First Anvil Advice

[Cr23484]

Hi Everyone,
I am looking into buying a new Peddinghaus anvil
#5 at about 70lbs.
I want an upgrade to my various post anvils, which are chunks of h13 and a few Rail tracks at 136 lbs per 3 foot.
I am a beginner at forging , and have used my post leg vice anvil jaw to do light 1/4” forging.
I also use the rail in both the horizontal and vertical positions.
a 1” steel ball does not rebound very much on any of the surfaces I have tried.
Is this anvil a good choice ir is there a better choice out there?
Thanks
J

 

[francist]

Peddinghaus has a good name although I haven’t personally used one. Seventy pounds isn’t terribly big though — I think you’ll still be limited to fairly light work but depending on what you have in mind that could be just fine. I have an old 1-0-5 Peter Wright at 117 pounds and it can still bounce around some. You have to start someplace though and the bigger ones go for serious money, at least around here anyways. I always liked the looks of Nimba anvils out of Port Townsend but don’t do enough to justify having one.

-frank

 

[ericc]

Rebound is somewhat overrated. Light bounces of the hammer are less stressful than bouncing a ball bearing. The tools you have are pretty good except for heavy drawing. Radius the vertically placed rail web for that. How much and what kind of stuff have you made?

 

[Cr23484]

Peddinghaus has a good name although I haven’t personally used one. Seventy pounds isn’t terribly big though — I think you’ll still be limited to fairly light work but depending on what you have in mind that could be just fine. I have an old 1-0-5 Peter Wright at 117 pounds and it can still bounce around some. You have to start someplace though and the bigger ones go for serious money, at least around here anyways. I always liked the looks of Nimba anvils out of Port Townsend but don’t do enough to justify having one.

-frank

Thank you Frank,
Jon

 

[Cr23484]

Rebound is somewhat overrated. Light bounces of the hammer are less stressful than bouncing a ball bearing. The tools you have are pretty good except for heavy drawing. Radius the vertically placed rail web for that. How much and what kind of stuff have you made?

Thanks Eric,
I have made 6 small knives out of Stainless steel 304 1/2” round bar.
I used this because I happen to have a good amount of it.
I did make one small knife out of 1/4” mild steel in a 2” by 6” piece.
I have a Chile 2 burner propane forge which I used on all the knives.
I used a small sledge hammer for most of it, finishing up with a smaller hammer.
I probably made a lot of mistakes, but I am learning slowly.
I have a TW-90 belt sander for putting a bevel and edge and any other final work
Thanks
Jon

 

[ericc]

A 70 lb anvil is fine for this size of work. How heavy is your vertical rr track? Unless it is only a few lbs, it should be fine. I started with a 24 lb horizontal track. This did not do so well for 1" stock. But a 2+ section of railroad track will outperform an equal sized London pattern anvil, since the mass and edge is in the right spot.

 

[FOMOGO]

Quote: First anvil advice.

I would avoid buying used, from one Wiley E. Coyote. May be damaged by fall from great height. Mike

 

[Manual Mac]

Ah yes.
Do not buy the Acme anvil.

 

[RJSakowski]

My go-to anvil is a ~100 lb. Armitage Mousehole pattern anvil that I rebuilt (new horn and face). In the basement shop I have a small anvil made from a length of railroad rail that I made primarily for sheet metal work but it has some pretty heavy work done on it with no signs of wear after forty+ years.

A solid and massive mounting for an anvil will compensate for less mass in the anvil. Forging is a matter of displacing metal and to do that effectively an immovable backing is used. My rr rail anvil is mounted on a white oak pedestal


Centaur Forge is in IMO the premiere supplier of anvils in the USA. I knew the founder close to fifty years ago. https://www.centaurforge.com/Anvils/departments/141/

 

[Cr23484]

A 70 lb anvil is fine for this size of work. How heavy is your vertical rr track? Unless it is only a few lbs, it should be fine. I started with a 24 lb horizontal track. This did not do so well for 1" stock. But a 2+ section of railroad track will outperform an equal sized London pattern anvil, since the mass and edge is in the right spot.

Thanks Eric,
My vertical piece of rail is about 30” and is about 100 lbs or so.
I have it mounted with a 30 lb chunk of hardened
H13( my only piece of hardened H13 )
Jon