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Anvil Caulking Question


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What kind of caulk should I use to put down before I plate my 450# anvil on it's stand. I don't want something that will be permanent. It has to be something easily removable.

I also thought about a rubber matt, but I think that will be to thick and create rebound rather then transfer blows into the legs which is where I want the inertia to go.

So can I just use normal clear caulking from the hardware store? Or should I get something special? Marine adhesive maybe? I don't mind if it's a little work to get off, but just NOTHING that is going to bond the anvil to the stand in a way that will take impressive work to remove.

Suggestions?

I should add that on my anvil stand there are 4 1/2" Fine Thread Grade 8 Bolts that hold (pin) the anvil in place between 1" square rod. So it's not like i'm asking for the bond to secure the anvil. The anvil will be secured. I'm just looking for a good night tight seal, rather.

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General construction adhesive works well for me. It is geared for wood so only sticks somewhat to steel. It does however stick with out being as tenacious as marine gook is.
It is one of those things that works well because you are pushing it to its limit of tolerance. Your anvil will be stuck but only as long as you don't actively try to remove it.

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What I don't get is what is the point of using an adhesive vs a caulkl? I suppose if you just setting your anvil in and not clamping it then you need an adhesive? but if you are clampinig it then maybe an adhesive is pointless and caulk is just as good?

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When I move in a year or two I believe i'll have to take the anvil off the steel anvil stand. Seems like a 450# anvil ontop of a stand is a recipe for disaster. In fact when I got my anvil I built a special palette with a sturdy wood frame to hold it in place. Do you all agree its best to transport anvil and stand seperately or am I being paranoid? Hence why I am looking for something that is more of a caulk and not some industrial adhesive that is going to be serious work to get the anvil out of.

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If you apply caulk, then the anvil before it dries it's an adhesive too.

Construction adhesives like "Liquid Nails" will stick your anvil but not properly glue it down as it's intended for porous materials like wood, not iron and steel. It's sticky but isn't going to be terribly hard to get off.

If your stand is like mine, I could turn them upside down and use a screw driver, etc. to pry the stand and anvil apart easily enough.

If your stand is a solid plate you could drill and tap a 1/2" hole in the plate near one foot. Then when you want to separate them simply thread a bolt into the hole from the bottom and using a wrench tighten it against the bottom of the foot. It should "jack" them apart easily even if you have to use a razor knife to start the adhesive failing near the bolt.

If you wanted to heat the stand to around 250f you could hot glue them together and removing it would be as simple as taking a heat gun to the stand.

Frosty

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I put a good amount of caulk down-let it almost dry, then clamped the anvil down. My previous anvil is a 225 lb hay budden-rang like a bell. Once I clamped it down with the caulk under it, the ringing was way less-makes a big difference for working comfort. A lot of people seem to like the clear ring of an anvil, but with lots of work and time, it'll make you go deaf. Most hearing loss is due to repetetive noise over time.
Mark

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If you are just trying to deaden the ring and distribute the blow while not gluing your anvil down or keep it in position. May I suggest putting a decent and evenly applied amount of a non hardening polyurethane (SIKAFLEX) with a sheet of visqueen of plastic garbage bag over the calk, then place your anvil on top of the plastic . This will give you an effective "parting line" and will not require re-gluing and cleaning the old glue off everytime you move your anvil. You can trim and clean up the plastic and squeeze out around the anvil after it hardens. Hope this makes sense.

Adhesive calks like liquid nails will become reasonably hard over time and will lose some of the sound deadening qualities you may be looking for. Silicone, polyurethane and other flexible sealing calks will serve you best. Stay away from "Big Stretch" brand as this stuff is junk. As Frosty said, all calks are glue when applied between two parts. Some are just better than others for different applications.

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If you are just trying to deaden the ring and distribute the blow while not gluing your anvil down or keep it in position. May I suggest putting a decent and evenly applied amount of a non hardening polyurethane (SIKAFLEX) with a sheet of visqueen of plastic garbage bag over the calk, then place your anvil on top of the plastic . This will give you an effective "parting line" and will not require re-gluing and cleaning the old glue off everytime you move your anvil. You can trim and clean up the plastic and squeeze out around the anvil after it hardens. Hope this makes sense.

Adhesive calks like liquid nails will become reasonably hard over time and will lose some of the sound deadening qualities you may be looking for. Silicone, polyurethane and other flexible sealing calks will serve you best. Stay away from "Big Stretch" brand as this stuff is junk. As Frosty said, all calks are glue when applied between two parts. Some are just better than others for different applications.


So you put something like caulk or sikaflex down, then the plastic bag over it and then place the anvil ontop. Do you raise the anvil and remove the bag after the caulking has dried in this method? Or do you just leave the bag and trim it up?

Frosty's idea with the bolt could also be really good.. because I could see that any caulk/silicone/polyurethane between my anvil and the 2" plate stand could be difficult to break. Even with my chain hoist picking up the anvil it could be difficult to breakt he bond because the surfaces are so flush.
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No, you leave the plastic sheeting or plastic bag because it will be stuck to the calk, not the anvil. The bag provides a thin membrane so the calk can conform to the eregularities of both surfaces and only stick to one of them. If you wanted the calk to be stuck on the anvil and not the base, you would put the plastic on top of the stand then the calk and finally the anvil on top of the calk.... I hope this makes sense:)

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Frosty's idea is sound but I wouldn't want to spend the time drilling and tapping 2" plate. From the sound of you are trying to do, sizes etc. if you go the bolt route, do two holes at least 1/2"-13 because given the size and waight you are talking about one bolt will just mushroom out and not provide the breakout force you will need without an air inpact gun.

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Yeah, the caulk, adhesive, etc. is to deaden the ring. The next question was how to get it loose of the stand again so I tossed out an idea or two.

Wanting to preserve our hearing or looking for new ways to do things? . . . An American thing? I guess you could call it that. ;)

Frosty

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Yeah, the caulk, adhesive, etc. is to deaden the ring. The next question was how to get it loose of the stand again so I tossed out an idea or two.

Wanting to preserve our hearing or looking for new ways to do things? . . . An American thing? I guess you could call it that. ;)

Frosty


I've been engineering Frosty's idea here for the last day or two. I'm giong to use a 2.5" 1/2"x20NF "all thread" (No Shoulder) grade8 bolt. Probably has a 10,000lb rating or something. I've gotta think that bolt alone coming up from the bottom is going to break any surface tension especially when the anvil is hanging from my hoist and the 260# stand is free-hanging just above the ground. I would think the bolt and the weight of the stand would help bust that bond. Worst case I need to do a little scraping and digging or prying around the edges. Do you think I really need two bolts?
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My (21/2cwt) anvil's on a lime tree trunk sunk about 2ft into the ground. I just hold it on with a pin up the middle and a few at the corners. It doesn't make that much noise but I suppose glueing it down might stop scale from getting underneath it. It certainly isn't going to blow over if someone opens the door.

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I did it.. I drilled the 2" plate, from underneath to make sure I knew I woudln't hit a leg or a steel gusset I made. Drilling from underneath meant pushing the drill up with my hands. Took about an hour with breaks. My forearms and biceps are sooooo sore lol.. but it was worth it. Now I can tap it and get on with the caulking businezz.

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There is a much easier way to lessen the ring of an anvil. Go to the farm store and purchase a "cow magnet".

Now here is the hard part. Take the cow magnet and place it against the bottom of the heel of the anvil. The magnet absorbs much of the sound. :)


I have a large speaker magnet now. Are cow magnets really strong? Is it better to have strong magnets or weak magnets. I guess the weak ones would absorb more of the shock? hmm i'm hazy on the physics here.
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Could you even magnetize an anvil to any significant degree? And wouldn't the heat just immediately destroy any bond the hot steel has when contacting the anvil. I wouldn't think there would be any problem even if you placed magnets all over it.

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Avadon, why not turn the system over and drill *downwards* ?


That's what I should have probably done. It is just #265lb and to heavy and cumbersome for me to do by myself. So I would have had to use the hoist to jack it up and then try to push it over. More work then I wanted (rolls eyes) as drilling was prolly way more work. In hindsight, the next I try to drill under something like that I will drill a 1/8'th pilot hole first. Then go back with the 1/2". I'm sure that would make it considerably easier and even more accurate. That way your not relying on so much of the tip for the cutting action.
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