A better way to use your anvil

[Glenn]

There are valid reasons for turning your anvil, for instance, horn to the left, horn to the right, align the anvil to North, etc. 

Everyone WANTS a the largest anvil they can find (or afford) 300 pounds, 400 pounds, 500, and on up to 1000 pounds and more. Once they actually get the anvil into their shop they find the anvil wants to stay, as in not move. 

This is the very reason I prefer an anvil in the 100 to 200 pound weight range, specifically 100 to 150 pounds. You bought the whole anvil not just the anvil face. So why not turn the anvil every which way but loose. Turn it horn left if that fits the project and your hammer, or horn right if that fits the project and your hammer. Turn the anvil on its side and use the curve between the feet, the curve between the feet and waist, the curve under the horn, the curve under the heel (all different) as a swage. While you are at it, point the horn up and use the horn as a cone mandrel, point the heel up and use the edges of the heel, or the thickness of the heel. 

Probably the most unused feature of the anvil are the handling holes, those holes under the horn and heel used to move and handle the anvil during manufacture. Clean the crud out of them and use them as a depth gauge for your next project. Insert hot iron into the handling hole and bend it over, then whack it with a hammer to turn a 90 degree bend. It is not the bend but the length of the short section after the bend you want. Design your project to use this length.  Just a point the end of the anvil to the sky and you have that repeatable length easy to measure and use.

You purchased the whole anvil not just the face, so turn the anvil every which way but loose, and use the anvil, the whole anvil.

[ThomasPowers]

Some smiths store punch lube in the handling holes.  Some books claim that the anvil MUST be with the horn to the left based on the projects dome by the author or the smith they learned from.  BUT as mentioned what if *you* don't use the horn very often but typically use hardy tooling all the live long day---or vice versa!  I've turned an anvil so the horn was pointing vertically before---very handy for some stages of some projects.  Now my big anvil doesn't move much, just sits there thinking heavy thoughts, so I have a light anvil I can manipulate as needed and still have access to an anvil suitable to using a 16 pound sledge on...

[Ridgewayforge]

8 minutes ago, Glenn said:

You purchased the whole anvil not just the face, so turn the anvil ever which way but loose, and use the anvil, the whole anvil.

Glenn, that would be an interesting project idea: Make something using at least X number of the anvil's parts. So, perhaps its the handling holes, the face, the horn, the feet... etc. 

When I get my shop set up in August, I will make something using multiple components of the anvil. 

Great thread! 

[Glenn]

Measure your anvil, width of the face, length of the face, height from the stand to the face, heel to near and far edge of the prichle hole, heel to near and far edge of the hardie hole, prichel hole to step, hardie hole to step, step to end of the horn, and the list goes on and on.

Your anvil is now a ruler. Redesign your projects to use these measurements, which is much quicker than trying to locate a actual ruler and find something that will mark on hot metal. You paid for the whole anvil, not just the face, so use the whole anvil.

 

Another reason to not get rid of the anvil I suppose. (grin)

[ThomasPowers]

I have an Arm & Hammer with a caplet indentation in the bottom that I've flipped the anvil totally over and used as a dishing form---back when I was dishing form poor...

[Ranchmanben]

Until recently, it's had been a few year since I'd had an anvil with handling holes, the anvils I've been using are cast steel. I had never thought of using the handling holes for anything when I did have them though. After reading Glens post and having an anvil with handling hole again I'm going to be looking for ways to use them. Great ideas here. 

[Ridgewayforge]

1 hour ago, Ranchmanben said:

I'm going to be looking for ways to use them.

Heck, you could bend square bar into a flattened D and have a handy small shelf around half the waist of the anvil. Perfect for a hammer rest between heats, or something similar! 

 

 

[Jackdawg]

Well I had a look, I don't think the advice is going to be much good to me...... 

 

[Glenn]

You have length, width, height, and diagonal measurements of the anvil. You have height of the stump, width and length of the stump face, and crack to either side of the stump face as a measurement.  It is a start. (grin)

I bet you a hand full of clinker that if you put a piece of hot metal between the anvil and the stump you could hammer a decent curve into the metal.

 

[ThomasPowers]

From a recent craigslist posting for an item: dimensions are 11ft wife by 8 ft talk.  I'm guessing their Autocorrect is set to *on*! (Or else their smart phone is trying to get them in trouble!)

I make hook rules from old carpenter's squares.  You could mount the cut off section of something like that on the stump, or even take a cold chisel and lay our a rule along one side of that anvil---perhaps in decicubits...(or burn in a coarse rule into the face of the stump.)

[jumbojak]

I have a stump anvil similar to the one in the photograph above. It seems somewhat limiting but I have considered welding catches and grinding different radii into the sides for just the reasons Glenn mentioned. 

[Marc1]

Mm ... usually I like your ideas Glenn, but moving your anvil in any way off it's stand seems a bit out there. If I had done that when I worked in a smithy I would have been kicked out the door quick smart. 

Sure, in theory it is a valid idea. If you don't have a cone mandrel use the anvil's horn. Not the same but it will work. How do you propose to stabilise an anvil standing on it's heel? 

I don't know, I don't like the idea. People have their anvil poorly fitted and rickety to begin with. Make it movable? ... I have a small 20 kilos Kohlswa I can move around and it's not even on a proper stand, just on the bench or the floor. Another 40k farrier is also off it's stand and portable but anything bigger seems not safe to move to me. 

[Kevin Olson]

I like glens idea. I haven't gotten extreme with unmounting my anvil but have used her beautiful curves to form stuff although I do get into some interesting positions to do it. Lol. 

[Thief_Of_Navarre]

My favorite anvil is my 168lbs brooks. Easy to shift, some undressed edges and some factory rounded ones (military issue). But like you say the handling holes; like those of an older anvil (my 238lb C&A mousehole) are great for bending. Personal preference and the jobs you do!

[Glenn]

6 hours ago, Marc1 said:

Mm ... usually I like your ideas Glenn, but moving your anvil in any way off it's stand seems a bit out there. If I had done that when I worked in a smithy I would have been kicked out the door quick smart. 

In someone else's smithy, I can see you being shown the door. The owner or manager have done it this way for years and no reason to change. They pay you to do things their way.

The suggestion was for an anvil below 150 pounds in your own smithy. That weight is easy to move by hand, and depending on the anvil stand, and could be moved to a work table for use as a swage.  My 100 pound PW on an oak stump 24 inches in diameter. The anvil was small for the stump and did walk about. 3 RR spikes were used to keep it loose on the stump and from moving about. During use it could be placed in any position you needed to get the job done. At night, just pick it up to carry it inside.  Very convent for me at the time.

Next anvil I used was a 135 pound with a metal stand. That anvil did not rest well other in the sitting position on the stand. It would move to the work table for use as a swage.  I was fortunate to have, on load, a 200+ pound anvil that did not leave the stand. It was just too much weight to move around. Therefore the reason for the weight suggestion.

Marc, we are using the same words but talking about different set ups. Safety is always a first concern. Securing an anvil so it does not walk about is primary. The suggestion for using the entire tool may be something others did not think about. 

[ThomasPowers]

I have a number of light anvils---91-134# that I use for teaching and so they are setup to easily lift off their stumps and so easy to change their position, shoot the 91 pound I can put in my large postvise point up to use it for a mandrel. The main shop anvil, 515# Fisher moves  only under heavy striking and so is held in place with a handful of fence staples---U--- nothing more is needed and as it's already a quiet anvil I don't need to cinch it down to mute it's ring.

[Ranchmanben]

Glenn, you've give me some couple of ideas but more importantly started me looking at my anvils for new ways to use them. 

Going back to how I think this thread probably started, left or right horn direction. After looking at my forge I realized that I keep my anvil 60/40 inline with my forge with the 60% within the easy one step with the horn to the left, heel facing the forge. I realize that I fairly often use it with the horn to the right so I've set it up like that without thinking it, I've just adjusted things every so often til I was more efficient. I'd say it's a step and half to get to my off side and usually when I'm doing that I'm working on heavier pieces that will retain heat a little longer.

[Glenn]

A little research and you CAN find the discussions in the IForgeIron archives. 

Horn left, horn right, or horn to the North was discussed at length March 2011. Click here.

[Ranchmanben]

I appreciate the link but I'm happy with my horn pointing south. 

[1forgeur]

Got 2 anvils, one horn points north, one points south.

[ThomasPowers]

Magnetic or true North?  If Magnetic, is the stand set up to move as the magnetic pole moves?

All of my anvils have horns that point towards the Oort Cloud---or deep space, or both!

[Marc1]

Yes, I see your point ... actually the anvil's point ha ha. A northern German  pattern would be better for a mandrel than a PW with their true conical horn. 

I suppose that in order to do this activity safely, one could build a stand that can hold down the anvil in different positions. Not hard to do. I just hate anvils that walkabout. The very essence of an anvil is its stability. 

I work with horn on either side, and suppose that the north or south pointing horn is just folklore right? 

[Judson Yaggy]

3 hours ago, Marc1 said:

 I just hate anvils that walkabout. The very essence of an anvil is its stability. 

I work with horn on either side.

Totally agree.  Yes, to get the most out of your anvil be prepared to walk 360 deg. around it and bend over to occasionally hammer on the curved nether regions.  But if it jumps away from you when you do that you are wasting energy and time.  If you try and work professionally on a loose anvil you will burn money and risk receptive motion injury from inefficient hammering.  Shocking inefficiency happens on a loose anvil. 

Best smith I know works with the horn poking him in the thigh on his dominant side.  Stock crosses the wide axis of the anvil at 90 deg, his hammer falls perfectly perpendicular to it.  That is to say the hammer arc is in line with the tip of the horn and the center of the heel.

[1forgeur]

Probably closer to magnetic. I didn't orient them. Stands are wood so they stay put! I did this so I don't have to walk around one or the other. Which way is the Oort cloud? Might have to try that.

[ThomasPowers]

Oort cloud is out thataway a ways...

Yes the old North/South alignments in smithing are folklore---which is why we razz folks with them on a regular basis here.  Sometimes I think such alignments are like "Dumbo's Magic Feather"  they give confidence to people; but are not really needed.

The horn to the right or left; there is some basis to it and that was to put hardy hole tooling where it was easiest to access for *some* people.  Of course if you are not using hardy hole tooling or use it in a different way it doesn't make sense.  My take on it is to stand where you naturally work steel on the sweet spot of an anvil and move about as needed to use tooling.

For students who have hammer control issues I sometimes have them try to hit the same spot on the anvil and move the workpiece as needed. (Been known to chalk a large X on the face...and chalk the sweet spot too. I hate seeing a student using a hammer too heavy for them to control and hammering out on the heel!  For some reason college age male students overestimate their best hammer weight on a consistent basis. I try to do better and faster work with a lighter hammer as an example, though I could handle the heavier hammer myself.)