Anvil special treatment

[kyotie11]

I have always heard of people having special rules for anvils like "no cast iron" or "the stand needs to be wood" are there any reasons for all the special rules for having a good anvil?

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning,

 

Everyone has their own preference. If all you can afford is a Cast Iron anvil, then it is better than nothing. Fastening an anvil to a stump gives great bottom support, so does a steel anvil stand. Making a box, filling the box with sand, sitting the anvil on the sand, makes the quietest anvil, no ring. Just Magic, it is so simple and easy to adjust height.

 

Neil

[Bruno C.]

I've had a cruddy anvil  stump for many years.  Recently, I've been working on a new one.   The old one was made of some sort of soft wood stump (pine/cedar?) that was cut in two that I "stapled" together using bent rebar sitting on an uneven concrete floor.   My new one is made of 4x4 Old Oak logs glued and strapped together.   All I can tell you so far is that, without even securing the new stand down to the floor,  nor the anvil to the stand (yet), my small 70 lb. anvil works 10 times better.     An Anvil that doesn't move, or moves less is much better than anvil that walks around.    I've hit 1" round stock with 6 lb hammers to small effect before on a cruddy anvil setup.   Now I feel like I can move worlds.

 

Secure Your Anvil. Make it Solid.   Doesn't seem to much matter how.  Steel or wood, a heavy rock in the ground would work better than a 300 lb anvil floating on a ball bearing.

 

You will accomplish much more work for the fuel expended with a solid base.   Otherwise, it's just an exercise in futility.  

[ThomasPowers]

Well are there any reasons for rules like "Don't buy rotten meat to eat"?

or rules like Don't buy a FORD/CHEVY/HUNDAI/etc...?

 

Some anvil rules are based on innate principles:  Cast iron ASOs don't work as well as a piece of scrap steel *and* the scrap steel will be cheaper! (So I take issue with " If all you can afford is a Cast Iron anvil, then it is better than nothing."----you can buy a chunk of steel CHEAPER and it will be *better* than the CI ASO!)

 

Some are personal preference:  I prefer wooden stands to steel ones, others prefer steel to wood---but I have both in my smithy as the steel one is a lot lighter to take on the road!  I prefer my massive fisher to my massive trenton as it's QUIET.  Others prefer "bright church bell" anvils.  I prefer wooden hammer handles to fiberglass ones---and would claim they're innately better; but others would claim the opposite.

 

So when looking at anvils I'm interested in CONDITION, Brand, Style, weight (in descending order of importance).    Age has no plus or minus to me I use anvils from before the US civil war or from after WWII with no distinction between them.  I believe that only a handful of anvil makes would account for 80% of them out there so it's not difficult to learn the good ones

[fluidsteel]

Kyotie,

The "rules" are not set in stone.

For example, Fisher anvils are cast iron with a tool steel face and in my opinion are among the best anvils made.
When saying no cast iron people mean ASO'a Anvil Shaped Oblects. This is referring to cheap Chinese import anvils where the face and body are cast iron.
I personally have two steel three legged stands not a stump. It allows my feet to be closer to the anvil if I want and is easy to shim on an uneven floor. I have a 36" diameter stump coming that I plan on using in the shop too so I have nothing against wood. Not everyone has a welder so people generally make what they want.
I do think an old anvil on a stump is a lovely sight.

It's hard to answer a general question like yours beyond the two examples. Any other specifics about anvils?

[SoCal Dave]

I have found that circumstances usually determined what kind of stand I have for my two anvils.  My first anvil and stand were for horse shoeing.  So, they were lighter than a blacksmith anvil.  I loaded the anvil and stand into my truck and needed it to be portable.  I used that anvil for about fives years when I starting blacksmithing.  I acquired a three hundred pound Hay Budden anvil that came with a steel stand and even though it has a strange sound, I like that the anvil and stand do not move at all.  I didn't realize how much my horseshoeing anvil walked around until I got the Hay Budden. At this point, I don't plan on changing the stand because of the dull sound it gives off.   

[Charles R. Stevens]

Rules change. Many old references, such as the machenery handbook recommend not clamping your anvils down, and using cast iron stands.
My thaught, if you can clamp it down and bolt the stand to the flore you have a more efficient use of the mass.

[SReynolds]

I like rules. Others have used junk/poor methods and tell us what not to do. No reason to "reinvent the wheel" as they say....

 

As far as the anvil. I read up on folks using all sorts of stuff. I figured it was far better to just BUY and actual ANVIL from the start as opposed to experimenting with chunks of steel/iron/ RR track etc.

 

The method to mount the anvil has been spelled out for quite some time. Elm. Placed into a hole in the ground, inside your shop etc.About four or five feet deep. Set to the height you want.
(look it up)

[SReynolds]

Alot lik this.........

[arftist]

I like rules. Others have used junk/poor methods and tell us what not to do. No reason to "reinvent the wheel" as they say....

 

As far as the anvil. I read up on folks using all sorts of stuff. I figured it was far better to just BUY and actual ANVIL from the start as opposed to experimenting with chunks of steel/iron/ RR track etc.

 

The method to mount the anvil has been spelled out for quite some time. Elm. Placed into a hole in the ground, inside your shop etc.About four or five feet deep. Set to the height you want.
(look it up)

Elm log six feet long. Should be cut at a fork so that it is as wide as possible. This part is then buried on a layer of gravel. Anvil should be securely attached to log. Don't believe in steel stands, too much flex in the designs I have seen. Cast iron stand would be OK since it doesn't flex. 

 

Box of sand idea drives me nuts. If you want quiet use a flypress or a Fisher or Vulcan anvil. I can't imagine a worse way to mount an anvil than on loose sand. 

[quint]

Box of sand with a steel top works wonderfully for me. Kind of a cross between the steel stand and sand mounted stands. I dont perceive any flex in the stand.