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The "liveness" of an anvil determines its efficiency and is characterized not by the ring, as many folks think, but by the anvil's ability to cause the hammer to bounce up after each blow. Wayne Goddard writes in How to Buy an Anvil for Knife Making that the best way to tell if an anvil is any good is to drop a 1-inch ball bearing onto the face from a height of 18 inches. If the bearing bounces right back into your hand, the anvil is one of the better ones and will be easy to use.
Most second-hand anvils on the market today have been used hard and are often rusty, with the formerly square edges of the hardened steel faceplate chipped and rounded off. Prices vary widely, but usually ran from $1 to $2 per pound for an anvil in average condition. I found anvils selling on eBay, an Internet auction site, recently at these prices: a 150- pound example with no name went for $260; a 110-pound Peter Wright brand for $169; a 60-pound no-name with the horn point broken off for $60; a 170-pound Sterling Hardware Co. anvil, in good condition, with one hardie, for $227.50, and a 200-pound Vulcan brand in good shape for $300. I have a rusty and chipped 150-pound smith's anvil of unknown make that I bought for $100 about eight years ago at an engine and tractor show.
Unless you're a serious blacksmith, chipped edges shouldn't be a big problem. If a sharp corner to work on is important to you, the edges can be built up by welding and then ground back square. This process requires careful preheating and controlled cooling, and should be done by someone experienced in the process.
To provide for the least strain on both the smith's back and his hammer arm, the anvil must be adjusted to the smith's height. Robb Gunter writes in Anvil Magazine that the anvil should be high enough that the smith needn't bend over, yet low enough to allow his arm to be fully extended at the time the hammer strikes the anvil. He recommends that the top of the anvil's face be about "wrist high."
- Sam Moore became interested in agricultural machinery while growing up on a farm in western Pennsylvania. Now, he lives in Salem, Ohio, and collects antique tractors, implements and related items.