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How did you find your first anvil?


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On 3/14/2018 at 8:30 AM, AggieBlacksmith said:

How did you find your first anvil?

For a lot of my blacksmithing time I did not need any tools at all since i worked in a commercial smithy. Could work on a different anvil every day.

And honestly the last thing on my mind was blacksmithing tools after working 8 hours in a blacksmithing shop. 

When eventually I decided to tool up, I couldn't be bothered with the beaten up stuff on offer and so bought 2 new farrier anvils from a foundry in Queensland weighting in at 90 lb or so. That foundry has since closed down but they must have sold the molds because I can see the same pattern showing up in on line ads. 

Later they started to show up when I least expected it,  and so I bought 3 more anvils one smaller and 2 bigger. I no longer use the first two farrier anvils I bought new.  The small Kolsva that occasionally comes handy to do some small silhouette has an easy life.  I hardly ever use, the largest PW at 480 lb ... she had a hard life and is now having a well deserved rest. The middle sized PW at 240 lb does all the real work.  

 

I like the story of the anvil in the VW bus ... was it for ballast?

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My first----years ago,after much searching,a 150lb Trenton in pristine condition. Prices were just starting to grow ,anvil,2 sets of tongs and a good supply of spring steel---felt OK at $ 300.00 and a 2 hour round trip.  My second----30 days later,force of habit had me checking the yard sale adds.Buried in a LONG list of household goods "anvil". Sale was only a few miles away with a start time of 9:00 AM-----I showed up @ 7:30. Guy was setting out a huge pile of stuff (junk) and I asked him about the "anvil"----his response ---"huh ?"------------"oh,yeah,that thing"-------disappeared into a jam packed garage----heard a struggle and the sound of steel dragging on concrete.Out it came ,I asked -----what do you want for it ? he instantly said "fifty bucks"------I took a quick look around to make sure no-one else was around and asked if he would take forty (hey,its the way of my people !)------his response---"well,I guess we settled on 45,but YOU have to load it" .Got it home in 10 minutes---------a 150 lb Trenton !!!!!!! a twin !!!!---not quite pristine,but beautiful shape.Have been very lucky on several others over the years.Trenton #2 as sold not long ago (thank you crazy pricing !!).

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Mine was a local casting at a foundry not far from where i live my neighbor bought it from a family that smuggled it out of the foundry.For 3 years i asked about it and he wouldnt part with it finally in the 3rd year he agreed to sell it i had to dig it up out of his back yard and clean it up.Its got scars but also a great ring and return at a 130 lbs wouldn't part with it till im to old to use it then it'll go to a worthy young person....

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Well My *first* was a 200 pound columbian I bought for US$150 as I recall. Junk shop in western Oklahoma. It was stolen right before a museum demo and my second was a 220# cast iron ASO  from a hardware shop. Used it for the Demo and never again, Bought a 198# Swell Horn HB at an estate auction (later traded for a antique stake anvil)  Traded a 25# LG for a 93 pound A&H (I had $75 in the hammer and it needed repairs I couldn't do or afford to have done.)  Found a 163# PW at a garage sale for $100.

This held me until I moved to central Ohio and found it raining anvils when I started using the TPAAAT. I averaged 1 top brand anvil in great shape a year for 15 years and all under $1 a pound---and could have found more; it was embarrassing everyone moaning about not being able to find or afford anvils and having to ask them to come help load another one into the shop...I stopped looking here in anvil poor NM and so was gifted a couple and helped students get several and found a bridge anvil in the desert that is now in use in the Fine Arts Metals dept of the local U...

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My first anvil came to me many years ago when I was teaching remote area kids in Western Queensland. It was lying on a station property dump and the owner asked if I wanted it. About 100# or so, no name, and a little battered, but it came home in my ute and I used it for quite a while. I later bought a Connellan (Brisbane) anvil from a tool shop which turned out to be a bit useless - cast iron ASO I think.  My home anvil, a 300# HB came from Ohio, bought on-line, sight unseen. It made the trip to Australia as a stowaway in a container - I could never have afforded freight from the U.S. And at work (museum) we have a few anvils - one inherited from the previous museum owner - a British Armatage, a lovely 350# Peter Wright donated by a local farmer, my old faithful Kohlswa which is used everyday for demos and which we bought locally from an ex-farrier, and a few assorted nameless anvils.

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