Anvil Sourcing

[Mike Martinez]

After playing around with a small piece of railroad rail, I've come to develop a need to pound hot metal and give the bandsaw and grinder a rest. Though the rail has worked ok, I'd really like to use something better... but without breaking the bank. I'm not ready to invest on a nimba, nor am I ready to fight the "picker/collector" crowd for a "vintage" piece of steel.

So, does anyone have an idea of where one could source a nice piece of steel for this purpose? Any tips on what to look for?

Thanks for any and all help.

Regards,
Mike

 

[Doug Lester]

I got a block of steel from Shapiro Metals, which lists on Ebay. I believe that it was H13, it's roughly 8X7X4" and weighs 87lbs. I can work a blade faster on that than I can the cheap Russian 110lb anvil that I get shortly after I started and that block of steel isn't even heat treated and has less of a rebound. I think that it came out to the $230-240 range with shipping. You can also go to Old World Anvils and get a piece of 4X4" heat treated 4140 about 12" long for not much more. That should put you in the neighborhood of 100lbs, especially if you ask him not to round the edges, and with the mass almost entirely under the work you should really be able to move steel with it. The down side is that there is no provision with an anvil like that for a horn or a hardy hole but you can buy a used leg vice for a tool holder and still not have the investment you would have with an English pattern anvil.

Doug

 

[TacticallySharp]

Look at anvils on Midwest Knife Supply. They have some ferrier style anvils that will work and are reasonable in price. One will meet your needs and last for long while. Anvils are like most tools you will want to get another one sooner or later.



My first real anvil, 107#, on homemade stand.

Check out this one, has hardie hole, 70#, you can mount it in a cut down 35 gallon drum filled with sand to add weight:

http://usaknifemaker.com/forging-to...c-172-174/short-sugar-anvil-w-punch-slot.html

 

[Mike Martinez]

Thanks gentlemen for the tips. After assesing my needs and drawing back on my experience, though limited, I'm going to stick to the block/ Japanese style anvils.

Doug, thank you for the link. After searching many a scrap yard, and steel yard, I think the most sensible thing is to purchase one from old world anvils and save myself the headache.

 

[Doug Lester]

You may have a point there. I had to search periodically for months before I was lucky to run across that add for some cut-offs from another order Shapiro Metals had. There was the one that I purchased and two others. Round bar, especially in stuff like 1045 is fairly easy to come across but blocks of steel come up far less often.

Doug