My first anvil build - looking for advice

[stromam]

why do you always have that bar in your hardy hole?

 

I originally just had it in there because I was using that bar to check the hardy hole fit. After pounding on the anvil a few times with it/without it I noticed that the bar helps deaden the ring.  It wedges itself against the tapered base of the anvil and apparently changes the resonant frequency.  I did recently grind the edge of the bar down so the bar slides further down the taper of the base and the top of the bar lies below the face of the anvil (so it doesn't get in the way).  If I want to use the hardy hole, just a quick tap from the bottom and the bar flies out.  You can kind of see it better in this picture:

 

I have also installed a couple eye-bolts into the stump with springs and turnbuckles.  One has a hook that will act as a hardy hold down, one has another eye-bolt that holds onto the end of the horn and further deadens the ring.  Even with it not yet fully mounted there is almost no ring.  I'll post more pictures in either this or the stump build forum once I finish mounting it.

[Rhettbarnhart]

thanks for explainin i kept seeing the bar in there and couldnt figure out the reason 4 it

[VaughnT]

If you put a layer of silicone caulk between the anvil and the stump, you'll kill 95% of the ring without needing other contraptions.

 

Your stick in the hardy is actually called a "mute" in some of the old books on blacksmithing.  Like you discovered, the vibration gets changed and the ring diminishes.  A really neat one is to take a length of 1/4" round stock and form a coil on one end.  The other end is bent so that it sticks down in the pritchel hole.  Every strike makes the mute dance a bit!

 

A magnet placed on the heel and horn will also kill the vibration a goodly sum.

 

Great project you're working on. 

[Pulsepushthepopulace]

Every DIY anvil out there serves as a powerful motivator for noob Smith's that are lacking an anvil.

 

Of course you're making things way more difficult than you have to by fabricating this massive euro-londonesque anvil, and a block of steel would serve you well for  %95 of your general smithing needs...

 

BUT you're breathing life into the spoils of what hard work, ingenuity, and overcome/adapt bring to the table. Kudos to your efforts, because I guarantee this thread alone's gonna do the smithing world a favor by setting a few fires in some hearts... 

[Hillbillysmith]

A "deadening gap" between the layers will absorb the force if your hammer blows rather than allowing the energy to be focused onto the piece you are forging. Filling those voids with lead not only elk make that situation MUCH worse, but it will also create a reduces health risk when you try and weld it together with the lead inside..... Lead becomes a risk when it reaches a point to where it vaporizes and since steel melts at a much higher temperature than lead, the weld itself can make the lead stubborn airborne...
-Hillbilly