Warning: That cheap anvil you bought on Amazon will ruin your hammer control

I picked up a $80 cast iron anvil from some random seller 6 months ago and after 50 hours of forging I noticed my hammer strikes were getting sloppy and inconsistent. Turned out the face was way too soft and had developed a low spot right in the sweet spot, throwing off every bevel I tried to set. Has anyone else dealt with a soft anvil face messing up their muscle memory?

3 comments

3 Comments

susanm561mo ago

@seth_harris36 sounds like your buddy and I should start a support group for cheap anvil victims. I swear that soft face made me develop a flinch where I'd brace for impact instead of letting the hammer work, took forever to unlearn that. My hammer control got so bad I couldn't even nail two boards together without wobbly hits, let alone forge a straight line. Selling that thing on Craigslist was the best $20 I ever lost, I practically paid the guy to take it.

keith_rivera1927d agoMost Upvoted

Man that flinch thing is brutal! I picked up a harbor freight special years ago and it did the same thing to me. I'd pull back on every swing thinking I was gonna hit another crater. Took me three months to stop swinging like I was scared of my own hammer. When I finally got a real anvil I had to force myself to just trust the rebound. Wild how a bad tool can mess with your muscle memory that bad.

seth_harris361mo ago

My buddy Dave bought one of those cheap cast iron jobs and within a month the face was so dented he couldn't set a bevel to save his life. He said it felt like hitting a wet sponge and totally ruined his timing for like 2 months after he finally got a proper anvil.