So I have a small anvil that I made at my trade school from which I go for welding out of a piece of railroad track it has a horn a pritchel hole and a step I have easy access to lots of lumber for the base I was just going to mount it to a big log my stepbrother works for a tree felling company so I can get it relatively easily so my question is what type of wood should I use? I was at first thinking cedar because of its rot and weather resistant but I will not be able to get cedar so what is my next best bet? I live in north western Pennsylvania just for context of tree types I also have a post vice I picked up for 50 dollars that is currently mounted on an oak 4x4 that is around 4 feet long with around 1.5 feet buried but it still isn’t very stable I can not cement it into the ground my next thought was to mount it to the tongue of my tractor it is on the larger end of small tractors it is an old case but I can’t spin the thing around yet so it is facing away from my forge as I still need to fix it what would be my best bet?

Honestly, use whatever you can source cheaply. The railroad track style anvil you described is actually not a very good style (too much bounce in the web). So if you build a stand for it, it will get you by for a while, but you will mostly likely replace it before the wood rots out. You can also charr and/or coat  the stump with BLO or other preservative.

For the post vise stand, you could try driving 3-2”x2” stakes at an angle fairly deep the screwing and gluing them to the post. That should help significantly, just don’t use too large of a footprint. The stakes could become a trip hazard. (I would chart the stakes also.)

On a final note for the RR track anvil, look up the improvised anvil thread. The is a lot of discussion there about using RR track as an anvil, but one end. That way the mass of the top cap is directly below your hammer… much more effective.

Keep it fun,

David

There is a lot more to an anvil than it's shape. What you describe is maybe a useful bench anvil for light work. Attempting to use say a 2lb hammer on it for effect and it's what's commonly known as an ASO (Anvil Shaped Object). Still it's okay within it's limitations. Polished up it may make a nice jewelers anvil.

If on the other hand you can acquire a length of RR rail, standing it on end makes as good an anvil as you'll find. Sure, there's no horn, hardy or pritchel holes but those things aren't the work horse of an anvil. That is the face over the sweet spot. Which is the part of the anvil that has the most iron/steel between the face and the bottom of the foot.

The best height for the anvil face depending on the nature of the work you wish to do is usually between knuckle and wrist height. As measured with you standing in a relaxed position wearing the foot ware you will while smithing on the ground or surface you'll be working on. With your hands hanging relaxed at your side measure from your knuckles to the ground and again from your wrist to the ground, on your dominant side of course.

This isn't necessarily THE right height but it's within range, everybody's different so there is variation but not a lot.

For fine work you want the anvil higher (closer to your eyes) so you can see fine details and it's easier to make precise strikes. Make sense?

If on the other hand you're going to be doing heavy work say with sledge hammers or heavy hand hammers say 5lbs or so you want the anvil face lower so the hammer stops moving with your arm ALMOST fully extended. You do NOT want it at full extension or you'll do soft tissue damage in your wrist, elbow and shoulder after a while. 

Anyway, as a beginner I suggest you limit your hammer weigh to 32 oz or less until you develop the techniques and strength to use heavier without injury. 

There are lots of ways to mount a vertical rail anvil, I'm not fond of the bucket of cement stand but some guys like them. . . last I heard. 

A heavy stand isn't terribly critical so long as it's steady on the ground and doesn't wobble. The effective rebound of the rail is what makes it effective. The impact energy from the hammer is conducted down the length of the rail and is reflected back to the struck surface. Call it the face. The compression, "sound" wave is conducted at the speed of sound through high carbon steel so the energy returns to the face under your work while the hammer is still decelerating from in the HOT SOFT steel. This in effect is like the anvil hitting the work from the other side at the same time. 

Make sense? It's a much discussed subject and dispels some other popular thoughts.

If you check out the improvised anvil thread you'll find out about grinding various useful things on the rail itself like a hardy, butcher, fullers, bending fork, horn, etc. There are lots of possibilities and if you don't have room for them all flip the rail end for end and grind the accoutrements you want need. Believe me so long as the rail isn't literally attached to it's stand you can lift and flip it over faster than your stock will come back to forging temp.

Frosty The Lucky.

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

There is a lot more to an anvil than it's shape. What you describe is maybe a useful bench anvil for light work. Attempting to use say a 2lb hammer on it for effect and it's what's commonly known as an ASO (Anvil Shaped Object). Still it's okay within it's limitations. Polished up it may make a nice jewelers anvil.

If on the other hand you can acquire a length of RR rail, standing it on end makes as good an anvil as you'll find. Sure, there's no horn, hardy or pritchel holes but those things aren't the work horse of an anvil. That is the face over the sweet spot. Which is the part of the anvil that has the most iron/steel between the face and the bottom of the foot.

The best height for the anvil face depending on the nature of the work you wish to do is usually between knuckle and wrist height. As measured with you standing in a relaxed position wearing the foot ware you will while smithing on the ground or surface you'll be working on. With your hands hanging relaxed at your side measure from your knuckles to the ground and again from your wrist to the ground, on your dominant side of course.

This isn't necessarily THE right height but it's within range, everybody's different so there is variation but not a lot.

For fine work you want the anvil higher (closer to your eyes) so you can see fine details and it's easier to make precise strikes. Make sense?

If on the other hand you're going to be doing heavy work say with sledge hammers or heavy hand hammers say 5lbs or so you want the anvil face lower so the hammer stops moving with your arm ALMOST fully extended. You do NOT want it at full extension or you'll do soft tissue damage in your wrist, elbow and shoulder after a while. 

Anyway, as a beginner I suggest you limit your hammer weigh to 32 oz or less until you develop the techniques and strength to use heavier without injury. 

There are lots of ways to mount a vertical rail anvil, I'm not fond of the bucket of cement stand but some guys like them. . . last I heard. 

A heavy stand isn't terribly critical so long as it's steady on the ground and doesn't wobble. The effective rebound of the rail is what makes it effective. The impact energy from the hammer is conducted down the length of the rail and is reflected back to the struck surface. Call it the face. The compression, "sound" wave is conducted at the speed of sound through high carbon steel so the energy returns to the face under your work while the hammer is still decelerating from in the HOT SOFT steel. This in effect is like the anvil hitting the work from the other side at the same time. 

Make sense? It's a much discussed subject and dispels some other popular thoughts.

If you check out the improvised anvil thread you'll find out about grinding various useful things on the rail itself like a hardy, butcher, fullers, bending fork, horn, etc. There are lots of possibilities and if you don't have room for them all flip the rail end for end and grind the accoutrements you want need. Believe me so long as the rail isn't literally attached to it's stand you can lift and flip it over faster than your stock will come back to forging temp.

Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah thanks I have been looking for an anvil for forever but most around here are swept up by the Amish before I can even get a chance to look at them and the others are way way to expensive for their size I do have a full yard of railroad track as you have stated but that is my stepdads truck bed weight for the winter lol but yeah for now I am going to stick with the improvised anvil until I find the right one

Take a tape measure and see how much rail you need and see if he'll spot you that much.

Another excellent alternative is a truck axle mounted on end flange up. Smooth the center with a grinder and make bottom tools to fit between two of the bolt holes in the flange. The center has a tremendous depth of rebound and you can use the bolt holes for bending forks as is and whatever other bottom tools you can think of or better, forge. 

ANY piece of steel can be your anvil, the word MEANS a thing to hit, you have one in each ear. NO, don't hit it with a hammer! 

Do a search for Brian Brazeals plate anvil, he makes them on site to do demos and teach classes. He hasn't carried one of his London pattern anvils anywhere in decades. He finds, scrounges or buys a piece of plate preferrable more than 2" thick from a steel fab shop and makes an anvil. That alone is worth taking one of his classes. I believe it's on his youtube channel.

Check out the improvised anvil section of IFI. I don't know how many pics survived a B A D update a few years ago ad we lost years worth of photos. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

My first anvil was the arm off a twin post, hydraulic rack they used in garages. 1 3/4" thick, 8" wide and about 2 1/2' long. I laid it on its side so i had 8" under my hammer of solid steel. Worked a treat. Then i found my Mousehole. 

If you look back through time the "anvil" or what most people think an anvil is, that thing Wil-E Coyote dropped on Roadrunner, those have only been around for about 300 years. Go back and an anvil was just a large lump of steel/iron to beat on. And prior to that a big square rock. 

There are some cast steel anvils now on the market that are decent quality and quite affordable, Vevor, Accaio, and Doyle. You can get a decent sized one of those for under $200. I got one i travel with and they work quite well.  Definitely not my Mousehole but adequate and gets the job done. 

IIRC you said you were a yungin, but if you can make Quadstate in Troy Ohio you could find a good deal on an anvil. It is at the end of Sept. If not contact a local smith group and they may be able to help you out getting an anvil.