The Armour Archive

What are your thoughts on the 55lb Central Forge anvil from Harbor Freight? I went by today and my brother pointed them out. I took a look at them, but since I've never actually owned an anvil, I had no idea what to look for in one.

I've been thinking about getting one so I could make the curves better over the horn, since banging metal over an edge leaves lines in it, and Ibeam just rings too loud when bouging. I've also put thought into making riveted maille, so I'd need something to flatten rings on. It seems like it'd be a good investment, but I'm not sure if it's of good quality.

Anyone got any ideas?

See the Anvils section on the "21st Century Blacksmith" page. Pay special attention to the section on "Rebound". Also see the section on Russian anvils under "Product Review" towards the bottom of the page.

http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/index.htm

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Thanks Cap'n. It does say it's good for a beginner, and I won't be doing any heavy blacksmithing on it. Well, at least not as much as that guy was doing in his test.

Thanks alot.

Artemis

I got one. I don't make metal armour but I do leather for myself and I make repairs. I'd say that the CF anvil is good enough for what I do. Its much bigger than a 'rail' anvil which is nice. It does have this thick coating (paint?) that flakes off.

Hope that helps.
m

Yeah, I saw that. I'll be grinding the face and horn smooth anyways, so I won't worry about it getting on my stuff.

I have one of those and it has as much rebound when you hit it as a rusty old engine block.The work surface is really soft(I have dents on mine from srtting 1/8 in mild rivets).The horn looks nice and smooth till you pound something on it.that is when all the red body filler falls off to reveal the horrible casting that was not ground smooth.The only thing I use mine for is starting rolled edges.
Kronos

The local Harbor Freights in San Diego also carry a 110 Lb. Russian made anvil that is supposedly decent.

Eric

Apparently 4 anvils are listed at 55 lbs.
2 are cast iron (AVOID-AVOID-AVOID)

The other two are steel. One looks finished, the other does not.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=42028

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=90108

For you blacksmith types. Would it be possible to face the anvil with a piece of heat treated, high carbon steel and have it welded on? Maybe with some kind of bedding to fill in the high and low spots between? Just a thought.

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The artisan formerly known as Willing Pell, then Juan Santell and then Willing Pell again. Hey, Prince could do it, why not me?

Yes, you can do that, the process is called "hard-facing". It takes 2-3 persons and about 4 days to hard-face an anvil or you can hire the job out to a machine shop for about $700.00,.

Of course, you can buy a 110# peddinghaus anvil from www.centaurforge.com for about $460.00,.

I have both hard and soft-faced anvils, they each serve a different purpose. They both have advantages and disadvantages. The surface on a soft-faced anvil can be reground periodically with your angle grinder, I do it all the time.

If you don't want to spend the dough for a decent anvil yet, get a piece of 1/4" thick C-rail or I-beam, cut off the unneeded upright material, polish it a bit and drop it over the face of your soft-faced anvil.

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Dan Davis
dan.davis@wildwolfforge.com
http://www.wildwolfforge.com