careful_eugene

They look pretty good to me, what size steel did you use?

Thanks, it's more stable than it looks but I'll see about fastening it down to a piece of wood.

Made a small dishing tool from a handrail knuckle then a wax melt burner for my daughter using the dishing tool.

Goods, they look superb and I think the leather holder is the right way to go.

I made 2 bottle openers (on Sunday), one from an old spanner and one from a shear-stud although I think the hole in the shear stud is too large. I also started a double candle holder from a trimmed off piece of UC that I found in the scrap bin at work, not sure how it's going to turn out yet.

Makes sense, thanks for the feedback. I've put the plate in the centre at 90 degrees to the outer supports.

It’s very stable, the hands and feet go through slots in the top and base plates and are welded both sides. Although to be fair, I’m only doing quite light work I think I’m going to put a plate in at 1 end for additional lateral stability as the new anvil is considerably heavier.

This is my mild steel ASO, I made it about 3 years ago and have been using it ever since, after joining this forum and reading about anvils and how they work I'm aware of the flaws in this one. We use a lot of thick plate where I work so getting profiles cut is easy, the total weight not including the stand is 77Kg. I was going to make a new one last year when one of the forks broke on our large fork-truck, the broken one was scrapped and I claimed the unbroken one, it was 250mm wide and 70mm at it's thickest point. Unfortunately I had a week off and when I came back it had been scrapped. I've recently bought a real anvil which I collect on Monday so am retiring this one. The stand is made using 16mm thick weathering steel and will probably be re-used with the new anvil.

We shrink wrap some very heavy equipment (bridge bearings etc) to pallets with the main aim of stopping them moving during transport. Some bearings weigh up to 150Kg so I believe it would work, the trick is to use heavy polythene and ensure that it's well sealed.

How about cleaning the anvil thoroughly then shrink wrapping in plastic together with a few sachets of silica gel? Ideally this would need to be undertaken in a dry environment. The main advantage would be that you wouldn't have to remove any grease oil or paint when you wanted to use the anvil again.

I spent a day last week with David Southgate, blacksmith at the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in Sheffield. I first went last year and made a hook, bottle opener and monkey skull keyring under his supervision, this time I wanted to try a few different processes (forge welding etc.) so asked if I could make a dragon head poker and toasting fork. Poker pictures are below. If you're ever in the Sheffield area the museum is a great place to visit, it's an old scythe works dating from the 18th century.

That is a serious piece of kit, I love the eye bolt solution.

Thanks for the advice, not sure my marriage is this strong! I'm a little ways off from useful or decorative at the moment but hope to get there in the end.

Hi, whereabouts are you in Nottingham? I've just started forging (practising making hooks mainly) following a whole day spent with a blacksmith in Sheffield. I too use a gas forge but haven't had any noise complaints yet just low level murmurings from the wife about how I ought to be making myself useful in the house rather than "messing about in the garage".

Could this be a posture issue? I've heard of similar problems being solved by using support insoles. It might be worth investigating before buying and laying down sand or gravel.