Leveling off a hardwood stump

[Mitt]

Hi all, I am a newbie setting up a hobby forge on the cheap and I managed to secure myself a hardwood stump to mount my anvil on free.

The problem is the top isn't parallel to the ground There is a slight (one side is about 3cm higher than the other) and my baby chainsaw isn't long enough (or powerful enough) to work through it. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to even it out (electric plainer, router etc I can hire for a few hours). I would rather avoid using a bigger chainsaw for the job as I am only taking off a small amount. Images attached.

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Mount your anvil with the far SIDE lined up with the low side of your stump. You'll probably never want to level it. Try it!

[Glenn]

Set the stump straight, with the grain perpendicular to the floor. Build a frame that is level and using a router plane the top surface using the frame as a guide. Now that one end is true, turn the stump over and using the frame and router, true up the other side. To make the stump sit better on the floor, use the router to make the center deeper, then create 3 legs for the stump to rest upon. You may want to route the outline of the anvil into the top of the stump.

One thing for sure, you need to calculate the finished height of the face of the anvil before you start. Once you true up the top of the stump and route the outline of the anvil, this will tell you how much you need to remove from the bottom of the stump. You can always add some sections of car tire tread to the 3 legs to raise the height a bit as well as keep the stump from walking about.

If you do not have a router, you can build a frame to hold the stump horizontally. Build a frame that is perpendicular to guide the blade of a saw. You will need a longer saw such as a cross cut saw to do the cutting, but a hand saw could be used.

[Mitt]

Mount your anvil with the far SIDE lined up with the low side of your stump. You'll probably never want to level it. Try it!

So the face of the anvil is tilted away from me? Isn't the whole idea to have it flat?

Glenn I will give the router approach a go so long as no one has a better suggestion, a handsaw probably wouldn't cut it (ba doom tish) this thing resisted being cut by my little chainsaw (the black mark in the img) though I admit it needs sharpening.

I have checked and the few cm I will take off levelling it out should put my anvil at the right height, though I plan on replacing it somewhere in the future. The anvil I have is small and the horn is broken off but it was free (you can see its base in the top right of the 2nd img).

[pkrankow]

If you are setting the stump on dirt, sand, or gravel set the top level by building a low berm under the stump. No cutting needed.

Phil

[Reinhard Schwaninger]

Hi all, I am a newbie setting up a hobby forge on the cheap and I managed to secure myself a hardwood stump to mount my anvil on free.

The problem is the top isn't parallel to the ground There is a slight (one side is about 3cm higher than the other) and my baby chainsaw isn't long enough (or powerful enough) to work through it. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to even it out (electric plainer, router etc I can hire for a few hours). I would rather avoid using a bigger chainsaw for the job as I am only taking off a small amount. Images attached.

You can leave the surface on top the way it is, if you attach 3 blocks of wood on the bottom with one block bigger or smaller to build a tripod.
This will also prevent the block from rocking ;-)

[clinton]

here is a link that shows what Glenn is talking about http://www.blksmth.com/Anvi_base_preparation.htm

[Glenn]

The first attached photo (green background) shows the easy way to true up a stump. (grin)

Photo 2 and 3 show a inexpensive fully adjustable anvil stand. This method has the additional benefit of killing the ring of the anvil. The anvil stand is easy to use, and fully adjustable to the height you need or want.

[gazilla]

I leveled my anvil supports using a steel hammer chisel. Not exactly fine woodworking but great for roughening out. Using a sharp chain helps too, to remove the larger parts.

[Michael]

I just did this same project a couple weeks ago. I screwed a couple boards into each side of the stump, making sure they were level to the ground and then to each other, they don't have to be parallel to each other, then a cheap router mounted to a long board and I was able to route the top flat in less than an hour.

Wasn't hard to do, far easier than I expected actually.

[Dragons lair]

See if ya can find a local with a portable band mill. They can clamp a stump verticle flip it and cut the bottom.
Ken

[Pault17]

mitt,
I was in the same boat a few months ago. My father-in-law gave me a long chunk of semi-seasoned oak from a tree he was cutting up. The diamaeter over 22 inches and neither end was squared off. I supported it level, nailed a mini frame of 2x4's around one end and used my little 16-inch bar chainsaw to work my way through it. I did the same for both ends.
As the center of the cut was less than flat, but better than I had received it, I cut three "feet" out of one end and stood the stump up. I put my anvil on the stump and markd a square outline that would closely fit the footprint of the anvil. I used a 1.25 paddle bit and drilled down about an inch or so, cleaning out as much wood as possible. Then, leveling 2 2x4's nailed on opposing sides of the stump, I used my router (I replaced the little round base with a long piece of flat plywood to span the two 2x4's) and flattend the bottom of the recess.

All said and done, my anvil sits at a comfortable height, sits level and does not rock a bit. The squared hole also allows a place to put things like punches and chisels I need, a small tape measure and a few bits of soapstone. Also, by leaving the stump full round, I am able to use the exposed sections for a burnable swage for leaves, spoons and such.