RR track anvil question

[Dr Dean]

Since my hunt for a anvil at a price that meets my budget has failed miserably so far I'm looking at using RR track for my anvil. What I have in mind is to use 2 pieces of track welded together. The bottom piece would sit normally and the top piece would sit upside down. The working face would be the side that normally sits on the ties. I plan to build up the web to make this thing stiffer( I need to practice my uphand stick anyhow). The other thing I have in mind to do is add a horn made from the top portion of the rail. I'm thinking that I'll wind up with a boat anchor but what the heck I'll get some welding practice and I can say I tried. I already have a 50 Lb box of 7018 that is old and i wouldn't use it for anything critical (practice rod). Thoughts and ideas are welcome.

[Glenn]

RR track has 4 sides, use them all. As the train uses them for a fuller, turned over for a flat surface, on end for all the mass under the work. And oh yes, laid on its side as a swage.

[habu68]

Another suggestion is to stand a 4' section of track on end, sunk in the ground to anvil hight and use the end as the anvil. you only use the part of the anvil that is the size of your hammer anyway and you will have more mass under the hammer. You can also sharpen the web to use as a fuller and/or a hot cut. weld a heavy square tube to the bottom flat of the track for a hardie hole and fit it with a bick for use as a horn.

not all anvils look like willie coyote's

[ThomasPowers]

I'd just scrounge a big hunk of steel, much less hassle than using rail.

My Y1K anvil is a rectangular solid about 6"x6"x8"

I did use a broken knuckle off a train coupler for an anvil for a while---had a nice flat and a nice curve and a lot easier to work on than rail.

Thomas

[the_sandy_creek_forge]

I had always thought of making a miniature "bridge" anvil out of track. Actually more of a cross between a large, idependently mounted anvil saddle and a small bridge anvil. I figured on starting with about twelve inches and gas-axing four inches of the web out from the center. A little creative grinding and voila. It probably wouldn't get used very often, but when i needed to work on fork tines or some other anvil saddle related project it just might do the trick. That and I have some fifteen yards of light guage track laying around

-Aaron @ the SCF

[Glenn]

Blueprint BP0334 describes using a piece of RR track on end.

This could easily be adapted and combined with the idea of Blueprint BP0336 if needed.

[Ron Hicks]

Ive read RR Track makes better tools for the anvil than an anvil - do a search on the net for RR Track Anvils
I have a big hunk thought I may make a bricken , I dont know how to use a bricken but it would be somethin new to trip over instead of RR Track .
Have you not look at used anvils? I pass on a bunch of good old anvils that were chiped and abused- which now I think would have been just fine.
Now Im beatin up a new anvil trin to learn.
Ron

[Mike Turner]

I'd just scrounge a big hunk of steel, much less hassle than using rail.

I agree with Thomas, really track makes a terrible anvil. You can usually get a piece of large steel for 30 cents a pound at your local metal yard. Take a look. It is better to keep the mass in line, but if you really want to build one there has been some good tutorials on other forums I will try and find them and post it here.

[Dodge]

In general, RR track doesn't make the best anvil. There is a lot of rebound from track that makes them less than desirable. However, if its between using RR track or not smithing until something better is found, I would opt for the track. In fact I used track for a couple years B4 someone was kind enough to lend me an anvil until I was able to acquire the material that is now my permanent anvil. If you live in an area like mine, scrap steel sales are hard to find and used anvils are not real common in the city. LOL Bottom line is, use what ya got till you can get what you want.

[kogatana]

Here is my mini RR anvil, can't compare it with other real anvil (I haven't tried any), but for small work this should be good enough to begin with. And in Taiwan, it's probably more difficult to find an anvil than anywhere in the states!

Yes, it does seems to rebound a lot, it rings with a high pitch.

I plan to drill a hardy hole.

Ludo

[ThomasPowers]

Don't give up just because on is in a city---I bought most of my anvils in a city! *Every* old factory had anvils in them: (glass factory, sugar refining mill, steel foundry, etc), old machine shops, old car repair places---I bought my 8" post vise at an auto repair business that had been in the same location since 1919, they of course had a complete forge set up still burried in a corner. I bought my Hey-Budden from a Plumbing & HVAC place who moved to their new building in the 1930's; shoot even the *HOSPITAL* has an anvil burried in the basement according to a retired smith who used to do their orthapedic forging during WWII (and a janitor who told me it's still there).

Also a lot of folk who moved off the farm to the city bring along the anvil...
City anvils tend not to be as abised as farm anvils in my experience...

[Woody]

You can't smith with what you want, but you can smith with what you got. All you need is something to get the metal hot enough to smith, something to beat it on and something to beat it with. Oh yeah and a pair of tongs come in handy too. After that everything else is just frills that make the job easier and as time goes by you will acquire many of them but never enough. Heat it and beat it, and have fun doing it.

Woody

[Dr Dean]

Dodge I'm not that far from you. I'm just west of Oakland Ia. 20 miles east of Council Bluffs. Woody you said pretty much said what I've been thinking. The rebound or what I would call flex in the web is what might be able to be overcome by building up the web. I understand that RR track is far from Ideal but by my thinking is cheap, I have it, and usable. The other bonus to building up the web is that I get practice with my stick welding, something that I don't do much of anymore and need to maintain proficiency.
Those anvils that Willie coyote use can't be much good because all I've seen them do is fall from cliffs after a real smith is fed up with them! Makes me think of a country song by "The Great Divide".