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I Forge Iron

A collection of improvised anvils


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First time posting so it this isn't the place to ask sorry.

I got this large angle plate and want to use it as an anvil. Plate is about 104lbs of mystery steel. Planning to put a 1" square hardie and 1" round hole. Towards the back and think to mount it do they would be thru holes exposed on the backside.

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Wanting help on ideas on how to mount it.  Thinking something like the hand drawing. I had thought to cut some grooves in the edge and use some sort of tiedow / toe clamp. A buddy is suggesting I should put a couple more holes thru the faces and lag it down.

 

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So I am open to suggestions on how to mount and or what holes I should put in it. 

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Should work fine as you have it drawn. Make the base for the down angled piece good and sturdy and do most of your heavy hammering on that edge. 

Have a welder? Could weld eyelets on the side to bolt into the stand from the sides just to tie it down better. 

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That is a lovely piece of steel for an improvised anvil. 

For anchoring you want to bolt it down in the direction of the hammer blows, so i say two steel rods vertical down, two inch from the top edge and one rod in the center more or less of the vertical plate. The 1/2" vertical rods I would weld on the underside of the horizontal plate, drill vertical holes in the timber and two blind horizontal holes 2" diameter to house the nut and allow for a spanner to tie up. The horizontal bolt would have to be a through bolt with the head countersunk and the nut recessed so that it is not in the way, and to be tied up after the verticals are done up. 

The hardy hole will need a bit of a cavity under it for the hardy tools to fit but not too deep. I wouldn't bother with a pritchel hole. You lose enough face to the hardy already but if you really must, have it on one side and carve a channel in the stump for the tools to get through. 

Nice find. 

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13 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

Their is a minute bit of flex in the web that will rob you of efficiency. Now if you slice the head off and weld it to the two uprights your in business.

i was wondering about that. I may just do that. I got the whole thing free as one piece. I chopped it up like so. I know there are special treatments for this stuff, being its probably manganese steel. I was going to take it to a weld shop or friend. Any Tips?

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1 hour ago, WhiteElder said:

So I am open to suggestions on how to mount and or what holes I should put in it. 

If it were mine I'd probably rotate it so that instead of one horizontal and one vertical leg there would be 2 vertical legs in roughly a V shape when viewed from above.  For a hardy hole I'd plan on using the natural corner to form 2 sides of the hole and find some thick steel to weld in the full vertical length for the other 2 sides.   One leg I would leave flat on top for general forging and the other I would grind in useful sections for drawing out, setting shoulders, possibly even a slot for bending etc.

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On 12/12/2018 at 4:36 PM, Buzzkill said:

If it were mine I'd probably rotate it so that instead of one horizontal and one vertical leg there would be 2 vertical legs in roughly a V shape when viewed from above. 

I kinda like this idea. And with this I could have a few tabs with holes welded on the bottom then screwed down. 

I might drop up a couple ideas and post again. 

Thank you all for the great ideas.

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For the hardie hole, weld a piece of heavy wall tubing to the side of the plate. Lacking tubing, weld a heavy mechanics socket with the correct size drive hole to the side of the plate. A 1 inch or larger drive socket would work. Add a couple of gussets for side support.

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Thanks BGD, I learned to aneal aluminum buy coating it with shoot from a acetylene flame. It burns off at about 500f so it makes a good reference for me. Beats the heck out of buying temple sticks for rat killing projects.

to the big piece of angle, mount as shown in your picture. Then you have that wonderful 2x12” “anvil” and the 12x12” striking anvil.   

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Started life as a 12"x12" I=beam drop. 

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Cut 3" off either side of the top plate and the corners off the bottom plate. Welded the 3" strips back on the bottom of the top plate as skirts and the corners back on the bottom plate as web braces. Then added vertical bracing to the web.

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And finally plugged the ends of the top plate.

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I have plans to cut in a hardy hole and a pritchel hole and then fill the underside of the top plate and between the vertical braces with lead. 

Working face is 19"x6".

Work on this project has slowed since I obtained a 125 lb 1907 Hay Budden. Still, my ALO is a good striking anvil at nearly 100 lbs even without the lead.

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