Wow, my friend and I are going to make an anvil this summer, actually probably down by the end of June. Anyhow, there are so many designs with so many different features. Our anvil is going to be in a top and a bottom, and then 100% welded at the waist. But to get to the point, I wanted to know fi you guys could critique our anvil design.

We are planning on a 3" face, and 30" long face, and 14" tall. Total weight at 200lbs. Style kind of like a euroanvil. Minus and clip and upsetting block. The pritchel hole has been moved back, and we have added a drawing face to the anvil. It will help a lot for those who do a lot of drawing over the horn and are sick of the anvil bouncing, it also puts the full weight of the anvil below the drawing face. The hardy hole is right before the horn. We have already made a mini version from 3/4" sq stock. It was a lot of fun, and we learned a lot. Some of you might wonder how we are gonna forge the anvil. We are using a press...but from what I've said, can anyone critique it or improve it?

Thanks in advance...

Do you have a drawing(s) we can look at John?

Frosty

What size stock are you starting with? You will need to start with 3 inch thick by 7 inch wide if it will be 2 piece, maybe 15 inches long each.

Starting with 3x3x24" 4140, and a piece of 3x8x18 A-36.

Sorry, frosty I don't have any drawings, but I'll hae pictures of the face up within two weeks. We will start the forging of it next week sometime.

Can you tell us what it will be used for?

"I have a 100# anvil is it a good weight?" For working 2" sq stock NO!!!!!!!!!!! For 1/4" stock YES!!!!!!!!!!!

I once had a 190# HB swell horned farriers anvil that was terrible for making knives on---very narrow face but was GREAT for scrolls

Anyone who offers a critique without knowing what it's to be used for is just guessing!

It will be used for ornamental blacksmithing, and a little bladesmithing. Also, tongs and hammer will be made on it. But it's designed more for blacksmithing

I say "why re-invent the wheel, when there is a wheel salesmen next door".

As I said in the PM you sent me......Good Luck with that.....

Edited June 1, 200917 yr by unkle spike

How are you heating the steel? Who's press are you using? What welding process will you be using?

Who is heat treating the 4140?

And how will he or she accomplish the quench? AFAIK, successfully quenching an anvil-sized chunk of tool steel (i.e., quenching it fast enough to harden satisfactorily) is one of the more challenging parts of the process.

We are heating the steel with a 7"x7"x12" gasser that we are building right now. Our press.... Welding process will be top and bottom, 1/2" spacer in between 100% with 7018 which is the correct rod for 4140-A-36. Weld around, chip, weld around chip, etc... We are also going to be building a HT furnace similar to the 55gal drum one this summer later on as well. Then we'll do the cascading water just like they did in the old days. Then we'll temper in HT furnace, and take to a friends for rockwell testing and milling of the face and machining.

Edit add-on:
If this doesn't work, then we will keep fixing our problems until the first anvil is satisfactory, and then move on to the next one. This is going to be a long and challenging project, but we will take it one step at a time, and overcome each problem one step at a time. If anyone is interested, we will be documenting this.

Edited June 1, 200917 yr by m_brothers
process disclaimer

Where will you get the steel?

local steel supplier.