Can I use this for an anvil (unidentified)?

[MBForge]

First off, I have no idea what this thing is; it looks like some kind of scale weight or something you'd see in a grandfather clock. By my estimation, it was somewhere in the vicinity of 50-60 lbs. The one I'm looking at is on the right, while there is a smaller one to its left, about 10 lb.

The inner diameter (or surface area within the bevel; where I'd be hammering) I'm measuring just a little over 3", right at about 3-1/4" and did also test for rebound with an old hammer and it seemed to have decent rebound for what I'd be looking to pay.

So a couple quick questions:

1. What is this thing anyways?
2. Would the surface area be sufficient for things like: forging tongs, knives, etc.? Or more specifically, in what sorts of projects would it be too small?
3. Lastly, if you look at the overall profile, you'll see holes down the middle. Does this "compromise" the effectiveness (i.e. mass) behind this anvil such that it would make sense to lop off say the first hole so there are a few more inches of mass before the next hole (side)?

It's quite long, close to about 4', if not, more. Those holes may actually come in handy for threading chain through to dampen the noise as well. Unlike the rail road tracks all these metal workers keep snagging out from under me, this has been sitting on the shelf for quite some time now and I think it would make a good anvil.

The junkyard master quoted me $30 for this piece, which I think is a good deal. How much should I be paying per pound anyways?

Would love to know everyone's thoughts. Thanks!

[JHCC]

Nice looking piece. My thoughts on your three questions:

1. No clue.

2. That should be fine for just about anything. Remember, strictly speaking, you don't need anything much bigger than the face of your anvil. Think for a moment about a power hammer: even the biggest forging hammers really don't have anvil faces much larger than a smallish farrier's anvil.

3. Mass is gold; don't cut this down if you don't have to. If it's too tall standing on end, make a flat platform to stand on.

Here's what I would do if this were mine: Make a stand that integrates a platform to stand on with vertical pieces of 4x4 to hold the steel upright. You can use those holes to bolt the 4x4s to the steel, like this:

If you keep that upper hole, you can use it to mount additional tooling. You could even have tools with a spring-like extension that engages the hole and holds the tool on top of the anvil, like this:

Just make sure you ease the sharp edges of the bevel, so that you don't cause cold shuts.

Finally, if that's 50-60 lbs, you're talking $0.50-$0.60/lb. That's more than respectable for an anvil.

[Daswulf]

I would be slightly concerned about how close that hole is to the end. It could possibly dip there after a good bit of use. Other then that what JHCC gave you good advise.

 

[MBForge]

23 minutes ago, Daswulf said:

I would be slightly concerned about how close that hole is to the end. It could possibly dip there after a good bit of use. Other then that what JHCC gave you good advise.

 

Hence my thought to lop off that first hole as there is more mass below it. But I guess I could wait until it does start to sway

1 hour ago, JHCC said:

Here's what I would do if this were mine: Make a stand that integrates a platform to stand on with vertical pieces of 4x4 to hold the steel upright. You can use those holes to bolt the 4x4s to the steel, like this:If you keep that upper hole, you can use it to mount additional tooling.

...

You could even have tools with a spring-like extension that engages the hole and holds the tool on top of the anvil, like this:

Just make sure you ease the sharp edges of the bevel, so that you don't cause cold shuts.

I've made several attempts to secure a decent anvil, but what I have just isn't working (broken railroad track, flat plates, etc.)

Your recommendation on mounting it is exactly what I planned to do (after watching this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EY1uvc6igw&t=2s. But the custom "pritchell" hole idea as you've shown here is something I didn't even consider, so thanks for that!

Just had a question on this part though: "Ease the sharp edges of the bevel..." of what though? This steel column to be used as an anvil or the tool you have pictured?

[JHCC]

1 minute ago, MBForge said:

Just had a question on this part though: "Ease the sharp edges of the bevel..." of what though? This steel column to be used as an anvil or the tool you have pictured?

Both of your photos show a flat bevel around the edge of the round face. Those would need to be rounded off at least a little bit, or they'll dig into your workpieces and create cold shuts. It shouldn't need much. I assume that you're going to be cleaning up the face anyway; just hit those sharp edges with a file or angle grinder to smooth them out.

As for sharp edges on tooling, it's a good idea to make sure the only ones are where you actually want the tool to cut!

 

5 minutes ago, MBForge said:

Yeah, hence my thought to lop off that first hole as there is more mass below it. But I guess I could wait until it does start to sway.

Even if it does dip a bit, that's not necessarily a bad thing. A dip can be useful for straightening a bent workpiece. From the face to the hole is what, an inch? It's going to take a lot of hammering over time to distort that significantly, especially since you're probably not going to be using this as a striking anvil.

[biggtimber]

I like the idea of the pritchel 'stand' myself. Was thinking of doing that myself, as I do not have a traitional anvil. Just a big block of steel. Now, how to fit a square peg in a round hole and make this a Hardy tool holder. 

[JHCC]

8 minutes ago, biggtimber said:

Now, how to fit a square peg in a round hole and make this a Hardy tool holder. 

If you're using a chunk of round steel on its side with a round hole pointing up and down, you have three options: 

1. Live with it.

2. File the hole square.

3. Have a round shank, but hammer a concave shoulder on the underside of your tool, thus:

[biggtimber]

So, I'm not sure this would work well for what I'm looking at, but here is how to get a square hole. Just would have a hell of a time getting it back out of round stock. Ha

Plus, this guys channel is just hilarious.

 

[ThomasPowers]

Get both the big and the little piece.  Mount the big one vertically so the face is at the correct height for an anvil face and then mount the little one horizontally to give you a fullering anvil to take the place of a horn for some projects.

How much should you be paying for scrap at the scrapyard????   WHAT COUNTRY ARE YOU IN?????  I pay 20 US cents a pound for ferrous scrap at my local scrapyard in Central New Mexico, USA.  I get a good deal as this scrapyard has to haul their metal about 200 miles to where they sell it to a foundry and so selling some to me is cash without the effort/cost. I've got them trained as well, they used to want to upcharge me for items whereupon I'd toss it back on the pile with a smile and then they would be out their "lunch money". It helps a lot that I don't really *need* much these days and can wait for it when I do.

[MBForge]

15 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Get both the big and the little piece.  Mount the big one vertically so the face is at the correct height for an anvil face and then mount the little one horizontally to give you a fullering anvil to take the place of a horn for some projects.

Well, I went ahead and bought both of these, thanks to ThomasPowers for putting dropping the bug about the horn idea. Between that and the Pritchel hole idea and valuation by JHCC, I'm pretty content with what I landed.

I'm just calling these "steel columns" (or possibly counterweights) at this point. I haggled a little bit and picked up both of these for $30 out the door:

• 62 lb. round steel column (2'1" x 3-1/4") for sheer mass behind anvil face
• 12 lb. round steel column (6-1/2" x 3") for horn

Comes out to about $0.40-0.41 per pound

Got some holes to drill in some other stuff I found at the junkyard as well for my brake drum forge and hope to be able to do a little forging this weekend. I think half the adventure is in hunting these parts for cheap, and I hope to remember the prices I paid for everything, but I think I'm ready to assemble it all together at this point and start forging (it's been a long wait).

However, I am slightly considered about the seams in this smaller one. Haven't seen if there are seams in the larger one yet. Are these going to be an issue (i.e. delamination)?

[Jackdawg]

London to a brick it all screws together, those holes are for inserting the breaker bars to loosen or tighten. Looks like the old extruders we used to use on top of jacks.

 

 

[MBForge]

11 minutes ago, Jackdawg said:

London to a brick it all screws together, those holes are for inserting the breaker bars to loosen or tighten. Looks like the old extruders we used to use on top of jacks.

Or stackable weights?

http://www.freedom360.eu/shop/stackable-weight-pack-of-3/

Holes may plausibly be lightening holes as well as the large one is precisely 62 lb while the small one is 12 lb:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightening_holes