A long shot, but maybe someone can help...

[capnroo]

This old guy that picks up parts for one of our work customers occasionally says he has a small anvil for sale and that he'll bring it to the shop next time he picks up parts. He doesn't know anything about it, but says it's small and the face is about 3-4inches wide. I was wondering if anyone knows the approximate weight of most anvils with 3-4inch faces... thanks.

[jmccustomknives]

That can be a pretty broad spectrum.  30-150lbs depending on make.  If your in the market for a starter anvil there's on in Greenburo at a little flea market.  It's Swedish and around 100lbs +or-.  He wants 150 for it.  They are hard to find around these parts, I thought I'd share.  I can't recall where Brewton is, lol, your probably no where close.

[capnroo]

Greensboro,I think, is about a 2 hour drive, I'm basically on the Alabama Florida line 50 miles north of Pensacola Florida. I guess I'll have to wait n see, but keep excess cash with me. I built a homemade anvil, but no horn, hardie hole, or pritchel hole, and have a small order with curves (horn use) due Sunday. Maybe he will come through, be in price range, and soon. MAN, IM IN THE DEEP END FOR A MONTH OR TWO!

[jmccustomknives]

I worked for years without a horn.  Gotta think outside the box.  An old truck axle in a vice, a piece of heavy pipe, the sides of a RR track.  Keep looking, a good anvil will show up evetually.  It only took me 4 1/2 years to find mine.

[VaughnT]

There is absolutely nothing about an order with curves involved that means you need a london-pattern anvil.  Thinking like that will hurt you more than you know.  Even if you had a london-patter anvil, you wouldn't need to use the horn to make a curve.

 

I've curved many a piece of steel using the flat face and the hardy hole.  The horn was more a hindrance than a help!

 

As for the anvil in question, I wouldn't even think about it until you see it.  Humans are notoriously bad at judging size, including width of an anvil face.  That he says he'll bring it by for a see tells me that he's confident that he can move it around easily.... and that generally means a sub-hundred pound anvil.  That's not bad, though, as a 50# anvil is still a good piece of kit.

 

The only thing you need to worry about is if it's one of those cast-iron anvils or not.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Let me expand on Vaughn and JM's advice. A bick was the horn before it was added to the anvil, so it's not hard to substitute, but curves can be free handed on the anvil, you can start it by either hitting the bar over the far and/or near edge of the anvil ( with or with out the hammer) the finished by curving it with the hammer, brace the tongs against your leg and hammer tord your leg.
A hardy hole can be mad multiple ways, heavy gauge square tubing with a heavy flange welded to it. Or a heavy plate with a square hole mounted to a post.

[capnroo]

I tried all that. With big hammer and small hammer. I'm just not experienced enough to do it that way. Although, I guess I could use the cross slide on my lathe to taper a piece of material ...

[ThomasPowers]

I made a stake anvil Bick for use with my medieval anvil; which is muck like a cube with a spike on the bottom.

 

I took a RR spike *driver* sledge and forged a shaft that riveted into the head and had a spike on the bottom.

 

With a lathe you could anneal such a head and taper the ends and re-harden.

 

What about a ski slope hardy tool?  A squashed triangle of heavy stock with a hardy hole stem welded on it to use you place it on the anvil and heat the work piece and lay it bridging the anvil and the tool and hit where the work piece is not supported to make a large number of curves---especially good for large ones!  Having each side of the tool a different angle increases your possibilities

 

Perhaps if you would share what you are trying to do someone could make specific suggestions of how to go about it?

[Charles R. Stevens]

Lacking the hardy hole, form a "U" with some heavy round stock , by Laing the work stock over it you can hammer down between the branches as Tommas describes. If the round stock is big enug just an "L" will work.
Also you can make up a set of vice bending forks. Take two peices of heavy angle (at least a 1/4" thick by 1") 2-3" long. Dril a hole in each peic and weld in a sort peic of 1/2-3/4" round. Now you can put both peices in the vice as adjustable bending forks.
This is blacksmithing 102, creative problem solving. Get a cup of coffee and go and look at what you have that can be used to form an arc. Cot a hard wood stump? If you hamer down in to the end grain it will form a bowl to hammer in to.
Lol, back up and be a kid again, you would have already figured it out. Some how we forget to be relative as grown ups.

[capnroo]

Hmmm... thanks for the ideas, guys!

[Geoff Keyes]

A big piece of square or round tube can be cut into pieces 3 or 4 inches deep.  Weld a piece of stock that fits your hardy (or in a vice, or can be driven into a stump).  Now you've got a dishing piece, that can also be used to start curves.  The bottom of a heavy tank, like an older steel scuba tank, or a fire extinguisher makes a nice form as well. 

 

Geoff

[VaughnT]

If I had a metal lathe, one of the very first things I would do..... turn a large chunk of metal into concentric cone.  A vertical cone comes in so incredibly handy, especially for truing up rings.  Being able to mount in vertically, either in the hardy or vise, is a fantastic option and way easier to use than the horn on an anvil!

[Frosty]

Truth is most folk have to develop good skills before they CAN forge something besides a curve on the face. My Soderfors has a beautiful concentric (or almost) horn and I use it for drawing more than anything else.

 

If I had a $150, 100lb. Swedish anvil only two hours away, I'd be on my horse instead of typing right now. Even if it turned out to be in too poor shape to buy, it'd be worth the time and gas money. Yeah, so I'm a huge Soderfors fan, best anvil I've ever used and I've used a couple.

 

Frosty The Lucky.