a little over $3/lb but shipping isn't cheap. As njanvilman said if you can afford it jump on it, you'll be kicking yourself later when you figure out the value of a really nice anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 Because the base of your Wilkinson rocks, it isn't a "perfect anvil". I would highly recommend spending that money on tooling, and using the anvil that you have. Especially because that isn't even a good deal. Look for some eBay deals for used tongs and hammers. You can get a good amount of tooling for that, and you will wish you had a good pair of tongs the minute you start trying to forge something with channelocks over one of your anvils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMikeH Posted December 6, 2016 Author Share Posted December 6, 2016 Im going to pass on the Brooks i guess. I tried one more time to talk him down but he is set on his price so I am going to be content with this Wilkinson and focus on getting all the other things I need. Tongs are not going to be an issue at the moment although I may need to acquire a few other types later down the road. I did buy a hammer which is just a 2.5 cross peen made by vaughan. I am not hammer pro but it seems nice and I am sure it will work just fine starting out. What I need is a forge and I need to make my mind up on if I am going to build a gas or coal forge. I like the idea of just using propane but open to coal as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 He only tongs that you will end up using a lot is that pair of bolt heads. You will need different sizes. The hammer you have if an excellent choice to start on but you will want a veriety of them as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Rather depends on what he ends up doing. I've use a pair of shoeing tongs rather a lot to hold the ball on ball peen hammer heads while forging the other end into a tomahawk... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.