What Anvil is most common in your area for sale?

[Timber Ridge Forge]

I know weird question right? I must have bought and sold a dozen anvils this year. I check everything from estates sales, auctions, eBay, and junkyards. I have found for me the most common anvil I see for sale tends to be Vulcans.

[TwistedCustoms]

It's an interesting question. The variables are infinite. Just because you find lots of Vulcans doesn't confirm that they are in fact most plentiful in your area, just that they are the ones you personally have encountered. I have had a similar experience over the last few years. I have bought one Wilkinson, and five Mouse Holes. I have passed on several other Mouse Holes. Every single Fisher I have gone to look at was damaged beyond my level of interest, like missing half the face or the whole horn or both. I would have to conclude my area is rich in Mouse Holes and damaged Fishers but that information would be more meaningful if I could confirm others in my area have had the same experience.

[Ranchmanben]

I can’t point out a specific maker of anvils that are readily available but the most common traits are that they’re all horribly abused and over priced. Torch cuts, heels snapped off, delaminates faces and I’ve seen a couple that have obviously been in a serious fire. 

 

Seems like people look on eBay, look around til they find an anvil of similar weight and make and completely disregard the fantastic condition. They see the buy it now price then realize that their anvil is exactly like the one for sale or maybe even better. Off they go to craigslist posting outrageous prices and they won’t come off them a nickel. Oh well. 

 

After I’d written all that I realized that my small town does have a rather healthy amount of pre WWII Kohlswa. I’ve bought the only one available, I wasn’t for sale until I asked and made a reasonable offer. I know of at least four others here including a 200lb-ish in beautiful condition being used as a yard ornament and a neglected 250ish one in good using condition that sits in front of 50lb little giant that also hasn’t seen use in a decade. 

[C-1ToolSteel]

Around here I wouldn't say most common, but least rare is probably Peter Wright, Mous Hole, and Hay Budden.

Oh, and maybe Trenton.

[Frozenforge]

The unobtainium brand!

[Tubalcain2]

14 hours ago, C-1ToolSteel said:

Around here I wouldn't say most common, but least rare is probably Peter Wright, Mouse Hole, and Hay Budden. Oh, and maybe Trenton.

Yeah, and some Fishers. Hard to find good Swedish steel. 

[Judson Yaggy]

Peter Wright by a good amount, followed by no name mousehole style old english.  This being New England that makes a kind of sense.  

[Lionel h]

I was told by a local older blacksmith that mouseholes are more common along the Mississippi River , from being shipped up the river from England. He travels the country collecting anvils , making a list of anvils that he encountered.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Lionel h
Spelling

[C-1ToolSteel]

1 hour ago, Tubalcain2 said:

Hard to find good Swedish steel. 

Correct. Most of the Swedish steel around here isn't that great... 

[Charcold]

LOTS of hay budden and trenton on my local c-list. Quite a few P Wright. A few Arm and Hammer. A few vulcans. Lots of junk railroad ones. One single colonlial era 5th foot anvil with a cracked off heel weighing in at around 100 lbs for 100$ i missed out on and still regret. Looked like a real beauty with a slightly mushroomed top and that textbook square shape u really only see in old anvils, from what i've read. 

[JHCC]

In my casual perusal of Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, I usually see a mix Peter Wrights and Hay Buddens (Hays Budden?), with the occasional Fisher thrown in.

[Hans Richter]

Peddinghaus, Peddinghaus ...............................................and yes Peddinghaus

And not to forget a lot of Chinees rubbish 

[ThomasPowers]

One factor is that the seller has to be able to identify what brand of anvil they are selling...

Vulcans were made until just a few decades ago and were the anvil of choice for Industrial Arts in many  school districts in the USA so a lot of them hit the market fairly recently as the schools shut down such programs.

When I lived in Columbus Ohio, Trentons and Arm&Hammers were a common find...

[John R]

None!

For Sale anvils are just about unheard of in my area.    I credit this to the  late period in time when the Pacific NW was settled.  And I live in a remote area of the Pacific NW.

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

41 minutes ago, John R said:

For Sale anvils are just about unheard of in my area.

Same here in 30 years, I have found maybe 6 or 8 anvils and only 3 were worth buying (which I did). My first was a Vulcan 113 pounds and in good shape, which I still use and just recently a 90 pound farriers cast steel and the latest Hay Budden 106 pounds that has become a favorite. I found a guy who has 3 Vulcan's that were so beat up I wouldn't use them for a door stop and he wanted something like $6 a pound. Oh and I did buy a 110 pound $35 steel block for an improvised anvil that works just as well as the London Patterns.

[Farmall]

Over the years, I have seen a number of manufacturers anvils within about a 100 mile radius.  I have 2 Star anvils, 4-5 Mouseholes, 4-5 Hay-Buddens, 2-3 Vulcans, a Kohlswa, 5-6 Peter Wrights, 1 Acme, 1Trenton,  and 2 Fishers that I can remember. Virginia does have its share of anvils, but haven’t seen a pattern as to preferences.    The only “preference” I have noticed is that the older anvils, like the Mouseholes, are generally found in older populated areas that have been inhabited since the 1700’s to early 1800’s whereas the Fishers, Stars, Peter Wright’s were in areas that population growth occurred from around 1820-1850.   The rest were in the more urban areas of the Commonwealth. 

[BeaverNZ]

I have a Wilkinson and I see mostly Peter Wright and Wilkinsons here in the lower south island of New Zealand

[MC Hammer]

Here in NY I too see a lot of Mouse Holes, but a lot of the blacksmiths in the area have Hay Buddens which isn't surprising because of being made right in Brooklyn.  I've also seen some Peter Wrights and a couple of Fishers.  I saw a monster English Mouse Hole looking type on CL that was local. It was close to 300 lbs if I remember right.  I talked with the guy on the phone and he knew nothing about it.  He wanted $800 for it but said he'd take $500 - if I'd had a dedicated shop for forging I would have snapped it up quickly.  There were no markings that I could see besides the weight and it lacked a cut-off shelf.  It was in pretty good shape, but I would not have been able to move it in or out of the garage so I passed on it.  Of course I found my German Trenton here in NY too.  The picker I got it from picks all the rural farms and that's where he got all of his MH's, Fishers, and my Trenton.  

BeaverNZ, ever see any elves in your area forge welding broken swords back together at orange heat? 

[TwistedCustoms]

5 minutes ago, MC Hammer said:

 ever see any elves in your area forge welding broken swords back together at orange heat? 

Elvish steel welds at lower temp ;-)

[MC Hammer]

Twisted,

And they use special flux from the Shire too!

 

[Gergely]

Yeah, in the new age the best flux has been the Nazgul dust. I still have a little from my great grandpa. It's the only way I can forge weld elvish stuff I found in the troll caves.

 

A bit on-topic: around here the most common anvils are the Hungarian made cast steel austrian pattern anvils from the 50's-80's. The most typical weight is 70-80kg / 150-180lbs. Also some Austrian JEB's appear quite often mostly in the same weight. So I was pretty happy when found my German two horn pattern 450lbs. 

Bests:

Gergely

[Frosty]

The most commonly available "anvils" around here are ASOs. On occasion you see a real anvil for sale but it doesn't usually stay available till the ink dries on the Craigslist ad. When you do see something come up there's no telling what it might be. Most of the guys are just buying new American made anvils though you CAN get a Rigid, Peddinghaus from The Home Depot. 

Don't believe everything you read though, you just CAN'T get unobtanium anvils either! 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jasent]

In my area rhino anvils are the most available