I have seen so many different types of anvil stands, most of them were wooden stumps, tripod metal  bases even barrels filled with concrete but cast iron anvil stands are so rare that I could see them only in photos!

   I'd like to hear your opinion and  experiences  about them?

   Here are a few photos I've found on net ...

   Thank you guys!

  

 

 

There’s a company in the UK called Vaughns anvils, formerly known as brooks anvils,

anyways they still manufacture and sell cast iron anvil and swage block stands, 

personally I’ve never used a cast stand so I can’t give a review on how well they work, 

The problem with cast iron is that it is brittle when compared to steel.  So, it is more likely to crack under stress than other materials.  If it is robust enough it would work OK but I think the failure rate would be higher.  Of the ones illustrated I would want to do a spark test to confirm that they are, indeed, cast iron rather than cast steel.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

The anvil and stand in your first picture are NOT fitted to each other or perhaps the anvil just isn't installed correctly.

Cast iron anvil stands used to be pretty common except where weight shipping was an issue. If you can find a cast iron stand for YOUR anvil it should be fine but it needs to fit the anvil.

Cast iron has great compressive strength but poor impact strength. It will support a great deal of weight, say a dump truck full of rocks on a piece of cast iron the size of a tea cup. No problem. Unfortunately you can't hit it very hard or it will break, take the same tea cup size piece of cast iron and hit it with a 500gm hammer and it breaks easily.

So I get to anvil stands. If the anvil fits it won't jump, wobble or move around on the stand. This way the anvil takes all the impact energy from the hammer and what does conduct to the stand arrives as compressive energy so the cast iron stand isn't damaged. 

Make sense? 

I've only even seen a cast iron anvil stand a couple times and mostly on display rather than in use. 

A company that still casts iron anvil stands has been mentioned above. I have no idea what one would cost if they make one that fit your anvil. You would need to contact them and ask.

Frosty The Lucky.

There’s been a rep from that company comment on IFI before, the profile name is all capitalized letters VAGHANS, 

you might look them up and PM them for pricing on stands

There website is under a different name, I can’t post it because it’s against the rules,

but They are still in business, and they sell practically anything you could want blacksmithing related, if your interested in chasing down that rabbit hole lol 

I think this is the thread...

 

TW, my understanding of the rules is that you can mention a particular company but you cannot give a link to that company.  You can say, "XYZ company sells widgets" but you cannot say "XYZ sells widgets at www.XYZ.com."  If I am in error I am sure someone will correct me.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Thank you all for answers!

I know that anvil and stand on the first photo does not fit each other. It was an auction in Switzerland ended 12 hours ago, both sold for 580 US$  ... Anvil stand measurement  are 27" X 23" X 20 " anvil itself is 35,5" long, 15" high and 6" wide,  I guess it's close to 400 lbs ! They do not fit but it was a bargain.

 

That’s definitely a good deal on a 400 pound anvil, 

and you could always set the stand aside till you find an anvil that fits it, 

11 hours ago, George N. M. said:

would want to do a spark test to confirm that they are, indeed, cast iron rather than cast steel.

 

I just checked Vaughns and they list both the anvil stands and swage block stands as cast iron, 

Of course that’s just their products so that can speak for all factory made stands 

11 hours ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

There website is under a different name, I can’t post it because it’s against the rules,

8 hours ago, George N. M. said:

TW, my understanding of the rules is that you can mention a particular company but you cannot give a link to that company.  You can say, "XYZ company sells widgets" but you cannot say "XYZ sells widgets at www.XYZ.com." 

George is correct. The company in question does business under the name Vaughans (Hope Works), and they sell both cast iron and fabricated steel anvil stands to match their cast steel anvils.

If memory serves, Fisher & Norris also made cast iron stands to match their own anvils.

 

Yes JHCC, but their website name is neither Vaughns or hope works

my point was I can’t post the website 

the stands that look like what’s posted above are cast iron,

the fabricated stands don’t look anything like those, 

 

I have a cast iron anvil stand.  Wrong height for me and my anvils; so I have a "filler of 4"x4"'s" to pad it up and use it for my swage block.  I might match it with an anvil for my grandkids as they need the lower height.