Art & Inspiration ANVIL IN THE GARAGE?

I've had my "anvil" since I was old enough to drive about 60 years now. My dad was chief electrician for the old SP&S RR and he brought home anvils that someone in the blacksmith shop made from old s**** rails. He gave me and my older brother each one. My brother lost or gave his away soon after he got it, but I've used mine ever since. It sits on a shelf in every garage I've had, or in a storage shed when I had no garage. I'd be lost without it, and use it often still for a lot more than car stuff.

 

1oldtimer, I looked up the first anvil you linked, holy smokes that's expensive!
On the plus side however, I see it's marketed by Alec Steele, a young English fellow who makes pretty cool videos of forging, and other blacksmithing type operations, using vintage equipment.

 

Out Coupe is nick named Wile.

A good anvil has a great ring when you hit it. If the are poorly cast or cracked it's more of a thud sound.

 

Good anvils are steel, cheapie imports are most often cast iron. The "thud" characteristic of CI is great for damping vibration in machine tools but not here...

 

I can see that mine is cast but it has a ring to it. What I read into these is some are cast with a steel core.

 

Yeah, none of them are thrifty. I should have stated that they’re all USA made. Around here the used ones are about the same price or more.

 

My understanding is many are cast with a hardened top steel plate welded to the base.

A long time ago I found a video on how they "welded" on the top plate. They didn't use conventional welding to do it, the upper plate is weld bonded to the base.

My guess is that the ring that you hear is the top plate ringing thru the cast iron, basically making the base an amplifier.

Again I've heard that if the anvil doesn't ring it means the base is either cracked or the top plate is breaking bond to the base.

Again these are things I've "heard"...

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The chain wrapped around the base is to deaden the ring. I have one that rings so bad you definitely need ear plugs if you work on it for a while. The chain definitely tones it down a bit. it will either make you deaf or crazy after working on it all day. The one i use most barely rings,
Is a little sway backed and has some chips out of the corners, but I've hammered out alot of nice things out on it.
I wouldn't turn my nose up at one that doesn't ring if it isn't obviously broken and is reasonably flat.

 

I kept my Trenton when I moved, but sold off all the rest of my blacksmith stuff.
A smaller anvil, a forge, couple of blowers, all the tongs, hammers, coal, fullers and hardies that I had ac***ulated over the years. Hated to do that, but it was a necessity.
I had taken several blacksmithing courses at the Ornamental Metal Museum while living in Memphis, and thoroughly enjoyed the historical aspect of how things were made in the past.

 

I was told that a cast anvil, the cheaper ones, are quieter and referred to as "Town anvil"s
"Country anvils"s are forged, long, loud clear ring. Neighbors complain.

 

I don't have one, but I use the back of my big vise sometimes.

 

I had a 470LB Big Anvil that we could not find a date on that belonged to my Uncle. I bought it from my cousin after he p***ed. I kept it as the pride of my shop before selling it to a Blacksmith shop up in Utah that makes handrails and gates and whatever for the super wealthy people. that shop gave me $3000 for it and paid a $600 transport bill on it. It was a monster of a Anvil. I had pics on my old computer.

 

I just went to the first one you posted, it’s over 11$ a pound before tax and shipping.

 

It's interesting that Alec Steele is selling an anvil made in the US. I suppose if the intended market is in the US that shipping cost from the UK would be ridiculous.

 

I just use a piece of railroad track ive altered some..locally on FB marketplace right now a Peter Wright 3 for $350 ,,thats a smoking deal for a 3,,less than a buck a pound

 

I'd be all over that !!

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Ya thats only $253 USD.

 

The Wilkinson forged anvil is the largest forged anvil known, weighing in at 1352 pounds. HRP

 

I too love old anvils, they are just something that is a functional piece of art, that is very useful and there is a ton of history connected to every one that was ever made, whether its from 100's of years ago, or in this case, a huge stash of some of the finest anvils ever made!
Enjoy from Dennis.

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