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I spoke to mr Angele vi email, and he informed me that they currently have no anvils in stock and are trying to figure out a new producer. He told me there are no current american distributors and it is cost prohibitive to sell a single anvil to a u.s. customer at this time. He does not know when they will be available. The first batch sold out and production of the second batch is not squared away at this time. Seems like a super nice guy, he speaks highly of the anvil.

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  • 6 months later...

I have been many places in the USA working in heavy metal industries. I am a machinist and a welder/fabricator. I have been blacksmithing on and off for twenty years. And I admit I am still learning. Mostly from the people on this forum. I admire Mr. Hofi and his great knowledge and his willingness to pass this knowledge on. And I like the anvil that is being talked about on this forum. But why is anyone even thinking about buying stuff made in China? I mentioned working all over the USA. While doing so, I have had the misfortune of have to repair many items made in China. Most of which ended up being replaced at great cost. The Germen distrebuter is having production problems because the Chinese cannot or will not live up to manufacturing agreements. Not two Chinese products are alike. Especially heavy metal. Too many corners cut and no production controls. I find it hard to believe that these anvils cannot be made in Germany or the US. Nimba Forge makes great anvils, here in the US and at affordable prices. I am sure that there are other producers of which I don't know. I am NOT knocking Mr. Hofi's anvil. Just the idea of buying from the Chinese.
Just MY 2 cents

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The problem with Chinese quality is that they will take a contract to manufacture a product to a certain standard with specified material and then cut corners in manufacturing, substitute with inferier material, and not be to spec. This applies to baby food, ball bearings, high pressure valves, toys, etc. I would certainly think twice about spending $1500.00 or more for a anvil or $5,000.00 + for a power hammer. Especially when you can get a gaurenteed product made in the USA. If you buy from Harbor Frieght then you get HF quality and don't expect more.
I have to aploigize for hijacking the thread but this subject really gets my goat

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I once tried to get an anvil produced in China. I ran into problems with communications difficulties. I told the person I was working with on the specs for the steel casting that I was looking for an alloy similar to 4140 with a top hardness of RC 42-50. I was told that "steel is steel, and you talk too much." This really didn't work well at all, and I was afraid that I would end up getting cast iron.

It kind of reminds me of talking with the fellow in the Bay Area who broke the market open for imported Chinese ball bearings. Just a few years ago, anything better then ABEC 1 couldn't be sourced from China, since they were not able to manufacture to the spec. This fellow ran a lot of the sample bearings, and found out that they failed due to excessive dust in the lubricant. He then told the factory to clean up the operation, and got more dirty (and bad) bearings in the next lot. Then, he went to Shanghai to see what the problem was. It turned out that the factory was incredibly dirty, and the head did not appreciate requests to clean it up, especially when prefaced with "here is how we do it in the US." This ended up being a huge crisis of broken face, and it looked like the project was doomed. The thing that saved the operation is that the fellow realized that there was no way to tell the factory how to run the operation. So, he just asked them to ship the bearings dry, and had them lubricated when they reached the west coast. He then was able to meet spec on ABEC 3 and 5, and make a great deal of money as well. Essentially all of the small electric motor ball bearings are Chinese made now. Some people have got the communications down, but I agree, it is hard to get products made to a better spec than just barely working.

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