carlson Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Hi everyone. I've been a long time lurker. Had this railroad coupler for about 5 years and finally got up the gumption to mount it so I can use it as an anvil. Found it half buried in gravel off to the side of the railroad....anyways finder keepers and I figure that statute of limitations is probably up anyway. This one shows where I started off with just a square tube made up of either 2x10's or 2x12s pulled from an old deck. To that tube I added a wide base and a shelf to place tools. I plan to also add a place to hang tongs. I'm considering adding some more wood to the bottom and mounting some wheels that are normally not touching the ground but if you angle it slightly you can roll it. Its a bit of an odd shape so I added a cut out piece of wood to lock it down on the stand. The inside is empty (except for a pen that fell down inside and I was tired of lifting that big thing any more) but I may consider adding sand to the inside when it finds its finally resting place. Now I just have to scrounge up some materials for a forge. I'm considering using brake roter and the lid to a 55 gallon drum with legs attached in some manner. I have a brother in law that can weld so I may try to get him to weld some legs on. I'm also open to using the deck to a push mower as I've seen some good looking examples of this on youtube. Thanks for looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.D. Mitchell Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Looks like you have a fine anvil there, you'll get plenty of use out of it. What's even better is that you have the ingenuity and gumption to do something yourself. Those two things mixed with a little common sense will serve you well as a blacksmith...and in a lot of other areas of life too. Keep up the good work and be sure to check other sections of this site for forge ideas. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions if you need help with something. There's a wealth of experience and knowledge on this site and everyone is pretty generous with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 My first anvil was a piece of RR track and my second was a coupler. Both were given to me by the railroad company. I still use both in conjunction with my anvil. The coupler will serve you well. It has a lot of different surfaces which comes in quite handy. Mark <>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matei campan Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 you can even make tools to insert in that holes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knots Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Lots of good surfaces to work on. How about finding a piece of round bar that will fit into one of those holes for a horn. Shove it through and have a double horn ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Has a flat place and a curved place pretty much all you could ask for! I used a broken RR coupler as an anvil back in the 90's as part of my "beginners set up for under US$25" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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