Forbidden thus new thread

Again! If you ask two blacksmiths...

but it really depends on the anvil, your work habits your location your.....

If you have a heavy anvil you do not need to tie it down. My 250 pound anonymous north Swedish type stands rock solid on its stump. My 80 pound Kohlsva London pattern is tied down. I have used four 6" square section nails and one result is a very obvious silencing of the ring. For both anvils, I have made sure that there is a thigh fit between all four corners of the anvil feet and the stump. Anvil undersides are not perfectly flat so this is important. Not only for stability but also for dampening of sound. Both stumps have been cut so they are slightly convex at the bottom so that they do not rock. The fact that I have a dirt floor helps the stability; with a concrete floor, Charlotte's three-point bottom might be better. I did not weigh the stumps but I estimate about 200 pounds and 150 respectively. With a total weight of over 400 pounds there is no need to tie to the floor unless you do very heavy bending.

I use stumps because all smithies, I have been to, used stumps, I have the timber available, a carpenter's shop, and I think it looks nice. However, none of that is a valid argument for stumps so what about the arguments against? The stumps have never been in the way of my feet but then #1: I do not hold the hammer close to the (hammer) head  #2: I have the (round) horn to the right. Insects are not a problem, in my area. I avoid rotting by isolating the stumps from my dirt floor by a plastic sheet. The potential problem is rather cracking from drying.

My stumps work well in my climate, with my anvils and my work habits. If I had a RR-track anvil I would tie it very well to a post. If I were travelling with my forge I would might use a three-legged steel stand probably with a shelf to be loaded down with whatever local heavy objects I could find. I would also use some kind of plastic material under the anvil to ensure good contact.

Another two pennies worth

Göte    

My 515# main shop anvil would move on it's stump during heavy work. So I took a few fence wire staples and traced it's outline with them and it doesn't move now; it's a Fisher so quiet is already a given.

I forgot to say that I have routed the outline of the anvil footprint so it stands 1/4" lower than the surface of the stump. That prevents it from "walking" but I have not noticed any kind of movement within that confinement. Maybe it has something to do with the shape of the lower part of the anvil. Mine is more solid than the London pattern.

I have provisians for stakes on my portable stand, it and the anvil way in at about 75# so unless I'm adjusting hot shoes I would have to chase it. I dont have an isue most days as I'm shoeing, but when some one askes me to straiten out something the bent on a farm call i stake her down

My shop anvil lives on a fabricated stump, and at 150# for the anvil i have to chase her around, a lot. Looking forward to a permenent space to secure her

I have provisians for stakes on my portable stand, it and the anvil way in at about 75# so unless I'm adjusting hot shoes I would have to chase it. I dont have an isue most days as I'm shoeing, but when some one askes me to straiten out something the bent on a farm call i stake her down

My shop anvil lives on a fabricated stump, and at 150# for the anvil i have to chase her around, a lot. Looking forward to a permenent space to secure her

Know a fellow the followed the horse racing circuit shoeing horses.  I asked him one time why he didn't use a lighter anvil like I saw advertised for the farrier trade.  He said he would if he had to travel to the horse,  but since he was at the track the horses were normally brought to him.  He could hit a shoe harder that I could understand I watched him forging clips with one blow.