Zahg

Waved down a scrap metal guy the other day when I saw this in his trailer. $50 later and we were unloading at my house. It's missing a linkage rod on one side, and someone popped off the riveted oem nameplate. Other than that it seems all there and ready to rebuild. So, anyone know what I got here?

Forget trying to guess the weight, just take a hammer to test rebound, and bring a bathroom scale along. If you don't have one stop at walmart on the way, even if you don't buy the anvil(s), even a cheap scale is nice to have around the shop. :P Also if it really is too heavy to lift, you can always borrow an engine hoist(I was gonna say rent, but I just looked it up and they do it free now, leave a deposit, and you get it back when you bring the tool back). EDIT: there are plenty of places you can rent one I'm sure, just hit google before you head out.

Cigarettes, Chair of some kind(using an old drafting stool right now, just the right height for my workbench), RC Cola and either a radio or my android tablet with BUZZ Player installed so I can stream my entire music collection from my main PC in the house. Also like to keep a sketchbook in the bench for something to do while taking breaks.

No problem, just remember to add in some kind of cross bracing so it isn't wobbly. I was thinking on the back and side walls you could use steel cable and some medium sized turnbuckles(even the small 8" ones should be fine) crossing in an X, tighten the buckles and it should be plenty strong.

If you can find it cheap on craigslist or scrounge it for free, I would use chain link 'top rail's' for the framing. Even if you buy it new it's about the same price as wood, and is much lighter to move around. =p Just weld up some couplings for the corners and bolt it all together. You could even use door hinges and corrugated steel/tin and make some 'roll up' wall's bolted onto the side rails for easy takedown. Gimme a sec here, lemme sketch this out real quick... Sorry for the pic quality, my scanner doesn't wanna work right now. Okay, there's the basic framing... Drew it out with an 8x8 floor in mind, you would most likely want to put in some cross bracing to make it stable. Tall wall is 8', shorter side is 7'. If my math is right,14-degree angle for the roof. And there is my idea for the 'quick takedown walls'. If you plan to set it up on dirt/grass I would make the corner posts about a foot longer from the bottom and bury them in for stability, or bury a smaller diameter piece with about a foot or 2 sticking out and slide the posts over them. Dunno if this will work for you, bit it popped into my head and I had to draw it out lol.

Thanks for the replies. Learned a couple new welding tricks, and the biggest lesson was to never use an angle grinder when it's 30 degrees outside while wearing a knit sweater(shirt caught fire and I didn't notice till the smell hit me it was so cold lol). And yeah, I'm pretty satisfied with the end results, didn't expect it to come out this good, but now I would be comfortable doing this on a much larger anvil if I had to. Thanks, I knew it was pretty much junk when I got it, so it wouldn't matter much if I screwed it up. The shop was literally using it as a door-stop. lol The money was free(saved from my birthday a couple weeks before), my time is cheap right now(not working at the moment, all I have is time. Besides, it only took around 6 hours or so total), as for the consumables, the welding rods and electricity were also free for this project. I do plan to get another one ofcourse(56 pounds isn't much anvil), but this should last me quite a while while I save up for a good one. As for saving for a better one, what are the opinions of the TFS/Pieh anvils? At $8 a pound + shipping they seem a bit high, but they are brand new. I figure if I save a little each month I could grab one around this time next year(if their still available by then). http://www.amazon.com/Pieh-Blacksmith-Tools-Single-Horn-Anvil/dp/B003TSA5BE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1356755320&sr=8-3&keywords=tfs+anvil http://www.amazon.com/Pieh-Blacksmith-Double-Horn-Smithy-Special/dp/B003TSHNQ4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356755320&sr=8-2&keywords=tfs+anvil

Hello all, first post here, though I have been browsing the site for a while. I have been into smithing off and on since I got my first anvil 11 years ago(little 20lb cast steel from harbor freight). I still have that one and use it often, but I've been on the look out for something bigger for a while now. About a month ago I started building a new forge for the first time in a few years, and started scouring the local craigslist for tools. I got a Champion 400 blower in near perfect condition for only $175, but that was it for craigslist. Then last week I hit all the little 'antique' junk stores in the area, I got a 6" crank table grinder for $30, and asked the guy if he had any anvils... he said no, but his other shop next town over had 2. I went there next, they sold the 'big' 100lb one before I got there, but they had a pretty beat up 45 pounder which they wanted $130 for, talked em down to $85 and got it(I still got ripped off for the condition it was in lol). Size comparison with my old HF 20# I'm pretty sure it is cast iron with a (whats left of it) steel face. There are no markings anywhere on it, so if someone can ID this by the shape that would be awesome. =p The only flat face anywhere on this was the squared part of the horn just under the step, side edges were non-existant, there were a few dead spots with no rebound on the face, the hardy hole had an extreme taper around the entire face edge. All in all a bad deal, but I still got it for one reason, to see how hard it would be to repair without expensive equipment or specialty hardfacing rods etc. If I screwed it up I would be paying for a learning experience, which is worth it IMO. As it happens, I had a 1/4" plate I found a few years ago that fit it perfect, problem was, the plate had a slight curve to it and no amount of heating and pounding with a sledge would get it flat(or even dent it, this is some stubborn steel lol). So I grabbed the angle grinder and cut it into 3 pieces, no more curve. Also cut out the hardy and pritchel holes. Very little pre-heat, put it face down on an electric stove burner for about 10 minutes. Built the face up with some 6011 rods(all I had on hand, and I felt there was enough of the steel plate left that it would be okay), but only put a thin layer on the chipped edges, I wanted to be able to weld on the new face from as close to center as possible. Welded on the plates starting with the heel, then the front/step portion, then the center. All in all it came out great, already beat the hell out of it and none of the welds broke. It has okay rebound(about 40-50%), and my heaviest hammers still can't even dent it. After repairs it weighs in at 56#. So, what does everybody think, Did this turn out to be a good buy? =p And can anyone ID it from the before shots? Also, sorry for the long post. lol