June 16, 201610 yr Finally got my chainsaw out and whittled an anvil stand for my little Trenton. It's a chunk from a maple log that's been lying out side my shop for a while. Long enough to develop a bit of spalting. Just have to bolt the anvil down and I'm... well, finish the forge press, and I'm...uh tune the forge burner, and then I'm rea... tweak the forge stand and THEN I'm ready to go! Unless I've forgotten something?
June 16, 201610 yr What's the final surface height and what was your method/reasoning to determine it? Since that question comes up about every 5 minutes on the forum it'd be nice to see people post that info when they post about their new anvil stand. Sure, it's also a factor of body proportions but people interject other factors which are important to them in addition to things like the hammer mark test to decide how tall. Oh...love it. I regret not having a beautiful piece of wood under mine every day because...well, wood looks a lot more beautiful than weldments to me.
June 16, 201610 yr Author Well after reading a bunch on the subject (the sticky about determining anvil height), I measured from the floor to my wrist, then from the floor to my knuckles. Scratched my head and thought, I'll make the stand the distance from the floor to my wrist minus the height of the anvil. Then if that feels too high, I can trim it to the height of floor to knuckles minus anvil height. (and now I'll find out I misremembered what I read and it's supposed to be some other method of determining height) "I cut it twice and it's still too short!"
June 17, 201610 yr could try putting a thin board of wood on top and striking it with the hammer. see how your hammer hits it and when your level with a good flat strike then your good.
June 17, 201610 yr Wrist hight works well for small/detailed work (or old eyes) my small farriers anvil is set at that hight, my larger one is at closed fist hight. If I had a reliable striker I would be looking at first knuckle hight, as you tend to use top tools.
June 17, 201610 yr That's a beautiful piece of wood! Better be glad your a long way away. Your "stand" might sprout legs and run off. Papy
June 17, 201610 yr Please don't use that beautiful piece of spalted maple for an anvil stand. It deserves a lot more respect than being a stand that will be burnt, and dirtied. If I were in your neck of the woods I would build a stand for you and trade. I am and will always be a woodworker before metal worker. Since it is too short you might see if a local wood worker will build you a butt ugly pine stand. in trade, and to your specifications. Spalted maple book matched lumber for $195 and only 39 inches long. Do you realize how valuable that stand is?
June 17, 201610 yr That method is helpful, Das, but standing closer, farther, stance, technique and stock thickness can effect the shape of the dents. I'm 6'2" and wear riding heals, and often step up to other smiths anvils and still have nice round dents.
June 17, 201610 yr very true. I'm learning to correct my hammer technique to whats needed. still cant hurt. I'm 6'2" as well
June 17, 201610 yr That stump is awsome!! It is a prize for the little lady on top of it. Just make sure how ever you fasten her down that it will also complement the stand.
June 17, 201610 yr 18 hours ago, natenaaron said: Please don't use that beautiful piece of spalted maple for an anvil stand. It deserves a lot more respect than being a stand that will be burnt, and dirtied. If I were in your neck of the woods I would build a stand for you and trade. I am and will always be a woodworker before metal worker. Since it is too short you might see if a local wood worker will build you a butt ugly pine stand. in trade, and to your specifications. Spalted maple book matched lumber for $195 and only 39 inches long. Do you realize how valuable that stand is? In the NW, spalted maple is what you get from your wood pile--common as dirt. Most of the time, it's a hair too far gone for fine woodworking due to the constant wet but you can find top quality stuff also which is best reserved for the wood projects. Maple burl is also pretty common but awfully expensive in the rest of the country. Being generally from big-leaf maple, it's not the good hard stuff which makes a difference also.
June 17, 201610 yr Author I know, it looks more like a display stand than an anvil stand. Almost makes me want to paint my anvil gold or something. I'm also a lifelong woodworker learning blacksmithing, so it should upset my sensibilities, but I'm swimming in the stuff right now. And it's what I've got on hand. I have about 10 more pieces outside my shop about the same size and bigger. It's been sitting outside for about a year and a half. some is getting a little punky in spots. This piece too. I need to use it up. I had all kinds of ideas for it's use, but it's not a real hard maple. Even the solid parts are pretty soft. I think it grew too fast. Some of the rings in the main trunk (about 4 feet in diameter) were over an inch wide. I'll do the tests with a piece of plywood and see how the hammer marks look and adjust it from there. 18 hours ago, natenaaron said: Please don't use that beautiful piece of spalted maple for an anvil stand. It deserves a lot more respect than being a stand that will be burnt, and dirtied. If I were in your neck of the woods I would build a stand for you and trade. I am and will always be a woodworker before metal worker. Since it is too short you might see if a local wood worker will build you a butt ugly pine stand. in trade, and to your specifications. Spalted maple book matched lumber for $195 and only 39 inches long. Do you realize how valuable that stand is? Maybe I need to resaw some and hit eBay. I have the best parts already planked out and drying in my shop for the last year. A few nice small burls from the tree too. No, it's not too short. That was just a funny quote I added to the bottom of the post.
June 17, 201610 yr Out here mesquite is trash wood, they bull doze it up into piles and burn it; of course not much of a decent size...Location, Location, Location
June 18, 201610 yr Huh...lots of woodworkers trying this craft. Me included almost 50 years. Thomas mesquite is beautiful wood too. My handles from my days in the panhandle are all mesquite, Kansas handles are all hedge. Wish I was closer to John some of that maple would disappear!
June 20, 201610 yr Author On 6/18/2016 at 5:54 PM, 51 Papy said: Huh...lots of woodworkers trying this craft. Me included almost 50 years. Thomas mesquite is beautiful wood too. My handles from my days in the panhandle are all mesquite, Kansas handles are all hedge. Wish I was closer to John some of that maple would disappear! And you would be welcome to it Papy. I have quite a bit, but you might find it a little on the soft side. It's not that nice hard maple most are used to.
June 20, 201610 yr Back when I was president of an Irish Living History group; I was able to source a large chunk of soft maple, (half the trunk section filled the bed of my small pickup). We hollwed it out and used it for cooking by dripping hot rocks into the hollow filled with water and a roast. Worked well. (The original suggestion was to use a chunk of willow but I was afraid of the possible flavour issues...)
June 20, 201610 yr Author So my ancestors cooked that way huh? How did the roast turn out, and how long did it take to cook by that method?
June 20, 201610 yr We ran it all day as a demo and ate it for dinner---15 pounds of juice tender meat, probably more important when eating game than corn fed steers... and then we drank the broth formed from the hot rocks the water and the beef. Fulachtai Fia is the term IIRC. As the resident geologist I got to select the rocks used for cooking as well as test them to make sure they didn't explode when heating or shatter when added to the "stew pot". (Mafic fine grained worked for me in that location) As president I got to ride through the Dublin Ohio Irish Festival wearing silk robes and carrying a spear portraying Kin Brian Boru ---then go back along my route in plain robes carrying a shovel and a burlap sack...portraying a peasant I guess...
June 21, 201610 yr Now fashion some hold downs to keep the Trenton from bouncing. I lke wood for an anvil stand and yours is a logical shape. Nice job!
June 21, 201610 yr John All that maple would go to the lathe. Burls and spald always go to there. Oh well...guess your stand is safe for now. Thanks for the offer. Enjoy
June 22, 201610 yr Author That sounds like an interesting way to cook Thomas. I do a lot of BBQing and my briskets and pork butts can take about the same amount of time. Just a couple of steel straps shaped to fit and pinned down with lag bolts. Not pretty, but the anvil is secure. This weekend I fire up the forge and hammer hot metal and see how my forge press squishes it. Papy, as soon as I move my lathe from my old shop (read: shed) to my new shop, that's where a lot of this maple will end up.
June 22, 201610 yr One thing I found interesting is that my 515# anvil needed to be restrained. It would actually walk on the stand during heavy hammering on it. Of course all it really needed was a couple of fence wire staples around the base to "corral" it. As a Fisher it didn't need any quieting down.
June 22, 201610 yr 1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said: One thing I found interesting is that my 515# anvil needed to be restrained. It would actually walk on the stand during heavy hammering on it. Of course all it really needed was a couple of fence wire staples around the base to "corral" it. As a Fisher it didn't need any quieting down. Finding the same problem with my treadle hammer, which I placed on some of those thin rubber floor mats to try and absorb some sound. After a bit of use it shifts around on the floor and has walked a good bit. Will need to lag it down in the near future before it exits the shop through the side walls .
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