Marc1

Charcoal 1, life 3000. Must live a charcoal life then

On the topic of grinding wheels and guards, nothing like a reminder of their danger. A friend works in a workshop where he finishes up cast pieces on a large grinding wheel. He starts at 6 am yet there is another operator that starts earlier, and he is always greeted by the noise of the grinding. This time there was no noise, the factory was silent but for a soft whirring in the background. He went to investigate and found the early starter laying on the floor in a puddle of blood with his face missing. The bench grinder was still running without the wheel. He was operating the grinder without guard.

Nice bottle opener CC ... hope you sell lots of them.

Ha ha, yes, physics is an obscure dark art to some. Eppur si muove. No, the stand will not self destruct. If you read my post again and again, you may perhaps grasp its meaning. The stand in question is in fact overengineered and will most likely outlive it's purpose. As for the behaviour of small and big anvils on different stands, I say to you that when I would love to debate some of the different laws and concepts that occur in this systems, perhaps debating with someone who sees skepticism as a negative, is not a good idea. Since skepticism is at the very essence of science and in fact a requirement. There are other areas where humans entertain the absence of skepticism as very desirable. Not my cup of tea. Best luck next time.

Without indulging in the odd concept of "concrete reinforced steel" ... Considering that a bucket full with sand makes for a good anvil stand, of course concrete with or without steel, of whatever size, will also work. Why? Because the stand adds nothing to the anvil function. If you were to make a concrete anvil, well ... then we had something to talk about. A stand is for the anvil to ... stand on. One could have an anvil on one's belly, lay with the head on a chair and the feet on the other and make for a reasonably good stand. not very comfy yes, but sort of workable if it wasn't for the hot scale of course. The way this stands ... pun intended ... a stand made of concrete, steel, wood, rubber ... or air, makes almost no difference. it is the anvil that takes the blows providing it is of the correct size for the job at hand. Which brings me to the sand filled anvil stand legs. The reason to fill the stand legs with sand (and oil) is not to reinforce the legs, since such would be completely unnecessary, but it is to silence the hollow pipes that would otherwise ring unnecessarily. The oil is to stop the pipe from rusting and also helps in filling the pipe completely since the mix takes the consistency of a paste. Would concrete work instead of sand and oil? May be, maybe not. Sand and oil is way easier. Now ... is there any blacksmith living in Paris that would like to bolt an anvil on top of the Eiffel Tower and check if the rebound has improved (We have already established that the whirlpool effect in the toilet bowl in the northern hemisphere compared to the southern hemisphere is a furphy. )

I like your anvil Stevo, did you forge anything on it yet?

The best tool rack you can build is one on wheels that is independent from the anvil stand. A workshop trolley like the mechanics use. Working on the anvil can be slow and paced at times and hectic other times. You don't want anything in the way of your legs, hips, arms, or work, nor do you want to have to go around the anvil looking for a tool. But hei ... that is just me. We are all different and make different things at a different speed.

You should see how well a diesel engine works on petrol

That does not sound very plausible. Three Dimensional carving and sculpting ornate churches for millennia. It was Romani and Gypsies who were persecuted with a string of bogus accusations and it was them who practiced the art of blacksmithing.

Chuck, Glenn has given you a good pointer. Start with finding what is readily available fuel in your area. Coal, Coke or Charcoal, and their prices. Unfortunately it is no longer the case that you can go to the local general store and have a choice. Not in most places anyway. My observation for what it is worth is ... don't think in terms of "what is the best xxx". Besides the fact that there is no such thing as "the best", the pursuit of excellence is a sure way to lose interest or momentum. Rather think in term of ... how can I get started with what I have at hand or can be easily obtained locally. Every beginning produces errors before it makes anything worth mentioning. Get going cheap and you will make cheap mistakes. Sure green coal is hot and easy to keep alight, it also makes a nasty smoke. Charcoal is just as hot but burns more volume of fuel yet it is usually cheaper and can even be made if you have the inclination, yet the forge needs to be a bit different for charcoal than for coal. Plenty of info here. Don't fall in the "what is the best" trap. it will take you nowhere fast. I like nut size Anthracite coal ... when I can find it.

Nice job with the stand. The tool rack on the other hand. I couldn't work with all that in the way.

Chinese Christmas? Oh my ... we call it "Secret Santa"

Nice stand. Complicated but I like it. You could do without the anvil and use the stand by itself. The anvil anchoring needs beefing up I reckon ... The best part of your post is a typo further up. I will not tell you what it is

Love that broad short blade, bottom left last picture (skinner knife ?) Reminds me the knife the cheese merchant used to cut Romano or Parmigiano

4) bend the 'arms' forward

When folks ask about their new anvil, sensible advice comes in the form of improvised anvils of different descriptions. Usable? Sure. Desirable? Not for a minute. I for one, wouldn't bother working on a forklift thine to make a nail. But, conceded, that is just me. $400 will get you a decent anvil if you look diligently in the second hand market, and not necessarily online, in fact better not online. And it will get you a nice new farrier's anvil. Then you will need everything else and most likely the good part of another $1,000 just for starters. Then you will most likely end up spending another $10,000 in the next XX years. The good thing is that you will be buying tools as you need them, and as you can afford them. It is the process everyone goes through when building their workshop. There is a special satisfaction in the hunt for a particular tool, then the question "which one is the best " etc. My suggestion is to buy a anvil, whatever you can find, and get busy working on it. It will not be the best, it will perhaps not even be suitable, and you will buy 3 or 4 more after that one and none will be ideal nor perfect. Make sure your satisfaction comes from your work not from your anvil, make nice stuff you are proud of and eventually you will be a blacksmith

Welcome Ian, may your journey be full of happiness. Just an observation. Blacksmithing is not a hobby

You can make a corkscrew for a Cyclop's demijohn with that.

I have personally installed back up generators for large factories, who's steel base was bolted to a concrete block and the concrete block sat in a deep pit on 150mm of cork. If we did not do this, the anchoring bolts would break loose in a short time.

Alice in wonderland comes to mind Very nice job.

So are you in Canada or Turkey?

It is all good and proper to elaborate on the physics of collisions just for the fun of it. Done it myself a few times. However when it comes to the simple matters of an anvil a hammer and a bit of hot iron, things take a different meaning. How many times have your heard about the rebound and how important it is because it returns energy into the work? Well I have news for you, it does not, for the simple reason that you are not hitting the anvil but you hopefully will be hitting hot iron that is plastic and will take most of the force of your hammer blow like the tires of your car when hitting a bump. What you want is a good quality anvil just so that you don't deform it and don't chip it's edges. And another thing you want is a good size anvil so that the remaining energy of your hammer, the one that is not absorbed by the plastic hot iron, does not rock the anvil annoying you no end. I cringe watching those YouTube videos with expert blacksmith and their wandering anvils and vices ... oh my ... can't watch it. There is not much more to it, despite what folks would like to make it. The super high performing stand is a waste of time. Get a good size anvil proportionate to what you are working on, bolt it down so that it does not ring nor move. If on a cast iron stand 1000 lb heavy or suspended from strings up in the air, makes little difference. Yes I said it and so did Frosty ... apparently we do agree on something, what do you know? ... tripod wins hands down. Sand and oil filled is not to increase 'performance' but to stop the stand from ringing. Hollow steel pipes ring like a church bell. But a stand is a stand, meant to hold the anvil up and stop it from tipping over. That is why tripods have legs at a certain angle. Read somewhere that 9 is minimum and 18 max ... (?) maybe maybe not. Straight is certainly a tipping hazard and 20 degree may be too much. If an anvil ever fell on you you would know that it is not fun at all. I take an oversize anvil pooreley anchored to a smaller one bolted to the center of the earth anytime. Oh ... and to stop a tripod from tipping, I have a nice trick. A piece of steel cable hooked under the tripod, a hook into the concrete and a turnbuckle to tighten it up. If you decide to move your anvil, all you need is another little hole in the concrete and another anchoring hook. Beats bolting the tripod with 3 or 6 or even 12 bolts like I have seen people do. If you have dirt floor ... well that is another discussion for another day.

I agree ... just go to the shops and buy it