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homemade anvil


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I am making an anvil jt for use with my striking team. I am using A-36 3/4" plate welded together for the body and have some forklift forks that I'm going to cut and drift a hardie hole into for the face. Should I use a hard-faceing rod on the face or try it as is. I'm not sure of the alloy in forks but I've heard it's tough. The anvil will be hornless and wiegh in around 300-350 lbs.

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I am making an anvil jt for use with my striking team. I am using A-36 3/4" plate welded together for the body and have some forklift forks that I'm going to cut and drift a hardie hole into for the face. Should I use a hard-faceing rod on the face or try it as is. I'm not sure of the alloy in forks but I've heard it's tough. The anvil will be hornless and wiegh in around 300-350 lbs.

It's my understanding from reading on here that forklift tine is plenty hard as-is, no need for HF rod. There are a several threads on using tine as an anvil - like this one: http://www.iforgeiro...-forklift-tine/

Just curious - why do you need a hardy hole if you're just using it for your striking team?
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For demo's, we make a hot cut hardie. The hardie hole will be approx 1", the same as my MouseHole. Times are hard right now or I would buy a heavy anvil. I'm using 7018 rods and preheating everything. I'm welding it up like I'm taking a welding test at a nuke plant. The anvil is a long project I've been working on now for several months when on night shift at work. Hopefully to completed after the 1st of the year. Pics will be posted.

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Sounds like a fun project. I'd just be careful about drawing the temper out of the tine. Grant mentioned in that thread I posted that the draw temp is 800-900 - you've got good hard steel there as long as you don't overheat it.

That thread I posted also talks about having the hardy hole milled. When you say you are going to cut and drift the hole, it sounds like (maybe) you're planning on flame cutting and/or punching / drifting at forging temp. If that's your plan then you'll need to re-heat treat if you want the original hardness of that tine back - probably a lot harder to do than having the hole milled.

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I am making an anvil jt for use with my striking team. I am using A-36 3/4" plate welded together for the body and have some forklift forks that I'm going to cut and drift a hardie hole into for the face. Should I use a hard-faceing rod on the face or try it as is. I'm not sure of the alloy in forks but I've heard it's tough. The anvil will be hornless and wiegh in around 300-350 lbs.

I made an anvil a coupla yrs ago using railroad track, 3/4 thick 4 x 14 T-1 steel for the
top of the anvil and 1/4" "AR" plate on top of that. I did cut a horn into it though. It turned out great and rings just like a real anvil...

Gene

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have made a few anvils which use the tine from a fork lift and people seem to like them.
I start with the wear part of a 'mole plough' that I get when worn out at the local scrap yard, this is torpedo shaped and has holes and a slot or two and can be 18" to 24" long ( and is very hard )
in the large central slot I weld in the front leg made from 1" square steel about 8" long and another in the rear slot is there is one, these legs are then welded down to a heavy bit of plate.
next a bit of fork lift tine IIRC it is EN45 spring steel about 8" long is welded on top of the slot with a big fillet.
then I make a socket from box section and other bits to take some stake tools I make.
it has a horn, a flat area, some pegs go in the holes in the side to make a bending tool and though it is light and can be picked up with one hand it is usefull.
next time I have made one I will post a few pix

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  • 1 month later...

sorry about the delay, sold the only one I had recently and had to make more
Image001-4.jpg

picture quality is not good, was a new phone I was trying out.
here are 2 of the skeleton agricultural anvils I make
the main part of it is the wear part of a certain type of plough, the flat slab on top is an 8" length of fork lift tine.
oveall length is about 24 and 21 inches, height about 11" top is 8" by 4" and 2" thick.
though they only weigh about 30lbs on a solid base they are quite usable.

as soon as people see them they normally sell at 50 UK pounds though with the ammount of work and materials I am going to have to increase the price.

and if you are wondering about the odd thing on nthe back it is a socket for stake tools I make out of things like 4" hardened ball bearings

http://uk.ebid.net/perl/main.cgi?words=52487&mo=search&type=user

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I do see a lot of the buyers at events, also some are local and when we have a course running at the workshop that I share with a blacksmith people who have been using them for 2 days want to buy them ( and the solid fuel forges I make ).
we have another 2 courses soon, a beginners forgework ( 15 - 16th jan )and a beginners armouring ( 12 - 13th feb ).

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This looks like a totally functional anvil. I have a few design questions though.

Why the posts to raise the anvil? I think you would be better off just having the main block welded to a plate for mounting. It is easier to manufacture, I suspect it would be quieter, more stable, and less likely to break.

Why is the hardy at an angle? I suspect that is for ease of manufacturing and stability so you are welding on two edges. I think it would be awkward to work with that way though.




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