S7 striking anvil WIP

[Crazy Ivan]

Just got a 2" x6" x16" block of s7 for a striking anvil. It's in its early fetal stages right now, but I'll try and keep photo updates of the fabrication progress. 

[Mark Ling]

are you going to drift the hardy hole?

                                                                                          littleblacksmith

[Crazy Ivan]

Yes, my drill press is not slow enough to drill a 1" hole to drift square so I need to decide how I will get the hole in there. I could either drill a bunch of small holes and burn out the rest, then drift to size or heat the side where my hardy hole will be enough to preheat so that I can burn it out with the torch. Otherwise the preheat will take too long with just the torch. Whichever route I go I'll end up drifting to final size. 

[JHCC]

I'd probably do a bunch of small (1/4" or 5/16") holes and chisel and file the rest, but that's based on the tooling that I've got. Have you thought about hot punching it?

What are you going to use for the base?

[Charles R. Stevens]

Sounds like time to fabricate a jack shaft for your drill press (why do the always hear them for wood?) we how slow you can go. 

5/16 corners, a 1" center and a good "mortesing" chisel. Honestly I think in the long run slowing down the drill press will save you on a lot of projects. 

[Crazy Ivan]

I've thought of hot punching, and drill/chiseling but since it's 2" thick s7 that would be a real PITA. I've got a torch that can handle it, but I don't want to wait 30 minutes for a good pre heat to get a clean cut so I think I'll just bring it up to a good heat in the forge, then burn it with the torch after that. I can hot drift to finished size under the 30 ton press.  

Definitely need to  e able to slow down the drill press more, and luckily the motor we've got on it can handle a rheostat so I'll probably rig that up in the future. Unless of course I find a larger set of pulleys 1st which would be ideal. 

30 minutes ago, JHCC said:

 

What are you going to use for the base?

The base will be thick walled rectangular tube. 3 legs and tap conned to the floor. 

[JHCC]

9 minutes ago, Crazy Ivan said:

I've thought of hot punching, and drill/chiseling but since it's 2" thick s7 that would be a real PITA.

Yeah, but that would be a heck of a YouTube video!

9 minutes ago, Crazy Ivan said:

The base will be thick walled rectangular tube. 3 legs and tap conned to the floor. 

I'm thinking about making a striking anvil base from some of the I-beam left over from my anvil stand project. Not sure what to use for the top, though.

[Crazy Ivan]

19 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Yeah, but that would be a heck of a YouTube video!

I'm thinking about making a striking anvil base from some of the I-beam left over from my anvil stand project. Not sure what to use for the top, though.

That would make for a cool video. I'll just say I left my 16 lb sledge in my other pants so I can't do it that way today lol. 

I did the layout for my hardy holes and pritchel holes so that they will not interfere with the leg placement. The legs will be welded right to the plate for mine. 

[Crazy Ivan]

Okay, I ended up drifting the holes against my better judgement. I was feeling fiesty so I threw the plate in the fire and drifted the 2 holes with the help of JWS and Jason, the cabinet maker whos shop is above ours. Yes JHCC I did manage to get video. 

It looks a bit odd and jumpy for 2 reasons. #1....don't trust a woodworker to control a 65 lb 2000 degree piece of steel (they aren't used to it). 

#2. I hit a bit harder than JWS does so we were fighting each other a bit trying to make sure the drift went in straight. All for all it turned out straight and square so everything worked out well. I'll have the video up in this thread ASAP. 

Having trouble posting the video. I'll try again later

[Latticino]

Cool, looking forward to seeing the video. 

I just finished drilling out a 3.5" thick piece of mild steel for making a striking anvil (of sorts) and have yet to finish same.  I'll be going the drill/chisel/file route most likely, as I wouldn't dare try to push around a 65# chunk of hot steel, much less get a drift stuck in same.  Wish I had S7, or any kind of high carbon steel for that matter, but since I have no practical way to quench and temper such a large hunk of steel I will have to live with mild steel.  Hopefully it will do for the limited number of hardy tools and hammers I plan on making.

[Crazy Ivan]

This might work, just copy and paste the link and take out the space before pressing enter. https:/ /youtu.be/8ZT-M3Qj00k

I'll post pics of the anvil tomorrow once everything is welded together. I have on one end a 3/8", 1/2", and a 5/8" pritchel holes. On the other end I have a 1" and a 1 3/8" hardy holes. The 1" hole is for making and using hardy tools and the 1 3/8" hole is for drifting hammer eyes and such. I have different radii ground on the edges and the whole anvil will be bolted to the floor once finished. I wanted to cut a dovetail into the face for specialized tooling but that wasn't a cheap option this time around. I'm very happy with it so far. 

[Mark Ling]

what's the name of your YouTube channel. the web address didn't work for me. what size of a firepot did you use on your forge (assuming that you use coal)? I am thinking about making a striking anvil out of a forklift tine by drifting the hardy hole, and wasn't sure if my forge would be able to heat up such a large piece of steel. how long about did it take to heat up in the forge?

                                                                                                                   Littleblacksmith

[matto]

Just go to YouTube and search s7 striking anvil or striking anvil and it will be one of the first videos

[Crazy Ivan]

Here is some photos of the completed set up. I need to get out and grab another 30' of chain to deaden the ring a bit but its not too bad as is now. Still, couldn't hurt. I didn't fill the legs with oil and sand so the chain should help a bit. I ground different radii onto the edges to aid in drawing large stock over the edge and there is a 1" and 1 3/8" hardy hole on one end. Also a 1/2", 3/8", and 3/4" pritchel holes. I used tapcons to bolt it to the floor. Hopefully they hold well, if not I'll swap them out with some 3/8" red heads.  

[JHCC]

SWEET!!!

For those looking for the video, try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZT-M3Qj00k

[Crazy Ivan]

13 hours ago, littleblacksmith said:

what's the name of your YouTube channel. the web address didn't work for me. what size of a firepot did you use on your forge (assuming that you use coal)? I am thinking about making a striking anvil out of a forklift tine by drifting the hardy hole, and wasn't sure if my forge would be able to heat up such a large piece of steel. how long about did it take to heat up in the forge?

                                                                                                                   Littleblacksmith

Matto has the easy way to find the video. I don't know the name of the YouTube channel since I'm tech stupid and don't know how to edit/make video. I just have things on JWS youtube channel when he takes video of things. 

My firepot is a brake rotor from a truck. 3.5" deep and about 6" in diameter. 2" tuyere coming in and the large forge table I built around it. I had no trouble getting it up to a good heat and this is a fair bit larger than a forklift tine so most coal setups shouldn't have much trouble I wouldn't think. The initial heat took about 40 minutes to an hour since S7 likes to come up to heat SLOWLY or else you will have problems due to its alloy. After that it was about 10 minutes-20 minutes to bring it back to heat. 

5 minutes ago, JHCC said:

SWEET!!!

For those looking for the video, try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZT-M3Qj00k

Thanks. I couldn't get the darn thing to post the other day. 

[JHCC]

1 minute ago, Crazy Ivan said:

I don't know the name of the YouTube channel since I'm tech stupid and don't know how to edit/make video. I just have things on JWS youtube channel when he takes video of things. 

The main page for JWS's YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDWpCM-nrNSLsPZq_jTtrMQ; the page of his videos is https://www.youtube.com/user/jwstek/videos.

3 minutes ago, Crazy Ivan said:

Thanks. I couldn't get the darn thing to post the other day. 

No problem!

[Daswulf]

Turned out great Pete. thats a very versatile striking anvil. 

[Judson Yaggy]

Good work Pete.

What did you use to stick the legs to the s7?  I've had a devil of a time getting the usual suspects to hold up in the long run under impact for s7 to a36.

[Crazy Ivan]

36 minutes ago, Judson Yaggy said:

Good work Pete.

What did you use to stick the legs to the s7?  I've had a devil of a time getting the usual suspects to hold up in the long run under impact for s7 to a36.

Preheat 400*, weld, peen, post heat slow cool. It was cool to the touch after about 1.5-2 hours.  I would have ideally silver brazed it but since that's more expensive I figured I'd try this method first. If a weld breaks I'll spend the money on the silver. 

Used it today and made an ugly radius block. It works like a dream. Only problem so far is that the tapcon anchors don't cut it. They do keep it from walking but it does jump a bit. I'll have to replace them with some 3/8" red heads in the near future. Here's that radius block. It's ugly, I know haha 

[Judson Yaggy]

If it's jumping it's too light!  (grin)

Agree with the welding technique but let us know what rod and how it holds up in the long run.

[Crazy Ivan]

8 minutes ago, Judson Yaggy said:

If it's jumping it's too light!  (grin)

Agree with the welding technique but let us know what rod and how it holds up in the long run.

I agree! Or maybe I just hit like Thor .

I still plan on wrapping the legs with at least 30' of heavy chain which will help with its top heaviness and the ringing. 

I used plain old er70s FCAW .035 as hot as she burns. Took it slow and built up a 5/16" fillet focousing heat on the S7. I'll be sure to let everyone knows if my welds fail. Here's hoping they hold up! 

If not I'll try either nickel or silver. 

[Buzzkill]

My curiosity is getting the best of me.  Why didn't you put all the holes to the inside of the legs?  It would seem that stability would be better that way. Is it a preference, a practical matter of getting the heat where you wanted it, anticipating odd shaped pieces that wouldn't work in the middle, or something else?

[Crazy Ivan]

3 hours ago, Buzzkill said:

My curiosity is getting the best of me.  Why didn't you put all the holes to the inside of the legs?  It would seem that stability would be better that way. Is it a preference, a practical matter of getting the heat where you wanted it, anticipating odd shaped pieces that wouldn't work in the middle, or something else?

All of the above in fact. On an anvil, I use every feature as a tool. Some people don't pay much mind to the fact that every anvil has built in angles, measurement's, radii, and acess for tricky spots. I like to study and memerize these to use to my advantage. I chose these locations with minimal, but still some, thought as to where it would be easiest to heat. Next I thought about what each hole would frequently get used for. Both hardy holes are spaced from the edges of the anvil so that I have a guide when upsetting flatters for when to stop forging/squareness to the shank. Same goes for hardy tools. The pritchel holes are spaced close to the edge so that when punching near isolated material, I do not need to worry about which side I start my punch/back punch from. Think tongs for example.  If you start your punch with the jaw facing upwards, you may not be able to clear the plug when you back punch because the jaw would get in your way from that side. This way I can drift from either/both sides to finish my hole over the pritchel. The radio are located over the center and leg of the anvil because that's where the heaviest forging will take place (aside from heavy upset applications). For upsetting ove the hardy, the legs are as close as possible to the Hardy's to transfer the shock to the floor. If they were located inside the legs, the hardy corners may act as a stress point for when I am doing heavy work over the center mass of the anvil. Also, keeping them outside means I can use a roubo style holdfast in the hardy and still have plenty of face in the center to work the held piece from. I'm not worried about stability in the least bit since I had planned on bolting the anvil to the floor anyways. 

[JHCC]

4 minutes ago, Crazy Ivan said:

All of the above in fact. On an anvil, I use every feature as a tool. Some people don't pay much mind to the fact that every anvil has built in angles, measurement's, radii, and acess for tricky spots. I like to study and memerize these to use to my advantage. I chose these locations with minimal, but still some, thought as to where it would be easiest to heat. Next I thought about what each hole would frequently get used for. Both hardy holes are spaced from the edges of the anvil so that I have a guide when upsetting flatters for when to stop forging/squareness to the shank. Same goes for hardy tools. The pritchel holes are spaced close to the edge so that when punching near isolated material, I do not need to worry about which side I start my punch/back punch from. Think tongs for example.  If you start your punch with the jaw facing upwards, you may not be able to clear the plug when you back punch because the jaw would get in your way from that side. This way I can drift from either/both sides to finish my hole over the pritchel. The radio are located over the center and leg of the anvil because that's where the heaviest forging will take place (aside from heavy upset applications). For upsetting ove the hardy, the legs are as close as possible to the Hardy's to transfer the shock to the floor. If they were located inside the legs, the hardy corners may act as a stress point for when I am doing heavy work over the center mass of the anvil. Also, keeping them outside means I can use a roubo style holdfast in the hardy and still have plenty of face in the center to work the held piece from. I'm not worried about stability in the least bit since I had planned on bolting the anvil to the floor anyways. 

Very interesting. Thanks for spelling out your thought process for us. 

(By the way, I think you meant "memorize". I tried mesmerizing my own anvil once, and it didn't turn out well.)