Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

I Forge Iron

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

A collection of improvised anvils

Featured Replies

  • Author

Jock (RIP) over at anvilfire had a lot of sketches of home built anvils from heavy plate. One in particular would work well for the stock you have. He didn’t like his page linked to, so I. Hose to respect that. I hope his page is still up for posterities sake 

  • Replies 660
  • Views 280.9k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Nice anvil! Well done.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks, Frosty!

Charles - lots of great content on Anvilfire, are you referring to the article on slab anvils? I've started grinding a radius similar to the left example in that article. I'm also going to try welding on a little horn horn similar to the middle example. 

I'm sorry to hear that it's creator has passed! It sounds like one of his friends has stepped in to keep the information posted so it should remain available as long as he's around to foot the bill. Maybe someone could get permission to convert all of those articles into a book, it would be excellent content to have handy offline!

 

Kim Thomas pointed out to me this great little hardy tool for larger curves on pages 42-43 of Werk und Werkzeug des Kunstschmieds (The Smithy’s Craft and Tools) by Otto Schmirler:

6CE84BD8-6D46-40E4-9FBE-6069078AEDD0.jpeg

B2583A4D-60FA-4097-9196-19FDFBBBF051.jpeg

Here’s my version, welded up from a piece of bent plate and a scrap of angle iron:

EF513910-8B1D-4B9E-A68B-F5AC63C75B77.jpeg

73B1A772-ECDB-4252-8524-2DB4B4A92F77.jpeg

It works great.

FB58188D-7AC3-4362-BBCA-8A982FB55269.jpeg

That looks pretty handy John!

I’m gonna be needing to make a big ring for a tool hanger on a forge soon and I’ve been looking at different ways to do it, I might have to give that a try!

It’s startlingly effective. 

I've always called it a "ski jump" it's one of the tools I was planning to demo for the NMABA. Mine was made from a torch cut piece of 1.5"? plate I found at the scrapyard.  It had both the gentle and more abrupt sides.

I also picked up a copy of the book at a smith's estate sale; I have it right next to "Geschmiedetes Eisen" by Kuhn and "Damaszener Stahl" by Sachse.  (Another German book I like is "Schöne alte Wirtshausschilder"  by Leonhard.)

Don't forget the other slope of the "ski jump" for turning tighter circles. I have a large radius bottom fuller that serves the same purpose though I doubt as well. 

Frosty The Lucky.

11 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

"Geschmiedetes Eisen" by Kuhn

For those who missed it, I reviewed this book together with one of Kuhn's sources of inspiration:

 

  • Author

I start the initial curve on shoes simply by bracing the tongs against my leg supporting on end of the bar wile the other end is supported on the anvil. Rounding hammer applied to the middle to start the curve. 
closing the 90 is easy enough by placing one end on the anvil face and striking the other end wile griping the center with tongs. The branches for front shoes can be bent buy placing the toe on the anvil and striking the end (heal) rear shoes are not as easy but doable by bending the shoe so one can access the heal.

the same tricks have been used for mallinia, 

  • 1 month later...

Thanks john for that picture.
I can see it welded and mounted in vise.

I cant find video on net anymore but i saw one smith pounding on the edge of anvil and it by some miracle fold itself in circle (ring)

It's also been done using the step between the face and the cutting plate on a London pattern anvil.

It belongs here my small anvil.

The wood of the stand looks a bit rotten, but that are only the parts that are missing. The wood is solid.

The anvil stand very secure on the wood.

the floor however is oneven, so that is a bummer. 

 

image.thumb.jpeg.e2027d8f83571febce4baf4416d4204f.jpeg

Looking good, looks like it will work well! 

What are you going to make with it?

~Jobtiel

At this moment, tongs and punches.

Then triangle for the kids so their summerhouse is finished (at the end of the summer). And some fire-thing-pokes.

Small stuff. We see. 

  • Author

Triangle bells sound better if they are spring steel (I use sucker rod) and off set the gap so that the branches are of different length. Oh and use a price of cord or leather thong to hand it. 

You might try drilling and bolting through the wood; those metal extensions would snag me if it was working in my shop. (With London pattern anvils; I have the stand clamping bolts under the horn and heel so I will hit the anvil before I run into them...)

My first "constructed" anvil stand was made from rough sawn oak that had been the floor of a horse trailer. The scrapyard gave it to me free.  The best pieces are a set of shelves in my shop.  The intermediate pieces I cut for anvil stands. Then I noticed I needed only 1 more stand to have all my using anvils on stands.  So I made a stand from a heavily cribbed board----seams to have worked ok even if ugly!  (Years later I needed a taller stand for students over 2 meters tall and made one from softwood scraps.  Works too.)

 

I will see. I think the wood will crumble before my pants are torn open. I can work in very weird and cramped places. That is a good thing, also a bad thing. 

One thing with forging: when moving with hot steel folks often pay more attention to the hot steel than to where their feet and legs are; hence the suggestion to avoid trip and snag hazards when possible.  (How many of us have managed to ram the tip of an anvil horn with our leg---if we were lucky!)

Sorry for the quote. Can't find the blank text on my phone.

I get what you mean. But I know it will work out. I used to work at a shipyard. Awerness for the surrounding has become second nature. Working with a torch cutting steel above your head does that, espacially with collegues doing the same around you

At this moment. I have more problems finding a good spot for everything. A gasforge gives a lot of heat in front of it.

Edited by Mod30
Remove quote

Scroll down and click on the *reply to this topic* box and type. Then scroll down again and cl>ck on *submit reply*. 

Thomas not te be disrespectfull. I appreceate your input.

Have to rethink my support anyway. The floor is too oneven. It is wobbly-wobbly. 

Glenn it is me, but i don't understand.

Glenn means you can reply to a post without quoting it by using the text window directly below it. Posts directly following another and on the same subject don't need a quote to know who you are responding to. If it's a few posts down the thread simply addressing the person you're responding to by name works. 

Make sense?

Frosty The Lucky.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.