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Buying my first actual anvil. Help me compare please.


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Hello,

 

I have been lurking on various forums for a while. I have been using a railroad track as an ASO and a cheap 55 lb cast iron beat up anvil for a while just tinkering and saving money for the real deal for about a year now. Well, I have gathered up 1600 dollars and am trying to decide what a great first anvil would be. I have 2 anvils in mind and hopefully you can help my decide. My uses right now are repairing tools, making tools and edged tools and I really want to learn more. I do not know where this hobby will take me when I get a real anvil, but we shall see. 

My top option if possible, lyon blade and anvil 220. Second choice is Peddinghaus 170. Are there any other anvils I should consider in my price range(and that is delivered too plz). 

 

Thanks for your input. I an super excited!

 

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I've seen a lot of good anvils on the book of face's marketplace.  Many of them at a decent price with a lot of life left.   2 of mine are unidentified and the one I need to rebuild is a nice Peter Wright 125 lb.  

Check the flea markets too.  You may get lucky, I got my 200 pounder for 500 bucks at one. 

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Good Morning deBeer,

You haven't said where on this round rock, you are making a shadow. Please enter your locale in your avatar, then we don't have to ask again.

The very best Anvil, is the one you own. There is no such thing as a perfect Anvil, perfect at doing what? Any Anvil will do most jobs, some are noisier than others. Some like a Swedish Anvil, some like any of all the different brands that are made in Canada or the USA (eh). Some say that any of the European Anvils are the best. Forget about whether it is Painted or Pin Stripped, you can add Flames at any time (LOL).

Neil

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Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

Actually, you already have a "real" anvil.  Anything you use to hit hot metal on is a real anvil.  However, you may want to upgrade to a better and/or larger anvil.  I suggest that you think about what you are going to be using it for and what size is practical for you.  Of the 2 you mention I would go with the Peddinghaus since they have a fine reputation.  I have always used a London pattern but if money were no problem I would get a double horn European style anvil in the 200-300 pound range.

If you put your location in your profile we will be able to give you better anwers to yhour queries.  A surprising number of answers are geography dependant.  Right now we don't know if you are in Lapland or Tasmania.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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Welcome aboard Bandit, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a much better chance of meeting up with members living within visiting distance. 

I've never working on a double horned anvil so I can't comment about their effectiveness, they're popular amongst experienced smiths though. The 220 looks like a well made anvil and the heat treatment looks competent. Without working on one, that leaves shape and price. For $1300+ there are a number of fine made in America anvils in the same weight range. Yu MIGHT get a break on shipping if you buy a Peddinghaus through Home Depot though it's unlikely. If the timing is right an anvil might slip into a freight shipment without effecting Home Depot's cost. I doubt it though but sometimes a store manager is interested in smithing. I was happy to buy worn jack hammer bits for $5 ea. from our local H D but when I stopped in to pick up a few for a club meeting the rental manager was manning the counter and he made me take a bucket full and two buckets to get them out of the way. Woo Hoo! 

Anyway, ask around, check out the IFI anvil maker review as linked above. Do NOT get in a hurry or let excitement or anticipation lead you into blowing your budget. There are many equally valuable things to spend it on you know, say a club membership, classes or a course to name a couple. Hmmm?

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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On 6/10/2022 at 7:15 PM, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

I would seriously consider a Holland anvil

I did look at them but they are sold out of the 200 lb anvils at this time.

On 6/10/2022 at 7:28 PM, Chad J. said:
12 hours ago, Frosty said:

say a club membership

Yes, I have signed up recently, but in AZ with the heat, not much happening in the summers.

 

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Yeah, but as a member you have access to the members list so you can contact smiths living within visiting distance and get together. No? There's a club website, forum or Facebook group isn't there? It's hard to describe just how beneficial networking is for everybody. for example guy Zed is looking for a wibbly gidget and Chug knows a guy who knows a guy with a one or has a good idea where to look. Or word goes out about an estate sale with smithing stuff, etc. The more eyes you have on a problem the easier they are to solve.

There's an almost non-stop show and tell and how to discussions going on between our club members. The guys are getting together pretty constantly in groups of 2-3. I'd participate more if it weren't a Facebook group. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

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Don't bother Scott unless you LIKE endless chatter about as relevant as a jr. high cafeteria' reminiscent discussion of an entire season of a popular TV soap opera's season finally. Posts from individuals are fine, it's just the comments from everybody in their contact list and the contact's contacts, ad infinitum ad nauseum. Even closed groups get comments from the whole darned PLANET, and their contact's, contact's, contacts, . . . Sometimes you see the same message come around several times before you block it. 

And all the rest of you out there in IforgeLand. Don't bother:angry: I do NOT reply to FB, I block every darned body! 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Been a bunch of years; but there was a fellow complaining here that there weren't any blacksmiths near him to get help from. We talked him into attending an Affiliate meeting and he found out that the local affiliate's VP lived 1/2 a mile down the same road he lived on!

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