The Armour Archive

as the title says, I'm looking for a cheap anvil to do some hot metal pounding on. I'm only working with stock up to an inch or so thick at the moment, and this is my first anvil so I'm not looking for anything too fancy - just something better than the random 20 pound chunks of soft mystery steel and railroad rails that I have now.

I'm hoping to find something local to save shipping costs, and because I like to look at tools before buying them... so I found this on craigslist:

anyone have thoughts on this mud-caked beast? I don't know anvils well enough to tell what size it is (I think it looks bigger than one of those bench-top "jeweler's" anvils, but can't tell if it's a 60 lb doorstop or something more in the 100-200 lb range), and the ad has no useful description.

Does this thing look like it's worth $50?

For $50?
YES
It has a hardie and a pritchel (sp?) hole, looks to be about 10" high, 16" long. Surface may not be so great, but thats not really something you need unless you are concerned about minute, smooth details. But that's what a grinder & files are for! It's not the end all be all buts it's a great start to your operation. If you make and sell something for $50 on it, it's paid for itself.

Id snarf that up for 50 ASAP

Yeah, I'd bet heavily the poster doesn't know what he has.
Buy it for sure. If you clean that up I'm just about positive you could at least get $200 or so from a blacksmith swap meet, easy.

It's a start, it's worth at least the asking price as a door stop.
Condition, makers mark, and rebound will let you know how big an upgrade it is.

thanks all, I emailed them about the anvil (about 8 hours after they posted it) before posting here, pretty much just saying that I was was interested in it and wanted to come take a look before buying. Haven't heard back from them and they removed the listing the day after posting it. I guess someone else snagged it first, or more likely they looked at the few other anvils on craigslist in Maine and realized they could get more money for it. I'm curious to see if they re-list it.

I found another anvil: 350 lb, fisher from 1909... top and horn look nice. $400 plus about $50a gas and a six hour drive. Worth it? Should i have bought it?

Most anvils I've seen go for around $1-2 per lb so that price seems pretty reasonable to me and depending on where you live I'd expect a bit of a road trip to pick up anything of reasonable size. If you miss this one and are not in a huge rush I'd check out some local blacksmithing/ABANA swapmeet. There should be a few gems there that would be worth lookin at.

If it has any life left in it $400 for a 350 lb fisher is a steal around here.
I recently picked up a fairly clean 180(ish)lb Soderfors for $300 which I thought was a fair price.
It is a lot nice to work on than my old Peter Wright which has been swaybacked by heavy use.

Depending on what you are looking to do with your anvil you might also look at some of the options at Old World anvils.
They have a 4" square piece of tool steel which is pretty short money and would be a anvil for small work like knives and house hold items if you had a seperate mandril for turning scrolls and rings. I have been thinking of getting one of them and building a stand from square pipe filled with sand. Something a little more portable for doing demos or teaching with.

Keep looking.
Also talk to Derek or Nick in Auburn at http://www.newenglandschoolofmetalwork.com/, they might have more information on local hardware supplies.

thanks guys, I did end up buying the 350 lb fisher. It is in remarkably good condition. The guy who owned it said he did a little smithing when he was a lot younger, then it pretty much sat on his porch for 40 or so years.

After we got it into the back of the car he told me he had something in his basement he wanted to show me. He thought it was some kind of black smithing thing and that I might be interested in, or know something about it. So he leads me down into the basement and holy crap, a step vise. I asked him how much he'd let it go for and he said $50... unfortunately when I talked to him the night before he told me he would only take cash as payment and I only had enough on me for the anvil. I wish I'd have thought about going back into town to find an ATM but I guess I was just too excited to think strait.

I'm thinking of asking the guy if I can send him a check or money order for $75 to $100 if when he cashes it he can bring it down to my friend's dad's farm which is a halfway point between us... He would get an extra $25 to $50 (I'm not sure whats really fair to compensate for his driving) for three hours of driving, and my friend could bring it back with him when he goes to visit family, or it would only be a three hour drive to pick it up rather than six hours... or maybe I should just drive back up there, buy it, and see if he has anything he's willing to sell that I might be interested in.

woodwose wrote: ...or maybe I should just drive back up there, buy it, and see if he has anything he's willing to sell that I might be interested in.

Do this!!

Love to see some photos.
That is an excellent score all the way around.

Here are a couple pictures, one pic with it still in the back of the car which gives a good sense of scale.
http://mailmaker.tripod.com/shop/anvila.jpg
http://mailmaker.tripod.com/shop/anvilb.jpg

It also came with that stake-like thing that he had stuffed in its pritchel hole, and with small book about smithing and fixing wagon wheels.

I'm trying to decide what to mount it on. I have one huge stump that is already set up with holes to hold some of my stakes so I don't want to cut that down. I thought about making a base built up from scraps of 4x4 but my wife is opposed to me uglying up the shop with a mass of cobbled together crap. Another option I'm thinking about is setting it on an old wooden toolbox filled with sand, with a thick board on top to protect the toolbox's original top... I hesitate to do that as the toolbox is old and belonged to my grandfather so I don't want to abuse it (my parents who buy and sell antiques gave it to me rather than sell it in their shop so I would feel pretty douchy if I broke it by sticking a 350lb chunk of metal on it), and I was thinking about storing my stakes in there. Currently the toolbox is empty because I use it as a seat which causes it to gather tools and other doodads while I'm working, then I'd have to clear it off to open it - so it has stayed empty for almost a year now. Finding large stumps around here is surprisingly difficult, which seems strange considering the number of huge trucks full of big logs I see on the roads daily.

I would recommend building a stand like a truncated pyramid out of heavy plywood. Fill it with sand and use a floating top to hold the anvil. You will need to seal the seams and reinforce the wood with some banding, a good first project.
If you are ever in this neck of the woods I have a large oak trunk that I cut my stumps from. I'd be happy cut you chunk.

It looks like a great score!! Congratulations!

Do you have acess to a welder? Makeing a decent stand from angle iron should take only a few hours.
fallow the basic angles of two saw horses set close together and fiddle with the math before cutting anything.
proper hight should be just below knuckle hight when you stand feet shoulder width apart with your hand and arm natural.
useing the angle iron for a base you should have plenty of room to add shims to ajust the hight a bit.
Most tool boxes are the wrong hight and won't last long with that much weight and you working on the anvil.

As for finding stumps talk with the local tree surgons, utility workers, and local highway or town suppervisor.
you can also try places that sell firewood.

And the numbers of the supporting legs shall be three; do not goeth to four and only goeth to two on the way to three!

Also go over to iforgeiron.com and look at the anvil stand thread(s). I'm always sending smithing folk over here for armour questions, it's nice to send someone the other way!

BTW Fisher's are *quiet* anvils and of high quality. The one you've got is a great one and worth several hundred dollars *more* than you payed for it as in you could flip it in a week for $700! Face is in excellent condition!