Just realized my $18 garage sale anvil is way better than the new one I bought

Last month I found this beat up anvil at a garage sale outside Columbus. Paid 18 bucks for it because the face looked rough and the horn had a chip. I figured I'd use it for small stuff. Meanwhile I had a new anvil sitting in my shop that I forked over $300 for. After using both for a few weeks, the old one rings better and the rebound is noticeably stronger. The new one sounds dead no matter how I set it up. I think the old one is just higher quality steel from back in the day. Has anyone else found that old tools beat new ones in the same price range, or is it just luck of the draw?

1 comments

1 Comment

vera6423d ago

Old tools really do have something special in them. I picked up a beat up bench vise at an estate sale years ago for next to nothing, and it still holds better than the brand new one my husband bought for the shop. The new one has all these fancy features but the metal just feels softer somehow. You can tell the old stuff was forged with more care, not just stamped out on a line somewhere. Sounds like you got a lucky find, and sometimes the cheap gamble pays off way better than the expensive sure thing.