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I Forge Iron

Buyer Beware


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So I'm trying to compile a list of things to watch out for when it comes to anvil purchasing. The market is insane, and especially so in southern Ontario.  Lots of unscrupulous sellers and clueless buyers. Saw one the other day listed as "good condition, nice flat face", that was missing all the face around the hardy hole.  And another that was all but destroyed (virtually no face whatsoever) with the caption "good, solid, don't make them like this anymore"

So apart from the obvious, like missing pieces, what things do you look out for? What would you tell a novice buyer to look out for? Ring/rebound are the old standbys. Casting lines, flat topped horns in the ASO style. 

What else? (Anvil below listed at 400 bucks.)

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 Direct quote from seller for above anvil too good not to share: 

 

"Selling this Canadian Blower and Forge Company anvil

In decent shape, very old and solid. Not like the junk anvils made these days 

Dated between 1890 and 1970.

This one is 90 lb."

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Omg! That's a real deal ! I would by two like that !  Just joking ,I've seen a couple that compares to that one at an auction and the guy that bought one paid almost 6 $ us per pound ! I told him I would sell my sisco supreme for 6 bucks a pound if he wanted a real anvil. 

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Folks tend to forget the preservation bias on old tools.  They made tongs of cheap low quality tools way back when but most of the bad ones get broken and tossed while the better ones get maintained and used for a long time.  I've seen cast iron ASO's for sale in ads from back before WWI.

As for the "they don't make them that way anymore"  Nowadays I'm often buying a car and expecting to get a decade of use on it after a car from the 60's was usually considered nothing but junk---remember folks bragging about getting 100000 miles on an engine?  My wife's minivan just dies with 249173! (and she didn't change her oil every 3000 miles...)

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On ‎7‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 5:36 PM, Exo313 said:

"Selling this Canadian Blower and Forge Company anvil

notice the company isn't "Canadian Blower, Forge, and ANVIL company"....and also how I think very few of us have heard of the brand, and even if we had, I think the anvil speaks for the brand.

                                                                                                                   Littleblacksmith

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How do you like this's one ?

«with some use»...  looks more like a anvil/swage combo ! :D

 

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On 7/6/2017 at 10:17 PM, Exo313 said:

My favorite was the date range.  Sometime approximately between the first published Sherlock Holmes stories and, uh, the inaugural production of the Ford Pinto. More or less.  

LOL !!!

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This one : « Anvil for blacksmith for sale, about 350#️, good condition.  375$ »

The price may be fair, but one horn is missing and the side shelf is gone (i guess) and left a big hole near the face.... that's an other weakness.

Can be transform as a striking block.

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I would agree. Either way with these cast iron vise combo anvil shaped objects, the sellers are either ignorant to what they are and just see the shape and think it's a usable anvil or they are trying to scam the uninformed people looking for one. So yeah, buyer beware. 

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Here is another Canadian Forge & Blower Co. anvil as tattered as the original on this thread currently listed on the Buffalo NY area Craigslist and the ad has been updated to include just the front anvil portion of the good old cast bench vice/anvil combo. I wouldn't fret over chipped edges with this one, that brand new face makes it good as new~

 

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Come on now I'd give a good US$20 for that set up and everything on the stump!  (what do they want?)

We got a local add where they are trying to sell 10 sledgehammers and 10 crowbars---but they want $200.  At $50 I'd be loading them in my wife's minivan!

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41 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Come on now I'd give a good US$20 for that set up and everything on the stump!  (what do they want?)

We got a local add where they are trying to sell 10 sledgehammers and 10 crowbars---but they want $200.  At $50 I'd be loading them in my wife's minivan!

Weight is given as 70 lbs and $100.00 CDN was the listed price. Been listed for over a month now but was just updated this past weekend to include the boat anchor and the asking price was removed. You will have to contact the seller in Toronto. I'm not going to bother because that is 90 minutes north of me and there are lots of scrap yards between here and there that are closer where I can get more bang for my buck.

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