Forging a anvil

[MLMartin]

yes yes im quight aware that this would be a large project. but has any of you out there ever forged a anvil. Pictures would be great, know of any ware i could see one made? or simply just tell me im crazy for wanting to ever make one. i will be bringing this up at my next alex bealer blacksmith guild. i would love to be able to forge a 50 to 100 lb colonial anvil, short face, no cutting table or step, short horn, something like 4 by 8 face and 4 in horn maybe 10 tall. i know it would take at least 6 big guys with sledge hammers and a huge anvil to forge on, there is a hand full of younger guys that may be interested in doing this in my gild. i have a few good anvils so its not really a need, i just simply like to make tools, and is there really any other reason i need to make one.
for a wile i have been welding up an anvil out of scrap 1.5 plate, a 4 by 6 by 6 block, 3.5 round and just other large scrap, all has been grooved on edge so i have at least 95% fusion when i weld and i plan to hard face the thing, dont really know what kind of anvil it will be, will not be a classic London stile. more like frankinstine with a squair face 6 by 6 , but only 4 but 6 directly under it so 2 in of the squair will be like a clip then a heel 6 by 4 with 1 in hardy hole and 6 in horn, stands about 14 in tall with large upseting block, and a side clip off one side of the boddy

[Glenn]

The IForgeIron store has a DVD on how to forge an anvil by the Shetland Anchorsmiths

[ThomasPowers]

They forged a smallish anvil at one of the SOFA meetings using a tilthammer to forgeweld on the face.

[Tyler Murch]

So you're a member of the Bealer Guild? Another local member of the guild named Michael Dillon has a 750 pound air hammer. No sweat.

If you want to forge it by hand with sledges, let me know. I would love to help. I've done some large forging with sledges. Have you thought about making it in halves, top and bottom, and electric welding together? That is how Peddinghaus makes their larger anvils.

[MLMartin]

yes i sall michaels hammer out in his cord yard last year, what a beast, ive forge welded many times in all the class's ive taken at cambell and been going for years, but im just geting my own coal forge set up at home right now, been using propain, i would like to make it with sledges, and have asumed i would have to make a ground forge to have one big enough to make the whole thing, not sure how i would go about making the its, would probaly be easyer to start with one huge chunk of steel for the body and then shaping it, but moving that much metal would be a heap of work, so maybe foring it in 2 halves top with horn, face and hardy hole, then the bottom half with feet, then welding on the face plate, i dont realy have the set up to do it at my shop right now sadly, but have been thinking about it for a wile and though i would see who ells out there has 2 cents on it, and if a hand full of people wanted to try it out close enough maybe things will come toggther for a weekend and make a few
i like the simple hour glass shape of the really old mouse holes

[Tyler Murch]

Martin, I'd really like to help you. This type of thing, building forges from the ground up to heat large pieces of steel, and forging large pieces by hand is one of my many cups of tea. My phone number is listed under location on all my posts. Call any time. We could even do it at my shop, or yours, or somebody elses, whatever works out.

[bruce wilcock]

four of us forged a anvil 2 years back , the anvil was made in six pices ,boss with handeling holes then the feet were welded on ,and the top was forged in one pice and welded on ,

[Don A]

Killer pics, Bruce.

I can smell the coal from here.

Don

[bruce wilcock]

there is the bottom of the anvil in one fire and the top in the other soaking

[ThomasPowers]

Well anvils of any size seem to have been welded up of pieces and made using powerhammers going way back. (tilthammer is at least 1000 years old) The sledging is more for clean up after the heavy work is done.

You could make a simple drophammer for the face weld pretty easily

[MLMartin]

thanks all for the pictures, i hope to get a hold of the dvd on this site to, tilt hammer, never herd that term, im assuming your talking about a trip hammer run by a water wheel with studs that lift the hammer 3 or 4 times in every rotation, drop hammer, like the few hundred pound pole hammer that is hoisted up and just guided back down to hit the work, seen some run in a video, makes since, but what kind of power pulls the hammer up over and over, surly not a crew of men? some kind of moter thats run like a manuel transmission and you just have it unengaged, step on the gear pedal the thing is quickly yanked up then just release the clutch and it falls again?

haha i dont ever have my power hammer built yet or my tredel hammer for that matter, seems like i have some catching up to do before i make a big drop hammer

[Candidquality]

Some advice from 1873

THE ANVIL.
Next in importance to the forge-fire, is the anvil
of the smith. This is not only of interest as a tool
of the trade; but it ia also a particular object of our

inquiry, because the steeling of the anvil is a matter
of some importance. Anvils for heavy work are
generally square blocks of iron, with steel faces. In
many instances, however, it is merely a cast-iron
block, with chilled face. The common smith's
anvil is represented in fig. 7. It is made entirely of
wrought-iron, and the upper part, Fig 7
or face, is covered with hardened
steel. The making of an anvil is '
heavy work, as the whole of it is
performed by hand. Anvils vary
in weight from one hundred to over
five hundred pounds. For their manufacture, two
large fires are required. The principal portion, or
core, of the anvil

[Frosty]

thanks all for the pictures, i hope to get a hold of the dvd on this site to, tilt hammer, never herd that term, im assuming your talking about a trip hammer run by a water wheel with studs that lift the hammer 3 or 4 times in every rotation,

Ayup, another name for tilt hammer is trip hammer, though tilts were generally the larger cousin. Think of it as a scale thing.

An older version is the walking beam. This is simply a large long log balanced on a fulcrum. There is a hammer and anvil at one end and one or more people walk back and forth on the beam. Hence the name.

They aren't fast but they can pack quite a punch. (picture a 100' long log a multi ton iron faced stone hammer and 20 people walking the beam.)

Frosty

[bruce wilcock]

a swing hammer is easy to make but not so easy to get used to ,still they get the job done

[MLMartin]

hello, Tyler, are you part of the bealer gild, if so sorry for not recognizing you, I have a bad memory, my next gild meeting is in about 22 days, im going to talk with the guys in my guild and see if anyone ells is interested in joining in forging a anvil, im in Gwinnet county Ga, I still need to acquire steel to make this. Im not positive if I could forge this on my main anvil, its only 140 lb London, and its a little bowed, I also have a 250lb stump anvil ( acualy a cast steel gear that has a 1’ round face that im hardfacing with welding rods), I know I can wail on it all day long with a 16 lb hammer and have no worrys of damaging it, ive been working on my coal forge for the past few days, and welding up a fabricated anvil I started a wile back, the biggest thing I have ever forge was the horn for this anvil and it was around 30 lbs. if your ever looking for some one to come and work in the shop with you or swing a sledge hammer let me know, im always looking for more people to work with and experience, I plan to forge professionally one day

[Glenn]

In talking with Bruce Wilcock, he used 6 pound hammers to build his anvil and anchors. I was expecting them to use a much heavier hammer as it was a big project.

A 6 pound sledge is easy to control, and easy to use.

[easilyconfused]

Not just easier to handle but you can generally go a bit faster too which, while each individual stroke my not have as much weight behind it, you would think the cumulative difference would make an impact. Say for instance, you go up to a 10 pound sledge from the 6. That's an increase of 4 lbs. One extra swing from the 6 gets you 2 more lbs of weight moving metal. Another extra swing would be 8 extra lbs. Just shy of a swing from a 20lb sledge.
Just thinking out loud. May or not be true but, to me at least it makes sense.

[mcraigl]

Ah yes... Well according to Einstien, "E" (let's call it work done) is equal to "M" (Mass) times "C" (Velocity) Squared. Say you swing a 2lb hammer at 2units of velocity, you get 8 units of work. Now if you double the weight at the same velociy you get 16 units of work. But if you double the velocity of the original 2lb hammer, you get 32 units of work. Or... If you can swing the 4lb hammer at 4units of velocity, you get 64 units of work!

[ThomasPowers]

Sorry mcraigl but work is the integral of force over distance. in E=Mc^2 C is a constant and can't be changed, it's the speed of light in a vacuum.

You want newtonian physics not einsteinian physics so lets go with kinetic energy
K = 1/2 M * V^2 (F=Ma force and MV Momentum also play their part) and you get your squared velocity as you want.

[MLMartin]

so much math, i normally use a 8 lb when im striking with a sledge hammer

[bruce wilcock]

when working on a anchor 1/4 ton and up ,the job holds a lot of heat for a long time ,and to get the best out of the men 6-7 lb is around all can be managed ,with a gang, there will always be a man feels he can use the heaver hammers ,but his pace will slow down as the job goes on ,and pull the rest of the gang down ,when we do a anchor forging the job takes thee days ,the welding hammers are long headed 5 lb hammers on a 3 ft shaft there is a bit of heat to face, the main problem you will come up with forging a anvil is stop the job from crushing the coal and falling through the fire ,you will have to get handeling holes in the block first job so you can hold it up in the fire to get the feet welded on ,we set up a three legs and held the dogs with a chain