Striking anvil advice

[Dunk_c]

Hello Everyone,

I damaged by small antique anvil a little when straightning a Pandrol clip and piece of the edge chipped off.

I have this chunk of steel of unknown qualities.  I think it used to be a barbell weight someone made.  8" x 2" with 30mm hole.  Would it make a decent striking anvil or should I keep trying to find a broken forklift fork?  Maybe round is a potential problem? I have some thick walled 2" pipe I can use for legs.  All suggestions welcomed.

 

[turbo7]

Would make a good upseting block.

[George Geist]

I'd be more inclined to want to use an anvil

[Dunk_c]

As I said, I already have an anvil, just want to protect it from any overly enthusiastic sledge hammering :-)  Also. As it probably mild steel, it could be used for chiseling.

[JHCC]

If it were mine, I'd be tempted to grind a series of profiles (flat, fuller, swage) around the circumference and use the center hole for an axle to rotate around (making sure that the bottom was supported and the axle wasn't absorbing the force of the hammer blows).

[Dunk_c]

Thanks for the interesting idea.  Still going with original plan and will post picture when done.

[Dunk_c]

Here it is finished, with my first 1045 hammer blank on top.  Should save the face of the small anvil.

[Ridgewayforge]

I'm almost more excited to see the finished hammer if *that* is your hammer blank- heck, thats a small anvil in itself! 

[Dunk_c]

2 hours ago, Ridgewayforge said:

I'm almost more excited to see the finished hammer if *that* is your hammer blank- heck, thats a small anvil in itself! 

Anvil is just a 90lb-er and had already suffered some damage before I got it.  Yes the hammer blank looks dauntingly thick, 40mm.  Got to make the drift and spring fuller first.

[aessinus]

11 hours ago, Dunk_c said:

Here it is finished, with my first 1045 hammer blank on top.  Should save the face of the small anvil.

I keep hunting sledge blocks to save my smallish anvils too.  Big ones seem hard to come by & my two small ones have already seen hard use.  Now to locate some thing similar myself.  I really like the idea of integral legs.  I have some T22 (I think) boiler tube 3"OD with 3/8"wall that would make sturdy legs......

[Crazy Ivan]

That will do you just fine. If you ever feel the need for a larger striking anvil, machine shops are your friend. My striking anvil is made from a 2"x6"x16" long drop of S7. Mild steel will do just fine for a striking anvil however. I just like to use the best alloys available to me. Mine also has a 500+lb slab poured around it to add to stability. The threaded anchors couldn't take my previous abuse. I put a 1" and a 1 1/2" hardy hole on one end and 3/8",1/2", and 5/8" pritchel holes on the other end. Let's see that hammer when you're done!