School me on anvils

farmerjohn

Well-known Member
Do they come in different sizes or hardness, why are they so expensive, does anyone make new ones, are they collectors items??? Was discussing with a friend recently, we just don?t know much about them.
 
Go take a cruise on U'tube. Plenty of how too stories, history, and guess the value of. Yes REAL anvils are very expensive.
 
Yes they come in different sizes. Hardness varies by manufacturer. A good one will ring when you tap it with a hammer like crystal does with a nail tap. That let's you know beating on hot steel will not hurt the perfectly flat surface. Take a closer look at the anvil's you see posted. Even the best ones need to be re ground because someone didn't understand beating on cold steel will ruin any anvil. It's been decades since I have seen an old anvil that was worth anywhere near it's price. You can dress an old seaboard rail and have a better anvil than 95 percent of them. JMO
 
Well good anvils are made out of hard STEEL. Yes some older anvils are collectable thus more expensive. Some really older and newer cheap anvils are made out if cast iron. They do not ring when struck. There are new good quality one being made. They are not cheap. A good heavy anvil (125 lbs.+) can easily be $500 plus fright.

I have several anvils. My Great Grand Father's 300 lbs. anvil is worth $2000-3000. I will never sell it but it is collectable. The larger anvils are more rare and more expensive.
 
I have my dads anvil and don't know how old it is but was told it came from England and rings like a bell when you hit with a hammer. It looks like the one in photo and must weigh over 200 lbs. because I couldn't begin to pick it up.
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My son is a blacksmith and owns 6 (I think) anvils from less than 100 to over 300 pds. As I understand it, sharp edges, a top without a bow, no sign of chisel marks n the top and especially no effort to "fix" the anvil by milling it are good signs. Many of the older anvils had a thin steel top on a cast iron body and milling them removes part of that. Peterwright is a good brand as are Hay Budden and Fisher. Newer cast steel anvils are available. a steel ball bearing should bounce > 50% of the drop, better if more. The ring is aesthetically pleasing but the rebound means more. As some one said elsewhere, you do a lot of your working in the area the size of your hammer so look for a good flat spot and sharp edges. Prices are very local,and you sometimes can find a pretty good anvil in a junk yard (Did I say he has 6? not counting ones he's sold) A good referenc book is Anvils in America which covers a lot of English and American anvils. We love our 50 year old tractors, but how about a good working 150 anvil?
 

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