Will52100,

That stand needs to moved 2 inches to the left, can you take care of that now please?

 

Actually that's an old photo taken just after I bolted it down.  I've since moved it about 4 foot, there's a treadle hammer behind it now.  And yes, it was fun moving it.

After a lot of designing, cutting and welding (detailed HERE), I finally finished my new stand:

Here's mine, a black oak stump under my 104 lb Peter Wright. Bark drawknifed off, recess for the anvil routed in the top.  I routed 3 "feet" on the bottom so its a sort of tripod. 

rings for hammers, a rack in front for the tongs in use.  Bike chain stapled to the front with a weight on the other end as a hold down.

 the stand before that, 2x10's held together with all thread, the boards staggered to make pockets for hardy tools and tong. Ended up putting a cookie sheet from the Goodwill under the anvil as a tray, just drove the anvil staples thru the sheet metal, that was useful. Swage block is on that stand now.

JHCC glad to see you got your stand done. I've been following all your design work. Keep everyone informed of how it works out.

Michael another classic stand. I really like the cookie sheet on the "old" stand. My wife brought one out to the shop just the other day, sounded like she wasn't planning on making any more cookies on it!  A tray with a raised edge on it always works well for tools. I have made sure for several years that any punch, chisel, ect. has a flat on it to keep them from rolling onto the floor, that way I don't have to bend over and pick them up!!  I have also used a window weight as a hold down for a long time.

I like it. An invisible stand that mounts the anvil on its side close to the ground. lol. Perhaps the wrong pic was posted?Lol. 

Heres my new stump next to my too low stump built up with 2x6's 

Actually, I am lying in a pile of fallen equipment as Mrs Taylor hurries down to do >another< welfare check.

The axle brackets on the hand truck have collapsed.

Had to clock in, so more to come.

Robert Taylor

Ugh! One of the "fell into a pile of unforgivable things" stories. I have several of those. 

Prayers for you and your back Robert  

 

Well I realized I never posted mine  the wood stand is due for a new stand  I'm thinking a 3 leg stand,  but this is what I got and what I work on. 

 

 

Has anyone ever made an adjustable anvil stand? I picture a 3 legged stand on 3 upside down mechanical bottle jacks.  (?)

 

This is one of the adjustable stands at the John C. Campbell Folk School. My legs did not really care for the sharp corners left on the structural angle elements, but quite serviceable design. There is a turnbuckle on the other side to tension the chain.

I am using the traditional tree stump. I had to fell a butternut anyway so I cut a piece of it with oversize length. I started by turning the future downside upwards and wedged it until the stump was true upright. I then used a spirit level to mark for horizontal cutting (still oversize). Cut it with a chainsaw and made it very slightly convex. Turned it right on a flat surface (checked that it was a true upright - it was) measured correct height all around plus about 2 cm. Cut after the mark with the chainsaw. Smoothed the surface with a rotary plane. After planing it was about 1 cm too high. Put the anvil on it in a proper position and marked the footprint. Removed the anvil and cut down after the mark with a router to right height - again very slightly dished so the anvil cannot rock. I am very happy with the result. My 250 pound anvil stands perfectly and needs no hold down. A two horn North Swedish anvil is fairly silent in spite of being cast steel.

The reason for the somewhat elaborte way of doing it is that the stump was far from a perfect cylinder. A carpenter's square was useless. There is a pic somewhere in the show your anvil thread.   

Here's mine, welded up from scavenged I-beam. 

There's a lengthy thread that documents the process I went through to design and build this beastie.

13 hours ago, John McPherson said:

This is one of the adjustable stands at the John C. Campbell Folk School. My legs did not really care for the sharp corners left on the structural angle elements, but quite serviceable design. There is a turnbuckle on the other side to tension the chain.

I pass the Folk School on my way to work, it's a pretty cool place to just walk around and look at things.

On 1/17/2017 at 9:14 PM, John McPherson said:

This is one of the adjustable stands at the John C. Campbell Folk School. My legs did not really care for the sharp corners left on the structural angle elements, but quite serviceable design. There is a turnbuckle on the other side to tension the chain.

What's the purpose of the threaded rod on the left and how do you adjust the height?

The threaded rod clamps the assembly together & it looks like you can add another board under the anvil; or remove one.

There are lots of very smart people in the blacksmithing craft.

They have an issue, then they solve an issue.

Then when we see the results of something they have done, we have to scratch our heads at times to figure out how or why?

That has been the fun of 60 years of blacksmithing. I was able to see how truly clever other men and women were. 

This stacking design has been around for a long time. It will help a person adjust to the height that serves them best.

Then they usually make it more permanent.  

Some will use sand. The blacksmith will adjust to what ever configuration his tools and equipment will allow. 

REMEMBER: A tool does not have a brain!!!!!!!!!!!!

You furnish the brain, and what ever that does, "is under you supervision".

So don't ever cuss your tools,  but instead do some brain soul searching. The tools seem to work better!

Bless oll of you. Think SAFETY FIRST, ALL WAYS! 

Your friend and neighbor: Ted

Mm ... so ... what is adjustable? The tension on the chain? 

You will have to lift the anvil, slide a board or take one off and put the anvil back on. Nee ... try that with a 200k anvil.

I am thinking in an adjustable stand as in ... well ... adjustable.

Something were you pump a lever of turn a handle and the anvil comes up or down as by magic ... ha ha.

3 large bolts one at each leg would probably be a good compromise, say 2" bolt or similar that you can turn with a spanner. 

I like the idea of 3 car jack only because they take a ton or two, so some severe whacking on the anvil will surely be ok on the jacks' thread. 

PS

Ted, I did not read your post before posting mine ... so ... sand, boards stacking ... not adjustable in my books, that is more like repositioning the anvil with a lot of effort and some risk to one's toes. I like adjustable like the dentist chair.  

Marc1, I think the idea is that a school with a rotating body of students (each with their own height and proportions) will want to reset their anvils periodically, at the arrival of each new group. Not an easy thing, but not to be done with any frequency. 

Yep, that makes sense for a school. 

Mine was just one of those ideas ... rather than occupying permanently prime real estate with multiple anvils, I would prefer to make a variable height stand that does not require to lift the anvil.

Actually not that hard at all come to think of it ...

 

4 hours ago, Marc1 said:

[R]ather than occupying permanently prime real estate with multiple anvils, I would prefer to make a variable height stand that does not require to lift the anvil.

Were I to make such a stand, I think I'd make a tripod of heavy jackscrews with locking nuts. That way, you just tilt the anvil on two legs while you adjust the third, repeating until all three legs are at the height you want. You'd never have to lift the entire weight all at once. 

Lifting an anvil is what they make cherry pickers for!  I have my large anvils set up for *me*!  Students get the 93-165# ones that can be easily lifted and moved to a better fitting stand for them---if there isn't an anvil already on such a stand; then they have to move the stand in place and then the anvil in place.  Shop rule:  Never pick up an anvil until you have a place to set it down ready!  Also: *NEVER* set an anvil on the ground!    (bad for the back to pick one up off the ground...)

 Do you know any masonry contractors? I would think 3 scaffold jacks would work, to change anvil height....      Life is Good      Dave

Scaffold jack, of course! ... a bit of an overkill and a piti to butcher it but those will certainly work.

Cherry picker ... wow Thomas, a cherry picker wouldn't fit in my little shop, not even a forklift and I stopped selling bobcats so can't even borrow one of them. Nee ... still thinking about it and considering I'll probably adjust it only occasionally, don't need it motorised. Screw action seems good enough. No lifting? I agree! 

Thomas, do you have students in your shop? Tell more about it. 

I've been teaching intro to smithing classes for decades, many times ad hoc "set the hook" classes. Some more in depth and over more time.  Usually a couple of times a term I go and teach a class at the, local to my northern abode, University as an adjunct to the "Fine Arts Metals, Advanced Armour making class".  Working with college kids keeps me young, exasperated and sometimes singed!