I got a second anvil that seems to allow me to move metal more easily than my main anvil. I plan to sell one of the two once I decide which is better. My question is, they are on different bases/stands. The second anvil is on a solid hardwood stump. The first is on a stand I made with 4x4s. Could the stand have a large effect on the effectiveness of the anvil, or is it kind of a moot point? The hardwood stand is more dense. 

What is the differences between the two anvils?  Weight, size, attachment, etc

Switch anvils and the bases and retest.

Pictures?

I'm with Glen, switch bases and see!

First one is 250# PW. Second is 166# HB. The stand for the HB is a little too small for the larger anvil for me to be able to switch and test. Good idea though I might try getting a stump for the PW to try and do a rough equivalent test. 

My HB's have more rebound than my PW's; but I would have thought the extra mass would have made up for some of that.

My thinking as well. I’ll have to do some more testing 

I recently sold a 248# PW for US$1000. I decided I didn't need an intermediate sized anvil between my 165# "shop" anvils and the 400+# "Anvil envy treatment" anvils. It paid off the Hoard Loan; so everything left is mine free and clear!  I hope to sell off some of the post drills I don't need and spend it on LG parts.  I'm going to haul them to the next NMABA meeting and see; I need the space!

From my testing into this subject; There are 3 parameters of an anvil base important:

1. mass of anvill base.

2. how rigid the anvil is secured.

3. The material of which the stand is made. 

Short answer: yes; an anvil base can have a large effect on the performance of al anvil. I have 2 identical anvils; modern solid one piece very hard tool steel. One is perfectly affixed to a wooden stump - zero motion; and the stump is affixed to the concrete floor. The other had the same kinda of stump; but was strapped down ... massive difference. Than I changed to a steel tripod; and again massive difference. my prefererence right now is either a hardwood stump glued to the floor and the anvil glued to the base so you have an immobile anvil. OR a steel tripod with filled legs and reinforcements. 

Most notably is the sound produced difference; I like my anvils as muted as possible.

 

I differ from that. I don't think stand mass makes much unless your stand is not attached firmly to the ground.

I believe there are two critical details. The anvil must be firmly attached to the stand and the stand must be firmly attached to the ground. 

As a farrier I had a portable metal stand and a 125# farriers anvil. My shop anvil sits in a pine stump that is about an inch and a half bigger than the anvil base. I notched the base into the top of the stump and the fit is tight. I put a couple inches of fine sand into the notch and the base sticks up about an inch above the notch. The stump is buried 2' into the ground. So the fit top and bottom is firm. This basically gives me the mass of the earth to my anvil. The sand deadens the sound so I don't need magnets, chains or other tie downs. I have literally no movement so no loss. The biggest loss comes from just that. Movement and vibration. There are a number of ways of achieving this. This is just how I do it.

There are only two real factors for an anvil stand: Rigidity and stability. The more rigid the better. You do NOT want the anvil moving while you're working on it. For me there's a third important factor I need my anvils reasonably mobile, I don't have enough room or the commercial need for a dedicated anvil station. That's just me though. 

I use steel tripods under my anvils, they're stable whatever I put them on. Steel damps loud anvils to safe levels though I wear hearing protection regardless. Bending stock with bottom fork can turn the anvil on a concrete floor though. 

This is a personal decision, experiment and use what works best for you, NOT what works for other people. Check other's stands out but don't make up your mind until you've used a couple for a while. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Definitely. 

A huge factor from many stand points..   Stability, sound reduction, forging efficiency. 

Been kicking this around myself,  I’ve got about a 4’ drop of 12 x 12 square tubing, 3/8 wall: i was considering just burying that in the ground however deep it needs to go to get the height i want,  then fill it with sand and cap it with a piece of plate, maybe 3/4 or 1”…  Anything wrong with that plan?

Welcome aboard D, glad to have you.

No need to fill it with sand and almost anything over 1/4 thick will be fine to cap it for the anvil. Personally I'd build a foot, weld an appropriate length of sq. pipe to it and cap it so the anvil was at my preferred working height. That way I could move it if I wanted to. Not burying it might make filling it with sand desirable.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

that makes sense, I was thinking burying it would really max out the rigidity, but you’re right on the mobility part.    I can get to it with a front end loader pretty easily where it’s going, so i’ll go that path…  I’ve been lurking here for a while, sure figured i would have posted by now, but i guess i haven’t..  thanks for the welcome!

I filled my stand with concrete and it's held up just fine. It deadens any ringing and adds mass and stiffness. 

On a side note, I put some strong magnets on my anvil to see if they would deaden the slight ringing on the horns. They did help a bit, but tools kept sticking to them so I removed them. Now the horns are still a bit quieter. 

Strong magnets will magnetize any steel except mild steel. I'm wondering if the residual magnetism is dampening the ringing. It should in theory, but it's still a subjective test. BTW, hammering steel on the section of the anvil where the magnet is will induce more residual magnetism than just sticking the magnet on.

It’s not the magnetism that dampens the ring, but the presence of an additional mass that vibrates at a different frequency. 

2 hours ago, JHCC said:

It’s not the magnetism that dampens the ring, but the presence of an additional mass that vibrates at a different frequency. 

All this time I had it in my head that it was the magnetic field which physically restricted the affected area from vibrating at the same frequency. Is that not possible? 

It MIGHT be possible but I can't imagine the effect would be noticeable with less than precision sensors. My steel tripod stand isn't magnetic and it damps my Soderfors far better than chain and magnets.

Being of different resonant frequencies the: magnet(s), chain, steel stand, etc. can't sustain the vibration and the different notes cancel each other. Try hanging a dinner triangle from a leather thong, then directly from the nail and compare the effect. 

This gets me wondering what it would cost to make a noise canceling anvil stand. I have a pair of noise canceling Bose head phones that make outside sounds a bare whisper. A microphone to measure the exact frequency of the anvil ringing and returning the same frequency in reverse. Hmmmm?

Frosty The Lucky.

That could really mess up your bearing ball test. 

Rebound canceling? Think so? Hmmm. I don't think an on off switch would be out of place.

Frosty The Lucky.