Instagram / oldhickoryforge Support the channel here www.patreon.com/user?u=16387344 Purchase some of my work here www.etsy.com/shop/OldHickoryF... Videography by Dan Bailey Dan.bailey84@yahoo.com
Instagram instagram.com/oldhickoryforge/ Support the channel here www.patreon.com/user?u=16387344 Purchase some of my work here www.etsy.com/shop/OldHickoryForge?ref=shop_sugg Videography by Dan Bailey Dan.bailey84@yahoo.com
@@OldHickoryForge Yes, symbolism. Can you tell me how you came up with your logo and/○r what it means to you ? How you came up w/it ? And thank you for getting back to me so soon. 👍
@Old Hickory Forge Thank you, John. But I'm more interested in the [tree of life] the kabbalah tree... the fallen angels tree....the, as above, so below, tree. It's known to be used by an evil bunch. Just curious, John Norwood the /// . Are you a freemason by any chance ?
You may be the best product reviewer that I've ever seen. I could write several pages on how and why that is. You're knowledgeable. You're thorough. You're insightful. You explain to the layman. You do this all without youtube filler or fluff. You're a damn masterpiece and what other YT people should strive to be. This 15 minute video is nothing but perfection of education. Just wow man. Well damn done.
Power hammers aren't all about striking power, but rather in consistent blows. Most of the power hammers I've seen have been capable of just lightly tapping ( dusting) the workpiece
Memories coming back. I bought the "Russian Cast Steel" anvil from Harbor Freight almost 20 years ago. I remember it being about 80 lbs. It was just fine for a hobby knifemaker.
$140 is pretty low-cost versus things like a grinder, power-hammer, press and so forth. If you are going to forge, you need a forge and something for an anvil. Vevor has a sub $100 forge (and many options under $200). For $250, you can be forging. Thanks for doing these low-cost reviews. A lot of us are new to the hobby, and don't have hope of sales to offset some of the cost.
@@zarathean8758 I made a side blown forge out of dirt, clay and scrap lumber for using charcoal that is strictly for blades. With my coal forge its to easy to burn the steel and make the blade useless and lost work and time. It also makes the heat treatment a lot easier, particularly the tempering. I have another forge just like the one described above, only instead of a side blown air system. This one has a long fire box made from a long pipe with holes drilled about every two inches. It a yard long, but I can unscrew the end cap and insert a clay plug that regulates the length of the fire box air doesn't get past the plug. This forge is used for longer blades or any longer items that are made of high carbon steel. Making the metallurgical charcoal is easy and a lot cheaper than propane and even the coal forge is cheaper than a propane forge to run. So there's my two cents on other ways to make a forge on the cheap. It takes time, but so does learning how to be a blacksmith and making your own tools is an easy way to learn blacksmithing if you do t have someone to teach you.
$140 seems awfully high for a lump of foreign iron... often times new items at HF drop as much as 75% in price over the next year or two... of course, most items at HF just increased in price by 10-50% because of BidenFlation...
I had a 419lb fwds German double horn made in 1909 5 piece forge welded. I moved to North Carolina and I gave it to a buddy and the rest of my stuff forges tire hammer press hand tools etc was stolen when I was bringing my first trailer to the new place. I recently started building up my tools again and I got the Doyle anvil and I will say I’m very impressed with it. Normally I always went for name brand stuff in everything. Makita or Milwaukee. Since losing everything I stuck with harbor freight for now until I can get back what I had and I’m very impressed. Aside from my welder. All my tools are harbor freight at the moment and from what I can tell they pack more of a punch then Milwaukee. And I use the shit out of them. So as I am surprised about the anvil, I’m not because they definitely stepped there game up.
First time I came across your channel; I like your testing, clear pros and cons, and a physical test on the anvil. Can’t wait to see what the rest of your channel has.
Very informative and complete review of the anvil. There is no doubt you are a professional at what you do. I look forward to seeing more of your videos, thank you !!!
Thank you for sharing this content. Those of us who have no access to a direct mentor/teacher, who must more or less figure it all out on our own, & are trying to self educate on a reasonable budget really struggle sometimes, & this type of content is invaluable to us to help us avoid most of the most costly of errors. You are greatly appreciated.
If you can find one used, Harbor Freight at one time sold a ~110 lb "Central Forge" brand steel anvil made in Russia and the one I have rings LOUDLY when you hit it with a hammer and although I've not done a ball bearing test, the hammer rebound is very good. The odd thing that makes it easy to ID is that the 1" hardy hole is diagonal to the axis of the anvil and the horn is completely unfinished.
For what I want an anvil for, this is perfect! I'm not doing dedicated forge work, just basic metal fab. For me, I just need a good solid surface if I need to bend some 3/8" round stock to do a zig zag, or some flat stock to make mounting brackets, flatten a bent blade etc. Sure beats using my vice!
Thanks for a great video! It is great to see some of the things you should do when buying a new out of the box anvil. I did like the rebound on the one you got.
I've noticed a lot of people are using a German style double horn instead of the usual London pattern these days. It's nice to see. I went German style double horn decades ago and never looked back.
Thanks for the work on the video. Was happily surprised about the new anvil offering from Harbor Freight. Have been looking, unsuccessfully I might add, for a vintage one. After watching your demonstration, and with your recommendation, I'll be heading there in the morning to buy one. And yes, I'll open the box and take a good look at it before I crank my car. You just got yourself a new subscriber.
I want to get started in the smithing as a hobby and to add to my art practice, so this is a great video to learn from. If all goes as planned I'm buying a forge and starting this fall. Definitely followed for sure.
Great video! I see they have in stock near me. Super tempted to grab one but really want one in size of the Vevor 132lb anvil (already have their 66lb) Still if I keep having friends over this looks like a no brainer addition to the shop. 👍 Thanks again for posting this
I don't do black smithing, I'm not going to start black smithing. I did really enjoy your video though. It was interesting and l, as far as I can tell, very professional. Thanks for posting.
Very interesting video. I particularly liked the Rockwell test. The rest was a learning experience. Great video ! And I might add. Excellent very informative delivery.
Awesome job on the review. I'm not a blacksmith, but you made that look easy. I weld, machine fabricate, etc.. so this popped up my feed. I enjoyed it and now I want to try it.
Very nice video this week. Very informative and very helpful video review. Can’t wait to see more videos soon. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Forge On. Fab On. Weld On. Keep Forge lit. Keep Making. God Bless.
Centaur Forge. Great selection for mid to high price range anvils. After hammering away for over a year on a piece of railroad track, i made enough to secure a 70# North Carolina Tool steel ferriers anvil. Just over $500, with shipping, arrived in Ohio 5 days after i ordered it, in pristine shape. Has been an amazing mid range anvil. As an artist, it's met my needs and then some. But for $175, can't go wrong here, for a first anvil. Yes, i still have, and use, my railroad track "anvil".
I appreciate the vid! Im DOD so I move around every 2-4 years and have training and other things that keep me from home so I haven't gotten into the hobby yet because of the space required. I def would be like you described, putting everything in the corner of the garage or on a shelf until I'm ready to use it. This thing would let me dip my feet in without investing thousands of dollars on grinders, sanders, welders, etc that go along with forging. Thanks again!
I was rummaging through an old scrap yard looking for things to resell online and saw the base of what looked like an anvil in the dirt. I dug it out and got the owner to help me lift it. It was an anvil, but the tip of the horn had been broken off. He quoted me a price of $25, but after thinking of how much the freight would be and I was skeptical that I could even sell it, so I passed. I didn't know much about anvils, so when I got home I did some research and that brand was selling used and in poor shape for around $300, not including shipping. I decided to buy it, but when I called the scrap yard the owner said someone saw the anvil and bought it already. I missed out on that sale, just like I missed out on an old Browning splitting axe that I didn't buy. I thought it was a fake, because I didn't know Browning made axes. Turned out it wasn't related to the gun manufacturer, but it was a popular brand in the old days. By the time I got back to buy it, it was already gone as well. Oh well, you win some, you lose some! You can't know everything about everything.
At that time I was struggling just to get by. I had a stroke and was getting zero assistance and couldn't work. So, I was using the little bit of money I had to buy things to sell on Ebay. A $25 dollar buy that took weeks to sell would mean I'd go without a lot of meals. But, I more than made up for those missed buys with some of my other finds. So, it evened out.@@mikeseidner3085
I was thinking just that. I got my old Kohlswa back in around 2006. I was looking at this anvil and thinking about the railroad tie and stuff like that. My Kohlswa has these massive chunks taken out the side. This anvil looks like it can give a good return. To set up in the next hit. This one video probably showed me more on blade smithing than any of my books or videos that I watched. This is a cool channel.
I have two of the old cast harbor freight anvils gifted to me when I was beginning the craft. I can confirm that they leave much to be desired. They got the job done, but once I purchased a farriers anvil at an auction, they were only pulled out for rainy day projects
I saw another video where the reviewer pointed out a number of plug welds in the top surface, and that they were notably softer. Now that's a sample size of one, which he was very up front about, but wondering if you noticed anything like that. Got the Vevor mostly because of your review a while back, and thank you for keeping us informed.
I saw that one too. I was really surprised. Small holes, yes. But these were pretty big, as in 3.8” to what looked to be over 1/2”. That’s wild. My Vevor 132 black model has a perfect face, though there are some fairly minor defects on the bottom edges. The HF model has sharper definition to the feet. Mine are rather uneven. The horn on this is very round and is finished. The horn on mine is really of the European pattern being flatter on top with more sharply rounded sides, and came unfinished. Mine is just below RC 55, by my tests.By the way, I’ve read in several places that the Vevor (Acciaio) anvils are made in Italy, mostly, with one size being made in Bulgaria. So I don’t know what’s true there as I haven’t tried to research it myself. Great review.
I tried to buy one last night and asked if I could look at it before the purchase. It had a plug weld the size of a 50¢ piece and a crack radiating from the hardy hole. I did the same thing today at another harbor freight and it had a few pinholes similar to the ones on the top of the one in this video but looked perfect otherwise. I didn’t want to open every box in the store so I figured good enough and took it home. I pounded the heck out of it when I got home and concentrated hits near the pinholes and it still looks perfect. BTW the price increased by ten bucks today.
Sir, thank you for providing this marvelous review. I concur with your opinion about Harbor Freight's reputation for inferior quality but I have found that some of their products are excellent for the price. I am not into blacksmithing but I am a machinist and do occasionally do need to beat on some flat bar with a hammer to make something. Based on your review, I think I may very well purchase one of these HF anvils in the near future. Keep up the excellent videos. Your metalworking talent is amazing!
Checked out the store, really nice products! Thank you for the video, sometimes I just need an anvil for shaping a piece of metal or making a bracket.....etc. Cheers!
