So, I've had this idea swimming around in my head for a few years now and this week I finally had the push to try it out and get something done for a club work day we were having, hosted by a very tall club member whose anvil is way too tall for me, lol

My first anvil when I started out blacksmithing was a railroad rail. After reading advice on this forum for standing it on end to get more mass, and making modifications to get the most out of it, I mounted it in an old wooden trash bin filled with sand and a metal plate. That's what I used until I bought the Peter Wright from TwistedWillow. I kept it though - and used it again when we moved to that tiny house for a few months. When we moved from there though, the stand busted. So the rail has just been sitting in storage, waiting. 

Enough history, lol!

I found myself periodically wanting to use the long horizontal surface when I used the anvil at the tiny house, so I decided the stand needed to be able to accommodate the rail in both horizontal position and veritical position. Everything I used for this was stuff I had accumulated over the years. Usually from my younger brother ready to go to scrap and saying, "hey, you want this?" (of COURSE I want it, lol)

I pushed two pieces of 1/2" plate together and traced the end of the rail onto it. I got the torch lit and went to cut .... and found out the oxygen tank was empty. Drats. So 3 cutting wheels on the angle grinder and a few 3 or 4 hours later, I had a lovely cutout completed. Then I used the old tombstone stick welder to meld them together to make one complete top. One piece of that 1/2" plate already had a loop welded to it, which in the end would provide a convenient carry handle as well as a place to hang the hammer when not in use! That plate also already had two large holes in it. These later proved valuable as a place to finish punching over or slipping long bar in to finish breaking after working on the hot cut.

I used a chopsaw to cut some 2" square tubing at 15-degree angles for the legs and then cut some shorter pieces which I would then split at two opposing corners. Those split pieces would become the sockets to receive the legs.

I found some super beefy angle iron with a piece of plate welded into the inside at 90-degrees (so they looked kind of like backward stilts, if that makes sense?). I decided those would work perfectly to hold the rail in place. I'm going to refer to them as 'foothold' from here on out. I needed the rail to hang 4" below the top plate to be at my hammering height, so at about 5" above the foothold, I split at the corner all the way to the top so I could bend them over to create tabs which would hang from the top plate.

After the work day, one of the club members helped me hold the anvil steady while I drilled holes through the legs & sockets. So they can now accept a bolt to serve as a stay pin. Just as added stability.

Other modification I'll need to do include:

• some kind of hold-down mechanism for when it's sitting in horizontal position. I might have to use the existing holes. I'm thinking an L-shaped bar with a slot in the long piece. The slot being positioned so that it sits just under the top plate when the bar is inserted through the hole. The short leg of the 'L' will lay over the rail base. Then hammer something through the slot to create a wedge. I'll need to make two more holes on the other side to do the same over there.
• Adding more 'walls' to the base of the hanging footholds to better hold the rail in place. I already had a single wall on one foothold but it wasn't enough. I found that if I was hammering with any kind of force, the rail would eventually begin to tilt. It never seemed in danger of completely falling out of the foothold - I don't think that would be possible because as it tilts one way, it applies more pressure to the other side. But still, it was annoying having to reposition the rail while my piece was reheating. 
• Add a few more loops to hang a few pair of tongs, a water can, and maybe one more hammer. I'd say usually when this will be in use, I won't have a ton of tools but it would be nice to have a few right there. I don't want it to get too much heavier but those loops don't need to be as beefy as that original loop was.
• A few slices of pipe added to the underside of the top plate to hold the speaker magnets when not in use. Also a piece of plate added to cover about a quarter of the opening. They help the ringing of the rail quite well but transporting the magnets is a bit cumbersome. 
• Cleaning it all up and painting it so it looks nice when I go to events  

Here's a view of all the pieces:

Here's a view looking down at it after assembling - but without the rail in it:

Here's a view with the rail sitting horizontal (15" long) and then another with the tabs in and it sitting vertical (11" above the top plate, 4" below):

   

And finally, here's a pic someone took of me while I was working today at the club. I used that stand for 4 hours. It does need some modifications but otherwise, it served me quite well - and it easily fits in the trunk of my car!

Thanks for sharing.

My wooden block i made for my rail is collapst and i need a portable anvil. So might steal some ideas.

As I was reading your thoughtful description & seeking to visualize this project I started to hope for pictures as I was a bit puzzled about the footholds. Ah, there they are, thank you! Looks like a very clever solution and kudos to you for the reuse of bits in your stash! 

To your future improvement section mentioning the footholds tilting with use, would it be fair to say that the footholds are splaying out at the base of the rail? If so, seems like a means of constraining the footholds at their lower end might be of help, perhaps some rod bent into an appropriately shaped loop? Set the footholds in place, slip the rod up from the underside, then lower the rail. A bit of a notch or protrusion on the outside corner of the angle could act as a hangar for the rod.

--Larry

Shaina, a suggestion and a question:  I suggest that you ease the corners of the plate.  If it were mine I would regularly drive one of those sharp corners into my leg.  And, what are the knobs on the sides of the rail in the last photo?  Magnets to deaden any ring?

Thanks.

G.

George, yes those are the speaker magnets to deaden the ring. One on each side. I just kept adding until it was an acceptable level of noise, lol

I will definitely be easing the corners! I forgot to add that to the list but it was one I quickly noticed. 

Larry, I'm not sure I'm picturing your description correctly.

I should sketch it, but I'm being lazy.

If I understood correctly, the weight of the rail and/or the force of your blows is causing the two footholds to expand outwards at the base of the rail, and thus the rail is able to tilt or is otherwise not quite right. If that's what's happening, my thought was to try to bind the footholds to the base of the rail. Even simpler than the bent rod idea would be to drill a hole in the bottom of each foothold and then link them together with a bit of rod or chain so that they are still easy to take apart, but still hold the footholds snug to the rail.

--Larry

Goodness Shaina we need to establish a little jargon so we aren't out here scratching out heads trying to figure out what you're talking about. Railroad rail has 3 parts, the Rail, the Web and the Flange. The flange is the part rail stands on, it's flat on the bottom and extends full width. The Web is the vertical section of steel that connects the flange to the rail section. The Rail is the thick part the train wheels roll on. These can be broken down into designation names but it's unnecessary for what we do mostly.

"footholds" just hurts my head. Call them hangers maybe? There isn't another part of the stand hanging so it shouldn't be confused with anything else. 

Locking the rail in position when horizontal is easy, no holes, wedges, etc. necessary. You want a "spring clip" You'll want to forge it from rectangular bar stock, at least 1/4" thick, 1/2" wide, 3/4" would be better but use what you have. Bend it like a hair pin, one leg can be longer than the other, the short leg goes under the plate, the top leg is driven over the rail's flange. Spring tension will lock the rail to the plate until you knock the clip back off. Make sense?

Mounting it vertically is a little tougher on my imagination but for a departure point I'd make a "shoe" that is driven on one end of the rail. Something like the spring clips but longer. spring tension clamps them to the rail and forcing the rail and clips wedges the whole shebang into the plate. You'd need to drive it all back up out of the plate or perhaps use thin pry bars.

A short solution for the shifting foot holds would be something to connect them together but the way they just hang into the hole I can't think of a method I like.

I'd also run chain between the legs like a spreader it will steady the stand considerably. I made stiffeners for my collapsible post vise stand with 3 lengths of 5/16" round with a pointed end bent 90* to fit into receivers welded to the legs. It "worked" just not satisfactorily nothing made the articulated Tri pod steady, even spiking it to the ground. 

Frosty The Lucky.

What a cool anvil stand for a RR Rail. I would be comfortable saying genius inspired. One thing I would do to steady up the legs, is to make a triangle shaped table to fit under the anvil.  The frame could be made out of round stock with the ends bent down to fit into "sockets" welded to each leg and the table top made out of expanded metal welded to the frame.

I need to make a stand for our improvised anvil made out of a bulldozer counter weight that weighs 110 pounds. The stand it was mounted on was hollow and it rotted out. I bet I've got everything to make one kinda like yours with a little modification applied. Here is what it looked like before it fell over and put a hole in the shop wall.

The shop has been painted by Debi & I since this picture was taken and looks presentable now.

I can’t control the wind. All I can do is adjust my sails. ~Semper Paratus~

I'll have to come back and read this all again when I have time to set it up and look at the underside. Right now I have tired brain and I'm not at home to go look at it.

One thing though: the legs are plenty steady. The base didn't wobble at all. It does shift along the floor as lightweight stands are want to do. But that part is great. 

I like the idea of the chain though. 

I need to find a stump/log for this.

Check with someone who sells firewood. It'll probably cost a little but they won't mind not having to split a block.

Frosty The Lucky.