NC Tool Anvil

When I was looking to purchase an anvil I was directed to this anvil or the one slightly larger from NC. I haven't bought an anvil yet but all I heard was good things about them for knifemaking. Hope that helps.
 
NC Tool makes an excellent anvil, however, I wouldn't use anything under 150#. The more mass under your hammer, the more work you can accomplish with any given blow of a hammer. You have to consider your elbow over the long haul. My smallest anvil for forging is 175# Peter Wright.
hope this helps.....:D
 
My first anvil was a 70 lb NC Tools anvil, and it worked OK for a while, but if you have any other option I'd go with that. The anvil just doesn't have the mass to be a great tool. The heel really doesn't have enough mass behind it to be useful for much of anything beyond the lightest jobs, and if you try to do any serious pounding on the horn, the anvil just flops around. You'd probably be better served by trying to locate a used anvil. Barring that, you' can also use a heavy chunk of steel set in concrete like Tim Lively shows in his video and website, rather than something as light as the NC Tools anvil.
 
I have one of those NC 70 pounders (not with the cams though) set up in our high school smithy. It works fine for our needs. As you said, anchor it well. That being said, I bought it used off of Craigslist for $100. I don't think I'd buy it new for plus $200. The nice thing for me was that it came in a couple pounds under 70 lbs. That way I was able to take it back as checked luggage on a plane and saved a bundle in freight!
 
Thanks for all of the replies.:thumbup: It looks like the general concensus is to save up for one of more mass. What does everybody think is the ideal knife anvil weight.

Thanks,

Glen
 
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