June 5, 200619 yr Well, as you may or may not have seen in the "it followed me home" thread, I have gotten a new anvil. it is a 130 pound Hay Budden, and I payed $265 for it. As you can see on the pictures, it needs some work. However, I would say that close to 90% of the pits and flaws are shallow enough that they can be ground out, without removing too much of the face. I will attach more pictures when I get it finished.
June 5, 200619 yr Nolano, just remember, grind slow and in short periods of time. you don't want to mess up the heat treat in that good-looking anvil.
June 5, 200619 yr Author Oh, I only grind for short periods of time on anything. Im just not up to anymore than that. Something I forgot to mention, is someone was using hardy tools with welded on shoulders, so the area around the hardy hole was pushed into the hole itself, blocking the use of a 1" hardy tool. I ground that off, and did almost all the rought grinding today while I was locked out of my house for almost 3 hours. soon I will start with a flap wheel. Went through 2 grinder wheels getting here. That was a lot of work with a 4" grinder.
June 6, 200619 yr Hay Budden made good anvils. I put them in the 'very best' category along with Peter Wright, Trenton and other period makers. I had the pleasure of demoing on a 400 lb'er that was a joy to work on - almost threw the hammer back at you.
June 6, 200619 yr Author Ahh. After work with the grinder, then on to a 24 grit flapwheel, then a 60, then a 120, almost all the dents and chisel marks are gone, and the ones that remain are so small they wont make a difference.
June 9, 200619 yr Author Well, now I need to mount it to my stump somehow. With my last anvil, I use large spikes bent over the feet, and I was unsatisfied with that. DOes anyone have any suggestions?
June 9, 200619 yr Well will you be needing to move it? For my demo/travelling anvils I have stuck a piece of 2x6 under the anvil and traced the curve on the side and cut them out and mounted them to the stand so the anvil drops in nice and snug but can be lifted of for transport. My shop anvil doesn't move much, it's a fisher and quiet an at 500# it pretty much just sits there with a couple of small nails so it doesn't drift under heavy hammering. For a nice noisy anvil a strap that you can cinch down helps---the one I have seen use a short piece of angle iron lagged to the side of the stand on each side with a hole drilled through it for a bolt and then the strap is bent around the anvil and then given a right angle bend on the ends with a matching hole for the bolt. Make a set for either end of the anvil and it holds well and quiets it down. A variation is to just use angle iron about 2" longer than the anvil is wide and drill a hole for a lag bolt in the 1" "slop" on each end. fit angle over the feet and lag down. Thomas
June 10, 200619 yr Author Thanks for the suggestions, Thomas. I will not need to move this anvil, because if i ever do any demo work, then I can borrow the equipment.
June 10, 200619 yr Nice anvil Nolano. I have #320 Haebudden,are you aware all HB's have a serial number.(left hand foot under bick) if it hasn't rusted away?. See Richard Postmans book re aproximate year. Or you could post the number and I'll look it up for you.
June 12, 200619 yr Author Most of the markings have rusted away, and you can just barely see the markings like Hay Budden and Brooklyn, and thats about it. I will check the foot though. The way I eventually decided to attach it was with Mike-hr's method, albiet a bit modified. His was screwed down on two feet with a steel strap bent over the feet, and wood screws. Since I didnt have any strap, but I did have plumbers tape and lag bolts, I used that. Very tight down. However, using my huge 1/2inch drive ratchet on the quarter inch bolts was probably overkill, I broke three of them in the process.
June 12, 200619 yr Nolano, nice anvil. As for the stand, I built a tripod style simular to the one shown in the "anvil" section here. Mine was patterned after Tom Clark's tho. I use 1 1/2"x3" 11ga tubing for legs, 3/4" steel plate with 3/4" plywood between anvil and base. I then welded 5/8" x 2" bolts to either ends of chain, drilled holes next to the feet and bolted the anvil down. I have 2 Hay Buddens, 1--180# and 1--60#. I built 2 of these stand, one for the big HB and one for a 127# Swidish made anvil of which I can't read the makers name, just 'Made in Sweden'. This type of stand allows you to get closer to the anvil also. Hollis Woolridge built a 'pyrmid' stand of concrete which added about 300# of mass to his already heavy anvil--250#er. He says he can move it when needed....I wouldn't be able to budge it! hehe.
June 12, 200619 yr Nolano, When I bought my anvil, there was discussion regarding anvil stands. See http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/showthread.php?t=830 So far I like my "box of stand" it adds a fair amount of mass, fill is not expensive, had the steel sheet... overall, I don't think that it's a bad method, plus I can weld tool holders, etc. to it. some day I'll quit working 65-70 hour weeks at my "paying" job and get to spend more time in my shop... Henry
June 13, 200619 yr Another way to mount an anvil you may consider.I use two pieces of chain just long enough to wrap around under the horn and heal ends with the ends of the chains just long enough to come together and almost to the stump. Then lag them down. As you snug them up, wiggle the anvil to get it evenly snug. I take this a step further and mark the outline of the base and route the stump about a half inch deep so the anvil is locked in. Losen one lag and remove the other and the anvil is free. Also, Hay Buddens after about 1913 were made with the whole top half being cast steel. This makes them ring like a bell. To dampen it, try wrapping a piece of chain twice aroung the waist and tighten with a nut and bolt. When folks ask about the chain, I just tell them it's a realy mean anvil and this is how I keep it under control. Good luck. Gobbler
June 13, 200619 yr Author Well, I know a lot of people who like the chain method, but I personally dont. It blocks off access to all those curves and countours on the waist, they are very useful for some shapes.
June 15, 200619 yr My main anvil stand is a baulk of timber I found floating in a creek during a flood---3 large timbers bolted together for about a 2'x14"x6' chunk. I have 400# and 500# anvil on it plus a swage block and a lot of loose tooling. I checked last night and the 500# anvil is mounted with 4 fence staples pounded in to the wood next to the anvil so it doesn't scoot around when we use the big sledge... Thomas
June 15, 200619 yr Nolano, I have a Peter Wright that rang like a bell before I tied it down tight. I used two pieces of chain and 4 lag bolts. I wrapped one chain around from one side and lagged it into my "stump" which is 4x12's glued and bolted together. The start and end of one chain started on the same side of the anvil. Then, I did the same thing from the other side. I'm attaching a picture, since I don't think my explanation is making too much sense. This pic is before I went after the face with a belt sander. FredlyFXhttp://fredlyfx.com
June 15, 200619 yr Just a couple of loose wraps of light chain will reduce the ring of the anvil. Bolting the chain to the stump keeps the anvil from walking.
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