John Call

I like the look of that! I'd seen track on end for anvils before, but I guess I hadn't thought through the obvious that the anvil really only needs to be under the hammer. And I really like the versatility of those ideas.

Wow, thanks for all the information. So it sounds like I'm not completely crazy. It would be a lot more work than other means of getting an anvil, and it certainly isn't my first choice. But I have the rail, and I enjoy making the tools almost more than I enjoy using them. So this project isn't so much a means to an end as it would be for fun. That and anvils here seem to be going for ridiculously high prices. But with work and other commitments I won't be able to get to it until later in the summer anyways, so better oportunities may arise. Does any one know of any good scrap yards in the Kansas City area that may have big chunks?

Hello all, I'm a long time reader first time poster. I've been getting more into blacksmithing and have been wanting to make a better anvil than the short hunk of railroad track I've been using. I have access to about twenty feet of track and have been researching how to make a better anvil out of it. I have two ideas sketched out and was hoping for some feedback. (Sorry it's side-ways) The first idea i took from a video series It uses two sections of rail (blue) welded together and filled with weld (green) on top. A tool steel plate (pink) is welded on top and then a box (red) is welded on the bottom and filled with lead (grey) to add mass. I'd fill the section inside the rails with lead as well. From what I understand the lead would only add mass to the anvil, and would not be akin to solid steel all the way through. But I figure it can't hurt. Especially if it's cast into place and completely enclosed with steel caps so it can't rattle around and turn into a 90# dead blow mallet. My other idea is an evolution of the first. This use three sections of track (blue). Two upright sections welded at the base supporting a third placed upside-down and nested into the others. All three would be welded substantially at every point they touch. Again a box (red) would be welded on the base and all voids filled with lead (grey). The top would be filled with weld (green) and ground flat, with a tool steel plate (pink) on top. The green weld on top is exaggerated a great deal. My thought is that this second design would provide a wide surface (which maybe I don't need, given a long anvil?) supported straight down through three track webs. Though the lead in these designs doesn't rebound the way steel does, of course. I'm thinking that if it is encapsulated in steel with nowhere to go, it can't act to much like a dead blow mallet and defeat the purpose of adding all that mass. What do you all think? Will one of these combined with stout attachment to a large, heavy log-stand planted a few feet into the ground make a decent anvil? Or am I nutter? .