Rings Like a Bell

[knots]

Silver Hill Forge mentioned a Brooks that rings like a Bell. Mine did to until I set it in a sand box.

Also I have been reading posts regarding anvil stumps and metal bases. There is an alternative.

I originally mounted my 248 pound cast steel English anvil ( A Brooks I think) on a stump. It rang like a bell. After taking the usual measures to dampen the ring I remembered that I had recently visited a smith friend who had his anvil set in a sand box capped with plywood. His cast steel anvil had a nice solid sound without the ringing.

Years ago I found a stainless steel vat 21" high x 18" OD, 1/4" wall thickness. At the time I did not have a use for it but at $30 bought it any way. 4 or 5 years later I bought my Brooks and it just happened that the anvil base fit inside the vat with about a quarter inch clearance all around. Thought I would give the sand box idea a try. I filled with sand, leveled the surface of the sand, laid two disks of plywood to the correct height, fit closely to the ID of the vat, and set the anvil in place. It has been there ever since.

The results were good: Good solid and level base which and be raised or lowered by adding or removing sand.
The ringing is now gone replaced by a healthier solid sound.

Having the cylindrical container turned out to be a good thing. Over the period of a week or so of hard forging the anvil will begin to slightly list away from where I stand. The solution to this is to rotate the anvil 180 deg in the container, then rotate the container back 180 deg. With the cylindrical container this can be accomplished in seconds with out much effort. The sound dampening provided by the sand box anvil stand, in my opinion, offsets the inconvenience or rotating the anvil every now and then.

I theorize that plain loamy dirt might work well and eliminate the minor listing.

I love play in my sand box.

[Mainely,Bob]

Would you say that the sand helped,hurt or had no effect on the way the metal moved as opposed to the way the anvil worked while set on top of the stump?
Have you ever used an anvil on a steel stand over an extensive period of time?If so how would you say it performed when compared to your sand filled container?

I ask all these questions because I started a post a while back asking for this info from sand backed anvil users and received no replies from them.
I am considering making the switch from my traditional stump to either a metal tripod or sand backed stand.

[arftist]

I'd guess the sand box works better than the tripod but worse than a burried stump.

[knots]

Sand is a good bearing media if contained. It will however shift if unevenly loaded. Even repeated hammer blows will, over a period of time, make the anvil shift. However on a blow by blow basis I can not detect any difference in the effect on my forging. I would guess that the mass of the anvil is the most important factor in the forging effectiveness over sand or on any other type of support.

The only really compelling reason to use sand is if you have an anvil that rings, and the ringing bothers you, the sand box base will reduce the objectionable/ear damaging sound. My impaired hearing provides enough ringing noise without the added ring being introduced by the anvil.

Don't really know about a metal stand.

It is hard to beat a good ole wood stump. If you decide to use one I have a procedure that I use to machine the top and bottom very flat and parallel.

Dan

[pkrankow]

My Trenton rings like a church bell. I strapped it tightly to my wood stump, which significantly muted it. I later wrapped the waist in a length of chain, which makes it all but quiet. Well, maybe not, I still wear ear plugs when I am using it. Before fastening, it was unbearable _with_ earplugs, It was tolerable with earplugs after fastening. With the chain wrap it is much better.

I am also a person who got weird looks for wearing hearing protection pushing a lawnmower when I lived in the city. No need to have a headache after doing a chore, or spending time that is meant to be enjoyed at the anvil.

Phil

[philip in china]

My Brooks weighs 2.2.0 and it certainly rings like a bell on the stump! I don't worry as I always wear hearing protection when forging and the ring is a good advert! Of course ringing actually means nothing. A bell rings, well- like a bell, but would make a lousy anvil!

My mid sized Rhino didn't ring very much. I then mounted it on a sictern full of concrete. That killed the bit of ring it had.

The main advantage with ring is that a cast iron anvil with a steel face that sort of buzzes rather than rings has probably got a loose face.

[Pat Roy]

My anvil has always been set on a stump. Originally my shop had a wood frame floor. I knew I was loosing a lot of energy to the flexing of the floor and of course when I really flailed away with a big hammer the whole building began to resonate and bounce and all the shelves dumped onto the floor. Now in my new shop with a 6 inch concrete floor there is no more bouncing and I am getting more work out of each strike. Now if I could only get nice parallel cuts on a stump so that the anvil was actually level. I'm not good with a chain saw.

[tdaleh]

ok Dan you got my curiosity up how do you machine the top and bottom parallel?

[ThomasPowers]

Phil K: I wear my hearing protectors on long trips in my old truck---especially in the summer when I have the window down as the air conditioner went out and the cost of fixing it is more than the worth of a 21 year old 4 banger pickup...(I also wear them in the house when my hard of hearing wife turns the TV *up*...)

One aspect of leveling a stump---you really only need the area that will be covered by the anvil's base parallel with the base of the stump. You should be able to trace the anvil base on some plywood and cut that out and then using a level level the plywood template on top of the stump and then just rout it out making a level inlet that the anvil will drop into.

[Silverhill Forge]

Cheers for the info here Dan.

If you're following my post about the potential anvil purchase, I may have found a way of helping my pocket as well as keeping the neighbours happy! B)