setting an anvil in dirt floor

[philip in china]

A good timber preservative is old, used engine oil.

Does your Euro have an upsetting block? My Vaughans does not so I flame cut some heavy plate to the diameter of the log and the footprint of the anvil. That holds the anvil in place and doubles as an upsetting block for me. The 2 pieces are held in with spikes I forged through holes in the plate.

[urnesBeast]

A good timber preservative is old, used engine oil.

Does your Euro have an upsetting block? My Vaughans does not so I flame cut some heavy plate to the diameter of the log and the footprint of the anvil. That holds the anvil in place and doubles as an upsetting block for me. The 2 pieces are held in with spikes I forged through holes in the plate.

She has an upsetting block. I don't have any used engine oil. I found a angle grinder blade that does not work very well for stripping the bark. I got a chisel and that kinda works good enough, almost, for debarking.

I am stripping as much as I can, then charing and linseeding. Now to find gravel. I suspect there must be a pile of rock somewhere around this old farm house...

[pkrankow]

She has an upsetting block. I don't have any used engine oil. I found a angle grinder blade that does not work very well for stripping the bark. I got a chisel and that kinda works good enough, almost, for debarking.

I am stripping as much as I can, then charing and linseeding. Now to find gravel. I suspect there must be a pile of rock somewhere around this old farm house...

Check the end of the driveway.
Phil

[Crunch]

I don't think ash will last long below grade – dry rot can be an amazingly fast and insidious process – but good luck.

[urnesBeast]

I only need this thing to last 50 years!

I don't think ash will last long below grade – dry rot can be an amazingly fast and insidious process – but good luck.

[Mainely,Bob]

I only need this thing to last 50 years!

Then don`t bet your Ash on it! :D

[LDW]

Go down to wood description on this link and it talks about putting ash in the ground. You could probably treat it similar to the way they do wood for a house to keep the bugs away and not have any problem. http://www.thewoodbox.com/data/wood/ashinfo.htm Glad to hear you are getting your anvil mounted, It really makes a difference. That is one thing Brian can make us all a believer in.

[brianbrazealblacksmith]

I can't make a believer out of anyone. Everyone has to see it for themselves. Most have never hammered on an anvil that doesn't move, so until they do they will never know the importance of a properly mounted anvil.

[urnesBeast]

Brian might not have made me a believer, but I became a believer using his anvil in his shop! The metal will teach you! :)After reading this article Lyle pointed to, I can see ash is not the best choice here, however:

• The wood is free
• The wood is mostly prepared
• The wood is about a foot from the hole
• I am not sure where I would find a replacement right now
• I will not regret this decision for at least five years!

Be sure to look here for an older version of me complaining about the poor decision I am about to make! :)I just remembered that I have five gallons of driveway resurfacing/sealant goop (it was in the stable when I bought it). As I understand it, the goal is to make the wood stay away from water and make the wood taste bad to insects. I wonder if this will do that.

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fpltn/fpltn-108.pdf This claims charring does not help. By the logic given here, not much would work because as it checks, unpreserved material will be exposed anyways.

[LDW]

By no means are you making a poor decision, I think it is a great decision, you are mounting your anvil securely. Whether it last six months or ten years you will be forging on a stable anvil.

[Cross Pein]

Doug,

It was great meeting you on Saturday night at the Prospect Hill Forge Barbecue & open house. If you are not committed to the ash, I can probably set you up with some hickory. I don't know if that will be much better or not rot wise, but it will be much heavier and denser. There is a picture of the tree when it was a tree in this thread:

Big hickory

They left me everything that didn't go in the chipper - I'm sure that we can find a piece that you can use. Moving it - that might be a different story! PM me if you are interested, I am about 15-20 miles south of Framingham.

Bill

[urnesBeast]

To close out this thread,

I just buried the stump. I cut it to size and leveled it. Silconed the anvil in place. It should be dry by now.

Even with the silcon drying last night, it was clear to me that this anvil is VERY solid. I cut the stump a few inches lower than I would have liked because I did not cut it level with the chainsaw. Rather than marking a line around it with a level, next time, I would nail guide boards around, they were easier to follow when I was leveling the top.

I ended up stripping all the bark with an old chisel and hammer. I used linseed oil on the trunk and chared the buried end. I used large rocks and gravel all around the tree trunk. The part visible above ground was burned a bit with propane to help kill anything that might think of attacking. I will be banding it soon.

Because the stump got cut a little shorter than I would have liked, I simply 'raised the anvil' with a shovel (I dug around the anvil a bit). This has the added advantage that my frequent forging partner can have the anvil at his height by approaching from the other side! With a dirt floor, I can easily 'raise or lower' the anvil by altering the floor.

Overall, this thing is not going anywhere. It is buried four foot deep, with a foot of stone underneath it and 6-12 inches of rocks around the sides. Soil for the last 6 inches or so.

Also, part of the challenge was removing the anvil from the old stand. Since it was on 9 4x8's nailed together, once the nails were cut, they could be easily pried off from the silcon.

Thanks everyone!