A new stand

[ausfire]

So, I have a nice 304# HB coming over from the U.S. in the next couple of months. I'm pondering over what sort of stand to prepare for its arrival. I know the height of the anvil, so I can make a stand to suit.
It's no problem to find a hefty gum stump, set it in the ground and anchor the anvil down with steel straps, chain or bolts, but maybe there is a better way.
I have read in this forum that Hay Budden anvils have a strident ring, so perhaps there are ways of reducing the ring for the sake of ear protection. (I don't have near neighbours so that's not a problem.)I've got to say I prefer the dull thud of hammer on anvil than an ear-piercing peal of bells.
It will be a permanent fixture. I have plenty of heavy steel to weld a frame if that's better. Someone suggested a steel frame with an oversized metal tray poured with lead to reduce the ring.
If you had to decide on a mount for an anvil of that size, what would be your plan of action?

[LibrariaNPC]

I personally use a set of 4x6 boards cut down and bolted together as my anvil stand. I'm waiting to make a new stand for my 134# HB I just got two weeks ago (waiting for payday), but the set-up worked out well!.

 

As for the ringing, I've heard two suggestions that I haven't tested yet:

 

1) Put a bolt in the pritchett hole

2) Put a rare earth magnet under the heel.

 

I hope that helps!

[Charles R. Stevens]

The "show me your anvil stand" may be if help. I know heavy 3 leged stands of heavy strucual tubing and thick plate have become popular. Filling the tubes with sand or steel shot and oil, as well as beding the anvil in silocon sealant before bolting it down. The third leg extends under the horn and all legs are either bolted or staked down.
My truck anvil is on a 3 leged stand with a wood top easy to move and can be stakes with 1/4" tent pegs. My shop anvil is on a fabricated oak stump (inlet, chained and siliconed) and so is my little hornless/ healess anvil. I would think (from experiance and what I have glened from others) that a "gum" stump (eucaliptis?) beded in silicon sealant and firmy straped or chained down would work bery well. My understanding is that a cain around the waist, a tool in the pritchel/ hardy or a magnet under the heal simply moves the harmonic frequency. I do like to inlet the feet or forge square brakets to hold the anvil from sliping around (tho the silicon makes fine glue) and use chains and turnbuckles to hold it down

[Frosty]

I put mine on steel tripod stands, they quieten the anvils significantly. My Soderfors has a dangerously loud ring, a missed blow will make your ears ring through muffs and ear plugs on the old wooden block. Without ear protection a missed blow is only uncomfortably loud.

 

To ring the object has to resonate. A wooden block allows the sound waves to rebound uninhibited like a triangle on a wooden peg or leather thong. A steel stand has a different resonant frequency so when the sound waves from the anvil impact the contact point the two chatter and the waves can't rebound. CLANK. This is what a chain or magnet do but mass and size are factors.

 

A sand box stand damps the ring nicely too.

 

Those are my favorites.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[timgunn1962]

Unless it needs to be movable, I'd go for the stump and probably bed it in silicone. I made a stand from end-grain timbers and routed in a pocket for the anvil to sit in, then cut a piece of Anti-Vibration matting to fit the pocket (Fab-Cel 25, left over from a job at work). http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/anti-vibration-pads-chips-tape/3660150/ The difference in noise level with the mat and without it is amazing. There is no discernable ring at all with the mat, but it rings like a bell without it. If I was doing it again and didn't have the mat, I'd be going for silicone instead. I'm pretty sure it's important to have the entire anvil base in contact with the material for acoustic coupling: the sound waves get straignt out into something that doesn't transmit sound very well, rather than being internally reflected off the bottom of the anvil and bouncing around in side something that does transmit sound well.

[VaughnT]

I have tried the chain wrap around the waist and never found it to do much more than get in the way.  It surely didn't kill the ring, and I have better things to do with 20' of chain.

 

I've tried a powerful magnet on the side of the anvil.  Again, it didn't kill the ring.  It was great for collecting scale, but the ring was still there in force.

 

I did have a modicum of success by placing a strong magnet under the heel of the anvil, and another one on the horn.  I even made a video showing the change in tone between the chains and magnets.

 

All of that, though, was nothing compared to the change made by simply setting the anvil in a bed of silicone caulk.

 

If you want to deaden the ring of the anvil, lay down a half-tube of silicone caulk or masonry adhesive on the top of your stump.  Then sit the anvil down into it.  My wilkinson anvil went from sounding like a church bell to something more akin to a Fisher.  It sounded like I was pounding on an oak plank.

 

My conclusion:  there is zero reason to use chains or magnets to deaden the sound of an anvil.  All they do is create a mess and get in the way.  

 

You can get the same effect with lead or a box of sand, but they require special steps that a bed of caulk doesn't

 

 

 

 

 

As for the stand itself, I'm partial to the wood stump if you can get it so the anvil sits level.  If this is too much for your tooling, the metal tripod is a great alternative.  I made mine from 1" solid square stock and haven't had any real issues other than it likes to migrate across the floor.  I would never have imagined that nearly 500lb of metal would move under my 4lb hammer, but it does.  Slow as the glaciers, but move it does.

 

The good news is that it's not a permanent fixture and I can move it out of the way whenever I need to.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Vaughn, try srewin your stand to a 1/2 sheet of 3/4" ply. Then 3 wood screws out and its easy(ish) to move

[Frosty]

If you're on a concrete floor and your steel stand has feet then a bead of silicone troweled flat and thin and allowed to dry will keep it from moving. It's a trick I learned from all the travel we did in south East Alaska on the AK Marine Highway Ferries. They kept dishes, cups, etc. from sliding off tables with a thin wipe of silicone calk on the bottoms of every darned thing. I've tried it on shop equipment and if it's good and thin it lasts a good long time and you by golly have to lift the equipment off the floor to move it.

 

I never tried it on the spruce blocks I used to use as anvil stands and they tended to go walk about in use but it wasn't a big deal, I tend to move my anvils around in use. I don't have silicone anti skid on my anvil stands, I move them too often, it's not only more work to have to walk around to the other side or end of my anvil to get THAT position it also means I'm walking around more with HOT steel in my hand. That increases the probability of an accident and it allows the steel to cool more than I want it to.

 

Anywho, a smear of silicone calking on the feet of equipment will really help keep it where you want it.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Frank Turley]

Little by little, I'm mounting my anvils, each in box of sand, which I first heard about in Otto Schmirler's book.* I would weld up a box out of 5mm thick or thicker plate. The threaded rods are welded to the side of the box at the correct angle. The two flat bars are placed on top and sucked down with washers and nuts to stabilize the anvil.

*Werk und Werkzeug des Kunstschmieds

[Charles R. Stevens]

How often do you have to lift the anvil and level the sand?

[ausfire]

Hmmmm. Thank you all for the replies and helpful suggestions. Seems I am spoiled for choice. One thing seems common though, and that is to achieve a firm bond between the anvil and whatever base is used. Any space between anvil and what it sits on is undesirable in terms of deadening the ring.
I think at this stage I will go with a large stump, suitably levelled and sunk maybe a foot or so into the earth (my smithy has an earth floor) and a generous layer of silicone caulk to bed the anvil on. Secured with metal straps or perhaps a sliding bolt/angle iron set up as described by Frank.
We'll see how it goes and I'll post a pic of the result when the anvil lands on Terra Australis.

[Frank Turley]

If your concern is about the anvil swimming in the sand, you can put a box-sized plate or board between the anvil and sand. I did that on my last two that I mounted this way. I like the overall method as it quiets the anvil and makes the anvil mobile. For large work, it can be moved away from the fire and for small work, closer to the fire. The sand makes it heavy, but it can be "walked" or slid on a concrete floor.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Might want to go down an other foot or so.

[njanvilman]

I have a large (300 lb HB) anvil that was bedded in molten lead.  A hollow was carved out of the end grain wood and molten lead poured in.  The anvil was set into the lead.  And straps were still added to keep it tight.  I makes very little noise, although there still is a slight ring.