Timothy Miller

I have had good luck with them not working loose. But I tend to use white oak logs that are still a bit green. The iron seems to almost bond in some way with the wood. I just wanted to put this out there as a simple way to do the job for the beginners out there that may lack the skills and or equipment to do it another way. Mortising out a stump to accept an anvil is a bit of a job I could see this taking a few hours. It took me 20 min to spike down my anvil. Obviously your time will vary with your skill level. If you need to frequently remove your anvil from the stump this is not the way to go. Our main anvils are over 200 lbs they don't get moved much.

If that anvil was welded as poorly as it looks those edged may crack off with any serious use. I would consider than anvil not safe to work on.

I have used many things over the years. Bolts, clips, chain Etc... but this is simple enough and cost nothing it sort of kicks the legs out from any excuses a person might have about not doing it. Like I would fasten it down but those lag bolts were 10 bucks or I did not have the time to go to the store. I didn't have a piece of steel big enough. It is also attractive and keeps the base uncluttered so frequently used small tools can be kept close at hand resting on the stump. Also it keeps the job at the forge where it belongs.

I took a few better pictures of the finished project with the vice cleaned up. I also took some close ups of the box and makers mark on the vise. You can clearly see the brass from where the box was brazed together.

This may be total obvious to some and ridiculously basic but I see many a smith with their anvils not fastened down properly. I know many now use fabricated anvil stands but I have always liked stumps. This method is a quick, simple and inexpensive way to fasten your anvil down. It also requires no special tools other than a hammer, forge, hardie and anvil. Pictured below is my 400 lb anvil held down with 8 spikes forged from 5/8" square steel. We regularly strike on this anvil and it has not come lose to date. It may be a bit old fashioned for some of you new school smiths but it works well for me in a professional setting. I started out with a 24" bar of 1/2" square hot rolled steel you know the stuff they make porch railings out of. I draw out a square taper about 4" to 5" long. Longer is better but if they are too long they may bend wile driving them in. Obviously a bigger anvil will need bigger and longer spikes. You can also use 5/8" round 3/4" round and 5/8 square" A spike takes me 3 heats 2 it i am showing off. Next I cut barbs into the spike with my hardie I hold it at an acute angle to the cutting edge and slightly lower the end of the bar in my hand wile striking one sharp blow with the bottom edge of my hammer. I cut the barbs about 3/8" apart. I cut then on opposite corners on 2 sides to not damage the barbs on the top wile cutting the ones on the bottom. You don't need barbs for the last inch or so of the spike because this part wont be driven into the log. The barbs are important to stop the spike from pulling out under heavy stress. Lastly you cut it off of the bar and forge a short right angle bend over the edge of the anvil. This short bend will catch the feet of the anvil and stop it from rocking back and forth on the stump. If you are driving this spike into a dry log it is a good idea to pre drill a hole so you don't split the wood. I found 4 will work but the anvil will loosen up over time when I switched to 8 with 2 on each foot driven down tight on either side of the foot I never had any problems. One final word to remove these spikes you merely take an adjustable wrench and twist the spike gently back and forth until it starts to come loose than pull it out with a crow bar. Don't twist too hard at first or you will twist the spike and perhaps break it off in the stump.

Because Blacksmith is an occupational title just because in the last 30 years a bunch of people started doing it as a hobby doesn't change that fact. I don't know if you realize it but you are going back and forth with a smith with 40 years in the trade who is also a widely recognized teacher. I sweep the floor in my shop sometimes but that don't make me the janitor.

You did good

What do you guys know your only "Junior Members". :ph34r:

Your best bet would be car and truck axles they are thick enough and easy to get from scrap and junk yards.

He bought it new to make a living off of it. Its not like its a 200 year old anvil with historical significance. Its like a bought a new car in 1968 and modified it into hot rod in 1978 when it was worth $500. Its not even a really a smiths anvil .

I gave up on mild steel for tools a long time ago. Though I do use it for tongs and bending jigs. 90% of the time when i make a forging tool I make it to last I use a hardenable steel appropriate for the tool being made. At this point I have broken enough tools to know its worth making a tool as good as you can justify. Nothing like having a tool fly apart half way thru a job or deform to the point that it is useless. You have lost the labor that went into the original tool and you need to make a new and better one. If you stick with this strategy you after a wile end up with a bunch of nice tools to work with. As time goes on work gets easier and tasks are completed more quickly the time invested pays you back. Less ans less you think I cant do it that way because it will take too long. As said above there are many good sources of scrap/surplus steel that one can take advantage of. Things like leaf springs often 5160, old car axles often 4140 or similar, fork lift blades not sure but works like 1045, Jackhammer bits 1045, Pandrol clips 1070, and road grader blades. It may require some testing to figure out the exact heat treatment on scrap steel but if you get a big chunk its worth the trouble to cut off a small piece and play.

I think they cut in the barb with a chisel.

My bad, there is still a listing for them on the web, though.

Chambersburg is still around you should ask them.

I have never felt the need to lock in a hardie tool with a wedge. I always forged my tools so they fit tight in the hardie hole. I also use my power hammer frequently for repetitive tasks and I do make sure my tooling is wedged in tight. Tools that move around make the work harder than it needs to be.

Its a fisher anvil its a good brand. It is a cast iron steel faced anvil.

Nice work very clean lines.

Spike that anvil down that is dangerous it can fall of the base under heavy forging. Even if you only do light work spike it down!!!

Its an anvil swage block you could use it for just about anything involving hammering metal. Its the sort of all in in one tool you would want if you were going to be away towns and ports and you would need to make most of your own stuff.

My guesses all speculation whatever it is a true rarity Probably cast iron not forged. Early 19th century to 18th century or older Made in North America in one of the many iron furnaces as one off or small production.

Once again thanks the kind and positive words. I had to look up what you meant by "hoss" me being a Yankee and all ;). In the photo below is mount with both ends scrolled up and the smaller spurs drawn out and scrolled. It took a good 1 1/2 hours to get this point from the last photo. There were many heats just teasing Things to shape no particular tricks just small adjustments and careful hammering. The one thing I should say is that where I cut out the spur it left a notch that had to be forged back in. I had to do a combination of spreading and drawing out out to give the taper a nice flow again. In reality this is the result of poor planing on my part. If I did this again I would have allowed some extra metal to form the spurs and not drawn out a smooth taper. I would have forged a step in the bar where the spur ended then continued the taper. Sorry about the poor quality of this photo. Here I have cut out the second spur and have bent it to the side this illustrates the concept of the "convenience bend". The spur the spur will be drawn out and scrolled up. It also shows the problem I mentioned above where I had to hammer the notch back in then spread it back out. Here is the spur drawn out and beveled with a round faced hammer. Also shone in this photo is a special hardie tool I use for working on split work I call it the diving board tool because its bouncy. An anvil bridge would be better for this kind of work. Here I have punched the bolt holes I made the first hole 1/2" to accommodate a larger bolt for strength the rest are 3/8". I have begun forging hand made bolts for this as well but it may be a wile before they get done . Here is the finished mount ready to be installed. I did a bit of filing to clean up some of the cuts and smooth some rough spots. I will circle back later and cover some of the other parts I glossed over. Also don't think you need to do anything this fancy to get you vice back into shape. But at least it gives you enough information to make the parts may you need. I hope I will inspire some people fix their vises properly and get good use out of them.

Never seen anything like it its an odd one.

Give us better pictures and your location. That will give us an idea of what you have. it looks like some kind of central European anvil pre19th century.

Its from the days of snuff boxes and shoes with buckles on them.

If you have the tools to do it there is no reason you can't. As for its usefulness its better than nothing. You want your vise to be the right height and not move around when you apply force to it. If it moves when you try to do work on it you have not succeeded in mounting a vise successfully.