jlpservicesinc Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 I do to.. I love that Gum tree base.. Its color is amazing.. Once I started working on a steel base my attitude changed.. For what I want to do, steel is the only way to do it in a package that can be changed when ever I want it to.. Add, remove. move. I have a sledge hammer head coming for a removable foot hammer that mounts to the stand.. Tough to do in wood, super easy in metal. I have 2, pieces of Ash 14"X 17" X 7Ft just waiting for me to decide their fate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 Water powered Helve Hammer; of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 You must share my dream. All my life I wanted a piece of property with a mill pond and or brook with potential for water power for the shop. Maybe next lifetime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 Yes! I once designed an undershot wheel to run a 16# sledge hammer as a helve hammer that would work in the creek at Pennsic With a bit of work. Never got to put the design to the test as we moved. Of course windmills would work too Die Schwarze Katze (sp??) in the Netherlands put out 80 hp in a good wind. You could run a pretty big hammer with that! In Germany I visited a smithy doing industrial work that was still water powered until they shut it down in 1972 and made a museum of it. Have you visited the Saugus Ironworks up your way? Of course the book "Mills of Medieval England" goes into the fact that maintenance and upkeep and flood damage were major costs for an old style water mill. Perhaps a nice penstock and pelton wheel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriel Messias Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Frosty All the pictures at the beginning of this thread are missing. Such a shame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Welcome aboard Gabriel, glad to have you. Using the @ to tag people's names causes the site moderators problems with the OS Iforge uses. Just folk's names please, it's best not to irritate Admin. There was a change in the OS Iforge used and a large % of early photos, files, and such were lost. We all regret it, some darned good stuff went down the drain. I think about all the types have recent pics in this section. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Yes, that's because like Frosty said due to a forum update and so many of the old members are not around any longer to put the pictures back in if they even still have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Some of them date to the original posters' previous computers (and before MB and disk crashes!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWanderingLlama Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 I needed a better way of anchoring my 65 pound anvil - previously it was screwed into a stump with some long deck screws through some 1/4” thick brackets. The connection to the stump was generally sound, but the stump still moved around. I also needed something I could tear down easily. It was also a little fussy - sometimes it would come loose a bit and require adjustment. I just finished the rough work on the stand below. Still need to get rid of some burrs (says my left ring finger muffled through a bandaid), add some foot pads, and give it some boiled linseed oil. Would like to add some kind of means to hold a few tools/hammers as well. I made it out of 2x12’s that are joined with six pieces of 1/2” all thread. I imbedded two halves of a ~50 pound cast iron forklift weight to give it some more mass on the bottom. These can be removed if needed to make it lighter for transport. There is an angle rails all the way around. The angle iron on the right side is actually a hold down - the two 1/4” bolts squeeze it down onto the top of the anvil feet and press it in. Undoing those to bolts allow me to lift the horn up and slide the anvil out. I also cut up a square of sheet metal to put on the top of the stump to give a little protection from hot stuff. I whacked some aluminum to see how much it has improved things. Seems to me much better. Previously a blow on the horn was a disaster - the whole thing would walk around. I ended up doing a little circle dance as I forged. Then while heating I would pick it up and orient it back the way it started. Frustrating... I have been forging outside so far, so I am thinking to make some diagonal holes inward through the base so I can drive some long stakes through as well. That will hopefully make the most out of this little guy. Still TPAAAT’ing for a larger anvil - hoping to find something 150-200 pounds. I hope the effort expended on this will appease the anvil gods and attract an anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBoatsol Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 I just finished my stand. It's nothing special, just something to help get me started. The block consists of nine 22.5" long 4x4s clamped together by a dozen lengths of 5/16" threaded rod. I also screwed a couple handles to the top to aid in moving it around. I'd guesstimate the block weighs 45lbs. The 55lb Grizzly Industrial anvil is held in place by four 6" lengths of rebar, left straight so I can easily lift the anvil off for storage. My living situation necessitates my setup be temporary/portable. The holes for the threaded rods were a bugger to drill, the green treated wood kept wanting to clamp down around my drill bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 A couple of comments on laminated wood anvil stands such as The Wandering Llama and TRBoatsol have posted: a) use the largest pieces of wood you can find/afford. One 2x8 is better than two 2x4s. Larger pieces means less work laminating things together and you need fewer fasteners. b) lag bolts are your friend. If you don't know what a log bolt is, they have a hex head like a bolt and wood screw threads. They are a lot easier to use than having to line up holes for all thread rods. You can get them in very long lengths. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Also they make extra long "electricians drillbits" that you can clamp the pieces together with pipe clamps and drill through the entire length in one go and so not have trouble lining up individual holes in the pieces. You can use them with all thread or extra long bolts. I used bolts that are used with utility poles and guard rails with mine, (sourced from the local scrapyard.) Drilling all the way through and bolting allows you to tighten them up as they dry out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Bell hangers drill bits are very long also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddmc451 Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 I posted a "slide-show" of the build process for my anvil stand on youtube. It's a "MOBILE" anvil stand that you can move around with the anvil like a "Dolly". Here's a link to the slide show (if not permitted, let me know, and I'll post a couple pictures instead): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xA9EnkzKkM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jealdi Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 Have to figure out how I'm going to hold it down still. But started a stand this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 She's a beauty, shiny and new. You can tack a couple pieces of wood between the feet for now. then forge a couple large staples or nails to hold it down. You could bend up and punch screw down anchors. Visualize laying a piece of tape on the foot on the right in the picture and down the side and an inch or so along the stand. You bend some strap steel, say 3/8" x 3/4" in that general shape but short the vertical section so the bottom doesn't lay flat on the stand. Counter and punch a hole for a large wood screw. A couple three will keep her put a treat. Lots of ways and there are plenty of pics here. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apacheforge Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 About 6 years ago i was outfitting my 120 year old sailing ship with a selection of tools to repair the old girl while cruising. Part of the outfit included a small gas forge and was on the lookout for an anvil, when, glory be! I found one at a flea market. A Trenton 120# for sixty xxxxxxx dollars!! its been in storage for 3 years and i retrieved it last year. I had some stubs of black locust, about 6x8x19 inches and lag bolted them together for a nice stump. I have blocks of black locust holding the anvil to the stump. No chain or staples needed. That anvil does not bounce or move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 An added trick is to cut the end pieces a couple of inches taller. I was lucky enough that they trap my anvil---in fact I had to chisel one out a bit for one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jealdi Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 I had considered such. Unfortunately my math didn't quite add up right. I bought a single 16' 2x12. My math showed I would only have maybe an inch left after getting 9 pieces cut to length. Turns out I had closer to 2 inches left. I should have had them do two of them with an extra inch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jealdi Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 Coworker is a wood worker. He had a lovely piece of cherry cut off laying around. So he brought over his jig saw this morning and we cut to shape. Very snug. Think it's going to work quite nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 Quick, put some finish on that wood before it gets dirty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jealdi Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 More excited to get it dirty than worried about keeping it clean! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriscarte82 Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 Had a friend knock this up for me for my 66lb anvil, mates rates and he even CNC'd the bespoke design on the front gratis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 Now to forge the Victory branding irons in the same font! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriscarte82 Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 One step at a time for this rookie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.