TommyVee Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Spent today making a stand for the new 100lb double-horn Holland anvil that arrived yesterday. Got it most of the way, still have to make the brackets to hold the anvil itself and clean up the welds with an angle grinder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgeway Forge Studio Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Tommy, That looks like a really good stand. I would probably overbuild it and put braces on the feet, but that's just opinion. How do you like working on one of those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyO Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Hello all. It's been a while since I posted anything here. I hope all is well with everyone. Another artist and I are doing a collaboration for a "Fruiting Bodies" exhibit next week mushroom themed, so I thought we needed a snail. I'm rather pleased with how it all turned out, better than expected, close to as planned, and went smoothly, almost like I had done these before. Starting stock was a bar of 1" square: If only every day of smithing was like this.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyVee Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Ridgeway Studio Forge: I haven't any time on this anvil yet (it arrived Thursday, I built the stand on Friday, and there are no brackets to hold the anvil down yet). However I got a chance to work on a double horn anvil a few times and liked it, and I just decided to go for this one. It will take the place of my improvised anvil that I've been using for a couple of years now. As for bracing the legs, at first I thought I would do that when I was mulling over the design, and I might still do that. Welding a triangle of bracing members halfway down the legs, perhaps. Or welding a triangular tray down there (this is what the stands at the NMABA meetings have). But I think it will be solid even without those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 I wouldn't worry too much about bracing, since it's only a 100 pound anvil and therefore probably isn't going to be subjected to the kind of major pounding that would require it. Add it if you want, but don't stress about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyVee Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 And that's why I had decided not to overthink it and just go with this simple design. I can beef it up if necessary, but might not. I honestly just want to get to pounding on it sooner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgeway Forge Studio Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 JHCC: You're more right than I am. I have a tendency to overbuild everything: see my previous picture post in this thread on my own stand for my H frame press. I should have built it out of plywood, but I had a bunch of old 2x4's from a chicken coop that I cut and make into almost a board and batten. The whole thing looks like an old shipping crate. Tommy, even if not necessary, I can see a small grate welded under for hot metal to be a potentially useful tool. I wouldn't really know for sure, though - all of my anvil stands are stumps. Billy - can I 'borrow' that idea? I love the way it came out and how it looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 The snail turned out really nice Billy, thanks for the WIP series so we can copy it more easily. Your anvil stand looks pretty good Tommy. You might consider making the one leg that extends so far a little closer. Horns don't take very heavy work so they require less support and clear foot room is precious. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 The tray under the anvil comes in very handy to set tools on that you are using like hardy or chisels etc. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s. Semper Paratus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyVee Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 Yeah, I can see that a tray would come in handy. I think I'll add that later. I also plan to weld on some loops for storing hammers, and maybe some tubing with bases to hold punches, drifts, etc. I've seen anvil stands (the ones NMABA use at the state fair demos) that even have a socket into which a removable tray can be slotted. Finished the stand today, and dressed down the shank for the cone mandrel I've had for a couple of years. It now fits in my new hardy hole (I was previously using an ineffective, improvised support for it). My old improvised anvil with its overdesigned (and much too large) supporting structure is behind it in the attached pictures. That improvised anvil is just a 200 pound block of steel (annealed A2, so it didn't have particularly good rebound, but for $80 at an estate sale, it served me well for a couple of years). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojo Pedro Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Nice anvil and good job on the stand Tommy. I want one like that as well. Love the snail Billy. Super well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 At the risk of a bunch of rolled eyes from the gang I'll post pics of my anvil and stand. . . Again. This is my Trenton, I don't know why I didn't take pics of my Soderfors in her stand but this is what I have on file. The first shows the stand and hammer rack, there is another on the far side for tongs. The second pic shows how the tong racks wedge the anvil into the stand. The rim is 2" x 3" angle iron 2" flange up and fitted to the anvil's base. You have to hammer the hammer racks in. The anvil is secure enough I load it all in the pickup at once with my engine hoist. That's how it's rigged in the pic. They rest on the angle iron just fine, no plate under it. In the second pic you can see how the angle iron's flange and racks makes a nice hand tool shelf between the feet on each side. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 BillyO, nice forging. Frosty, quality it quality, knowledge is knowledge.. If there is something to learn then it's needed to share, again, and again, and again. People have extremely short memories of good things. Horrendously long with bad things. (perceived bad or otherwise). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Knowledge is not diminished by being shared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 15 hours ago, TommyVee said: I also plan to weld on some loops for storing hammers, and maybe some tubing with bases to hold punches, drifts, etc. Check out the tool rack that Kim Thomas has on the back of his anvil stand: This is a screenshot from one of Kim's livestream videos; I've posted a link to the relevant clip HERE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyVee Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Thanks. That is something like what I had in mind. Frosty's hammer and tong racks look very good, too, and even easier to implement. I will have to think about both ideas for a while. I already have the anvil itself secured well enough for now so I don't think I will pull it apart to use the racks as additional support. My stand's top is 8" C channel with angle iron brackets welded on top, and the fit to the anvil is tight. But if it turns out not to be as functional as I imagine it to be, I could cut the brackets off and try something more like Frosty's design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 With something like this, investing a little more time, effort, and material in better function can more than pay for itself in the long run. As Carl West (owner/instructor at Prospect Hill Forge) remarked to me just this past week, anything that saves you even a couple of seconds every time you take your workpiece to the anvil adds to how much work you get done on each heat and how many heats you need to take to get a job done, saving you time, fuel, and frustration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 I wouldn't expect you to remake your anvil stand like mine, I just posted it to show an option I like. I just said this in another thread without realizing it was another thread but repetition isn't all bad. I only used the rack on the far side to hang tongs very briefly for two reasons. First if I'm using tongs they're in my hand. Second and more memorable, the rack holds tongs bits up so you have to give them time to cool down or walk around the other side to lift them by the reins. In my setup the best place to hang my ready tongs is at the forge where I need them most often and you would have to almost reach into the dragon's breath to grasp them by the bits. I have a rack on 3 sides of my little steel table next to my forge station to hold my less likely to need tongs, top tools, bottom tools and the pointy sharp tools you do NOT want to walk into. The table has a lower shelf I can let HOT things cool on as does my too large 4 burner shop forge and the garage sale steel serving cart that serves a the NARB forge's stand. I also have tong racks standing next to a wall for those I have and may need someday or maybe modify into something special. Auctions and chance find smithing tools are welcome to live in my shop. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 8 hours ago, JHCC said: Knowledge is not diminished by being shared. Depends on who the information is shared with. I used to believe this very thing. I find people are very stubborn to change. Especially if there is a simpler way. People love complex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 I Like that anvil stand. But I think that snail is the "bees knees'. And the log on which it rests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Not my cleanest work, but trying something out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 51 minutes ago, jlpservicesinc said: Depends on who the information is shared with. I used to believe this very thing. I find people are very stubborn to change. Especially if there is a simpler way. People love complex. Ah, but the knowledge itself is not diminished. Rather, they diminish themselves who choose not to accept it or put it to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 1 minute ago, JHCC said: Ah, but the knowledge itself is not diminished. Rather, they diminish themselves who choose not to accept it or put it to use. I wish it were just that. Like said.. If knowledge is shared and not understood.. Most if not all will lend credence to the lack of understanding. With enough misunderstanding "knowledge" is left in the dirt and dismissed. There is always the "ideal".. What you wrote is an "ideal" or words to live by.. In all it's just semantics. Or lets play a game.. Your not wrong.. It's not a matter or being right or wrong. It's simple in human complication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojo Pedro Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Interesting twist on your twist Jennifer "Knowledge is good" - Emil Faber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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