Show me your anvil stands

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

That will make a good stand. I'm of the same mind and fancy stands are low on the list for me, cut logs have worked for all our anvils for more than 30 years.

[jlpservicesinc]

You did a great job. Love it. that will last you for 30 years at least. 

I had a maple stump that lived in a very damp area and it lasted 25 years without all that extra work. 

Wasn't till it moved outside that it rotted from the bottom up. 

[ThomasPowers]

Way back I once made a special stand for demos; it was made from a hollow log so it looked like a stump to the crowd, but was a lot lighter to load and carry!  Only worked small stuff on it.  Long gone, nowadays I use a 2 wheeler to lug stands and anvils around if there is a long walk from the vehicle to the sight.

[jlpservicesinc]

You find it hollow, or hollow it out? 

[ThomasPowers]

I found it hollow; a friend sold logging rights to their property to weather a financial issue and the loggers cut everything but left anything they found hollow.  It had about a 4"thick outer layer and nothing inside.  No issues drying!

[jlpservicesinc]

Thats cool.    I had one like that too, but it only lasted a few years.  was about 2.5-3" thick but it just dried out to much and started to crack.  I always wanted to put bands on it but never found the time. 

[Dabbsterinn]

here's a screen grab from the video I posted in another thread, it's a pretty basic 3 leg steel stand with angle iron over the legs on my 1923 Soderfors anvil that are bolted to the stand and serve also as a hot cut and nail header holder (and scale collectors).

the smart feature (in my opinion a tleast) is that I welded the nuts to the bottom of the stand and made a hook for the lug wrench that fits the bolts on my anvil and welded that to one of the legs

[jlpservicesinc]

I like the setup..   I prefer something a little heavier but overall a thumbs up.. 

Not quite sure why you would weld the wrench to the stand..   A few rounds to hold it at an angle might be a little handier to use.. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I think the lug wrench is hung from a hook, not welded on.

[jlpservicesinc]

IFCW, Thanks I read it 4 times before I posted the response..  Guess I need someone else to do not only spell check but information check..  Thanks

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

You're welcome, after I looked at the picture, I had to reread the description twice.

[Dabbsterinn]

2 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

 I prefer something a little heavier but overall a thumbs up..

I'll agree with you on that, it is heavy enough to be stable when forging smaller stuff but it does move a little bit when striking.

So I'm considering welding another hook to the bottom of the plate and hanging a sandbag on it to weigh it down a bit more

[JHCC]

Might want to weld plates over the sides and the bottom and turn the entire base into a sandbox.

[Dabbsterinn]

I've thought about that but I don't want to sacrifice mobility since this is the anvil I take apart and throw in the trunk if I'm going smithing anywhere else. 

I know I could just take the sand out and put it back in later but it's really not that much weight I need and the bags should be a whole lot quicker and easier to remove, I'm pretty sure I'll go with leather for the bags so I don't set them on fire

[JHCC]

Makes sense. 

[FisherPriceAnvil]

Interesting people mentioning using silicone to attach the anvil to the stand, but for a long time I have had trouble with my anvil stand wandering around in my garage, especially when working on the horn. I have about a 150 lb anvil, so it crept enough to have to move back once or twice during a forging session.

I have tried using rubber feet, widening the base, etc but it still moves. Don't want to drill into floor to fix it in place.

Using silicone between the stand and the cement floor has now secured it in place. Very well. No more wandering! Makes forging more enjoyable since I like the setup I have.

Of course the downside to this is that it is semi-permanently in place, so if you need to move your anvil in your garage from time to time, then this might not be the right solution for you.

 

I could send a picture of the stand, but it isn't anything really special. I got a few stumps thinking one of them would make a good anvil stand, but none of them were square enough to suit the task, let alone the right height.

It is actually very easy to make a stand out of 4x4s glued together, so I recommend that to people who don't have the tools and experience necessary to make a metal stand, or access to a big piece of wood/stump for a stand.

[Frosty]

You can cut the silicone calk with a piece of wire with a couple rings or wooden handles on the ends. Start the wire between the stand's foot and floor and saw it back and forth as you pull towards you. It'll slice the calk easy peasy

Frosty The Lucky.

[Davor]

Almost done. Needs paint and I will be welding square flat stock on the legs. Currently the stand is upside down as I have poured concrete in the legs, the legs are a rather thin walled pipe.

I've made it  symmetrical, since I don't know on witch side I'll stand when working on it. I prefer the horn on my tong hand side, but exploring the topic I guess it is better other way round. 

[ThomasPowers]

NO! it depends on what you will be doing in your shop.  We had a big long discussion on this once and I went through a 130 year old blacksmithing book to see what they showed people using when they posted diagrams of their shops.  The very first one I ran into had the horn pointing at the forge as they did a lot of ring making and so that was the correct setup for them!

[Frazer]

3 hours ago, Davor said:

I prefer the horn on my tong hand side

Me too, isn't that the way most people work?. 

[BillyBones]

On 11/23/2020 at 2:30 AM, Frosty said:

You can cut the silicone calk with a piece of wire

Guitar strings work great. That is how i have removed windshields from cars in the past. 

[jlpservicesinc]

Frazer..  Nope not all.  Having the horn on what is considered the off side offers some advantages that are not fully aparent until explained. 

Horn, right, hammer right..     I had my horn on the left so learned it that way and still prefer making chain with the horn to the left until I got the refflinghaus with the side shelf..  

[Frazer]

I see, I had it on the right side, but when I moved things around I decided to turn it over to the left and it's stayed that way since. I think I prefer it the way it is, but I do end up walking over to the other side for some things as the radius is much larger on the far side. On the near side it's not quite sharp, but the radius is very small. Most of the time when I'm not drawing things out over the horn, I'm doing so at the far side of the anvil so I like the larger radius to be over there.

I guess I have just set it up with my how my particular anvil is. I've considered rounding off just a section of the nearside over the sweet spot, but unfortunately my anvil skates a file 

[JHCC]

I learned with the horn to the tong hand. However, I thought I'd try it the other way around a few years ago, and I've never changed back.

[ThomasPowers]

Makes a difference how you "address the anvil" too.  Are you working facing the side of the anvil or standing next to it and facing towards the horn or heel?