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Vent: wasted $300 on a cheap anvil from the big box store
Picked up a cast iron anvil from the hardware store about 6 months ago. Thought I was saving money, but the face started chipping after maybe 40 hours of work. Tried to dress it with a grinder but the metal just kept flaking off. Anyone else get burned by those cheap cast things and switch to a real forged one?
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morgan.nancy1mo ago
My 20 year old cast anvil from harbor freight is still going strong after thousands of hours. You might have gotten a bad one or been hitting it too hard with a heavy hammer.
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eva_hayes1mo ago
Morgan, you might want to check if that anvil is actually cast iron and not ductile iron. Harbor Freight sold both kinds over the years, and the ductile ones hold up way better. Cast iron is just too brittle for an anvil face, it chips from normal hammer hits not just heavy ones. Thats why blacksmiths and farriers wont touch them. If yours is truly cast iron and has lasted 20 years, you either got real lucky or its a different metal altogether.
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