AggieBlacksmith Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 How did you find your first anvil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 Found my first anvil at an estate auction for right around $1 lb. A 123 lb. HayBudden. That was before the recent craze. Second one was through the TPAAAT. A 127lb. Trenton, rescued from a co-workers aunt and uncles flower garden. Got that one for around $80. And it's my favorite so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 We had just moved in 1982 to the Ozarks and were over in Springdale checking the town out. There was a junk shop that we stopped at that had about a half dozen anvils outside. Looking them over we decided to buy a 110 pound Vulcan for $100 U.S. It's still in use and my favorite because it's so quiet. Since then we acquired a 90 pound MP Farriers anvil, a 106 pound Hay Budden (my wife's favorite) and a 110 pound improvised anvil (block of steel) using the TPAAAT method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AggieBlacksmith Posted March 13, 2018 Author Share Posted March 13, 2018 What exactly is the TPAAAT method? I've seen discussion surrounding it but nothing defining it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/3602-thomas-powers-applied-anvil-acquisition-technique/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Olson Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 I inherited my grandads. 250Lb. Only marking is "warranted" stamped on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 I found my first MHF 162 at a tractor show . ( some 40 years ago for 90 bucks ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Dad got interested in smithing and told a friend out in the valley who had a vineyard. Bob called awhile later and said he saw on for sale in the Sacramento Bee up in Lincoln CA. They took a drive up to the foothills, and Dad came back with a 260# Fisher made in 1907 for $250. Dad said that there was a post vise that had been attached to an oak tree, and the only thing you could see was the outer jaw and handle. The tree had grown around the rest of it, and it still worked! This was around 1977-79. My first anvil was purchased at a machine shop auction in the Bay Area. It is a 306# Sodefors and it was $200 on a steel stand. I used it in my machine and fab shop. I believe it was bought around 87-88 because it was in our first location. I still have both with the Fisher being the main anvil due to how quiet it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammerMonkey Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 I found my first (and only) anvil at an online auction last year. It is a 1911 Trenton, weighing 185 Lbs. I payed a little over $4 a lb. I know it’s not a price worth bragging about, but I have no regrets. I love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Still a decent price on a tool that will outlast you Shady. Thats a beaute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 My first “anvil” was a tiny little cast iron bench anvil that my mom still keeps as a paperweight. My first real anvil was (and is) a 148 lb Mousehole (The Undisputed King of Anvils) that my folks got me for my 15th birthday from an antique tool dealer near Reading, PA. Paid about $100-$125, if memory serves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 18 minutes ago, JHCC said: The Undisputed King of Anvils OH!, you mean Trenton! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 1 hour ago, JHCC said: Mousehole The Undisputed King of Anvils You misspelled Sodefors.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forgedinfire123 Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 the coyote tried to drop the 450 pound columbian on me and missed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JME1149 Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 After taking an introductory blacksmithing class, I started asking around at work if anyone knew of an anvil for sale. The third person I asked said he had one in his garage that he'd been tripping over for too many years and said I could have it, but I would need to bring some help to load it. He told me he inherited the anvil from an uncle who had it sitting in the chicken coop for at least the past twenty years. I was figuring a beat up hundred pound or so anvil that would need a bunch of clean up to be usable. When I got to his house, he pointed me to a 200 lb Hay Budden in near perfect shape. Wouldn't accept any money for it, saying his wife was happy to see it gone and that was payment enough. TPAAAT in action for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lionel h Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 My first on was my grandfathers anvil, 1835 mouse hole, my second I bought from a friend of the family’s, a Sisco supreme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 PW, about 125 lb, bought in 1972 from the Grandfather of a high school buddy. Used it for many years, and finally traded it off for a similar sized Fisher anvil. Paid $25 back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammerMonkey Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 10 hours ago, Daswulf said: OH!, you mean Trenton! 9 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said: You misspelled Sodefors.... Hahahaha! (BTW, I'm with Das on this) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will W. Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 My fathers boss had an old anvil sitting in the shop, and was apparently never used in the 30+ years my father was working there (and he suspected for longer than that). I had him ask his boss if he would take 100 bucks for it, and he agreed, said it was just taking up space.Turned out to be a 150 pound 1905 Fisher. Its in great shape, and i think it had an easy life, but im now giving it the exercise it deserves . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 16 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said: You misspelled Sodefors.... Uh . . . You mean Soderfors of course. Yes? John's handle is the "Grammar Hammer" it doesn't say anything about spelling or anvil evaluation. My first good anvil was a 125 lb. Soderfors, Sorceress #5 born in 1923. It came to me, sort of, via the TPAAAT method before I'd heard of it. I was telling all my friends and acquaintances and one tipped me to a farrier who was selling his kit. He was getting out of shoeing via the typical farrier's retirement plan, his back and knees were shot. I don't know how to calculate what I spent on the anvil, I got: hammers, top tools, several bottom tools besides a hot and cold hardy and a curved hot hardy, (for trimming? shoes ) a pallet of tongs, a portable coal forge and his stand with shoe vise. I gave $1,200 for the lot. The really sucky thing being virtually all of it was stollen, all but what I had in my pickup, the anvil 3 hammers, a couple top cuts a flatter my hardies and a twisting wrench I'd made. Needless to say I stopped associating with that bladesmith. Oh AND his farrier cohort. Sorry, long winded but that's how my prize Soderfors came to me. I got my 206 lb. Trenton in N. Dakota while trucking Deb's possesions from the UP of Michigan to Alaska. That was an excellent 2 weeks. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Sawicki Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 I got my first anvil of craigslist for about 2 dollars a pound. It is a 150 lb English anvil. I got my second one, a 128 pound Trenton in pretty good condition at a New England blacksmith's meet. It was 2.5 dollars a pound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 12 hours ago, Frosty said: Uh . . . You mean Soderfors of course. Yes? The really sucky thing being virtually all of it was stollen, Yes, Soderfors. And yes , it would be sucky to find out that all of those tools were made from a German fruit and nut bread.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Lol.. Hmm.. New treats, blacksmith tool shaped stollen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(M) Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 got mine online for about 2$ a pound, a 100 ish pounder. it has chips the size of highliters out of the sides, almost no usable face left. i plan to weld and repair it with some medium carbon steel rods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 paid a $150 for a 100lb Trenton off craigslist, was the first to call, that was about 3 years ago. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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