WTB an anvil

Hey guys, I am looking for a good anvil somewhere here in the DFW area. If you have one for sale of know where I can get one please post a reply or email me.

Thanks in advance,

Byron

Reply to
Byron
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Have you looked at the 110# Russian cast steel anvils from Harbor Freight? They are real tool steel, work well, you can lift them, and they are *cheap*. Around here you are out the door including sales tax for $70. I've bought about 5 of them for various friends and they *all* like 'em.

Bigger is better, but tons more money.

Grant

Byr> Hey guys, I am looking for a good anvil somewhere here in the DFW

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Reply to
tglenn

I also have a HF 110# Russian anvil... and I'm happy with it as well.

Mine mostly sees duty as a massive bucking bar for aluminum rivets I drive from time to time, and also for driving the occasional bushing too. Seems like every other day it comes in handy for something.

Must admit I've never used it for pounding hot iron though...

Erik

Reply to
Erik

On Mon, 10 May 2004 16:59:36 GMT, "tglenn" brought forth from the murky depths:

200+ lbs, delivered to So. Oregon for under $50, please.

And THANKS!

-- Save the Endangered ROAD NARROWS! -|-

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

Reply to
Byron

I hope you are looking for used. My 130 lb Mankel single horn cost me over $400 plus shipping 10 years ago and Mankels are considered low end.

You can probably find an old 120 lb. Peter Wright in reasonable shape for around $200. A good used Paddington in that size can bring $300 or more at auction. but anvils are one of those things that should not be bought sight unseen. Resurfacing a badly swaybacked or pitted anvil can cost as much as you paid for it.

The other th> 100-150 lbs and preferably under 200.00

Reply to
Glenn Ashmore

Reply to
Byron

Very interesting! To me, an anvil has always represented nothing more than something on which you could use a hammer without doing damage to that which was beneath the item you're beating. Goes to show that there's lots of room for learning about the tools of other trades. I gather you treat your anvil and accessories much the same way I do my mill or lathe.

Harold

Reply to
Harold & Susan Vordos

Darned tootin'. When you are beating the daylights out of a hot piece of steel it will take the form of what ever it is siting on. A farrier's anvil can get pretty rugged but for any quality work the top of a smith's anvil has to be flat and have few dents. It is one thing to bounce on it to clean a hammer or get a rhythm but when I miss a power stroke I cringe. Especially with the stainless that will end up with a high polished I am working now every semicircular hammer dent has to be ground out. Same with knife blades. The kids that work in my shop know that NOBODY uses the anvil but me.

Reply to
Glenn Ashmore

I should have mentioned that there is a difference between a farrier's (horse shoeing) anvil and a smith's anvil. The Farrier's anvil has a big horn while the smith's anvil has a smaller horn and a larger face with more metal in it. Smith's anvils also come in single and double horn styles. One horn for rounding and cones and the other for tapers and smaller squared angles.

Not sure if you will need anything more than a hatchet or cutting stake and maybe a bottom fuller for knife making but it would be a good idea to ask Centaur Forge for a catalog so you can get an idea if the available shapes.

Reply to
Glenn Ashmore

Reply to
tglenn

Thanks, guys. It all makes sense, and I consider myself better off than before the exchange.

Your attitude towards the anvil face brings to mind a situation that occurred VERY shortly after I purchased my current Bridgeport, new. This was many years ago. A friend that had always expected a good deal, but rarely gave one, walked into the shop with a rusted, torch cut piece of steel and slammed it down on the new mill table. Need I say more?

Harold

Reply to
Harold & Susan Vordos

Good luck getting a order from Harbor Freight. I ordered from them a month ago and so far all I've received in return is lie after lie. Now they're telling me it might take another month before they ever even admit they didn't send me my order. They have my money. I have a handful of hot air. They're lying scum at Harbor Freight.

Reply to
Me

||> ||> Very interesting! To me, an anvil has always represented nothing more than ||> something on which you could use a hammer without doing damage to that which ||> was beneath the item you're beating. Goes to show that there's lots of ||> room for learning about the tools of other trades. I gather you treat ||> your anvil and accessories much the same way I do my mill or lathe. || ||Darned tootin'. When you are beating the daylights out of a hot piece ||of steel it will take the form of what ever it is siting on. A farrier's ||anvil can get pretty rugged but for any quality work the top of a ||smith's anvil has to be flat and have few dents. It is one thing to ||bounce on it to clean a hammer or get a rhythm but when I miss a power ||stroke I cringe. Especially with the stainless that will end up with ||a high polished I am working now every semicircular hammer dent has to ||be ground out. Same with knife blades. The kids that work in my shop ||know that NOBODY uses the anvil but me.

OK, now I need an anvil, didn't know it till you guys got me thinking about it. So what kind of stand does one mount said anvil to? Texas Parts Guy

Reply to
Rex B

The anvils are cheaper if you go in person. Obviously, they don't have to pay to ship them. Every Western Washington HF store has several in stock.

I've heard a few horror stories about HF shipping lately. I ordered a little propane tank cart for a weed burner setup (why weld one up when you can buy one for $15?) and it showed in less than a week. Go figger.

Grant

Me wrote:

Reply to
Grant Erwin

I did some research on anvil stands. I found out that you want one that's portable but stable, also you don't want them any bigger than they have to be (i.e. just larger than the base of your anvil) because sometimes you have to put long stock down by the base and want as much clearance as you can get. I was going to weld up a steel box and fill it with sand until a buddy with a sawmill found me an old walnut stump out of which I made this:

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The anvil just sits on the block held in place horizontally by the hold-downs. I made the hold-downs by simply forging some 1/8" flat bar to closely fit the anvil base sides, then welding them to some flats and cutting away what I didn't need. If I need to move the anvil in a truck or something, it will just lift off. It rang like a bell when I first set it up until I put a piece of sheet lead under it (between it and the wood). Now it's fine. I used some shellac on the block of wood and bound the ends with strap iron to keep it from cracking. It will still crack, of course, but if the ends are sealed and bound it will stay intact a lot longer. I'm hoping for about 200 years, actually.

Here's a closeup of the hold-downs:

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This is coincidental. Several Seattle-area smiths have seen my stand and gotten interested in making one like it. Walnut stumps are hard to come by. However, just *this very morning* I scored - free, naturally - a five foot chunk of cherry trunk about 15-17" diameter. I figure I can make 2 more anvil stands out of that, and the cherry wood might be REAL pretty. Hoo boy that chunka trunk was a bitch to get into my truck by myself though! (It's still pretty wet, having only been down a few weeks in the damp Pacific Northwest.)

Grant

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Ooooooo! That IS nice! Makes my welded angle iron frame look like junk.

Reply to
Glenn Ashmore

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