January 7, 20179 yr Hello everyone, I'm new here. Always wanted to start blacksmithing but time, life, money and other hobbies always seem to take precedence. I thought I would share my project with people that might be interested in how I went about building my anvil.
January 7, 20179 yr Take a piece of chalk or soapstone and mark off on the face of your anvil the area where there is metal all the way down to the feet. That is the Sweet Spot where your hammering does the most good. Generally people are trying to maximize that area. Your design does not, can you explain your design philosophy?
January 7, 20179 yr Author I understand exactly what you are referring to. My plan was to weld the void between the two feet. When I preheat the anvil to do the welding on the horn I will fill the space between the feet. At that point there will be a solid mass from the face to the base 1 1/2" in from both sides about 6 1/2" wide.
January 7, 20179 yr That's a very nice build! Fun video, too. As for the horn, I'd prefer a concentric cone just so you could more easily use it for truing up rings and such. But, like you noted, a bit of hard face rod to round it out again sure wouldn't hurt. Fisher anvils have a hard steel top plate on their horns and I've always found them a pleasure to work on. Just out of curiosity, what kind of value would you put on a fabricated anvil like that? There's a ton of machining and welding time there, so I expect it would be pretty pricey if a hobbyist wanted to have their local machine shop do a similar build for them. But, would it be cheaper than buying a new anvil of similar weight?
January 7, 20179 yr Author I put about 35 hours into it. I would most certainly think buying a new anvil would be cheaper and you would have a far superior product. This was done in my spare time At no cost to me. I'm having a hard time parting with hundreds of dollars for an anvil that is cracked, beat up, chipped edges, etc... This project was fun for me.
January 8, 20179 yr Nice havin the gear 67x nice work man,i know what your sayin about price be glad your not here in Canada the cost of the hardy tools were over a third more than the US.I got lucky on my anvil i got for 150.00 just had to dig it up and clean it off.
January 8, 20179 yr Author I hear ya. I have no doubt a deal will come my way. Until then I'll just go with the "need a tool Make a tool" method
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