Christopher Lawrence Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Hello All, Finally found some rail to use as my first anvil! One of the scrap yards that is not opened on the weekend has tons of them I picked up a 26" and 27" piece. At .35 a lb they cost me $55 total. I am thinking of doing one of three things Prep them as is and have two smaller vertical anvils (one for me and one for my son) Prep them and have them welded in a T formation Prep them and and weld them flat to flat so I can use them horizontally Either way I now have something to bang on. Once they are cleaned and prepped I will post a pic Thanks, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 4, 2016 Share Posted November 4, 2016 Go with option 1. Take a look at this thread (design discussion) and this one (finished anvil) for some good info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Lawrence Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 Thanks for the guidance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubalcain2 Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 jhcc is always right. do what he says and you will progress quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 Mainly because I'm directing people away from repeating my mistakes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Lawrence Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 Round one is done! (Clean up) Here are some before and after pictures. It is amazing what a few hours of wire wheeling and a coat of cooking oil will do. Next step is to hopefully find a a metal shop with a band saw to re-cut these pieces Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Why on earth would you want to recut them? Make yourself some kind of stand to hold them upright. You want the greatest mass under the hammer blow, and cutting them up will only reduce that mass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Lawrence Posted November 6, 2016 Author Share Posted November 6, 2016 JHCC, I don't think i have taken good pics to show how the ends look. Of the 4 ends only one is flat enough to be a work face. It is true that given what I will do with them I only need one but the other end of that one looked like the below pic before cleaning it. I only want to cut about an 1" of of the ends, just enough to cut away the very ragged and have a flat surface left over. You are absolutely correct, I want to keep as much of the mass as possible. Thanks again for your thoughts, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Oh, OK. I see what you're saying. Carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Lawrence Posted November 6, 2016 Author Share Posted November 6, 2016 There's a military answer. Which service? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubalcain2 Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 thats one ugly cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 If it were me I'd save one for later. There's lots off tooling in one of those rails. I'm actually getting ready to take my old rail anvil to work with me to use the bandsaw there to cut a couple pieces off for a couple tools including a flatter from the base and the upright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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