Can you forge weld on a faceplate to the harbor freight anvil? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qbKqpJuIuM6uiIE.html This is the latest video in this series... You don't want to miss it!

The HF anvil you have in the garage for a weekend project is 1000x better than the 80 year old, stable aged, custom ground and hardened anvil you don't have.

I'm watching a video about an anvil, and I'm not really sure why.

My grandpa used a 1.5 ft. long piece of railroad track as his anvil on his farm. It worked great for all our farm repairs.

As a former Harbor Freight store employee, I can tell you that the reason for the atrocious condition of the packaging is due to the stores receiving a majority of their product loose packed on the delivery truck. In the three years I worked there, we had to unload every single anvil by hand because they never put them on pallets. Whoever loaded the trucks apparently had no common sense because they regularly had heavy items like the anvils on top of lighter or crushable items (this was even a problem with the pallets we received). We would never stand directly behind the trailer when opening the doors because of how often things would fall out. And not little things either! I'm talking hand trucks, jacks, large power tools, you name it, somebody probably got hit by one. There were at least two hospital visits in my time there from people being struck by falling items when opening up the truck on delivery day.

I used one to take up in a hot air balloon and drop it on a roadrunner. Unfortunately, when I dropped it, it hit a power line and bounced up and popped my balloon and then I crashed to the ground and the anvil landed on my head. I walked away but was 3 feet tall and looked like an accordion afterwards as I left the area. It wasn't a Harbor Freight anvil, it was made by Acme.

Not everyone who needs an anvil is a farrier or blacksmith. Occasionally, every gearhead or tinkerer needs to whack on something and has resorted to the concrete floor, flat rock,or if lucky, a piece of railroad track. Even the crappiest anvil is a step up. ASO's have their place!

Me walking into Harbor Freight "I'm just getting a new flashlight" Me walking out "How did I end up with a $300 bill?"

I clicked on this thinking "Its a giant chunk of iron, whats to mess up?" I have learned.

I have a HF anvil as my starter, it fit my pocketbook and it will help me learn the technique needed to blacksmith. I don't knock it when I was watching forged in fire and one of the finalists was using one to make his weapon for the final challenge. I saw one who needed a larger quench tank and used an old satellite and even more with HF tools like grinders and drill presses. The bottom line is, use what you can afford until you can upgrade.

I dont see an issue with em. I dont believe any of the bodies floated back up, but ill certainly check. Ty

My first anvil was a 55lb steel anvil from harbor freight. It was made in India. I used it for 10 years. A friend has it and it is still in use. It is now 25 years old. It's a great anvil.

I do silversmithing (self-taught in a lot of ways) and while eventually I want to upgrade a fair amount of stuff, HF is good for getting started. Harbor Freight: 25% is DOA, 50% will let you decide if you want to upgrade, 25% will still be working when the executor of your will drops them in the "Free" box at your estate sale.

Definitely NOT a waste of time. I started out on a little Vulcan with a broken heel. Used a stump with a steel plate bolted on top for my hardy tools. This anvil would have been an improvement but HF hadn't been invented yet. I still use the tools I made with that setup even though I now use a 325 pound anvil I made myself. Take what you have and make what you need. Good vid, keep 'em coming.

I bought one of these cast iron 55 LB anvils almost 40 years ago when I first began to do my own horseshoeing and to this very day it is still as useful as the day I bought it. Over these many years I have used the anvil to cold forge keg shoes to the shape of horses' feet and to straighten out bent shoes for myself and friends. It is light enough to put in my horse trailer for those distant rides where a lost or bent shoe would otherwise mean a long trip for nothing and great disappointment. I have no idea how many shoes I have fitted over the years or how many repair jobs I've done for my own and friends' horses or how many, many thousands of dollars I have saved, all with the help of my 'cheap' anvil. One of these days I'm going to have to give up doing my own shoeing, but perhaps my anvil will serve another amateur horseshoer for another 40 years.

As a former employee of the big store, I can absolutely say, at the store I was at, we absolutely hated when an anvil came in. They have no additional packaging to soften the blow of getting tossed around. That orange label you see on it is from the truck. They are not in a bit pallet or crate. A typical truck was 53 foot standard box truck, the first layer or two (from the doors) was on pallets. That’s usually tool boxes, the big generator, some store supplies, the rest of the truck, is floor to roof, wall to wall hand stacked by people much better at Tetris than I am. The orange label is a dead sign it came right off the truck. Everything in the truck gets beat up and thrown around. We were not gentle in the slightest as we had about 1.5 hours to unload after the pallets were off. About 1000 pieces. If you see an orange sticker on a beat up box, it’s a dead sign that’s exactly how it was packed on the truck. Very rarely but sometimes, they came in the gayloard that was on a pallet so they arnt too beat up. Never buy anything that couldn’t survive a good drop (calipers, micrometers, indicators, some light bulbs) as they probably have been tossed around already. I was only on the store side of the truck, I can’t imagine how the warehouse side is. Was not worth the 9.75 an hour I got paid to do it. If anyone wants to know anything else about how we ran the store between 2 and 5 years ago let me know.

This is a fantastic anvil for beginners. Starting out, mishits are inevitable. This is an anvil that will dent, but is unlikely to crack (unless maybe you hit it really hard right on the heel next to the hardy hole) and it DEFINITELY won't crack or shatter your hammer. That's the most important: It's safer.

I feel I’m the only one who liked his HF anvil. It had its quirks, but it served me well. I gifted mine awhile ago and now it serves a family with 3 boys and their father interested in the craft.

They work perfect for hanging out near tunnels and dropping them on roadrunners.

I appreciate the fact you did this video. My closest experience to smithing was when I worked at a spring factory as a heat treat and heat set employee backnin '76. I went to Harbor Freight for the first time 3 days ago to get a swivel vice,and saw the anvils. Im STILL going to buy one,since I dont plan on making a living with it.Just need a good heavy steel item to work on ,lets say,my lawn mower deck,to form a replacement skirt for the one rusted out..simple home repair and fabricating projects. I subscribed to your channel now,because I believe Ill get to appreciate using an anvil over looking around the property for a 4x4 or brick to bend a piece of metal to a 90°. Then,Ill go deeper into it and maybe one day,get a more precise anvil and learn more about smithing for home projects. Seems EVERYTHING I find I have an interest in,I jump in with both feet. It was good to find your channel.

I was totally expecting to see some hammering on the anvil.

Snapping off the mounting holes on these avils is NOT a negative. It's a built-in FEATURE that gives the novice blacksmith the opportunity to practice his cast-iron welding skills!

I welded a ½" AR500 plate to the top of my HFT anvil. I beveled the anvil edges first with an angle grinder. Then, heated the anvil up with a big roofers propane torch to 350F. Then welded the AR500 to anvil with 7018 rod, with multiple passed. I peened each pass to stress relief the cast iron and kept the anvil as hot as I could with roofer torch. Then I covered the anvil with old blankets to slow down the cool off process. Its been 4 yrs and the plate is still firmly attached w/o weld cracks.

"I'm doing a whole series on anvils this year." Me: Clicks subscribe

I’m a big believer in using the cheapest tools when starting out. Never, ever go into debt when starting out a new hobby of craft. Once you have the income to move up to better quality tools then do so. You will thank yourself later. Thanks for the great video! Jay

Mine works perfect, just wrap a chain around base. And when you want to move to another fishing spot just pull it up by the attached chain

I used one for my first year of forging.. It was cheap, and easy to acquire. And perfect for the aspiring smith that may not be sure they want to go full send on blacksmithing!

This guy's got a tree trunk supporting his basement. He didn't bother to mill it or anything. Quite unique!

I have one of these anvils and use it regularly. I chose it because it was the best and the heaviest I could get for the money I had available at the time. Decent, old, hard steel anvils are going for stupidly high prices here in the UK at the moment because wealthy, trendy people like to use them as garden ornaments and let them go rusty in the rain. So for a beginner Smith like me, this was all I could afford. That being said, I have used it so far to forge several knives, a couple of pairs of tongs, bottle openers, barbecue forks and other stuff. It's got a few dings in the edges but the surface has held up well and it does the job!

Better than having someone trying to straighten stuff on your good vice. Trust me it happens at work.

Dammit. I never knew I wanted an anvil, until now.

Thanks. Appreciate your candid views. Helps some beginner get a start.

Totally off topic, but I love the old cow barn. Growing up, it was my job to shovel manure out of the gutter every morning before school. One of my brothers had the same chore after school. Feeding hay and grain, watering, spreading straw bedding--the best time of my entire life. I miss all of it.

My dad would say this is the food equivalent of “it’ll make a turd”. It’s not great. But it works

I've made knives on mine and other forgings. Straightened out mower blades and tons of other stuff. It is exactly what I need in my shop. Anybody who doesn't like the anvil can go buy a $500+ anvil and feel better about themselves.

As an auto mechanic, I can say that these little HF anvils do pretty good as a hard striking surface on which to perform automotive and mechanical duties. With that said, however, they are quite soft and a really terrible choice for accomplished and proficient blacksmiths. The only saving grace for these, in my opinion, is that as a novice blacksmith, you won't have to worry about destroying an expensive antique anvil as you progress in your knowledge of forging and metallurgy.

Great video, thanks! As a machinist, and wanna be smith, I have never seen or heard of the hardness tester that you have. Just as an aside, the first machine shop that I worked at decided to close up, I was the first of the crew to find another job and say farewell. The company permitted us to buy any equipment or fixtures as everything was being liquidated. I bought the shop anvil! I talked the boss down to 10 bucks! It has to be easily near 100 lbs. I’ve used it a few times over the past years, I’ve built a small forge, but now as I get close to retirement age, I’d like to actually learn how to use it all.

I guess this raises the question of what could possibly be worse than a Harbor Freight anvil? No anvil. I've been working on one for 2 years now and I love the fact that I can move metal with it. Granted, some of the metal that is moving IS the anvil but that goes without saying.

I’m using one of those right now...been banging on it for about six months now. Do I love it? No. Does it work to make knives, serving forks, hatchets, tools? Yes. If you don’t have a real anvil and you don’t have much money, but you have the urge to smash some hot steel, this is the anvil for you.

keep it up, this series is seriously needed as the info between the options and why you would choose one over another is sorely lacking.

Mine worked great when I hot glued it to the side of my car

"Ductile iron" is different from gray cast iron. Gray cast iron (HF anvil) has graphite in planes, so it can shatter. Ductile iron is a cast iron which uses manganese in the casting process to force the graphite to nodularize instead of form planes. This allows the ductile cast object to be tougher and even get some usable heat treat. There are some really good farrier anvils and swage blocks that are ductile cast iron.

Another great video Roy thanks for even testing the "bane of existence" anvil. Thanks for showing your old throwbacks 👍👍👍

"Most of you guys are not taking this serious anyhow, on buying this anvil." Me: 🥺

Great info!! I'm just starting to look into doing some hobby blacksmithing or 'weekend' blacksmithing. This Anvil just might be the ticket to get me started! Thank you for this video!!

Anyone who disses this anvil misses the point of why most buy them, this anvil is not for the Smith doing production work, or heavy forging, it's good for light work and for those who can't commit to the large price tags of more reputable brands, still have my HF anvil, I've since upgraded, but still use mine for the occasional odd job

I love the commenters dissing the thing, claiming anything less than a forged titanium ally steel is useless. One of my favorites is they guy saying how his HF anvil works great as a boat anchor. I'm sure he used his $15.000 rotary screw air compressor to air up his trailer tires before he went fishing - just like most gonna drop hundreds of dollars on an anvil to beat on some rusty ass truck parts or straighten out some part off a mower. Yep, talk it up, fellows...

Thank you for taking the time to make these, god bless.

I am new to your channel and i do not know anything about blacksmithing but always was fascinated about that skil. so i enjoyed this video and learned some things.

There are a lot of new Smiths out there who have just Started. I know every time I watch one of your videos I learn something. Now I need to go look up Rockwell. Thank you for all you do

The Harbor Freight shop heater must really suck, too... 😂

I am just now getting into blacksmithing and I bought this anvil. Still collecting all the tools to even start banging metal. I am as new as they get and have never done this before in my life. Sounds like this anvil will, at least, get me into the game. Can't wait to try it out.

I don't know why I got this suggested, but I gave it a shot! Must've been cartoon nostalgia.

Some of us need a light duty 'something' to do light work on, working sheet metal edges, small items. A cheap iron "thing" works just fine for these needs. For serious steel smithing, ABSOLUTELY spend for a proper tool. For the small home shop just fixing stuff and doing light hammering, these are an affordable ASO ( Anvil Shaped Object) that works just fine. It's better than messing up a nice vise.

Roy's having WAY too much fun here.....lol! Good job Roy!

I didn't know an anvil could suck but here we go, I'm interested

I actually bought one of those Harbor Freight anvils specifically because I heard that they were soft. I don't forge yet but I do cold-form lots of metal and I don't have to worry about marring my work on the anvil. Some Harbor Freight tools are actually pretty decent.

I am 72 years old my name is Roy and I'm trying to get into this a little bit I really enjoy watching your videos

My dad used to tell me I could tear up an anvil, HF would've made that so much easier

I have no knowledge of what makes a good anvil. I guess I was lucky to always have access to very old good quality anvils in the past. Now I want an anvil for my projects and all I see is junk. This video will increase my anvil knowledge so I am enjoying the tips and information. Thanks for the help.

Absolutely agree with your last statement. I’m only a once in a while blacksmith guy and for the price point it works great! Many successful forged knives have come from my HF anvil.

My first "anvil" was just a 10 lb sledge strapped down to a stump. After that, I bought the 13lb harbor freight anvil, and that was a step up. Even though it was tiny and soft, It was something I could use to learn on, and it cost almost nothing. I used it to practice on for about 6 months while I saved up to but an NC round horn.

After reading through nearly a hundred comments and watching the whole video, I've decided to buy one of these..

Thanks for a timely review. I am planning on starting knife making and the cost of tools is scary. You did not waste my time. If I only remember your advice to keep the steel very hot, this video was worth my time. Beyond that you made my time frame for stating knife making much shorter by letting me know that ass the anvil snobs are over critical.

Nice video Roy, looking at setting a mate up on the cheap when I visit so was a great watch

I have a little 20lb? .. HF anvil that i use for hobby work .. aluminum, brass, copper .. works great for what I use it for

I got one for my father he used it to straighten and round up different things . It looks like new still . It's in the way that you use it

Throws box on floor, cat shows up. Cat in box now.

You made a great point. I'm teaching myself leather crafting with the aid of videos and didn't begin with money or tools. I made everything I needed just to get started and steadily bought the correct tools as I sold my products. Just get started if you have the desire, regardless the quality of the tools.

I just went and bought a medium hard thick steel plate that was fairly thick. So, it had mass (100 lbs) and didn't dent like the soft steel. It works perfect for ferrous metal, and it was $20. It DOESN'T have to be an anvil shape in order for it to be used as an anvil. Save your money.

I have the 15lb harbor freight anvil, I've been using it for 9 months, its dented like crazy, has no horn, but allows me to make basic tools and knives. Not having a horn is annoying to say the least. (It has the stump of a horn, which is still useful for drawing things out, but not having a full horn is kind of weird.)

Interesting “Fair” review of a piece of equipment. All of the strengths and weaknesses of the anvil were pointed out along with suggestions for increasing its durability. I agree, not everyone can afford the primo tools when starting out. Thank you for sharing your review. I do have questions on hardness. How much hardness is desirable and at what point high and low should we be concerned? Thank you.

my grandpa had a workshop JUST like yours with actually about 10 times as many tools but the setting in the basement was exactly the same i literally had flashbacks when watching this haha

Harbor freight: we need a solid chunk of iron to beat metal against Chinese factory owner to his staff: how do we make this simple product as disappointing as our more complex products.

soft anvil, solid sense of humor Roy...lol...great stuff! I started with an old piece of ship anchor and still shape some on it...its hard!...You're doin' a great service Roy! It's a great start especially if you lay a piede of steel on top and weld it to it...cut yer holes in the steel first. Many Blessings, Kev

Great video! I see you attracted many uncouth individuals who seem to require close-up visual aids to comprehend hardness tests on CAST IRON. They can't comprehend how a stainless steel ball can dent cast iron-which-they need to avoid metallurgy in any form. I was thinking of getting this for my wife as a gift. She only works with precious metals and mentioned wanting to try larger pieces but the other anvil is small. I'm glad to see they've improved quality over time. Thank you for your review.

I bought an anvil from Harbor Freight about 30 years ago and it was made of hard, ductile iron. I did a lot of pounding on it and the machined surface never showed any dents. The base doesn't have mounting holes like the anvil in the video.

Those anvils are like mopeds, and ...never mind..they're like mopeds.." Alot of fun til your friends see yah" ?

I agree with pretty much everything you said! I've had one of these and used it for about 10 years. I've re-finished the face once, and the horn once, to re-shape it a bit and remove all that paint (that is a really weird-shaped horn!). The part I don't agree is the mounting spots on the feet, mine is bolted down hard and still in one piece. Maybe I got lucky; I will admit however that I don't do heavy blacksmithing with it so it probably doesn't suffer the same amount of abuse someone beating on a hunk of steel would give it. On the subject of anvils, yes, there are better anvils out there, but let's not forget that for the vast majority of the time mankind has been forging things, the 'anvil' was whatever surface was sturdy enough to take a beating. Nobody should ever be shamed because of the anvil they use! 👍

Thank you. I have a small anvil to straighten door hinge pins, hasps, hinges, etc. It has worked for twenty plus years. It is not HF, but it still works fine.

For light duty tinkering that is perfect. Small projects, seems perfect. Thank you for reviewing this. For the hobbies I do, this is perfect.

I’ve forged several knives on a harbor freight anvil and yeah it’s not optimal but If it’s all you got and you really wanna get started forging it will work out fine to get started.

I used a HF for a year and a half and after I picked up my mousehole, I just can't bear to use the HF anymore.

I was literally just About to buy this in a couple days. Glad I saw this

I bought an anvil from Harbor Freight 23 years ago. It is a cast steel anvil. I paid back then 99 dollars. Weights about 100 lbs. I used it occasionally. No ware at all. Never used hot iron on it. Always working on cold iron material. Pounding on it, as hard as I could. Very pleased. After I bought my anvil, I noticed, that this anvil was not available any more.

Love the shop👍🏻🤠. Lots of room in there

Hard to see how you could get an anvil wrong Or why I'm watching a video about an anvil But I'm intrigued

Good info. Thanks. Not exactly sure how I made it here but I enjoyed your video.

Thank you for the most honest and helpful review of this product I have ever seen if I can get my back to corporate with me enough to where I can be useful again I will be starting my own blacksmith journey

I've had mine for awhile now and forged quite a bit on it. If someone is breaking it in half or complaining about it it's most likely operator error :)

Had mine for very long time it serves its purpose just fine.

You keep saying you're "wasting our time," but you're totally not. I appreciated every minute.

I bought one of these and since I’m not a metal forger it works well for my needs. I also use it as a clamp for box glue ups. Glad I have it.

Always wondered if you could Surface harden the face with welding rods on anvils like this, and have it be a bit more workable.

i have one of these due to the fact the History channel has made everyone with a 100lb anvil think it is worth 500 bucks or better.

I’m watching an anvil video late night, I’m not worried about my time being wasted.

Thanks, really appreciate hearing your thoughts on the H.F. anvil. I bought the 66 pound model, but see the place for one of these having used a piece of railroad track when I got started.

5 mins in and he finally decides to take it out of the box, oooh, the supense

Roy, I would love to see a comparison between the tfs 100# double horn and the 110# kanca double horn.

My first anvil was a bearing, from a rolling mill, found in a railyard, took me a couple hours, to carry the sixty odd pounds, a couple miles, home, to reside in the "coal room", my shop. It was hard as you expect a bearing to be, and is probably still working, somewhere in Chicago. I've got a "railtrack anvil" I made with a hacksaw and file, thirty five years ago, and I have a 1917 Fisher 150 lb anvil, I use on occasion, doesn't get better. I've looked at those, but never resorted, found the Fisher before spending on the blue one. Semper Fidelis