Patrick Nowak Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I just finished a very long term project of making a large double horned anvil in the English style. This anvil was inspired by some shown on Bruce Wilcock's website as well as by one that I saw at Quad State a few years ago. I started with two pieces of 4.25" thick plate 16" wide. These were cut to the profile I wanted on a programable flame table. A third piece, 1" thick, was cut to a similar profile, but slightly smaller. This was sandwiched between the two thick plates and the gap was filled with weld all the way around the perimiter of the anvil. A piece of 1.5" plate was cut for the base. The feet were built up from small bits of scrap welded in place and ground to shape. The horns were profiled by hand with a torch and then ground to shape. Once all the shaping was done, the face and top of the square horn were hard faced with Hobart Hardalloy 58. That alone took about 35# of rod and 12-15 hours of welding and grinding. The hardy holes are both 1.5" square. These were done by drilling and counter boring holes through the face which exit the anvil just in front of the waist. A coworker cut two inserts from 1.5" plate using a water jet that fit in the counter bore and were welded in place prior to hard facing. The insersts were 3" in diameter. Overall dimenstions (in inches) are as follows: Length: 52 9/16 Face: 91/2 x 19 5/8 Square horn: 17" long. 6" wide at widest Round Horn: 16" long Base: 15 3/4 x 19 3/4 Height: 17 13/16 Hardys: 1.5" square centered 2" from each end of the face. Weight: 1050# I need to be sure and thank Keane Pardiso and Andy Svaboda who both helped with this project. Keane provided the programmable torch, heavy welders used to do the main assembly and the radial arm drill used to drill and counter bore the holes for the hardy inserts. Andy provided the burners used to preheat the anvil prior to hard facing. I don't have an exact count of the hours going into this project but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if its close to 100. In the last week alone I've put in about 30. The cost is tough to pin down as I was able to get the steel for less than scrap prices and the hard facing rod and other filler rods and grinding consumables were picked up cheap off of ebay and from sales at the local welding shop. Actual cost on the project is probabably close to $1000, but would have easily doubled or even tripled that if I'd had to buy the material, welding supplies and grinding consumables at new/standard prices. I doub't that this method of making an anvil would be cost effective for any of the standard anvil patterns availbe new or used unless you are comparing this to the cost of purchasing a one of a kind collector type anvil or having an anvil custom cast and consider your own time to be of no monetary value. The attached photos show then anvil at various stages after I got it home from Keane's shop. Photo 4 shows the anvil and burners set up for preheating prior to hard facing. The anvil was actually completely wrapped in Kaowool during the heat process and after hard facing was complete the Kaowool was replaced. The anvil was still too hot to touch more than 12 hours later. Picture 2 shows my two yougest children playing on the anvil. It is included here to show the scale of the anvil. Surprisingly, this anvil rings as loud as any I've ever run across. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sask Mark Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Wow! Very impressive! Very nice work. That's a beast for sure. Kudos to all involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hickman Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 simply put, unreal. That was a major undertaking for sure, just goes to show what good old American ingenuity can do. Well done sirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KYBOY Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Thats got to be the best homemade anvil ever.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Fantastic work and the pics and explantaion are right up there with it,,It reminds me a lot of Ray Davis homemade.he was a member here when he did his..Weighed over 5000 lbs. Nice working height when on the floor without stand.! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 That's over the top Wow! What you going to make on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Private Entrance Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Whatever he wants, I would think. Beautiful piece of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevan Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 ...brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 its big enough to have its own post/zip code ! . i am drawn to it, it must have enough mass to creat its own gravitational field.Fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan P. Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 whoa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Woolsey Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Nice job! Seeing that Hardy insert prior to welding makes me want a similiar setup with round holes for interchangeable bolsters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon Sculpture Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 WOW! After seeing that I am curious if they ever forged any anvils at Scott? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Nowak Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Danger, As far as I know, Scot Forge has never made anvils, though I'm sure they could do it. Even if they used a similar approach to what I did they could still do it much faster since they could profile cut the anvil from a solid block and hard face it using the submerged arc welder to hard face it, or even forge it from a grade like 4340 and quench and temper to avoid the hard facing all together. My guess is that from a cost stand point, you'd still be looking at a price of several dollars a pound or more if they would even consider taking a job like this. Thanks for all the compliments. One of my goals with this project was to make an anvil that would mimic a closely as possible a traditionally forged wrought iron anvil with a steel face. I could have saved a bunch of time if I was just going for functionality, but the look of the anvil was important to me. I don't have a specific project in mind for this anvil, though one of my first tasks will be to forge hardy tooling since none of my current ones are that big. I have visions of my kids learning to strike for me and then working on projects with them on this anvil, but we'll see if they have that much interest as they get older. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacock Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Looks great Pateick. not too many people have a anvil bigger than one of there Bradley power hammers. My offer still stands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tagg Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Incredible! You must get a lot of work done on that anvil. What is the rebound on that anvil? 99% efficient or something? :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Patrick; if you don't have a use for it; I'd gladly accept it as a gift! Beautiful job and a design I've always liked too. You might remember my trick for making 1.5" hardy tooling? I bought a lot of bunged up top swages at Quad-State on the "cheap pile" and then forged the eye end down to fit my 1.5" hardy holes----the screwpress did a great job at the end to make them parallel and smooth. So top swages that were in poor condition became bottom swages that are great! The struck end us usually more damaged compared to the end on hot metal. Of course with your good sized powerhammer you can forge large stock down... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old South Creations Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 wow what a monster! loos great...great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
781 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 SWEET Patrick Scott forge did do anvils the little paper wieght size ones. I have a bucket of the cut off flash laying around somewhere. Used to make flowers out of the flash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Nowak Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 You're right about that Rodger. I'd completely forgotten. I have a piece of that flash in my office along with an anvil still in the flash. I used to have a finished anvil too but it seems that someone has walked off with it. Those little anvils are the only true closed die forgings I know of that Scot Forge ever made. Much of the work we do on the hammers now is almost closed die, but the tooling is loosely held on standard flat dies to allow for quick changes in set up while working a piece or series pieces so I don't consider it to be closed die in the same sense as the closed die work done under very large hammers with impression dies keyed to the anvil and ram. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Neat work. It might speed up the pole shift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHPerdue Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Hey Frank Check your PM.s they are full. I want to send you a PM. Your old Student CH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Furrer Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Patrick, Keep the documentation on this...if you have an idea of your kids working with you it may be good to show them that the anvil was there most of their lives and made by DOD (dear old Dad). I think if I were to approach Scot on forging an anvil..it would be planned as the largest single piece anvil ever forged.....wonder how big that would be.....? 2,000? 4,000?...a bit of a walk in the park with the tooling you have there (once some of the specialized tools were made). Ric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon Sculpture Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Patrick, Keep the documentation on this...if you have an idea of your kids working with you it may be good to show them that the anvil was there most of their lives and made by DOD (dear old Dad). I think if I were to approach Scot on forging an anvil..it would be planned as the largest single piece anvil ever forged.....wonder how big that would be.....? 2,000? 4,000?...a bit of a walk in the park with the tooling you have there (once some of the specialized tools were made). Ric I also have the dream... What would your piece be? Besides big Any photos of the dies Patrick? Anvil or other? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Ric, remember the one ton? pattern welded billet shown in Saschse's Damascus Steel book? If you are going to be egregious---might as well *wallow* in it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Nowak Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Danger-The anvils that were made at Scot Forge were advertising anvils and maybe weighed a pound or two. They made anvils with both the Scot Forge and Larson Forge logo. Larson is a closed die forge shop near the Scot Forge hammer shop outside of Chicago. I have never seen the dies for the job and if I recall correctly I think they ended up at Larson Forge. I was told they used a little 1000# Niles-Bement hammer for that project. The hammer has since been pulled out of the ground as it was never really big enough for the production work we do. I've been told that we'd be willing to sell it for the going scrap price, and I've passed that on to several folks with an intrest in steam hammers but no takers so far. Total weight, with anvil is estimated to be around 20K#. I'm the hammer would need and overall before it would really run well. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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