Ooooo, an expanded market! This thing might get some legs yet. Thanks Bentiron.

Silversmithing stakes have to be polished to a high polish. I have been trying to break into that market but I wonder how many of these expensive stakes realy sell in a year.

Looks like a modified bladesmith anvil, they were either as london pattern or block anvil with dovetails cut in the top for different tooling, they are a very rare anvil.

Jock Dempsey has some anvil ideas over here...

FAQs Anvils

I like the plain block with a hole for punching thru. I don't use the horn on my Trenton much. I find the constantly changing radius just twists what I am trying to bend. It's easy enough to bend over the side of the anvil as long as the corners aren't so sharp that they dig in.

If I ever wear out my Trenton (unlikely) I would make a block anvil. Maybe drill a 1-1/2"-2" hole in one end with a set screw to hold a straight 'horn'. It's my uneducated opinion that horns as we know them evolved to make horseshoes. For tuning up small scrolls etc it's easy to make a small 'horn' (bick?) that can be held in the vice.

Bob

Bob, I'm trying to get away from having to make the entire thing out of high-priced steel. Same reasoning as the welded face in the old days.

Edited November 28, 200916 yr by nakedanvil

I like it Grant, but drop the horns. Everybody has a regular anvil with horns, or they can get one out there. Having the basic forging dies solidly backed under the base is where it is at. If anyone ever gets the chance to forge on correctly backed dies, as opposed to hardy tools that can bounce and are usually oriented at the heel of the anvil, they will know the difference and will cringe when they have to use anything else.

Thanks Brian. Easy to get expansion-itis. I like the idea of keeping it as simple as possible. It does look like a bit like a second generation "Brazeal" anvil, doesn't it.

I like it Grant, but drop the horns. Everybody has a regular anvil with horns, or they can get one out there. Having the basic forging dies solidly backed under the base is where it is at. If anyone ever gets the chance to forge on correctly backed dies, as opposed to hardy tools that can bounce and are usually oriented at the heel of the anvil, they will know the difference and will cringe when they have to use anything else.

I'm with Brian - the forging shapes are most important. However, you may have trouble selling if they don't look "traditional" to the average user (which means some sort of horn) - but in the long run, the usability is paramount.

Edited November 28, 200916 yr by HWooldridge

"Traditional"? Yeah, that's why I want to get away from calling it an "anvil".

Thanks Brian. Easy to get expansion-itis. I like the idea of keeping it as simple as possible. It does look like a bit like a second generation "Brazeal" anvil, doesn't it.

A little bit, but yours has alot more possibilities.

I came up with our anvil just to explain what I was doing on a regular anvil with my hand hammer. That is when Ed started striking with me, and we would slow down and show what the top and bottom dies did. We soon discovered the superior backing of the dies and stopped using our regular anvil for most of our work.

I do wish some one like yourself would put an anvil like this out there on the market.

Well, it's looking do-able. Haven't run numbers yet, but it should be reasonable.

I want a 3" fuller, 1 1/2" fuller, 3/4" fuller, butcher, and flat die to start with.

Well, how's this for a simple horn? Serves as a drawing surface too, at least the part that is over the body of the tool.

I like that idea of quick change and diverse array of bottom swages. I also like the straight cylinder horn.
Someone pointed out to me that small stakes for the artist/smith are already made by these fellows:Plainishing Stake Assortment . So all one would need would be a compatible stake holder on your anvil.

Hmmm I have toyed with the idea for years of a square block 12" square block 3" or so thick that sits in a trough on a stand. It could be rotated for 4 different anvil surfaces and have two swage sides as well. I imagined that a drilled hole that angledto the side would do for pritchel/hardy, or cross drilled 2" hole through the side, then broach a 1" square in from above. A horn could be a wedge cut out of 1 corner and rounded up. Mostly though shapes that are always in demand would be strategically placed on the perimeter which gives 4 feet of room for dedicated bottom tools.

Downside would be like a shopsmith or swiss army knife always needing something that was on the bottom. Have to reset constantly.

I have created similar tools from squares of 3/4 " and 1" plate then grind or drill as needed. Usually have a piece of 1/2" round run through to prevent it slipping through the jaws of the vice.

Edited November 29, 200916 yr by Mills
clarity

Grant- While you know WAY better than I, unless I'm misunderstanding the scale of your sketches the heel on your latest drawing looks too thick to economically machine, mostly I'm thinking of the depth of the drilled hole. Make the heel (in side view) 1/2 the hight of the parent stock and you could nest blanks, two with one cut. This will also reduce the depth of the required hole.

Edited November 29, 200916 yr by judson yaggy

Great minds think alike, for sure. Yeah, it was that way until I shortened the height. I keep playing with the height/length.

Well, here's my latest revision. The dies are easier to machine, in fact you could probably make them with a belt grinder, without the locating tabs. I added the tabs rather than using center pins. That bolster/hardy/tail plate I thought might be handy.

Edited November 29, 200916 yr by nakedanvil

Personally I prefer the previous die incarnation Grant. This way you end up having to go wider which means less mass under the dies (might not matter). I don't like the gaps between the dies it seems like waste space to me which may be irrrational. I think most guys would be buying the premade dies or fabbing to mild steel blanks. I had assumed you would be forging the dovetails on the dies. I think I know how it could be done but I may be wrong.

If you could get your hands on some elevator rails they would be amazing for this purpose

they are forged and are about 1.5 wide on the edge and 18-20 inches long

the bottom is about 5 inch's wide and 3/4 inch thick on its thinnest edge

it looks like a T but the t goes on the bottom i will take a picture of one of mine for these purposes

I really like how this project is going Grant!

My suggestion is to possibly integrate a vice to the 'forging station' -- something with changeable jaws for different jobs but at a suitable height and built solidly enough to give it a good pounding. If you make it 'leg vice style' the leg could form one side of the tripod base.

Furthermore an integrated, flexible, work support and work hold-down would be handy. Perhaps something like a vice-grip welded to a height-adjustable mount.

Sorry John, but I want to dissect your arguments a little. The solid dies will be, well, more solid. The other ones end up "T" shaped requiring a lot of metal removal and the "wings" need to be perfect or they can end up unsupported and might curl up in heat treat. I don't know about "wasted space", I would like them closer, but they are still the same size and the whole thing still weighs near 300#. The "blanks" would/could be cheaper this way too.

Edited November 29, 200916 yr by nakedanvil

Matt: A vise might tend to get in the way. I like lotsa clear space around my anvil, but I'll give that some thought. I'll probably incorporate a few extra hole through the upright, maybe for a sliding work-support. Probably a few tapped holes too. You can even weld on all manner of stuff to this anvil.

Now, that being said, this design does allow room for a much larger flat die to be used. That might make some people happy. Could easily make one that was 6 - 8 inches long. Or might make one that spans two dovetails.

You are probably right Grant those dies would definately be much easier to make except for the wings. I do think that being able to quickly make up custom dies is very important for this tool to be most useful. You do make a good point about being able to make wider dies with this set up. I am curious about the change to the wings, On one hand you are making the dies easier to make on the other you are making them harder with the addition of the wings. Do the wings give you somewhere for the flash to go while forging them?

The waste space thought came largely from two things I was thinking about, one was the fact that You went from 5 dovetails to 4 the other was the posibility of using these dies as hammer dies as well as anvil dies. I do think 4 dovetails is enough and that the advantages of the cheaper and possibly wider dies probably outweighs the loss of a dovetail