Blacksmith Anvils Prices

[G-ManBart]

There is no pride in owning the best tools and doing mediocre work.
There is pride in owning mediocre tools and doing the best work.

There is no instance where I want to learn on the best available. In negates ability on anything lesser.

I'm not even sure why you're quoting me. I never said anything about doing mediocre work.

Folks that come up with absolutes like your last sentence make me chuckle. So you'd want to learn sky diving on less than the best available? Good luck with that. Absolutes often make folks look absolutely ridiculous.

 

[G-ManBart]

Lets not forget how many older civilizations used anvils like these shown. You have a solid granite block that ancient greeks would have used and an anvil set up that the vikings would have used and look what they were able to do with it. Are they better than a nice big beautiful anvil? Hell no, but they get the job done just as well, necessity is the father of invention. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if a production shop was using railroad anvils because they can be had for pennies on the dollar compared to real anvils and can get the job done just as well if its coupled with a swage block. Come to think of it, I think a swage block and RR track is lower cost and just as, if not more, useful than an anvil. Even at that, the picture with the viking anvil shows swage type forms in the lower right so you don't even need to buy a swage block when you can make one as well.

I'd like to have one of those as well! Heck, I would like to have a sawyer's anvil, and a stake anvil, and a ....

 

[ducksface]

I'm not even sure why you're quoting me. I never said anything about doing mediocre work.

Folks that come up with absolutes like your last sentence make me chuckle. So you'd want to learn sky diving on less than the best available? Good luck with that. Absolutes often make folks look absolutely ridiculous.

I'm quoting you because you said you didn't think anyone would purposely want an aso to work with.
I'll take ridiculous when ascribed from some people.
Many have skydived plenty, and never with the best. Few people have.
Had they not chosen and mastered mediocre equipment, they'd still be on the ground saving up for that chute.
The best tools do not make up for mediocre. They enhance professional work.
Aso is fine for 99.99 percent.

 

[jumbojak]

I don't think someone needs the best of everything to get started at all...not sure why some folks think I'm saying that, or feel that way. Still, if I have a choice between a decent anvil, an ASO, or a hunk of scrap steel to chose from, I'll go with the decent anvil if I want to forge something.

I didn't mean to imply that you were saying that. Just sort of thinking out loud and my thoughts aren't always the clearest. I can certainly understand the desire to have a purpose built anvil and if they were easy to come by, why not start with that.

My thinking runs more along the lines that an anvil can be found in many different forms and of all shapes and sizes. A horn, heel, and hardy hole are nice luxuries but not strictly necessary. You can get by and get started with a large sledge and a portable hole for many operations.

I just hate to see people put off because of the perceived expense of getting started. I hate even more to see someone spend a pile of money to get started only to realize it's nowhere near as easy as they thought, and then give up in frustration.

 

[G-ManBart]

I'm quoting you because you said you didn't think anyone would purposely want an aso to work with.

I never said that.

The best tools do not make up for mediocre. They enhance professional work.
Aso is fine for 99.99 percent.

I never said the best tools make up for mediocre, or anything else.

99.99%. Wow, you have that as a reliable number? Talk about ridiculous.

Exactly how much blacksmithing experience do you have to suggest that only 1 person out of 10,000 doing blacksmithing needs a real anvil?

 

[ducksface]

Enough to know that supporting the prices of anvils by telling everyone they need good quality anvils to do anything more than nothing is self serving to collectors and resellers.
To suggest the financial loss of buying a fifty dollar aso should be a deciding factor in a novice buying a 700 dollar anvil....

I'll guess that of tthe 10,000 anvils owned by GJ members, one gets hit a every other month in a way that an aso just wouldn't do on any normal homeowner/hobbiest task.


It's just time that experts on GJ learn to support absolute beginners by telling them that the deep end is for professionals or those well known their way.





Tell me where an aso won't do.

Can we just say:
'Congratulations on finding a new interest. Go get an aso and give it a try. As you progress we'll be here to hhelp you with better tools and specialist anvils that you won't need until you have an idea of your specific interest. Lots of tools, lots of special tools come later and we'll be glad to help.
Go bang on something'

 

[Maui]

I just sold a 115 lb Peter Wright anvil to a very large young man in a nearby city for less than $3.00/lb. And he was thrilled to get it. He told me that he had been working on a piece of railroad track as an anvil for the past two years. He wanted to buy an actual anvil but everything he saw was priced so high he couldn't afford one. That's why he was so happy to see the price on my Peter Wright. Poor quality tools can make you miserable, especially if you are just starting out and learning. Good quality tools can make your life more enjoyable and less frustrating because they actually perform their job properly. Even though they may cost more money, I'll opt for the good quality equipment almost every time.

Maui

 

[fatfillup]

Ducksface, I see you blasting anvil and vise prices all the time. So how many anvil and vises can you buy at the bargain basement prices you spew?

It certainly would be a good way to make a few dollars. If you don't want to retail them, I would buy a pallet or 2 full allowing you to make a decent profit. If shipping were too high to come to me, I am sure there are other resellers here who would offer the same deal.

 

[honcho]

Blame it on the Coyote......... Somewhere out there in the desert there are hundreds (thousands?) of Acme Anvils waiting to be snapped up.

Everyone likes inexpensive prices but even though there are a bunch of anvil enthusiasts here on GJ, the anvil market is pretty small otherwise there would be more and better forged anvils from COOC (Country Of Origin China). As it is, the used market is robust and there are new anvils available for those who have the money.

 

[ducksface]

Ducksface, I see you blasting anvil and vise prices all the time. So how many anvil and vises can you buy at the bargain basement prices you spew?

It certainly would be a good way to make a few dollars. If you don't want to retail them, I would buy a pallet or 2 full allowing you to make a decent profit. If shipping were too high to come to me, I am sure there are other resellers here who would offer the same deal.

Yes.
You see me also blasting guys who when asked what mill to buy to use in a rented one car garage detached from a rented condo to maybe try to make some wheels for the nephews pine car, those guys say a knee mill.
Last week it was the guys telling someone unknowing to dig a 300 foot ditch and put conduit and cats cable in it to run his seldom used underpowered webs surfing computer when all the guy needs is a 22 dollar wireless extender.


I attack grandiose perverted views of tools that are presented to beginners who have little experience or need for the upper end things sold and hoarded by many here. But those hoarders and collectors decide instead of telling a kid to try a base model to Aquire the talent to need a top end unit, the collector decides to supplement the collectors agenda by suggesting ridiculous unneeded tools.
It just seems to you to be anvils and vises because they are major contributors to the pog phenomenon.

I have nothing against vise or anvil. I do have a huge chip when it comes to those people thrusting an agenda upon the hapless.

 

[G-ManBart]

I attack grandiose perverted views of tools that are presented to beginners who have little experience or need for the upper end things sold and hoarded by many here. But those hoarders and collectors decide instead of telling a kid to try a base model to Aquire the talent to need a top end unit, the collector decides to supplement the collectors agenda by suggesting ridiculous unneeded tools.
It just seems to you to be anvils and vises because they are major contributors to the pog phenomenon.

I have nothing against vise or anvil. I do have a huge chip when it comes to those people thrusting an agenda upon the hapless.

So what you're really saying is "I know better than everybody else." Those poor hapless souls you have to save before they spend money on more expensive tools YOU think they don't need.

For some reason you keep misquoting people, and suggesting things were said that simply never were. Nobody in this thread told a newbie to go buy the very best anvil possible, so there was no "grandiose perverted view" being talked about. I think the words used were "decent anvil" or "proper anvil" as opposed to an ASO, but that wasn't even a suggestion to someone looking to buy.

Spending a couple hundred dollars on something that is much higher quality, has less chance of being outgrown easily, and retains its value, or even increases in value, is hardly bad advice.

You have just as much an agenda you're thrusting upon the hapless.

Topping all of that is the fact your premise is disingenuous. Collectors and hoarders of anvils don't want other people out there buying good anvils, so they would be better served telling newbies to go buy an ASO.

I guess it's easy to blame the collectors and hoarders since it must be someone's fault that market value doesn't agree with your personal views.

It's almost evil....gasp, a new anvil!

 

[nine4gmc]

Well put G-Man!

 

[notlob]

I attack grandiose perverted views...

There's a prime example of the duck calling the anvil black.

The only "grandiose perverted views" I've encountered on GJ involve a certain waterfowl peering lovingly into a mirror.

 

[justme-]

Tldr... I know little about smithing, just got my first anvil last month finally, but several highly regarded smithing educators recommend using a mild steel striking anvil first for beginners...ie aso...Alex steel and Brian recommend