Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Anvil stand finally finished


Recommended Posts

Hi all,

Just thought I'd share some photos of the anvil stand that I finished today. I started this project about 3 weeks ago, but got called away on a work trip. This weekend I finally managed to finish it off.

Here it is:

post-25178-0-36590400-1350840886_thumb.j post-25178-0-59249500-1350840889_thumb.j post-25178-0-03396500-1350840893_thumb.j

The top is a 12" x 15" x 1 1/2" steel plate. I got it from a local steel fabricator for cheap. It was originally a long strip, 48" long by 12" wide, but they cut it into 3 pieces for $25. So one day I can build two more anvil stands with the other two pieces.

The legs are 2" x 5" rectangular tube with 1/4" wall thickness. The angle of the legs (~9 degrees) is such that all vertical force applied at the top of the stand is transmitted directly down into the floor. If the legs were angled out more, then vertical forces would try to spread the legs apart, giving the stand some springiness. Using wide pipe stock, and keeping the leg angle so that the tops of the legs vertically overlap with the leg bottoms, eliminates the springiness.

The feet are 7 1/2" long pieces of 3" x 1/2" strap. I put holes in the feet in case one day I want to permanently fix the stand in my shop.

The welding was done using a 120V Lincoln Electric Migpak 140 with 0.035" flux core wire.

Taking some cues from forum topics and chat discussions here on IFI, I didn't bolt the anvil to the stand. The 1" x 1/4" steel straps keep it from rotating or walking during hammering. So far it seems the anvil is heavy enough that it does not need to be bolted down. If it turns out it does need to, then it will be an easy modification. Thanks in particular to TechnicusJoe for fruitful discussions.

Last night when I seated the anvil inside the straps, I found that it rocked back and forth unacceptably. The anvil base was not perfectly flat. So I flipped over the anvil, and using another piece of plate as a flat reference, I ground down the base to make it flat.

post-25178-0-81804100-1350840895_thumb.j

About 30 minutes of careful grinding eliminated the rocking motion completely.

To make the fit even more snug, I cut a piece of rubber floor mat and put it between the anvil and the stand. This anvil (a 217# Wilkinsons) does not have a very loud ring to begin with, but the rubber seemed to make it a bit quieter nonetheless.

post-25178-0-20705600-1350840899_thumb.j post-25178-0-96428300-1350840902_thumb.j

Thanks for looking. Comments and criticisms welcomed!

All the best
Markus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks nice. A question for you, do you put your horn opposite of your hammer hand? If you are right handed as I am and put the round horn on my left, then I recommend you change so the 2 legs are under your horn and the single leg under the other end. This allows you to stand closer to the anvil, a great advantage to this type of stand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Daniel -- Thanks.

Jymm -- I have not yet worked at the anvil enough to know the answer to your question. (I would guess my total time working is only around 30-40 hours.) I find myself working at the anvil from all sides, depending what I am doing. I expect with time I'll settle into more routine work patterns, as I discover how the material, tools, and I all work together. The stand design allows the anvil to be rotated 180 degrees, so I will try out your suggestion to see how it is.

Markus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, the oil and sand goes a long way to helping quiet the whole thing, and it helps to prevent the legs from rusting from the inside out. A heavier stand certainly isn't a bad thing and will only help with the performance of the anvil.

Putting a pair of removable wheels on the back legs, like on a hand-truck, would make moving even the heaviest stand a whole lot easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So far the anvil seems quiet enough, with the piece of rubber mat between it and the stand, just like what you suggested, Neil.

Good tip about the hand cart wheels, VaughnT. That sounds like the way to go. Now I just need another Saturday where I'm too lazy to practice forging.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...