I’m new here and I’m looking to start a small business supplying cheaper, quality anvils and tools. I am testing this industry with a simple yet pivotal part of every smiths shop, his anvil. Below are the specifications of the striking anvils, I am also looking at making a solid stand as well so there is no need to scrounge around for a stump or craft your own base for the anvil. The anvils are made from A36 steel plate, non-hardened, they will have a waterjet cut 1 inch hardy hole and they will be selling for $150 each. Still designing the stand for these so I don’t have a price for them yet, but the legs will be pre-filled with a sand/oil mixture to deaden the sound and vibration. If you want a stand we will weld it to the base to eliminate the need for that step.
I am a blacksmith hobbyist myself and I have looked online for something like this for a while now and never found them so I figured I would try and supply. It is so hard to find a quality striking face for beginner blacksmiths or hobby blacksmiths.
Please leave me feedback, I can change anything about these anvils right now, as I am in the planning phase of this still. Constructive feedback is highly appreciated. With my metal supplier right next door to my shop I can get these cut and shipped in a week.
Have a look at Alec Steele’s YouTube striking anvil videos. It tells you everything you need to know. I used one in Sydney to make a hammer at Eveleighworks. Here it is in action youtu.be/yJWpDOGCmms. It is really important to bolt them to the floor.
I’ve had quite a few people asking about getting a harder steel so there is not as much deformation should you mishit. I can make these out of AR400 but that will bump up to $250 per due to the increase cost in the steel plate. I was shooting for the $150 range for beginners and teens and lower budget individuals but if this sounds better to any of you please let me know as the AR400 is much harder, it is not tool steel, but it can take quite a bit more abuse.
Shipping from Colorado Springs, weight will be between 40-50lbs. Unless your in colorado then I could probably hand deliver unless your way east or west
Just in case none of you have ever used one of these or heard of them here is Alec Steele’s video on them. Very good blacksmith, he is out of england, I’m a huge fan.
Thanks for the reply Grant, the anvil itself be around 40-50lbs and will cost its weight in shipping. I’ve talked to both UPS and FedEx to see if I can get cheaper shipping but neither of them are willing to come down yet, until my business account has a few months of shipping history. I do have a website, I spent the whole day yesterday working on it. It still needs a few touch ups so I’m not ready to open it up yet but it will be ready this week some time. The sand and oil mixture is just what I have researched so far. Lots of people say just sand, the dry sand will deaden the strikes but the added oil will almost completely eliminate vibrations. If you fill a glass of water and tap it you still get the vibrations as ripples but if you add in enough sand then the water cannot vibrate and it completely absorbs the impacts, that’s my thinking behind the oil, that and oil is thicker. And yes if you fill the legs with lead you are looking at a good chunk of money.
The stand will be $60 and between 40-50 pounds as well. I don’t want to make it modular where the legs come off because of structural integrity, so if someone were to order the plate and the stand we will completely weld up the stand and weld the plate to the top. Still trying to see if filling the legs will be a good idea since it will add shipping costs due to weight (we might just put a plug in the top of each leg and give exact measurements of sand and oil to fill them). So total your looking at plate $150, stand $60 and $100 in shipping depending on state. However if you are in central Colorado I will hand deliver since that is where I live
Very cool, I can’t wait to see them! Sounds like you’re doing some good research on it.
If you need guidance on your web store, let me know. It’s what I do for a living Also, if you need some hands on help, I’m sure we can work out a trade of some sort. Just shoot me a PM.
I am cutting and fabbing the whole setup this week but i cant get the hardy hole cut for 10 days because my waterjet is down as of today fml. Will be roughly 10 days till I will have the hole setup together.
Sorry about the lapse in news as to this project, had some life issues come up and it put a major damper on this, however it is finally ready. Below is my website, if you have any questions please e-mail me, input is always welcome as well. Thanks for being patient guys.
So on all forums I’ve had a lot of guys wanting a tool steel working surface, so I looked into welding an O1 tool steel 1/2" plate on the top of the A36 block which would add 10lbs to the overall weight. However, this will add $200 to the total cost, this stuff is expensive, i don’t have a problem doing this but I will need orders already placed to cover the extra expense, because it’s really hard to stock these if noone will buy them because of the higher price. I will update the website with pricing and options, If this sounds interesting to any of you who are interested in buying one please let me know and I can get these ordered.
I have only priced out O1 so if any of you would like a different tool steel then let me know, I can also look into AR400+.
I’ve read and have hear, watchEd on YouTube that adding a hardened face to anything is not the best idea. Reason being is because there is the slightest airgap, creating a cushion, which softens the blows. Unless the hardened steel is forge welded to the A36, this will be the case.
fml. Will be roughly 10 days till I will have the hole setup together.