Rant: you don't need a $2000 anvil to start forging, and I'm tired of pretending otherwise

Finley Hernandez · 2026-09-24T11:05:03.872997+00:00

I keep seeing new folks get told they can't do real work until they drop a grand or more on a fancy anvil, and I just don't buy it. Two years back I was helping a buddy set up his first spot in his garage in Toledo, and he almost quit the whole thing because every forum post told him his $80 chunk of railroad track was junk. I watched him strike hot metal on that thing for six months straight, and his bottle openers and hooks came out clean every time. The truth is the anvil is just a hard flat surface, and a lot of beginners burn their whole budget on it instead of on steel and fuel they can actually learn with. What really matters early on is hammer control and heat management, not how shiny your anvil's horn is. I get why the old heads push good tools, but telling a beginner they need top shelf gear before their first fire is backwards. So what did you actually start on, a real anvil or some scrap you made work?

The Design Community Hub

Loading…

Rant: you don't need a $2000 anvil to start forging, and I'm tired of pretending otherwise | Blacksmiths - The Design Community Hub