still can't craft an anvil on minecraft - what am i missing?

one more thing so you don't waste the iron twice: it falls like sand. put it on something solid, and don't mine out the block underneath while you're standing below it. and once it goes chipped or damaged there's no repairing it, you just craft another.

three iron blocks across the top, one ingot under the middle, three ingots along the bottom. 31 iron all in, which is usually the real reason it won't craft. they also chip with use and break eventually, so don't spend every last ingot on the first one.