Kanca vs Holland vs Hoffman

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Very nice stringstalker82! 

[stringstalker82]

Thanks Ms. Jennifer! It looks sandy, but is actually hard packed clay dirt, just a little loose on top. I gotta get a dolly from HF so I can move it to the actual forging area of my barn. I have an area about 10x10 in the barn that has crane mats for flooring.

[Rojo Pedro]

Really nice Stalker. It looks like you used silicon under it, that did the most to quell the ring on my anvil. 

How does yours sound on the steel stand?

[stringstalker82]

Rojo, it's almost as quiet as my old fisher. No ring just a solid thunk.

Thanks twisted willow

I know most people say knuckle hight for an anvil, but with my fisher, I did that and was always stooped over the anvil, making my back sore. This time I built this one with an anvil hight just below wrist hight. And my back likes this much better. Next I'm going to build a tripod striking anvil/ post vise mount. I'll keep you informed.

[Glenn]

To fine tune the anvil height even more, put a piece of wood on the top of the anvil and hit it 3 times with a hammer.  If the crescent is at 12 o'clock the anvil is too low.  If the crescent is at 6 o'clock the anvil is too high. If the crescent is at 6 or 9 o'clock, you need to adjust your grip on the hammer.

[jlpservicesinc]

Well sad Glenn..   Use a piece of wood that you would consider to be your main size of stock worked. 

Most people as they progress will work larger and larger stock sizes. 

[Frosty]

Actually MOST people do not say knuckle height for the anvil face. Folk who's only information comes from a few books, say Art of Blacksmithing and didn't understand what Mr. Bealer said, SAY knuckle height is right.

Glenn's advice on gauging where YOUR anvil is for YOUR striking height is good. It WILL get you very close to a comfortable working height for you.

Once you've developed the skill sets you can adjust to different heights without hurting yourself and do good work but that comes with practice and time.

Set your anvil where it works for you, worry about other stuff later. Yes? 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Or do like I do:  Heavy work with larger hammers: the anvil is at a lower height. Fussy work with lighter hammers: the anvil is at a higher height.

I have 2 165# shop anvils and just finished a taller stand for one of them yesterday---about 4" difference.

[Glenn]

The same fine tuning methods hold true for heavy hammers, strikers, etc.

One way to adjust the height of the anvil is to adjust the height of the blacksmith. Have them stand on a piece of 3/4 wood sheeting, a 2x4, a platform, a pallet, etc for a one off adjustment.  It does not have to be complicated, it just has to work.

[Canoe Brand]

On 9/24/2020 at 11:19 AM, Glenn said:

Thank you for the link to the PDF.

Anything CAN be abused.  But we are talking about dropping a small ball bearing, from a short height, using only the force of gravity, to determine rebound.

There are many anvils today that are over 100 years old, that have worked all their lives, and are in good condition.  How many hammer blows that represents is beyond numbers, unless you use exponents.  The number of blacksmiths that have worked on just that one anvil would be interesting, but has been lost in time.

I agree, and I was kind of bewildered by the comments in the long thread. I have a Kanca 110# anvil and have been using it for three years and i am very satisfied. I have put dings in it through my own miss-hits. I'm glad too because it shows it is the CORRECT hardness. You do not want a face as hard as your hardened face hammer. I have been a builder for 40 years and every single hardened tool comes with a warning...do not strike this to any other hardened surface, this in dangerous. As a smith working on hundreds knives and other things,  i can also say that these small dings DO NOT translate into your work on a scale that ruins the usefullness of the anvil. I would suggest that anyone using a chisel(like i saw in many of the damaged pictures) use a swage block on top of your anvil with a pritchel hole of the correct size and a sacrificial face that can be used for using a chisel to cut hot steel. I think many people are using the anvil face when they should be using a sacrificial face, you will absolutely cut the face of your anvil. I was blow away by some of the comments, being fairly new to forging I knew these things from general knowledge as a carpenter. 

I also want to say that an anvil does not make up for poor hammer skills.  Guys were saying they are using cheap Chinese hammers and that they were denting their anvil. if you are using a cheap Chinese hammer I'd like to say why? Using a cheap Chinese hammer (which may be fine by the way) is an indicator that you are willing to spend the buck on a new anvil, but not spend the bucks on and American forged hammer. Guaranteed, when you get the right hammers and use a Kanca Anvil with skill with good hammer skills, your experience will improve.