natenaaron Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 A couple years ago I scored a big welding table for 35 cents a pound from a metal shop. It was supposed to be 50 cents a pound but the guy who sold it to me did not get them memo. The boss informed him after I paid. I want this to become the center of my metal working world that will include welding, blacksmith work, and whatever else I decide to do. The table is 4x8 and weighs 1540 pounds. It is sturdy enough to handle everything I want to do, and then some. I want to mount the anvil on the table table corner above a table leg, with piece of wood sandwiched between it and the table to ease the noise. This would place the anvil (a converted railroad track) at belly level. Is this to high? One of my vices will be mounted near the anvil on a small table extension.The attached layout is what I was thinking. Shop layout.docx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Anvils are best mounted separately so you can work at all angles. Generally you want an anvil at a height about equal to the knuckles of your closed fist when your arm is at your side. A small anvil like railroad rail is generally mounted higher because, ordinarily you are not forging at full stroke and using a lighter hammer. I have two rail anvils that get moved around depending on what I'm working on. one sits on a stainless steel table at a height that I can use while sitting on a stool and a light hammer. The other sits on my steel table next to a machinist vice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 That'd be the perfect place to put your old rail anvil for light and or close work. If you rig clips so you can mount/demount it easily and quickly it'd be DE BOMB.Nice score on the table.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo7 Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Mount it there and see how you like it, just dont mount it permanetly because you will want to move it off the table one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Mount the anvil on a stand, not on the table. You want the anvil about knuckle to wrist high which would make the table knee high, and of very little use. Find a heavy vise and mount it to a piece of plate steel. Weld 4 pieces of angle iron to the bottom of the plate so you can drop it into any 4 holes on the table. This way the vise can be used in any corner, any center face or even in the middle if needed. Just pick it up and move it. You can make a hold fast for the vise or other method to hold it in place if needed.Locate some pipe that will just fit into the square holes. Thread one end and put a coupling on the threads, and drop the pipe into the holes. These can be used in many ways on the table, to dog against, or to bend against, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natenaaron Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 I wish I had square holes. This is a sheet of thick steel on a table frame. Apparently they periodically sell their tables and build new ones. Seems like a waste to me but the owner profits several million a year. He must be doing something right.I have zero hope of landing a real anvil right now so the railroad track is what I have to live with. I will see what I can find to mount it at the right height. Question on height though , an anvil at that height would cause the smith to bend over, Doesn't your back get tired? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 An anvil at the right height does NOT make the smith bend over. Sometimes though what the smith is doing on the anvil might. Between wrist and knuckle height is the current right range for height.Knuckle height is a heavy work height, say for strikers or working thick stock where the hammer is impacting an inch or two above the anvil face.Wrist height is good for moderate work and where I mounted my main anvil it's perfect for landing a smart blow on 3/4"- or doing finer work plannishing toasting forks, etc. though fine work is a little back bending so I'm putting together a stake tool to raise the face for finish work.Your back has a say too, if general forging makes it ache then try raising or lowering it till YOU are comfortable. What someone else says is right doesn't necessarily app;y to you. Think of them as starting points and experiment.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo7 Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 If I use an anvil thats too low I bend my knees not my back. Better for the back, and the legs -) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 (edited) Welding table, I was thinking acorn, sorry. For a welding table, flat plate on legs, I would imagine RR track would be about right (see above) or put a piece of 1/2 plate on the table and hammer on it. The plate will spread out the force of the hammer blow depending on the thickness of the table.Once you have the table in place, wire brush the table top and then CAREFULLY use you hand and feel for any welding sputter balls, stray welds, etc. Grind them lightly to achieve a smooth surface. This will be handy later when you try to move something on the table to keep it from catching. Next put a straight edge on the table and shine a light under the straight edge. This will tell you where any hills or valleys are located. Mark them with soapstone and use them to your advantage or avoid then as needed.Great score and a very useful tool. Edited October 28, 2015 by Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natenaaron Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 (edited) If you folks could explain how good a score it was to my wife, I would appreciate it. I bought it a couple years ago and it is still a sore point. At least how I handled the whole thing is a sore point. She is seldom at our business where my shop is. She happened to show up when I was moving the table into the shop. I was expecting to hear what a good deal I got. Instead I got the "So, when we sell this place what are going to do with all this crap, since you won't have a forklift anymore?" then I got the don't argue with me eyes. You know the ones...crossed arms, head tilted, eyebrows furled, smoke coming out the nose, and horns coming out the head, They only got worse when I said we would be buying a forklift so I could move all my metal working necessities around. And people wonder why we don't rent out the apartment at the shop.I have several 8x8s I can strap together to put the anvil on. Wish I could find a real anvil. Edited October 28, 2015 by natenaaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Do a site search for TPAAAT. It may not be right now but it is right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 One of my anvils was made in Columbus Ohio, abused at a copper mine in AZ and made it's way back to Columbus OH where I paid about 50 cents a pound for the 400 pounds left and had an expert welder and smith use the Gunther method of repairing it---it's now in NM... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 If you weren't so far away we would be out to take it out of your shop and out of your wife's view to save the marriage. Free of course. there was a joke around a while ago something about a wife acting like yours and the husband says "that is what my x wife said about it" and when she says" I didn't know you had an .x" the reply is "I don't yet." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 We have a vice mounted to the corner of our welding bench, but our other work bench has a 2" reciver welded to it. And a vice mounted to a draw bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natenaaron Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 My wife is a good person, she just doesn't understand why I do some of the things I do. Like why I moved the stuff out of the alarmed shop and the "beat up old crap" was moved in. Now I can say it is to keep notownkid from steal...er.. procuring my welding table. I've thought about the receiver hitch idea but was not sure how it would work for a large vice. I've seen small vices attached to receivers on welding trucks but they are always small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Mostly thats because of lifting and allighning it, the newer (2&3/8"?) are beafy. But a 2" is rated froe 500# Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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