Our Anvils

There are lots of pieces of equipment that are necessary, but the two critical ones are an anvil and a forge.

We started hunting for an anvil right away, scouring the internet (Kijiji is a good source), looking for auctions, and checking out antique stores.

Our English pattern anvil.

We got very lucky and found an anvil in pretty good condition at Rideau Antiques in Lombardy, ON. I believe it  is an English pattern anvil that is on the smaller side (~100 pounds), but it should get us started. This is a good time to mention that there are lots of great links on the internet that provide advice about what to look for in anvils (see http://www.beautifuliron.com/gs_anvils.htm as an example).

We've also managed to pick up a smaller anvil that likely wont be able to handle any heavy work (it dents easily) but will be good for lighter work.

Our small anvil (~30 pounds).

We managed to mount our anvil on some 6"x 6" posts using some heavy chain and some large spikes. We copied the design from anvil mounts that we've seen in a couple blacksmith shops. A big log would also work, pretty much anything that is heavy and wont move around when you start hammering. Our mount seems pretty stable, the whole thing is pretty damn heavy so it shouldn't move around too much!

Our anvil on it's new wooden mount.