Post anvil longevity?

[roninwarrior]

Tried to look up some info on this and did not find much (or I'm just terrible at searching.)

Made a post anvil with a piece of steel that I got from a welding shop. I had spend the majority of the day driving around to different places looking for some scrap steel to use as an anvil with no luck when I happened across this piece. The gentleman said he was not exactly sure what type of steel it was but he did mention that he was told it was "cold rolled round stock." He cut me a 18 inch piece off for $20. It's diameter is about 3.5 inches and I bet it weighs 50 lbs or more. 

I sunk it into some concrete and mounted onto a solid wood box. Seems to work well, forged on it yesterday for about two hours. No dents/dings even when missing my strikes.

Will put a video link up and some pictures. 

So to the point, I really have two questions:

1. Any idea what type of steel it could possibly be? Does it even matter? 

2. How long should I expect this to last before it possibly starts cracking the concrete?

Of course my real goal is finding a decently priced anvil when budget allows and when I can find one. 

 

 

[Frosty]

Except for the concrete and how the form crowds the face it sounds like you have a good anvil. No telling what the alloy is, how do you  expect us to know if the fellow who sold it didn't? If it shows signs of cracking you're using too large a hammer. Seriously it's not going to happen unless it's some kind of odd high alloy and the sparks say it's pretty low carbon.

If, when the concrete starts to wear, find something better for a stand but don't sweat it, it's just fine now.

That's a fine anvil, honest I've done good work on far worse, including boulders using cobbles for hammers to prove the point about anvils not having to be London pattern to be real. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[roninwarrior]

8 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Except for the concrete and how the form crowds the face it sounds like you have a good anvil. No telling what the alloy is, how do you  expect us to know if the fellow who sold it didn't? If it shows signs of cracking you're using too large a hammer. Seriously it's not going to happen unless it's some kind of odd high alloy and the sparks say it's pretty low carbon.

If, when the concrete starts to wear, find something better for a stand but don't sweat it, it's just fine now.

That's a fine anvil, honest I've done good work on far worse, including boulders using cobbles for hammers to prove the point about anvils not having to be London pattern to be real. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks Frosty. I appreciate it. It seems to allow me to move metal pretty well so here's hoping it lasts for a while until I can upgrade to something bigger.

Thanks again!

[Frosty]

It'll last you a long time, many years. I've given my old improvised anvils to guys getting started and they're getting passed around still. The one everybody thinks is the best one is one I made by torching the cap off RR rail and welding it between cap and flange of a length with some hanging off the ends. I torched and ground a "horn" and heel on it then screwed it up by welding a piece of 3/4" plate on for a face. The rail is much better steel for an anvil's face than the mild I used. Still, in spite of the ignorant screw up it's still going strong after something like 35 years and because it LOOKS like a "real" anvil it's a favorite. 

Check out Charles Stevens thread about improvised anvils, his shaping of a piece of RR rail mounted on end is a masterful tutorial of how to make an anvil.

Frosty The Lucky.

[stevomiller]

That’s a great anvil and I can’t imagine you ruining it, or wanting to get rid of it when you get a  “real” anvil. All that mass directly under the face makes it pretty efficient. Is there cement under the rod as well, or did the rod sit directly on the bottom of the form when you concreted it in?

if you ever need one with straight edges but can only find more rounds, look for a bar about 5” -6” round by 10-whatever inches long. You can then hacksaw and grind a step on one or two opposite sides, about 2.5”-3” long, or step one side and grind the opposite side as either a straight edged chamfer or straight edged radius. The straight edges allow you to work knife edge tapers right to the edge without striking the face, the step can be useful for some operations and a chamfer or radius straight edge can be used for forming or for drawing metal faster.

[roninwarrior]

8 hours ago, stevomiller said:

That’s a great anvil and I can’t imagine you ruining it, or wanting to get rid of it when you get a  “real” anvil. All that mass directly under the face makes it pretty efficient. Is there cement under the rod as well, or did the rod sit directly on the bottom of the form when you concreted it in?

There is no cement under the rod. The rod is sitting on those 2 square boards, and those square boards are bolted into the sturdy framed platform on the bottom. 

Thanks for the advice on modifying a round for straight edges! Will have to look into that.

[ThomasPowers]

BTW 18" of 3.5" diameter mild steel weighs just over 49 pounds.