Barnaby

I can pick up bags of either one at the local (really local, so good) home improvement/hardware store. Is one better for use as a insulating material for slow cooling blades for annealing? I'm just getting started in this stuff. Thanks, Barnaby

Merl, Got a photo of that setup? Sounds like one heck of an anvil. How heavy is that? I do plan to clamp down my anvil as well. Current approach is to put wood-blocks with an inverted el-shaped cross section at each end of the anvil stand, such that they lip over the edge of the anvil base. Then I'll run bolts down through the top board of the stand and tighten down (with washers, etc.) Does that make sense? Basically gonna clamp it down with some wood blocks. That was part of the intent of having overhangs on the anvil stand top board. If that doesn't work, I'll look at chains/cable around the anvil base and running down to some turnbuckles and hooks on the sides. -B.

Well, I'm an *aspiring* blacksmith. I'm working on it. Don't yet have the forge burning at home. Might well be the right solution to forge shims. I'll add it to the list of solutions to consider/try. -B.

Hammerkid, That's the current fix, shimming with some washers. It's just gonna be a pain cause they probably won't want to stay put. And I worried a bit about the fact that it only has contacts in a few places. Was hoping to "bed" it down into something. Hence, the bondo idea sounded good. Or something like that. Heard/read suggestions of tarpaper, shingles, lead weights at the corners, lead sheet, etc. Figure the sheet products are probably for minor irregularities, not the 1/8" gap on one whole corner. -B.

OK, back to the bondo on the stand's face idea then. The problem with grinding the high points is that 3/4 of the base is high relative to the low corner. I'd be grinding 1/8" off most of the base. At least along the edges--the base of the anvil is very concave and rough, such that it only has a few points-of-contact now. -B.

Upon further investigation, and realizing that the base of the anvil should be wrought iron (nominally?), arc-welding some beads along the bottom of the anvil doesn't seem that far-fetched. To bring it closer to flat-sitting. Would that be a horrible thing to do to an old anvil like this? (Note, I'm not getting anywhere near the face with a welder.) -B.

Merl, You might be right about the anvil base being wrought iron--I'm still fuzzy on some of that stuff. Regardless, I'd be nervous about successfully welding on it. I'll have to see how the stand and anvil work together. There are many folks using stands like these who say they work just fine (or so is implied by the web). In my understanding, just adding mass to the stand doesn't do much for anvil rebound/efficiency. It can keep the anvil from walking around, which is good, but it's not the same as getting a heavier anvil. I might do something to allow me to hang/add weights on the bottom of the stand to keep it in place. I'm not keen on leaving the anvil sitting outside, cover or not. I don't really have room for any sorta shed or anything in the backyard. The backyard is *tiny*. My lot is 36' wide, and only about 50' deep before it hits the slope in the back. And the house sits in the middle of all that. And no hand biting here, appreciate the feedback and suggestions! -B.

Yes, the anvil rocks. The base of the anvil is very irregular (cast base). One of the four corners has about a 1/8" gap (largish) with the anvil is tilted so the other 3 are resting on a smooth surface. I like the bondo idea, that'd get it a custom-fitted impression to sit in. If I thought I could successfully weld on the bottom of the anvil (but it's cast iron I believe) I'd build-up and grind-down flat that one anvil corner till it sat better. Can't see it on the photo very well, but there is a thick washer under the corner right now. (By-the-way, I inserted the photo as an embedded flickr image, with notes, which worked last night, but now seems to be a local hosted image? Original higher resolution is here: Anvil in New Stand on Flickr - Photo Sharing!) I'm not so worried about overall height yet--can adjust that down by sanding the bottom of the stand's legs. (Or up by adding spacers under the anvil on the top.) None of the surfaces I have to work on are very flat, so that's going to be a potential problem anyhow, might need to adjust the legs for that. (Which would have argued for making a tripod stand, but was hoping to make this work as it matched the materials I had at hand, etc.) I don't want to fill it with sand as I do need to move it around. My "shop" will be my backyard for a while. I have a small urban house, with an in-basement garage. I work either in my driveway out front (10' from garage door to sidewalk) or in the backyard (no immediate neighbors, backyard drops-off so my back neighbor is about 100' below me and 200' or more behind me). The backyard is less likely to annoy folks. So I plan to lug-out the forge, anvil and eventually the post vice whenever I'm working, then after all cools down, stow it back in the basement/garage. Anyhow, no forging (or other hotwork) in the basement.

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'm just getting started-out. I have my anvil, and am building a stand for it. I am building my propane forge (almost done, just need to get the coatings in it and tune it/troubleshoot). So, for someone just starting out, what's the recommendations beginning hammer and tongs? And any recommendations on where to buy them? I know I should eventually I should be able to make my own tongs, but I'm not there yet. I was considering the cheaper house-brand hammers at Blacksmith's Depot, they sell a set as the "800 Swed and 1000 Czech". Is that because those are a good beginner's combo or just their two cheap hammers? For tongs, from reading online and looking around, a pair of wolf-jaw tongs sounds very universal for starting-out. Thinking maybe 16" or 20" long pair If it makes any difference, I hope to eventually make some knives. Given the size of my forge (freon tank) I won't be doing anything really large. -B.

Steve, Thanks for confirming the date on the anvil. Wow, 101 years old. Gotta love that. -B.

Thomas, Thanks for the words of encouragement. I actually have a intro-to-blacksmithing class I'm taking from a local smith (David Lisch) this weekend. The fellow I bought my leg vise from talked-up the local organization quite a bit--he is a board member. Now I'm blanking-out on the name of it. I'll probably look into joining up with it at some point here. Anyhow, both the leg vise and anvil just happened to come-up on my Craig's List searches (I have RSS subscriptions for things I'm looking for) on a weekend I could trek out and get them--the anvil was in the boonies south of Seattle, the vise north. The vise needs its spring replaced. The prices were palatable, and both were in nice condition. I also have the parts for my freon tank mini-forge, but need to figure-out details of how I'm gonna put it all together (feet, etc.) and assemble it. Always more projects than time. -B. PS filled-in my profile.

I'm just trying to get started in all this stuff (blacksmithing) as a hobby. Last weekend I picked up my first anvil (and a post vice). The anvil was advertised as 80 lbs, but my bathroom scale thinks it is closer to 90. Photos are here: Flickr: Ilmarinen's stuff tagged with anvil Based on the serial number, does anyone know what age (and type of manufacture) that'd make it? Any advice on cleaning and dressing the anvil up? Figured I'd start with a wire wheel and/or some of my plastic-bristle-with-abrasives-impregnated brushes. The face is very smooth and flat--no signs I can find anywhere of hammer marks on the face. The sides have some chipping and wear (as shown on photos). Is the rough casting on the bottom of the anvil typical? Thanks, Barnaby

Hi, I'm just trying to get started in all this, with an eventual goal of making some knives. I have a couple local classes I'll be taking--an intro blacksmithing class next weekend, and a week long bladsmithing class later this spring. I have most of the parts for assembling my freon tank forge, and just picked-up an anvil and a post vise this last weekend (both happened to to be listed on CL, been watching for reasonable deals). I'm an urban dweller, so it will all have to be drag out of the garage and around to the backyard when I go to use it. I'm going to post some photos and questions about my anvil in the general forums. Thanks, Barnaby