Hi guys, I'm new to the forum.  I have been lurking around for a couple of months now soaking in the knowledge...   I'm also new to Blacksmithing.  I have been scrounging around and puting together a shop.  I still don't have a decent anvil but I just found this 50 pound piece of stainless rod that I could use (free of course).  I haven't seen anything about using stainless for an anvil.  I'm looking for some pro's and con's (besides price) does anyone have any?  If this isn't good my next stop is the rail yard.

 

Thanks!

Javier  

Is your piece of SS round or rectangular?  SS will work for an anvil.  If it is round, you could set it up vertically and use the end to pound on. (As long as the diameter is at least 2" or more).  If it is rectangular in section, pound away.  It might dent a bit, but it will outlast you.

Con: not as hard as an anvil

Pro: lower thermal conductivity coefficient, the heat will stay longer in your workpiece

Yeah its round. It has about a 6 inch diamiter.  So It has a good face and I can use the side as a fuller.

use it till you get something better, for some things it may be better than a normal anvil

Certainly better for forging stainless steel without contaminating it. Have to make up a stainless steel hammer as well of course!

Alan

Welcome aboard Javier, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance.

 

It'll make a dandy anvil and without knowing what kind of stainless it is there's no telling if it's softer or harder than most steel anvils. Experience with it will give you a good practical handle on how hard it is or I suppose you could have a Rockwell test done if numbers are important to you.

 

At 50lbs. you could make a stand you could flip the anvil around on and take advantage of the faces and round side. A little grinding and you could put different die shapes in one face, radius the edge to different degrees and generally turn it into a first rate multi purpose tool.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

Your steel would probably work as well--likely better--than what I'm using. You have more surface area and mass.

Stand it on end on a log or any stand with some mass, and anchor it to keep it from bouncing.

The steel in mine is soft enough to file---see  the visible dents? But as a no-cost starting point for learning, it can't be beat. I now

have a better sense of what I need etc. and am actively looking for a true anvil (or at least a larger chunk of steel!)

Good luck.

I have acces to a lot of stainless steel scrap, now with your idea i will make a 100 pound anvil,  i recently bougth a peter wrigth 106 lb, that should be my template or model for it

Welcome aboard Peter glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the Iforge gang live within visiting distance.

Do you know what kind of stainless you have available? Some can be pretty stiff some not so much. I strongly doubt you'd want to pay to have it hardened if it's a grade that can be hardened. No reason not to if it's a freebie or cheap. 

Then again you already have a top shelf anvil are you more interested in making tools than using them? No sin in it it just changes things some.

Frosty The Lucky.

Stainless actually tends to be quite ductile---until it work hardens in which case it tends toward a little brittle.  As an anvil, I suspect you'd start out aggravated about the face being a little soft and change your tune as you work on it more.  Heck, it might work-harden to the point of being a great anvil face.  I'd certainly give it a shot.

I happen to have an actual stainless steel anvil--roughly 280 lbs continental pattern.  Someone was testing the idea of casting anvils as a sideline so cast a handful of these.  The stainless is a proprietary high-manganese blend (they won't say what it is and I never had it tested) that's generally used for the hammers in hammer mills and rock crushers.  Roughly 85%+ rebound.  So--there is such a thing as a true stainless steel anvil out there.  Not common but they exist.