andys MQ Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Hi all Andy here just picked up a 90 pound anvil for 20 bucks in not bad nick. I'm sure it will be fine for most tasks I will be attempting in the next few months. But just wondering what I could expect the limits to be on something this weight ? What's your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Well if it's a solid cube then it can take a heap of pounding. If it's a late 19th century American variation of the London pattern with long thin heel and horn then not much. Personally I try to limit my hammer size to under 3 pounds for my A&H 93# anvil of the latter form and have used a 6# hammer on my 25# cube anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 The general rule of thumb I use is...... small anvil, small work. That's not to say that you're limited, though. While I wouldn't try to sledge away on that battleship-anchor project you've been musing over, a 90lb anvil is perfectly suitable for making gates, latches, hinges, spoons, hooks, hammers, tongs, chisels, knives, forks, trivets, fire dogs, and a whole host of other projects. A lot of the anvils used in America, back in the day, were less than 150lb, and they got used for just about everything you can imagine needing around a homestead. The biggest thing to remember is to mount that light anvil very firmly to as heavy a stand as you can come up with. If all you can do is pressure-treated pine lumber, fine. But if you can make a stout stand out of something iron-ish, or bury the end of your lumber stand a few feet into the ground, you'll make a light anvil perform like it was a much heavier anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andys MQ Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Ok I was wrong it is only 70 plb it is a bk made in Sydney Australia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 An Australian anvil? We need pics! Everything above still stands, though. You might be limited in thickness of stock (nothing over an inch thick), but that leaves an entire encyclopedia's worth of stuff to make. Just be sure to cinch her down to a heavy stand to maximize her capabilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andys MQ Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 Sorry about the paint the misses got to it one day need to take to it with a wire wheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philip in china Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 The thing is the ratio of hammer weight to anvil weight to get efficiency. As said above a century or more ago most general smithing anvils were small by modern standards and those were used all day by full time smiths. My 1907 catalogue lists anvils upto 84 pounds. Anything bigger was to special order! My baby portable anvil is about 120 pounds. That one gets used for everything if I am away from base. In the shop heavy stuff gets done on the bubba Rhino or the 280 pound Brooks. A good idea for a stand is just cast a block of concrete. Then get the anvil anchored to that. I know some people don't liek concrete bases but I have never understood why. It is very heavy and improves the behaviour of the anvil. If you do that put a couple of pieces of plastic pipe horizontally through the block then twist them out before the concrete has gone rock solid. That way you will have holes for porter bars. I used to have a base made like that for my Papa Rhino and it was great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philip in china Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 My anvil's only 110, I added a bit of beef with the stand 2" thick top plate, heavy gusseted legs, big foot pads that can be staked to the dirt or anchored to concrete. It makes the anvil feel like it weighs twice as much. Goody gutsy stand there. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FieryFurnace Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Make sure you have a heavy solidly built stand, bolt or stake the stand down very firmly. (If staked in a semi perminant shop situation, use at least 4-foot 1/2-inch rebar stakes.) The fasten the anvil to the stand securely. Don't weld it to the stand but use some sort of bolted or wedged bracket. Then forge on it! Brian Brazeal (a well noted member and an excellent smithing teacher,) uses around an 80-90 pound Henry Wright anvil, and frequently forges 1.25-inch material with a 5-pound hand hammer and occasionally a 12-pound sledge with a striker. The key is to make sure your anvil can't go anywhere. That little 80 pounder of Brian's was more solid than my 290 pound shop anvil on a 50 pound stand, before I staked/bolted the anvil down. You have a very clean anvil nice little anvil, now do it justice with a good sturdy stand, and some good bolts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Nice looking anvil, clean face, good edges, no chips I could see and a good weight if mounted solidly. Aw, leave the paint it doesn't hurt a thing and if the color of your anvil is what someone uses to judge your work their opinion isn't worth noting. Besides it might give you a couple bargaining chips with the wife someday. <wink> Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewOC Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 G'day andys! Andrew here in sydney. The only other thing I could add to all the quality advice above is a tale of another Bradford Kendall anvil. Where I started my apprenticeship we had a 3 cwt Peter Wright and a 2 cwt BK. No one used the BK 'cos it was so noisy, just sitting on it's stump made of 4"x4" blocks on end. One day, when it was quiet, I re-did the straps to hold the blocks tight, then got the toolmaker to turn up some flash tapered spacers to coach screw anvil through the holes in the feet. Unexpectedly, the ringing went away! Check out; http://bradken.com/ourcompany/history and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradken I don't know when exactly they made anvils, at least either side of the nineteen seventies. cheers, AndrewOC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andys MQ Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 Awesome thanks for the info will get onto a stand tomorrow I think. Will have a look for some decent steel for a base too. If not I might try the Concret idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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