Base is made out of 2x4's stacked and a concrete floor.

The anvil is some 20lb piece of steel I found at a scrapyard 

 

waiting for it to dry and then I'm going to try and swing on it 

Welcome aboard Depuuty, 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.

That looks like ore than 20lbs. what are the dimensions? It's certainly wider and deeper than the face of your hammer so it'll make a much better anvil mounted on end. If you're thinking of grinding part of the overhang into a horn it'll make your whole unit more tippy than it'll be useful.

There are a LOT tools that work as well or better than a horn on a London pattern anvil.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

In regards to the location thing, I am from Indiana. However I don't know about wanting to be in "visiting" distance, so maybe I'll just keep it at Indiana. 

 

I do have an angle grinder but I don't feel I'm skilled enough to shape a horn out of that. 

The steel is 20lbs, the whole setup I would guesstimate at about 230 and maybe less when it fully drys. 

That wood glue that I have on there is just for moister really. I wedged that steel in the stump pretty well. Thought about putting some iron strap on there but I don't think it will be needed. I will have an update tomorrow on how well it works for any new smiths out there who want a under 10 dollar anvil. 

Thanks Frosty

Is that a solid bar or a square tube?  If its a solid bar you will get more rebound if you stand it on end.  Looks beefy though! Let us know how that works out, I'm always looking for a budget build to do.

Just remember an afternoon spent in the shop of a smith that knows what they are doing can save you 6 months of trying to figure stuff out on your own.

I hope you are at least planning to attend the IBA conference in early June.  (Interesting how language usage changes over location...;  I'm from Arkansas; but living in New Mexico the last dozen years.)

I'm going to run the angle grinder on it still 

The only downside, the steel bar is a little soft and shows some indentation from my hammer.. But not as soft as that anvil from harbor freight. Love harbor freight they just have a bad anvil. 

Depuuty, When you get ready, let me know. There are some good groups here in the Hoosier state.......          Dave

so your in india, but you used an American quarter to compare your anvil to. you may want you make the base of your anvil not stick out so much so that you can get closer to your anvil. my old anvil stand, the base was made out of a really big disc plow head and I remember how annoying it was to be so far away from my anvil. just a thought, try it out and see how it works. If you don't like it than change it.

                                                                                                   Littleblacksmith

I think he is from Indiana that is still in the United States.  We know Texas has a hard time remembering that do to they have always wanted and tried to be their own country.

35 minutes ago, matto said:

I think he is from Indiana that is still in the United States.  We know Texas has a hard time remembering that do to they have always wanted and tried to be their own country.

Hahaha I was thinking the same thing..

 

Looks like the anvil works.

I really like the swage side of that baby. Stand it on end and keep your eyes pealed for a sq or rd bar to upgrade your kit. When I was using field expedient anvils that bar would've been like Christmas. That's a VERY useful shape.

Frosty The Lucky.

What you might want to consider is making a dye anvil like Alec Steele and Brian Brazeal use out of that. Look up Brian Brazeal Facebook and his dye anvil is his profile picture. Look up the best anvil to learn on by Alec Steele to see his dye anvil. Hope this helps

Well boys.. I was told it would not be the best material using rebar, but the anvil did hold up and I believe it will for a little while.. 

First knife and probably as far as I'll sand this one 

didn't flatten it out enough for a handle 

so I'll just learn from this and go on to the next knife 

Besides buying letter punching tools how could I affectively put my intitals on the handle? 

On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 6:57 PM, matto said:

I think he is from Indiana that is still in the United States.  We know Texas has a hard time remembering that do to they have always wanted and tried to be their own country.

whooooops, sorry for my misunderstanding, I didn't know that they taught Texas history up north! glad to hear that yall cornhuskers know something about us. 

Dated a girl from down there.  Lot of fun and Texas true!!

5 minutes ago, Depuuty said:

Well boys.. I was told it would not be the best material using rebar, but the anvil did hold up and I believe it will for a little while.. 

First knife and probably as far as I'll sand this one 

didn't flatten it out enough for a handle 

so I'll just learn from this and go on to the next knife 

hey it looks better than my first railroad spike "knife" trust me thought they only get better

Just now, littleblacksmith said:

hey it looks better than my first railroad spike "knife" trust me thought they only get better

Thanks, thanks! I'm gonna go for a traditional camping knife next.. 

 

LET ME SEE YOUR FIRST KNIFE