Marc1

Hi Irondragon ... I pictured you ... how to say .. more wiry ... like wily coyote?

if anyone wants a youtube video on making a decent stand, check for "How To Make an Anvil Stand : My Favorite DIY Anvil Stand" You will not need to buy any plans, it is all self explanatory. A bit long winded, but the end result is what counts.

Yes, it will work but the video should be renamed how not to

Sounds like Bologna to me ... Let's pastrami it for now. We can always panchettit back.

You mean prosciutted

Mm ... from, Paris! Must be good. I like Croissants with Roquefort cheese and prosciutto from Parma ...

How about we go on another tangent and talk about concrete anvils? if stone anvils are so good, concrete anvils, made of the appropriate mix and dutifully pressed and aged should be king

That is true. Scrap metal for a stand is easier to find. I beam or Rectangular hollow section from demolition make for a fine tripod. Grammar Hammer, your other post about the Australian story book has a few spelling mistakes ...

Your concrete stand sucks, will crack and the anvil fall on your big toe ... the left one. True. from the little I know, Pozzolana has the unusual characteristic of increasing strength under water. Not sure if Portland cement does the same. The chinese on the other hand used rice flower in their mortar for the great wall. Go figure.

If you have a welder, make a steel tripod. Beats a loose stump hands down and you can still shift it around.

Ok ... good to hear, but somehow it does not seem like you appreciate a joke. No sarcasm used in my post. Nope. It is use all you have to produce what you want rather than limit yourself to what a blacksmith would have done 150 years ago. It is focus on outcome rather than method. No one talked about commission or production. My friend, how did you reach such far fetched conclusion is beyond me. To do a custom job or a production job is not in the picture only in your interpretation. I am talking about methods to stay in business. Tools to use rather than not to use. I am acutely aware of the limitations self imposed by some that think they must refrain from modern tools to stay within the traditional methods. i say that is balloony and if you want to use a plasma cutter, a cold saw, a press, a pneumatic tool, a computer cutting table, you should do so if the outcome is what you intend. And I use jokes and stories to illustrate my point of view, and I qualify my opinions saying they are ONLY my opinion, meaning I am just talking about what i believe to be a good idea, and that others can disagree in spades, and I will not mind one bit. After all no one is telling me how to do my work. You are talking about ... not sure really. I hope you are not upset.

Having your options open is a good start, and with that I would try to steer you off blades to begin with, since they require a lot of knowledge about steel, heat treatment, lots of grinding and more. Think small, make some hooks to whack on a wooden post, fire minding tools for the fireplace are good start. Most important, make stuff you enjoy making. One thing you will not enjoy using is your railroad track. If there is a junkyard nearby, try to find a large axle that you can stand on it's end, or an old forklift thyne or similar chunk of steel. Best of luck and keep us posted.

I agree in principle with the above ... However, I believe that the concrete stump, being unconventional and intuitively "wrong", created a lot of replies, with the main idea that a wooden stump is "better" because that is what was done in days gone by. Sure a log plunked in the ground is easier, yet a concrete stump is safe from termites and if done properly will work for 10 generations of smiths. Is the stone anvil better? Of course not. Is electric welding wrong? Who decides? My point was simply that if someone wants to make a living from blacksmithing today, it is hard enough as it is with all the imported stuff, don't add another burden to your business model by placing bias and prejudice on your working methods. Make the best of your experience and help yourself with everything you have at hand, including press, power hammer, tic, mig, power tools, air tools, you name it, they are all good help. Who decides? Easy, your customer decides. The rest is for demonstrations, museums and may be to build a curriculum for a class. But that is just my point of view, that is in no way "better" than your point of view.

A bit like a musician who insist in playing a clavichord and refuses to play the piano with it's cheating universal tuning ... Ok ok, let it go

Welcome Casper from North Carolina ! What would you like to make? Do you have a place to set yourself up? What tools have you gathered so far?

Mm ... Mr Anvil, you are quoting me out of context. The above quote is the one that matters to anyone who wants to get in business. You can be a master and a traditionalist in many arts, but if you do not read the market and are not prepared to adapt to what the market wants, you will still be an artist and a purist but clearly not a businessman. A modern day blacksmith operation that refuses to do electric welds, may subsist in a niche market with a lot of luck, but will struggle to produce the volume required to be in business. Like the chef of my example, one must balance what one really wants. To be in business and make a living or to be an uncompromising purist and suffer because the customers are ignorants and don't understand? I am 100% positive that if we time traveled a blacksmith from the 1800 to today, he would jump at the opportunity to use an electric welder and an angle grinder in a flash. Our idealisation of "traditional" methods is an abstract reality that does not exist and is completely subjective. The above video is the perfect example. Look in awe the stone anvil and the crouching in the dirt worker in a subsistence economy as if it was the "real" way to forge, and we are all cheaters.

Nothing wrong with Vulcan anvils, in fact it is prefered by many hobbyist who have sensitive neighbours. That anvil looks like it had never seen any work. in fact it looks too good. I am no expert in cast objects but I am tempted in calling it a reproduction of sorts. If it is a Vulcan, it is indeed in great shape, take away some cast defects.

Don't think for a moment that someone actually paid the fraudsters a single cent.

I grew up on an orchard and we sharpened the scythe every day on a peening anvil and a seat just like that one. On that particular one you use the cross peen hammer, on the smaller wedged shaped ones just a flat hammer. If you google Picard scythe anvil you will find both kinds. The flat anvil is useful to flatten a bent edge and also easier to use than the wedge shaped peening anvil since it is easier to see what you are doing Picard was the prevalent brand sold to a point that Spanish speaking countries call the tool "Picador", and the action of peening the scythe, "picar".

I remember many years ago I was into buying and selling vintage saxophones, (long story). We had a spat of fraudulent post mainly from china, selling vintage Selmer saxo using our photos. There was no point asking the poster or the website owners to remove the offending post. We tried the police since it was a blatant fraud, selling $15,000 saxophones for $1,000. In the end we got rid of them collectively among all the sellers by placing million dollars bids on their ad.

Or you could use terra romana. Gets harder and harder with time.

I see ... intensive value adding vs extensive. I am usually slow in getting jokes, english being my 5th language, but I can see it now. Banter aside, business models determine work practices, if you want to make money. Work practices determine business models if you want to send a message to your customers or teach. The money may or may not follow. Most of the time it does not. Reminds me of a chef I knew who was a remarkably good one and decided to open his own restaurant ... as you do ... yet had no idea of running a restaurant, only how to cook to perfection. When people started to drop out, he told me they were ignorants and that he wanted to "educate" his patrons with the dishes. Goes without saying he closed the doors soon after. Probably still thinks it is the fault of his customers ... I can't believe they did not like my cervelle de veau ... peasants!

Peter Wright anvils are good workhorses but a tad on the soft side compared with european anvils. No amount of 'repair' can change that. Use it as it is. Many blacksmith worked a life time on PW without any issues. Eventually you will buy another anvil and then more. Each anvil has it's idiosyncrasy. Find the good side of each anvil and work around the defects.

Uh ... hum ... err ... no, dont get it. A ratio of time versus weight and another ratio between weight and time ... definitely don't get it. i would rather maximise pounds per hour then hours per pound, but that is me

Could you make an anvil stand with a piece of granite? You bet. Use a stone that is proportional to the anvil size. Level the top with a diamond cup wheel. Drill 4 holes and epoxy threaded rod in them. rubber mat and anvil on top. No worries.