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Show me your anvil stands


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18 hours ago, Chris The Curious said:

  Stays there without tie downs...........for now at least.

Have you worked on it yet? It might jump out of the recess if you're working hard. It is a very nice looking stand. Iirc you are a wood working instructor aren't you? It shows if so.

Pnut

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Thanks for all the compliments. 

Jennifer, I'm thinking of having some steel tubing cut into 1/2" rings and having someone weld them to the top strap for my hammers and tongs.  Any comments about the would be helpful.  I'm thinking I should remove the band from the stump for that step so the heat won't burn the stump.  Would that be the right way to go?  Sure wish I had my own welder so I could stop "begging" for favors or having to pay people to do things like that for me.

Pnut, I teach a beginning wood carving class, but was a professional furniture maker for 17 years.  The two overlap, but not in the case of this anvil stand because I've never previously used a Machete to remove bark from a tree stump. :D  No, I haven't actually worked hot metal on it yet, but I've put some 1/4" plate on it and have pounded the heck out of it with my 4 pounder.  It stays put..........for now, but I'll lock it down if it becomes a problem.

Chris

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On 9/28/2019 at 1:10 PM, JHCC said:

I keep my hammers on a stand just to the right of my anvil (I’m right-handed). In my experience, hammers on the anvil stand just get in the way. 

Well, if you're the proud owner of a "thousand" hammers, :blink:  I guess they would get in the way being on the anvil stand.

Chris

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Chris, and for others making hammer racks for their anvil stands, I would like to make a suggestion.  Rather than using sliced steel pipe, steel bar, etc, all of which have sharp edges, use round rod, say 3/8" to rack up your hammers.  The edges on pipe and bar racks will eventually chew up your hammer handles, which ain't fun replacing.  The round rod is much more forgiving on your handles.  I had straps originally on my stand and found that sometimes being in a hurry changing hammers that I would drop the hammer in the rack and it started gouging the handles.  Since going to round rod, no more handle dings.

 

100_6709 (Small).JPG

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Thanks, Arkie.  I tend to agree with you.  I had finally decided on forging rings and welding those onto the strap............for the very reason you mention.  But I like the approach you took.  The wheels and gears in my brain are grinding.  I could definitely forge something like yours and wrap it around and screw it to the stump.  Good suggestion.  Thanks.

Chris

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I got in some prep work over the last couple of weeks in my evenings. My every-other-free-Saturday chore this week was to fix my red stand back legs.

Not quite perfect, but I can live with them being "close enough". What I HAD to do, was to splay the back legs out for stability, I think I got closer this time. <_<

gj0m3t6.jpg

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I"m with JHCC on the hammer racks on the anvil stump thing.     I don't like to have anything that will get in the way under my anvil. It's the reasons the trays can move into other positions or be removed with just lifting them up on the newer stand. 

there is nothing more frustrating than bending a ring over the horn and having it hit the rack which I installed to make work easier.  

Ideally for myself I want the area under the horn and heel completely void of anything that can get in the way.  I also don't like racks on the far side of the anvil for that very same reason. 

A separate hammer rack also make the best sense as then it can be moved closer of further depending on how I am working and can be raised up..   Yup raised up.  Ideally bending down to put something under the anvil should be avoided unless there is no other option.   In the  trailer I don't have much options for room so keep the wire brushes under the anvil in the hollow of the stand.  Not great. 

on the newest stand I added the hardie holder (which raised them up so less bending)  and the front shelf to hold block brush and wire brush unless it's needed for something else. Again higher up. 
 

In reality any can do what ever they want to and every person will have a "way" they like it.   I try to work as efficiently as possible as each motion is production or wasted.  Every bend over to get something is a waste of motion. 

In the old days most people were shorter than they are today.  So, everything should be taller in relation to your personal height. 

Chris for the anvil use Calking.  Most have very good luck with it and that lighter weight will have a tendency to bounce.  Love it though. Treat it kindly and it will work well. Work over the center mass when doing any heavy work. 

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Hmmmmmm................lot's to digest there, Jennifer.  All good points.  I'm taking notes for sure.

Not having "really" done any smithing at the anvil yet, I'd not thought about how the hammer rack being under the anvil might get in the way...............but now that you mention it, it makes sense.  I've seen several hammer racks in the shop where I used to go on Thursday nights.  But they weren't portable at all............and even far too heavy to move.  Going to have to ponder the hammer rack project.  Of course, with only 4 hammers and one pair of tongs, it's not really a critical problem yet. :lol:

Chris

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Maybe, JHCC.  But my main goal is making knives.............if I ever get everything all put together and fired up.  I'm new to all of this, but it doesn't seen to me a ton of hammers will be needed for that.  But to be honest, I'm not quite sure why anyone needs as many different hammers as I see on some racks.  (don't ask me to account for the quantity of knives, chisels and gouges in my carving tool cabinet!)  :lol:  I probably have a whole lot to learn about smithing, huh? ;)

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Originally I planned my hammer and tong racks to be hooked over the rim of my: wall storage rack, table, or anvil stand. I radiused the corner of the angle iron I used but would use round stock were I to do it again. 

Originally I thought having racks and a tool pan under horn and heal was a good idea, fortunately I realized how much time material spent under both and scrapped the idea. Sometimes the ground gets in the way but my anvils are a good height so I'll resist moving the planet farther from my comfort zone.

At one time I had 140 hammers not counting my 6 or so always ready hammers. The other 140 hammers and more than 75 tongs were stolen so I don't need an against the wall rack stand. 

I hang my ready tongs on the forge stand, that's where I need them most often so that's where I keep them. I used to hang them off the back side of my anvil stand racks but that is a poor position for the ready tongs. 

Organizing your tools and the variables is a very personal thing, some more critical than others. Jennifer works in a limited space where virtually everything is within MY ready tool distance. I have the room in my shop to have the storage area as far away as necessary, heck my swage block is probably 15' from the forge but I don't use it that often so I want that crazy heavy trip hazard out of the way. Also, everything but the power hammer is easily moved according on the project I'm setting up for.

One of the guys in our club turned an old school bus into a knife shop and from the pics I've seen it's well laid out. He calls it "The Bluebird Shop.

The best advice I can give you new folk is. Do NOT permanently mount anything you don't absolutely have to until you've been using the set up long enough to get good. You CAN work in almost any arrangement but YOUR space should be arranged to YOUR taste. Give it time so you don't have to work around more than you must. And remember nothing is perfect there will always be things to work around don't sweat them.

Frosty The Lucky.

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In my old shop it was 25X40..  the forge divided the forging area into a 12X 22' area.. I looked at the anvil or the other side of the anvil as the second boundry. (brought the forging area down to about 10x10'   this area was the forging area. the other area was for grinders, shears, punches and other mechanical items.  As well as the storage area for the swage block and sledge hammer anvil which got moved to the end of the bench and vise. 

This forging area was about ideal for nearly anything that needed to be done or worked around. the only problem was the ceiling was only 7.5'..  Huge problem when working with scrolls that were anything over 4'.. 

this same sized area I find for most people is about ideal if you look at how they work and the 8X8X10 of the trailer really unless doing gate work is about all one needs of open space. the "triangle of action" is what I call it.  Primary tools/tooling main triangle.  forge, anvil 1 step, vise 1 step.  If the vise is attached the work bench, one step to the work bench as well.  Ideally l like the swages mounted in a rack behind me by the blower.   As I'm there cranking or tending to the fire I can grab what ever I want. 

Ideally i like the 1 step rule and will push this out to 2 steps when a power hammer is involved or one starts to get into larger stock sizes.  Stock sizes dictate a lot on how much area is actually needed. 

 A way to move items around the shop easily can be a great advantage..  

Chris if you are doing chisels and chasing tooling .. You can get away with very little room and a Guillotine tool with different inserts will be your best friend. You won't need more than about 4 hammers this way.   If you move into larger sizes or if you incur an apprentice than swages will get added as you increase horse power. :) 

Nearly all the blacksmiths I have encountered that have had marginal successes, speak the same language (body, mind, action with blacksmithing). Problem is the language barrier of words.   I have only seen blacksmithing shops setup differently than I mention above is where the stock sizes start getting larger and then many will have work stations setup for this work.  Or a tool they have which they thought they would use regularly moves from that "Triangle of action" further out as they find they don't use it and it just gets in the way. (IE trip over as Frosty put it") 

if you go into a train forge shop the items are much farther apart than someone making hand forge jackknives. LOL. 


Setting up the gear for the 90% or better forging vs the 10% that might happen.  

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3 hours ago, Frosty said:

Do NOT permanently mount anything you don't absolutely have to until you've been using the set up long enough to get good.

Excellent advice, Frosty.

 

2 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

Chris if you are doing chisels and chasing tooling .. You can get away with very little room and a Guillotine tool with different inserts will be your best friend. You won't need more than about 4 hammers this way.   If you move into larger sizes or if you incur an apprentice than swages will get added as you increase horse power.

Thanks, Jennifer..........makes sense.  (also makes my pocket book a little happier) :lol:

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My first larger hammer rack was made from the base of a large aquarium---the stand. I took 4 sections of pipe and bolted them to the top parallel to the long dimension with one section atop the stand's edge piece on each side and then the other inboard of that spaced  to fit the handles. Forming two rows of hammers.  Bolted as I didn't own a welder.

All my other stands have been pretty similar; only larger and stouter except for the armouring hammer rack. It uses some heavy 2" squares wire grid as it has a lot of hammers and stakes to hold.

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