Working on my hardie cut-off, I've been using the hardie hole on my Hill 185-lb anvil. The process has gotten me to start thinking about making a striking anvil/portable hole. I have three blocks of steel I bought some time back that are each 13.5" x 7" x 3.5". A calculator says they weigh 94 lb each.

Most images I've seen of striking anvils I've seen show them laid out so that mine would have the 13x7 plane flat, and it standing 3.5 high. This makes sense, as it's easiest to drill or punch. But wouldn't the efficiency of the anvil be best served by being on an edge, and being 7" or even 13" high?

Most striking anvils I see are in the same weight range as my blocks. Heavier anvils are more efficient. Is the reason for relatively light anvils cost and ease of finding materials, or is there some other reason?

I've got a light-weight (180-amp) MIG welder. I could probably figure a way to weld two blocks together, but I'd not have really deep penetration unless I just built up a big gap with wire. That would be a lot of wire. Worth while?

 

Will you be having a hardy hole in it?  if so flat makes it a LOT easier.   One aspect of the striking anvil is being able to go way up in hammer size as you don't worry as much about damaging it so you can overcome the inefficiency to a degree. (Another is that most people need the extra target zone as they are not skilled at striking with a heavy hammer and so aim might be off, over shooting or undershooting on a flat will usually just ding the face, on edge you can break the hammer haft or flip the workpiece; both are much more OUCH! prone.)

Yes, I'd like a hardy (hardie?). I can drill through 3.5" but not 7". I could drill 3.5 then 3.5 and weld together. Or I could put a 1" spacer between the blocks and build up weld between them to make an 8" wide by 7" tall striking anvil of about 210 lb.

Sounds like the main reason for the orientation is drilling a hardie and lightning strikers, then.

Edited August 2, 20187 yr by bajajoaquin
typo (there's a lot of those!)

Definitely best to have your anvil 13 inches thick.

Not much point otherwise.