I need an easily moveable anvil stand for my Dad

[Donal Harris]

My dad has had his grandfather’s anvil for almost my entire life. He never put it on a stand. He would just drag it out away from the side of the barn when he needed it and then would drag it back. He never does blacksmithing on it. He just uses it when he needs something substantial to rest things on while banging on them. 
 

Problem is he is now almost eighty and dragging around 175 lbs isn’t something he should be doing. That and his back and knees are such that kneeling down to use an anvil on the ground isn’t as easy as it once was. Getting down is still not a problem, but standing back up is.

Would a tripod stand with lockable casters  work? I have looked at many here and elsewhere, but haven’t found any with wheels. I had considered wheels on one side so the stand would work much like a dolly, but discarded that idea. Tilting the weight of the stand and the 175 lb anvil seemed like it would just have him in the hospital the first time he tried to move it. 

[Frosty]

Does he have room for an engine hoist? Perhaps build a jib boom so he can hoist it up and swing it out of the way. 

I move my 125lb. anvil and steel tripod with a hand truck and it's WAY hard to manage. Perhaps if I'd welded it to a square foot so it fit the hand truck but that kills the advantage of the tripod. I move my anvils with my garage sale engine hoist. One of THE BEST garage sale buys I've ever made.

I don't like casters under an anvil, might as well put it on a cushion or springs. Maybe if you can make them cam lock down and retract up and out of the way so the stand is sitting solid on the ground. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Glenn]

Build the anvil stand to his height comfort.  Put 2 wheels out in front of the stand, and a couple of receivers for pipe at the back.  You only need to tilt the anvil stand just enough to engage (or shift the wheels to the ground) like a wheel borrow.  The stand should not tip easily this way, but should be easy to move.

[Post vise Jim]

Here is my anvil stand.  In version 2.0 I would move the wheels an inch closer to the base.  The lifting arms store out of the way when not in use and extend (with stops) to move the anvil similar to moving a wheelbarrow.  

HTH  Jim

My anvil stand

Handle extended

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

That is a good looking stand Jim. Have to keep it in mind when I need to replace one of my stump stands.

[Donal Harris]

Dad has a gantry in his shop. Pretty cool. With it he can lift and move things forward, back, and side to side. Using it for the anvil wouldn’t work because it would still be in the way even at the outer edges of the gantry’s reach. 
 

I think I will do what Glenn suggested and copy Jim’s stand. 
 

Thanks!

[Charles R. Stevens]

Actually Glenn has it backwards, putting the wheels on the back and using the Pritchett hole as a receiver gives you a better deal. Two large non swiveling caster wheels bolted 90 to the ground on a rectangular stump and just touching the ground with a price of square stock as a handle secured in the hardy hoke slows you to tilt it back and balance it with out lifting half the weight. This is how my shop anvil is rigged. 

[Glenn]

I put the idea on the table so Charles and others can refine, improve, and adjust it as needed.  

The idea of a lever in either the pritchel hole or hardie hole is used all the time.  The lever makes lifting a swage block corner up from the floor, or running it through the swage block so two people can lift it is also very good.  Does not matter how you make it easier, just that it IS easier.

[Charles R. Stevens]

You are of course correct, but as you are from the wrong side of the Mississippi…

big love Brother