Hey guys, still working on building my forge, but here are a couple pics of what will be my anvil, at least until I find something better. It's a chunk of 4150 plate 3" thick, and was 16" in diameter. I had a friend of mine cut off the three sides so I could mount it directly to a stand, for a decent sized face (3" X 12"), and to have a flat surface on the side to weld one of the drops cut in half to as a horn. I'll also be cutting a notch in the "horn" piece that will be my hardy hole. May also find some thick plate and weld an upsetting block on the side of the base somewhere...

 

 

That's a great start and one serious block of steel.The 112 lb anvil I have has a face width of just 31/2 inches.

Before I had the three sides cut off, a calculator online said a 16" round 3" thick of 4150 oughta be around 170 pounds. Best of all, all I have in this is a couple fishing lures to paint for the guy. (I custom paint fishing lures)

Looks like an anvil to me! If you can bend one cut off you have a bick (posibly one side square and the other round) or you can weld one to an upright (part of another cut off) and make a stake. Then when it comes to heavy drawing operations you could just role the anvil over and use the convex side. 

wonder how the radius will work for drawing out?   Lovely piece of steel though.

 

Bet with a half round sledge it would be the drawing bomb. Think BIG horn

I'll bet you fellas are right about drawing out on that radiused side

She's a sweet looking anvil. don't drill or machine a hardy hole weld one on. My preference is to use a couple pieces of 1" sq and one piece of 1"x3" welded to the side making a 1" hardy hole with 1" thick sides.

The trimmings suggest a long list if useful shapes but don't get in a hurry to use them or something better will come right up soon as you finish.

Frosty The Lucky.

So you wouldn't use one of the drops  to make a horn from Frosty? I was going to cut the hardy hole into the trimming. I plan on mostly doing axes and blades, so I don't think I'll really need a horn that terribly often, but I do want to have it should I need one.

A bick or a stake will do you just fine, and if you just weld up a free standing hardy hole you will be mighty usefull. Unless you feel "manly" and want to cut one there the side 

If it were mine, I'd either do a Hardy like Frost described that was welded to the full side opposite the radius. That way you can still roll it on the side to use the radius for drawing. Or I'd figure out a way to cut one into the wide side face, and just lay the anvil on its side to use the hardy. Again still allowing you to roll to use the radius side. Beautiful anvil if you ask me.

Edited October 9, 201510 yr by ThorsHammer82

Disappeared reply!!

Isn't a horn a useful shape? There are a LOT of potential useful shapes. Just don't be in a hurry to use the stock. Just because you have something doesn't mean you HAVE to use it. Think of it like money in savings rather than checking.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

That is a beautiful thing. If you find the right gallery, you could probably sell it for a couple of grand and buy a whole bunch of gear.

It's nice to have a friend that can work big stuff. I bet there are times my machinest pal whishes we'd have never met!

Definitely a gorgeous anvil!

I'd use it as-is for the next year so you can learn what you need and where you need it.  Horns are rather over-rated and a small bick can be chucked into a vise if you need to make a bend in something.  The radiused side of the anvil will be more than enough for drawing stock out, and I prefer a selection of pipe sections for making bends because they're a uniform radii.

If, in a year, you really find that a horn or hardy hole is a "must have", cypher out the best way to add one.   Until then, no sense in making work for yourself.

Horns are really great for making bottle openers, but a drift will do in a pinch.  Bending or welding chain can be done off the edge of the anvil, and drawing can be done on a hump ground in the top or already present on your anvil.  I don't use a horn much, but it is nice to have.  It is also useful for welded hearts.  It is hard to fully open the heart without a big cone shape.  I just bought a cone mandrel which should do this job well, though.

If you get froggy in the futur, one can alwayse either grind a 3" diamiter radius on part of one of the parele sides or cut a notch and shape a horn lots of work for th amount of gain. 

I thought about this thread on Friday, at a local junkyard they had a pile four times as tall as I am and at least 40 feet long that had block after block after block of heavy steel, old manufacturing parts and pieces, no doubt.  I thought anyone looking to get into smithing could do well with any number of items from that stack as a beginner anvil-like object, they'd be just fine, and at 23 cents a pound it'd be hard to beat.  Specially as tough as it is to find anvils around here.

It's tough finding anvils around here also... I've been looking off and on for a couple years now, and pretty hard the last 6-8 months to no avail.

Got a section of a locust log from some utility workers clearing a right of way this evening... Gonna weld some brackets on to mount the anvil more securely. Also included a short clip of me testing the rebound out with a 2# brass hammer... What do you guys think?

 

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what's the plan for the brackets to hold it down better? If it where mine, I'd get some large angle iron. drill holes in it for mounting to the stump, and for passing bolts through to the side of the anvil. Weld some nuts on and use large bolts to clamp it in place. I'd be interested to hear what others would do.

I was thinking of something similar... I have some 3" angle 1/4" thick that oughta do the trick

Waste of time doing a rebound test with a brass hammer. You need hard steel on steel. Brass is a dead blow hammer that deforms on impact with virtually no rebound.

You think finding blacksmithing tools is hard where you live? You ought to give it a shot in Alaska. With rare exception most guys here buy something new and have it shipped up for the bargain basement price in the $6-7/lb.

If you make the bracket to hold that baby to the block so it can slip in and out you'll be able to flip it to different edges with a pry bar. That'd let you put a number of useful shapes on it.

I'd be happy as a clam working on that baby. Not that I'd trade my Soderfors in on it, clams just don't get THAT happy. (Anybody know where "happy as a clam" came from?)

Frosty The Lucky.

The original version was "Happy as a clam at high tide" -- i.e., safe from clamdiggers and other predators. 

The original version was "Happy as a clam at high tide" -- i.e., safe from clamdiggers and other predators.