Stands for Anvils, Swage Blocks, etc

The storm earlier this year on the south west is not that bad few logs are the result Two logs to the anvil of a friend and a block for my old lady (1913 ) Pascal

I am trying to get back into Blacksmithing after more than 20 years. I have aquired, among other things, an anvil that looks like it says Peter Wright on it and is stamped with 1 1 5, which I translate to 140 lbs. I'm looking for a way to mount it. I can't afford to dedicate space to a smithy, so it will have to share space with everything else in my garage. While it doesn't have to be on wheels, I do need to be able to drag it around. I will be cutting down an elm tree soon so I could mount in on a chunk of that. I am concerned about it being top heavy. I don't have a welder to build a metal stand.

I've been working on getting some tools and a forge together for, well, too long now. Trying to get a respectable spot in the shop set up for doing some work. Ended up buying a new anvil because the search for a used one was taking too much time... I was thinking about welding up a rectangular box with a bottom and tamping full of sand, placing a piece of plate directly on the sand with the base of the anvil slightly below the tops of the box walls. Has anyone used this method before, does it sound like "a worker"? Any better suggestions? BTW--I am on a concrete floor, so it is with difficulty that I bury the end of anything in my workspace... henerythe8th

OK, so it's not original and I got the idea from these forums but it works great! I used 2" x 8" planks from an old disassembled pool deck ( 2" x 12" would be better but that's all I had ). It's not 100% complete, I still have to make the crescent shaped hold downs to keep it from moving but it is rock solid. Anyone with a light or mid weight anvil that doesn't have a stand should try this design. You won't be disappointed. ;)

how would i make an anvil stand im thinking maby just a big block of wood would work? i dont relly know much about them or what hight they should be or how big or if they need to be light or heavy. can someone help me out and maby post a few pics of their stands?

Here's my new traveling anvil and stand. I'll have to make new hardies for its 7/8" hole, and I'll make some hooks to hang more tools. The anvil is mounted like a post vice is mounted with wedges that I forged.

How do I go about leveling a steel anvil stand. I am nearing the final stages of construction on my 3 legged anvil stand. The last thing to weld on is the feet, but they have to be welded on precisely so the table top of the stand is dead level. Suggestions? The floor in my shop is way far from level and so is my welding table. The only thing I could think of is getting some really thick plywood and trying to set that down somewhere and shim it so it's more or less level. This way i'm working with a level surface and then I can weld the feet by using a level ontop of the table surface, and also by measuring from the ply wood to the top of the stand in several places.…

I have a newly acquired 253 pound Trenton anvil that I am very anxious to get set up and working. I need to get it on some sort of stand. I have some old I-beam out back that is kinda short pieces but plenty long for an anvil stand. This beam is 8 inches tall and about 3 1/2 inches wide with approximately 1/4 inch thick stock. Would this make a good anvil stand seeing that it is free except for the gas to cut it. I have used stumps in the past but this would take a big one and I am wondering if the I-beam material might add to the effective mass of my whole set-up whereas wood might just soak up any hammer forces that reach it rather than rebounding them back into my…

So i'm soon to be welding up my anvil legs on my anvil stand and was thinking of what may be a really good idea. The legs are 5" x 3" x 0.25" Steel rectangular Tubing and ~17" long. Each leg has 255 square inches inside it and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to fill them with sand? I was thinking of either making a metal plug at the top of each leg so I can fill them, or simply just weld the sand in. I would think that would take any ring out the stand, or an ring the anvil itself is trying to transfer to the stand. Is this a good idea? Or is there something wrong with this?

Just yesterday I acquired a new (to me) 111 pound anvil in the classic London style. I am wanting to make this my shop anvil, and I would like to build a stand for it. Although it will be my shop anvil, I prefer that it be light enough that I could take it out to a hammer-in. I am fairly new to smithin, and am looking for ideas to incorporate into the stand. The temptation is to try and put too much into it, such as a hammer rack, or a box for hardies, and eventually the idea of a lighter stand gets defeated. I could just go with a bare-bones stand,or possibly a "modular" design with features that could be removed during transport, but I decided that some of the more expe…

Making (slow but steady) progress on getting set-up for blacksmithing. Need to figure-out how to shim the anvil base. Heard lead wheel weights under the corners suggested. Thoughts?

I finally managed to get what I always wanted as an anvil stand, and spent a couple of hours this weekend trimming it up with a router: Nice piece of English Oak. Feels very stable and the Anvil rings nicely!

Iam looking at making an anvil stand any ideas would be appreciated thank you Alex

Thought I would pass along a few things I have learned the hard way, well a buddy did, and I changed my stands to steel. What happened was he was working a normal day, with the anvil on a big stump, They shut down for the day. When they opened up next morning the anvil was on the floor. What had happened was a chunk of hot steel fell on the stump and later caught fire. Fortunatly it was a block building and nothing else caught fire. after that I changed out to steel. I use a big "I" beam for this stand with a flat 1" thick top. My smaller one i made a angle iron stand. Just be carefull if you use wood!!

Today quentin and I took some time, bought some angle iron, and decided to make an anvil stand like the one Hofi uses. Not quite done yet, have to finished welding the U pieces on the side by the anvil, and weld U brackets to keep the hardie tools in place. Stand is lightweight but incredibly strong, stand is probably 50lb, with 124lb wilkinson. Still have to grind and wire brush and then paint it black, same thing with anvil as well. Also need to add a tong/hammer rack along the side. The wood stand is what I used to have. I really like this design because you can get up close and personal with the anvil, or what you're working on. I still need to finish the point on t…

I built this yesterday from material I picked up at the local recycler. I have about $5 in it. I used 4x4 salt treated feet. I used a bolt under the horn at the base to secure the anvil in the frame. It deadens the ring from my anvil but it works very well. I could'nt find a stump so I built this instead.

Finally got around to making a proper stand for my Hay Budden anvil. About a year ago, a friend gave me a very large piece of oak log for an anvil stand. It was almost 34" diameter on the small end. Not having a chain saw large enough to square the beast, it became a drive way ornament. This week I was told to, use it or move it, by "she who must be obeyed". With the aid of two steel wedges and a couple of home made wooden ones, I finally got it to about 14"x16" on the small end. It is about 12" in the ground and really makes for a sound base. Here are the before and after pics.

This is what the new Forging station at the Ag Museum looks like now. And this is the new Adjustable Height Anvil Stand, there are 3 pieces of 2 by 10 and 4 pieces of 3/4 plywood for inserts for a total of 7 inches of height adjustment. And this is the cleaned up and anchored to the floor large post vise for the station.

I got rid of my flimsy, too high stand and found a good stump. I used the former stand for my forge. Things are much more comfortable now. Also pictures is Harley, My shop dog/ helper.

As so many have shared their ideas (thanks!) for an Anvil Stand I thought maybe I should show my effort. In order not to upset the neighbours too much I had decided on something made from wood rather than risk a steel stand that might be a little noisy? I had hoped to just use a lump of tree trunk but haven't been able to find anything, next up was to use some large lumps of scrap timber but again nothing to be had locally. You can bet various items will crop up now I have a stand I ended up buying the timber at a garden centre ("garden sleeper") at more than I wanted to spend - free is nice if you can get it! Pictures show construction, simply bolted together with thre…

I really like the idea of the truncated pyramid with sand for damping. I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around this--?? When you are building this style do you cut a compound bevel on the verticals that also slant inward as they go UP? I was thinking about getting a long 2 x 16 and making a strong base that could use double-locking casters and making the same material be the verticals. Thanks for any help. BTW- picked up my 100 pound Vulcan today. There is one edge chip on the off side( I have the horn to my left so this chip is at the heel and closest to me). Otherwise, edges as crisp as can be. No flaws anywhere else. Not beat up. I will have to open up the …

I had to go to Harbor Freight yesterday. Picked up their on sale mig cart for my propane rectangular forge. It is a great practical set-up. The 20 gal. tank rides in back and clears the wheels. I set the top shelf level to keep the rear opening from somewhat aiming the DB at the tank. Then a double layer 3000* blanket is under the forge and draped nicely over the LP tank. The tank and fittings dont even get warm to touch. The bigger question. HF had their hydraulic jack 500 pound lift cart on sale for $99.99. Can't link- it is the yellow one) I grabbed one[ part # 94822-OVGA]. The plan would be to add welded on sockets for legs to rest on solid ground at whatever t…

I need to build two or three anvil stands. One quite heavy duty for my V & B 89 kg and then a couple more for nice rail anvils. I need to kill the ring on the V & B- it is one xxxx of a bell. The simpler the better.-- An aside, is R. Price still selling the T-Rex line? Sent a couple of emails with no result.jet

:confused:Hey y`all, I was looking through some pics of anvil stands and was wondering what thebset design would be for demos . I was thinking bout one made out of angle iron but wasn`t sure. I have a cheap 50 lber. . Any pics would be great . Thanks,Chris

Just wondering if anyone has ever built an anvil stand that has wheels, or has an idea on how you would do it. I could be wrong but would the wheels take away some of the effiecency of the hammer swing. Obviously you would have to have some way to lock the wheels or disable them, and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to do that ( I was thinking maybe putting a metal bar that would come down on the wheel so that it won't spin, kind of like on scaffolding).