Bandicoot

Any of the methods so far discussed will work well. Which you choose depends upon personal preference. I prefer an anvil base made from a section of tree trunk cut to much the same size as the base of the anvil. I have a crusher dust floor and the anvil blocks are set about 6" into the ground, they don't move even under heavy striking. For a portable it makes sense to use a steel framed base. If it is your main anvil, and your forge is already set up, you're unlikely to need to move the anvil around so a heavy base is quite practical, and desireable. Which ever method you choose to use anchor the anvil firmly to it. This will help to take some of the ring out of the anvil, and even big anvils walk around if not fimly attached.

As Bruce said, put it on the ground and use it as an upsetting block, it has enough mass to work well for that purpose. Altenatively, if your main anvil is reasonably large, it is often handy to have a small anvil with a finely shaped horn for making small eyes and such. Cast iron anvils might not be much good for "serious" forging, and at 70lb it's a bit small anyway, but it's still an anvil.

Alan, thats a nice looking forge. I haven't seen one quite like it before, so am unsure how the firepot should be "clayed before using". In regard to using charcoal. My firepots are designed for coke and are about 4 inches deep. To use them for charcoal I drop in a spacer with drilled holes to reduce the firepot depth by about half. I'm not sure if your American charcaol would behave much differently to our Australian charcoal, but ours certainly operates more efficiently with a shallow firepot, with couple of inches of charcoal piled over the top of the metal.

I've welded up several Peter Wright anvils in varying states of disrepair. As Oljoe says they are wrought iron with a tool steel face plate. If you plan to do a fair bit of welding on them I'd borrow back the Mig welder you sold, as it is surprising the amount of weld required to bring them back. The high deposition rate of the Mig is a massive time saver. The first thing I do is grind the dirt, rust and rubbish out of the area to be welded. This obviously increases the amount of weld you have to lay down to fill the defect but will ensure good adhesion of the new material with the old. Next get the oxy torch with a heating tip on it and play it over the surface of the anvil until it is warm to the touch. Basically take the chill out of it so when you start welding, the weld you put down is not chilled too rapidly by the mass of the cold anvil. If the gouge you are repairing goes throught the face plate you will be welding up the wrought iron which will probably fizzle and carry on with the first pass. It's not high quality stuff! Once a bit of the weld metal alloys into the wrought iron it will weld OK. On the edges build it up at least10% more than you think it needs. This allows for grinding back. Be aware that most anvils are crowned, so they slope gently from the centre to the edge. I never bother trying to square them up perfectly, rather I blend them back in to the original. The same goes for the face. If it is really bad it is a case of pad welding and grinding, and again, usually much more welding and time than first anticipated. If you really want to drive yourself nuts spend some time on the horn. They seem to soak up an incredable amount of time in welding and grinding. I do the whole thing with the Mig. Its a hydrogen controlled good quality weld. I personally don't like the idea of a hard facing rod which work hardens. Seems to me it will be far more likely to chip out over time. Providing you work hot steel on the anvil the Mig repair will stand up well to wear and tear. If it does get damaged it's easily repaired. I've done one anvil using just general purpose electrodes to build up the material and that has also lasted well. I'm not convinced that welding them up has to be complicated. Good luck, however you choose to do it.

Fred, I think building your permanent shop before buying large equipment is a good idea. I moved interstate some 12 years ago, and went from having a great workshop to a rented property with no workshop. It was only 3 years ago we purchased land and built a shed and house. Some of the equipment was in storage and some semi undercover and tarped when not in use. Not a fun way to work and often a discouragement to getting started on projects because the set up was difficult to work with. The new shed was built as large as I could afford, with 3phase run in from the start. I've had it completed and workable for over a year now, and still get a kick out of being able to go down there and work with everything to hand and properly set up. Somehow though I still seem to be running out of room! Good luck with your shop.

Always the shed. Even though it is a workshop and a blacksmith shop it's never called anything but "the shed".