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I Forge Iron

Building a portable Anvil


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Hey all,
I'm looking for some opinions on an idea I have.

First, here's my problem. I'm stationed in Guam, it's really hard to get anything here, shipping takes forever, and the cost to ship anything here is astronomical. I'm deploying soon and would like to have a small portable Anvil to take with me but dont have the time to wait for shipping.

So here's what I came up with.

Take 1/2" X 4" flatstock cut into 7" lengths. Drill 3/4" holes through them like this

|--------------|
|-o---o---o--|
|---o---o---o|
|--------------| you get the idea

Then blast and sand each piece untill they're nice and smooth. Then take 1 piece with holes and 1 without, put in a hydraulic press, compress, then weld the two pieces together. All sides, through the holes, and then fill the holes. This 1" piece will then be hardened. After that, continue to add more unhardened pieces to it in the same fashion. Flipping the pieces so the holes are off set on each piece and welding while being compressed. Do this untill it reaches a thickness of 5" - 7".

So what do you think?

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I think you need to wait till you are assigned to your new post,look around and then get to know a few motor sgts.
The military "can points" and corners of motor pools are some of the best places in the world to find high quality scrap for the low price of a bag of doughnuts, a 12 pack of brew,or a 1/4 pounder with cheese and a coke.
I`d spend 10 bucks max as a donation to the motor sgt`s diet(don`t bother with officers,they`ll just tie you up in red tape and requisition forms)and be amazed at the results. :^)

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Hey guys, he's in the Coast Guard.

Stop by and talk to one of the buoy tender guys. You should get some pretty good help from them. I was on two 180's and we had lots of stuff to use as temporary anvils. What is your rate? Make friend with a BM or a DC. They will afford you the best opportunity for blacksmithing supplies.

I know the supplies on Guam are scarce.

Which unit are you on now?

Mark<><
USCG BM1 Retired

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Thats kind of funny... I'm on a Buoy Tender. I'm an MK1. I brough my few hammers and portable forge with me thinking they'd have something like an anvil (for the heat and beat) but nope. They have a 1/2" steel plate bolted to 14" X 14" wood block. So I stoped by a few metal fab shops and steel supply shops. I asked all of them if they knew anyone with an anvil and they said "What's an anvil? What do you use it for?" crazy huh? When I asked the steel shop if they they had any 6150 or 1065 they had no idea what i was talking about. Come to find out they only carry mild steel from china, it's basicly pot steel. Anyway, do you think the stack idea would work for a few months?

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MM, I think the plan you have would work a lot better than doing nothing! If I was in your situation and wanted an anvil, I would not hesitate to do it. There was an old blacksmith in southern Kansas(town of Hartner i believe) who had welded up several anvils with a method very simular to what you describe. They seemed to work for him. I saw them and he had taken plate and cut them to various shapes so that when they were stacked, they had the shape of a london pattern anvil.

Bill D.

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Talk to the boys at whatever yard is doing the overhaul/refit work on your vessels.We used to handle everything from 41 ft patrol boats to 110 ft drug interdiction cutters and had access to all sorts of things ranging from tug boat prop shaft pieces to chunks of thick plate.This is in a secondary boatyard in a tourist area (Boothbay Harbor,Maine) so the bigger yards would mean bigger scores I`m sure.Making friends with the guys in the "plate shop"(ship fitters) or the "outside machine shop"(handles power train,steering,winches,gun mounts,etc) would be a good place to start.
There`s a recent thread on fabbed anvils with pics of something that could easily be made by welding a piece of fork lift tine to a tapered section of prop shaft.This would be easier to do than what you propose and give you an anvil that will have a horn and accept tools like a hardy and swages too.
They must work fairly well because the people who are using them ask to buy them and the OP keeps having to make more. :)
Do a search on "the iron dwarf" as he`s the one making these.

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