What would you do with this?

[Tom May]

I bought a 72 lb piece of steel plate from a scrapyard yesterday.  It's about 12 x 10" and roughly an inch and a half thick.  The corners are very sharp.  It has 3 one inch diameter holes bored into its face, spaced along each of the two long sides.

I was hoping to make a makeshift anvil out of this.  

 

Should I put it on a post?  Stump?  Weld a some steel tubes onto it for bending?

 

Just interested in some ideas.  My experience is limited.

[JHCC]

Welcome to IFI! Please READ THIS FIRST.

Your plate will make a great anvil. Stand it on edge, with the 10" side up. Soften the edges, to keep from damaging your workpiece. 

There's something similar on the "Collection of Improvised Anvils" thread; take a look.

 

[Daswulf]

With designing and making your anvil stand for your newly aquired anvil, think versatility. If you are just starting out then just radius the hammering edge a bit and get started but as you learn more you will find that there are many things you can use to your advantage and do with your anvil. 

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Tom, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the gang live within visiting distance. 

Stand the plate on edge and don't weld it to the stand so you can rotate it when . . .WHEN you discover that the way you dressed it isn't what you really need or like. The more steel directly between the hammer face and Earth the better it will move metal for you, weight isn't everything. Laid flat that plate will rig like a gong and suck energy out of the hammer blow rather than returning it through the work.

This one will get you started nicely and start thinking about tooling that can be placed in the holes. A "bic" would be a good first, you get to do some heavy forging (read hard work) to draw it to a point then practice hot rasping or grinding it to a smooth horn. Bending forks is a good one too. Lots of things you can do with 1" holes, heck use them to bend with.

Keep your eyes open for more efficient improvised anvils, I like steel shafting on end. You really only need a little wider anvil face than the hammer, straightening and truing up your work is more often done on a wooden block with a wooden mallet. This bends without deforming texture or changing cross section. Keep an eye open for wooden baseball bats at garage, yard, etc. sales or in the trash behind ball fields, high schools, etc. I make mallets from them or use them as is. A wooden club in a smithy is a valuable tool and called a "Thwocker." Thwock is the sound they make when you hit something with them. I also grabbed about half a dozen hockey sticks from a trash can behind the local ice rink, they make good top tool handles. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Tom May]

Thanks everyone.  My inclination would have been to place it horizontally, so I'm glad I asked.  I will round the edges a bit, and design my stand after the one in the "improvised" picture thread.

> Laid flat that plate will rig like a gong...

It does indeed.  If standing it up will quiet it down, my neighbors will appreciate it.

It's a pretty sound, but too loud.

 

[Frosty]

Ayup, laying plate flat is the intuitively obvious thing to do, it's just not the better. Do you weld? A steel stand will take most of the ring out of it though it's a BIG resonator all by it's lonesome so it'll always make noise. Clank is better than bong any day.

Did anybody mention pictures? We LOVE pics, stop, tools, projects, pets, kids, anything you'd show a child you didn't want to have to explain adult things. 

Frosty The Lucky.