Should I mill my Anvil?

[slimpickins]

....not the top, which is near perfect, but the underside. I’m going to make a metal tripod stand, which I prefer over wood, for my latest Anvil,  and I noticed the Anvil is rocking on flat surfaces. There is actually very, very, little contact between the underside of the Anvil and the top of the plate I’ve chosen to make the stand out of, due to various high spots. In fact it’s all over the place. Am I better off by removing high spots by grinding/milling, or pad welding in the corners to increase surface area contact. How much contact is enough? How long is a piece of string?

[lyuv]

I realy dislike to sit a flat hard object on a flat hard surface. You will never get perfect contact, and any tiny warp due to temperature, aging ect. will get things wobling.

Why not get something rubbery in between? Like a mat or rubber cement. It will solve your flatness issue, and perhaps also reduce some noise.

[Tubalcain2]

What lyuv said. Fill it in with silicone caulk or something.

[timgunn1962]

Unless you lap the anvil to the base, you'll only ever reliably get 3-point contact. 

The best approach is probably to get those 3 points as far apart as possible (centre of the edge under the horn and both corners at the heel end) and above the tripod legs, then bed it on high-modulus silicone caulk. The silicone will help to stabilize it when the forces are directed outside the triangle and will (IME) significantly reduce noise.

[Lionel h]

I used construction adhesive put on about 1/2 inch thick, let it start to cure some then set the anvil in it without messing with it for a couple of days ,no rocking and turned the ringing of the anvil into a thud.

[Exo313]

7 hours ago, slimpickins said:

How long is a piece of string?

 We could get tangled up with knotty questions like this one. Let's loop back to it.

[Frosty]

As Iyuv said a hard flat object on a hard flat object isn't going to be stable, even if you did lap match them, as soon as you start using it grit WILL infiltrate between the two and it's going to get jittery again.

I mount my anvils on steel tripods, the contact is angle iron flange up and only contacts the anvil around the edges. The tong and hammer racks are also angle iron but are notched and sized to wedge between the anvil foot and stand rim. It isn't anymore perfect than most anything I make but it works nicely. With the racks wedged on I can lift it all with the engine hoist I move heavy stuff with or I can tap the racks out, lift the anvil out making it light enough to move it a piece at a time by hand.

Pics follow, it's in the engine hoist, either being loaded in or pulled from the truck.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[JHCC]

I had the same problem when I built a steel stand for my anvil. A nice layer of silicone caulk, and not only did the rocking go away, but it’s also a lot quieter.

[MC Hammer]

None of the anvils I've ever seen have a completely flat bottom.  A bed of clear silicone will have that anvil stuck to whatever you have for a base and you won't be worrying about any imperfections on the bottom.  I did this with mine and it worked perfectly.  I could have really used more, so don't be stingy on how much you put on the anvil stand.  I recommend tracing the anvil base outline onto your wooden stump or stand and routering it out.  This gives the silicone something to sit in and your anvil won't slowly try to slide off.  

[Kozzy]

You want a layer of something---and I suggest laminated hardwood.  Hear me out here---what it does for you is allow you to seek a perfect anvil height, no matter whether you change your mind about proper height or whether someone else eventually ends up with your anvil stand.  By planning the stand to have that hardwood layer (or whatever), you gain options.