That cheap anvil I was dead set against turned out fine after 2 years

Alice Allen · 2026-06-30T19:10:04.507448+00:00

I mean, I spent years thinking you had to drop $500 on a forged anvil or nothing. But I picked up a cast steel one from a farm auction near Boise for $80 and it's held up through like 40 projects without any real chipping. Anyone else had a budget tool surprise them?

hannah_west393mo ago

Guess all that internet drama was just hot air after all.

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harperp243mo ago

Oh man, that's the kind of thing that makes me laugh at myself honestly. I spent like a year hunting around for a vintage anvil at garage sales and estate sales and turned my nose up at anything cast because people online said it would crack. Then I found a beat up old Vulcan at a scrap yard for 30 bucks, cleaned it up a bit, and it's been sitting on my bench for three years now without a single issue. The real secret nobody talks about is that the heavy cast ones actually have more mass for the money, which means less vibration when you're hammering. I think a lot of the hate comes from people who never actually used one and just repeat what they read.

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aaron8803mo ago

That part about hate coming from people who never actually used one really hits home lol. I mean I straight up read forum posts trashing cast anvils for years before I ever even touched one. So what's the deal with the Vulcan specifically though, I've heard mixed things about those. You ever notice any weird bounce back on it or is that just another internet myth I bought into?

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