My old anvil was letting me down until I tried a cast steel one

I used a wrought iron anvil for 5 years and could never figure out why my shoes were taking forever to shape. Switched to a 150lb cast steel anvil from a guy in Kentucky last month and my hammer strikes actually bounce back now instead of just thudding. Any of you notice a big difference switching anvil types?

2 comments

2 Comments

claire9991mo ago

Oh man, that thudding sound is the worst! Honestly, I had the same exact problem with a cheap cast iron anvil I got at a flea market. It just absorbed all the energy from my hammer and left my arm dead by lunchtime. Once I switched to a proper cast steel one, the ring came back and my hammer rebounded so much better. It made a huge difference in how fast I could shape a shoe, maybe cut my time by half on some jobs. Tbh, I think a lot of folks underestimate how much the anvil material changes the whole feel of the work.

caseyrivera1mo ago

Yeah, you're totally right that material changes everything, @claire999. But I gotta gently push back on cast iron being the main culprit for that thudding sound - in my experience, it's usually the anvil being too soft or not properly hardened. I've had a couple cast steel anvils that were poorly tempered and they thudded just as bad as any cast iron one. The rebound and ring come more from the face being hard and the mass being right, not just whether it's steel or iron. Take it with a grain of salt, but I think that's why some folks get good results with old cast iron anvils that were forged right.