Hot take: I stopped using anvils after that demo at Quad-State

I went to Quad-State last fall and watched a guy do a whole knife just using a block of mild steel he found in a scrap pile. Everyone says you need a proper anvil with a good face and rebound but that demo made me rethink everything. I spent 8 years thinking I needed a $500 anvil to do good work. Now I just use a big chunk of railroad track I got for 20 bucks. It rings different and the rebound is worse but my hammer control got way better because of it. Has anyone else tried ditching the traditional anvil for something weird?

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ruby_sanchez451mo agoMost Upvoted

That thing about hammer control getting better really hit home for me. I actually switched to using a chunk of railroad track about two years ago after I dropped my anvil and cracked it. I was worried at first but my hammer accuracy improved so much because I had to work harder to get good results. People get too hung up on having the perfect anvil when really you just need something heavy and hard. I still use a nicer anvil for finishing work but for rough shaping the track works just fine. That demo guy proved its more about the smith than the tool.