A good alternative to insanely priced anvils?

[HandLogger]

I'm sure that the title indicates a young fella looking to get into forging, but I'm actually an old retired vet who's looking to add to our capabilities.  We grow timber and process it in various ways to make a living.  This entails everything from sharpening axes and chains to operating and repairing heavy equipment...but the reason I started this thread was to inquire about alternatives to anvils. 

I'm sure that everyone here is aware of the insane bloating of prices for anvils these days, so what I'm looking for is what my dear old departed father called "crane rail."  He taught me that this was the highest mass per yard track made in the US, but my question is whether or not something like this would make a good general purpose anvil or not?  Although I'd love to learn more about it, I'm not really looking to become a blacksmith. Instead, we need a general purpose hard surface for all manner of metal fab work. 

Thank you for your time - it is much appreciated.

[JHCC]

Take a good look at the "Collection of Improvised Anvils" thread:

 

[George N. M.]

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

The best way to use railroad or crane (same shape, just larger) rail as an anvil is on end because it puts the most mass under the hammer blow.  Many folk will use the top of the rail as the working surface, just because it looks more like a London pattern anvil, but it really works better on end.  You can also sharpen the web of the rail as a hot cut off and make a small horn from the base.  The larger the rail, the better.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Rojo Pedro]

My local scrap yard has all sorts shapes and sizes. I bought a 12” long 100 pound cylindrical cut off for like .30 cents a pound back before the covids

[HandLogger]

Thank you for the post, As I'm located in snowflake country, I'm not sure if they even have normal scarp yards here anymore.  Regardless, I'll start doing some research to see how far out I'd have to go to find one.

Edited June 4 by Mod30
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[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I'm guessing "Snowflake country" is somewhere on the left coast of the U.S. You don't have to have "crane rail" to make an excellent improvised anvil. Think heavy equipment repair shops. Bulldozers are made out of anvils. Here is one I made out of a counter weight. 110 pounds and cost $20 U.S., a cutoff of a tree for a stand.

Even made a little Bick out of a piece of sucker rod.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

 

[George N. M.]

Handlogger, if you can't find a scrap yard/ recycling center which will let you buy from them (some have exclusive sales contracts and don't sell to individuals) try places that sell and repair heavy construction equipment, logging machinery, railroad cars and equipment, and places around military facilities, e.g. Bremerton Naval Shipyard, WA.  If you are near a coast, shipyards.

Also, try the TPAAT (Thomas Powers Anvil Acquisition Technique) which involves asking every breathing human you encounter if they know about where you might find an anvil. It's surprising how often that little old lady at church or the grocery store happens to have something out in the back shed.  You never know until you ask.

And, do NOT contact them by email or text.  Go in person or, at a minimum, a real telephone call.  It is real easy for an email or a text to be ignored but your smiling face or voice is more likely to elicit a positive response.  People, generally, want to help and don't want to turn down a person standing there in front of them or talking to them on the phone.  If they help you, be profuse in your thanks and perhaps come back with a thank you box of doughnuts,  If it is a place that you think you may be dealing with in the future, make them some small gifts like bottle openers.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[LeeJustice]

Forklift tines are often offered up on auctions.  I know they are part of the improvised anvil thread.

[Nobody Special]

Hi and welcome. It does snow a lot in Washington, especially in the passes, doesn't it? Lot of us vets on here, from different parts and different viewpoints. You might be surprised to find that even on the west coast, you occasionally see reasonably priced anvils. I saw a lovely little early 19th century one, looked like a William Foster the other day for maybe $400. I didn't have it and didn't need another anvil, or I probably would have picked it up.

And there are a number of scrapyards and builders that will work with you, especially if you work the right approaches. A large piece of hardened steel is a large piece of hardened (or hardenable) steel. If you add at least your general location to your profile, someone may be able to better direct your search. Welcome again, and best of luck.

[HandLogger]

Hi George ~

The TPAAT seems like a pretty good way to search for an anvil, but most of the folks in this part of the country don't change their own wiper blades much less work with metal.  I suppose it's one of those "to each his own kind" of things, but I was raised in the deep South where you had to learn how to turn a wrench or swing a hammer (sometimes both) if you wanted to keep the clunkers we could afford to buy on the road.  In other words, my folks had a small farm and didn't have a small yard with a white picket fence around it.  This is the reason there isn't much in the way of the good ol' junk yards or scrap metal yards here like the ones we could drive to when we needed to fabricate something or repair a vehicle back home.

The photos that I've looked through in some of the IFI threads have been most enlightening.  For example, I had no idea that one could stand a section of RR track on end and get much use out of it!  Some days, I feel pretty long in the tooth, but I still get a real kick out of learning new things!

  

 

[George N. M.]

Hey, I turned 78 last weekend and I am still learning and enjoying it and looking forward to continuing to learn for all the rest of my days.  There are others here who have more time on the earth than I do and I am sure that they will echo the same sentiment.

G

[CrazyGoatLady]

Somehow I thought that maybe anvil prices had gone down but that was really naive. I looked up the one I bought a few years ago brand new and the same one today is over $200 what I paid. There's a guy on the local Craigslist that has one that looks pretty good on the face, edges etc. But if you look real close, you can see that it's been broken off at the waist and welded back on. I don't know if that's such a bad thing if it's done right?, but he wants $1200 for it. I'm glad I'm not looking for one. 

[Frosty]

That's exactly where you want to use TPAAAT! Folks who don't work with their hands tend to be more willing to let weird old Uncle Willie's old blacksmithnig tools go, they're just taking up space in the shed, garage, etc. Seriously ask everybody, the people standing in line with you at the super market, watching the parade, whatever. 

I don't know many people who don't have a grandfather, uncle, etc. that was a blacksmith. It wasn't that long ago that almost every place needed to make or repair parts on an anvil. Even now you'd be surprised how many automotive or truck shops have an anvil in back.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Nobody Special]

5 hours ago, CrazyGoatLady said:

Somehow I thought that maybe anvil prices had gone down but that was really naive. I looked up the one I bought a few years ago brand new and the same one today is over $200 what I paid. There's a guy on the local Craigslist that has one that looks pretty good on the face, edges etc. But if you look real close, you can see that it's been broken off at the waist and welded back on. I don't know if that's such a bad thing if it's done right?, but he wants $1200 for it. I'm glad I'm not looking for one. 

I've seen some as you describe, and even a few that were held together by weird clamps and staples, but there are a fair number that were made that way, hay buddens for one.

[CrazyGoatLady]

Nobody Special, that's interesting that some were made that way. I don't remember the make of that anvil but it seems like it was a name that I wasn't familiar with. 

I just popped over to Craigslist to see if that anvil was still on there and there's a new ad up. Guy has 3 for sale. A Trenton 255#, a Mousehole 93# and a Peter Wright 132#. $1000 for the Trenton, $400 for the Mousehole and $500 for the Peter Wright. Wish I had some extra cash! He's not far from me either

[Frosty]

I remember the story vaguely. At one time there were lots of companies making anvils and one discovered they could compete by closed die forging or maybe casting the body and foot, then arc welding the top half on. They discovered they could make more selling the bottom half than whole anvils. The trend lasted some number of years.

That's what I recall of it, FWIW

Frosty The Lucky.