Ok here it is I think I have looked at and read all of the anvil threads to help me choose a new anvil. Like many others I would like to get a 250> shop anvil but have found that the used ones in this weight range are in rough shape and in most cases cost as much if not more then a new one. Now I am torn between which style to invest in, single horn or double horn. Now this is were all of you come in. What are the pros and cons of each. Last question lets name all of the current anvil makers. ( nimba, mouse hole, TFS ) to name a few. I just don't want to miss any of my options. As always all of you are the best supply of informed information out there:). Thanks again.

I am sure you will get a lot of different good answers to this question, but I like the rathole, for a few reasons.

well you left one current anvil maker out , Euroanvils m which probbaly be what i buy when I ever buy a new anvil

HOFI anvil, Peddinghaus, Refflinghaus and Euroanvilcome to mind.

I have been smithing since '85. All of my anvils are single horn. If you are buying new, DO NOT BUY a single horn anvil. I have had the opportunity to work on several double enders and I go to the skinny end when needed just like I had always owned one. Many operations that must be done across the corner of a single horn anvil or over special hardy tools are easily done somewhere on the skinny, flat end of the doubles.

I have worked on Hofi anvils, Peddinghaus, Refflinghaus, Ozark, Old World, and Kohlswa double enders. All good as I am sure are the others. Pick one and enjoy. Wish I had one!

Would you like to help support this site with the purchase of a new anvil? You won't need a 250 pound anvil if you try this one:Double Horn Anvil - Blacksmith Photo Gallery If you wait about another year, I might have the 250 to 300 pound version available. I only have them done on order, the foundry is about 8 weeks out from order time.

Edited June 25, 200818 yr by Jymm Hoffman

Strangely enough if i buy a new anvil... I'm going to talk with Jymm Hoffman and try to get one of his colonial hornless pattern anvils. I want one, but don't have the money for one right now =)

Strangely enough if i buy a new anvil... I'm going to talk with Jymm Hoffman and try to get one of his colonial hornless pattern anvils.

If you are seeking to set up a shop of a certain period or a specific region you will need to restrict yourself to the "proper" anvil. Jymm's anvils look great.

My wife let me get a ped for my birthday 8 years ago i wasnt shure about the double horn. I can tell you i have grown to love it a squar horn on the other end has come in handy a number of times. I have never regreted the purchase.

i started with a london pattern peter wright,then i got my double horn vaughan.i dont believe you would regret going the two horn route,i have found mine to be a great tool and wouldnt buy anything else.

in our school shop we have about every type there is, and i must say that above all I prefere a german patern duble horn, the itallian type is nice to, but i don't know if annybody still makes them new..
a few more brands; haberman, hoffi, clif carrol, short sugar, blue devil (the last three are farriers anvils)

I have a ~160lb PW. Would like a bigger anvil. I think I can wait on Jymm's. I like the style, would like to support this and other sites, and the maker!

Thanks for all of the replies. I was leaning towards the double horn style of anvil. I have used a couple different ones and they seemed to do every thing I want and then some. But now with home heating oil being $4.80 a gallon it looks like my new shop anvil fund is going to be diverted to the new wood stove for the house fund:(. Well here is hoping that all good things come to those who wait.

Dave, you might want to look into a pellet stove over wood. They put out a ton of heat and you can run 1000lbs. of pellets through it and have barely a pound of ash afterward. Most come with a glass front door so you still get to see the pretty flames. I don't have one in this house but did in my previous place. We went from $175 a month electric (electric heat) bill down to $40 a month. This was around 1998 or so. Pellets were around $240 a ton and that would last 2-3 months. The newer models might be more efficient.

And to come back to topic, as many here know, I have the Nimba Gladiator double horn Italian style and love it.

Of course in areas where the electricity has a tendency to go out if the weather gets bad a pellet stove goes offline at just the worst time!

Nothing cosier than lighting the oil lamps and snugging up by the woodstove during a bad storm!

not sure about current models but the one I had, you could hook a car battery to and run it from that if house electric went out.

Don't get me wrong, an open fire is awesome to feel and see but not as efficient as the pellets.

Our woodstove is not "an open fire" it's totally closed up but has a nifty clear ceramic window. I run it a lot of the time on scrounged wood too as firewood is all soft wood out here lessen you are down in the pecan growing region and can pay top dollar for trimmings.

My winter heating cost is about 150 dollars for this last winter. nice having a passive solar house.

Our neighbor, when the power went out, damaged their stove due to overheating (several hundred dollars for the new fan and controls). Dealer said you could not use the stove without electric. Well, when there is no electric for heat, that is when you need the stove to work !!

Wood pellets are like buying new steel, great is money is not a problem. But if money were not a problem you would not be using a stove to save money to start with. Look for a stove that will run on multiple fuels, pellets, pallets, scraps lumber, scrounged wood, etc

I bought a real nice Jotul wood stove with front and side loading. It is a non cat stove that takes up to a 28" stick, it has a glass front and with a burn time of about 16 hours. It is the cost of double and triple wall 8" stainless chimeny that really hurts ( about $200 per 48" sec.) I need 28':o. I went with a wood stove because I have 10 acres of mixed wood plus lots of places up here give away pallets for free and they are hard wood. With the winter we had last year 160" of snow plus weeks of below 0 weather I am going to need all the help cutting my oil costs I can get. How sad is that it is not even july and I am worried about and getting ready for winter.;)

You have to take care of family first.
I do have a double horn available at this time. You get first crack at it, after you say no, another iforgeiron subscriber can have a shot at it.

Jymm, thank you for your consideration of the member and of the IFI site.

Take a look at Hitzer stoves. The 983 is a beast.