So uh this is my first time posting since we heard the news about frosty (may he rest in peace) so it is going to be weird not having him tell me how stupid and not worth the time it is but we all must move on 

so I know this is an extremely stupid idea but I had the insane thought of using all the scrap steel I have and attempting to weld together it all (I am currently going to a trade school for welding and have for a little over a year so I do have the skills for this since it is just sticking pieces of metal together) and then making a large full anvil i know this is insane but I think it might be something I am insane enough to find fun especially considering I will not have to pay for any of the welding consumables my question (other then how stupid and insane am I) is what should I use as the surface face I have some old leaf spring off of a truck but that is not quite wide enough for my liking should I bevel the leaf spring and weld two pieces together? If no one ends up talking me out of this or if I come to my senses and realize how insane this is I will start making drawings and post them on here 

 

 

like I said this is going to be strange for me waiting for frosty to come and knock some sense into me 

Can you do full penetration welds to create a solid mass? And, do you have enough money and time and materials to do the former?

 

This is only worth doing if you can get full penetration on your welds; any gaps will act as shock absorbers and reduce the effectiveness of your anvil. Someone suggested on here once that rather than putting the various pieces together and welding around the edges, putting a piece of 3/8" (or thereabouts) rod as a spacer and then filling the resulting gap by building up beads from the inside out.

Since your consumables are paid for, this actually might be not so unrealistic. It would certainly give you plenty of practice running beads.

(NB: While the sketch above shows the setup to weld the face onto the body, you could do the same thing to join together the pieces that make up the body itself.)

Good Morning,

Good Morning,

You are not the first to weld an Anvil together. The first one I saw was on display at CanIRON II in Calgary. The gentleman had welded a few drops together to make the body, it weighed 350lbs. I bought a welded Anvil, it also weighs 350lbs. Mine is 6-1" profile cut plate welded around the cirumference, on the edges mounted vertically (not on the flat). There is a piece of 6" wide (Leaf Spring?? T-1??) flat on the top for the Anvil Face. Yes, it has enough body that it works well.

The word 'Can' means do you have the ability. The word 'May' is asking permission. If you 'Can' you don't have to ask permission. Enjoy the Welding and Grinding!!

Neil

If your consumables are not a factor just use hardening rod and build up the face. 

4 hours ago, Thesterlingcrab said:

so I know this is an extremely stupid idea

Not stupid at all. As a matter of fact there are several threads detailing just what you are proposing.

The one that comes to my mind is a Thread Uri Hofi did on what you want to do. Seems to me it was a 200-300 pound anvil all welded together. A search should bring up that thread. Sadly Uri has also passed away and his anvil may have been a YouTube video.

I can’t control the wind. All I can do is adjust my sails. ~Semper Paratus~ USCG 1964-1970

I want to add a request: If you do this, and I hope you do, please please PLEASE document for us. Some of us are not as talented and love being armchair blacksmith welders. Netflix and the like just make bad movies, so some pictures of your anvil build will be a welcome bit of educational entertainment! 

Here is my 260+ lb post anvil made from two 2 in x 8 in fork lift tines welded back to back. I perimiter welded them with 7018 welding rod. The root pass penetrated about 1/2 inch then I ran cap welds. It rings like a bell and so far after a few years of use it hasnt shown signs of coming apart. 

22 hours ago, BillyBones said:

If your consumables are not a factor just use hardening rod and build up the face. 

Ah that would definitely be what I would do in an ideal sense but my instructors would not let me use that much hard facing as we only really use hard facing when we need to considering how expensive it is and when I have other options then costing my program that much money I would rather take it

19 hours ago, Ridgeway Forge Studio said:

I want to add a request: If you do this, and I hope you do, please please PLEASE document for us. Some of us are not as talented and love being armchair blacksmith welders. Netflix and the like just make bad movies, so some pictures of your anvil build will be a welcome bit of educational entertainment! 

Wow I was not expecting to get this much positive feedback and If I do end up going through with this which I would really like to I definitely plan on documenting it very thoroughly I have a little while to plan as the rest of this week we have first aid training at my vocational school and then I need to get caught up on the rest of my work for tech and I plan on making full cad models and drawings of this at least until I get my late grandfathers drafting machine restored and get a set of scales for it then you all will have to suffer through me learning from the internet and all of you guys the art of manual drafting but it is going to be a while before I get that thing set up.

 

and again thank you ALL for the amazing support and after reading all of your responses to this project I’m starting to think if frosty was still with us he would approve thank you all 

7 minutes ago, Thesterlingcrab said:

until I get my late grandfathers drafting machine restored and get a set of scales for it then you all will have to suffer through me learning

I suspect Frosty would also applaud your desire to learn the art of manual drafting. Odd though it may seem, I also suspect the effort to learn will also pay off with CAD work because part of manual drafting is the organization i.e. how to present the drawings so that they convey the intent. Getting farther afield, the effort I put in to learning how to set type and print using letterpress equipment was very helpful in navigating the world of digital printing. Same way blacksmithing skills help with more "modern" techniques.

--Larry

If you really want to impress us, select steels for the anvil that have different carbon and nickel content and make the whole thing one giant low level Damascus anvil. You’ll never be forgotten that way!!

I took drafting back in the 80's. Best piece of advice, draw your line twice. First one is a very light line that can be easily erased. Then once you get it correct go back over it with a darker line. You can get drafting tools quite inexpensively today. Back when i took drafting one of my pencils cost around $30, that is almost $120 today. You can buy an entire set of pencils now for $30. My favorite eraser was a kneadable eraser, kind of like playdough, you could form it into different shapes to get into spots you can not get with a standard eraser. 

Drafting is not to difficult, but just as anything you have to learn to use the tools. 

Good Morning,

I first took Drafting in Grade 8. By the time I finished Grade 12, I thought I was going to be a Draftsman. Then another change in Life happened, I have owned my Automotive business since 1975, never thought I would use my Drafting skills again, except I do. I can still sketch and make others understand. When i went back to Blacksmithing in 1980, I use my Sketch Skills quite regularly. I have not grown up into CAD, yet. I have tried, but not stuck with it.  But I can still ride a Bike and I can still make a ledgeable Drawing with whatever kind of thing that is in my pocket. On Paper, or a Blackboard, or with a stick in the Dirt.   LOL   I have a Drafting Table that I made in High School Woodwork, I have a Drafting machine that I haven't used in an awful long time. That doesn't stop me from Drawing something.

My wife makes a few Quilts and can see three dimension with her Patterns, but she can't see three dimension in a set of Plans. I shut up and say nothing. LOL

Neil

I use what i learned drafting a lot now. I am the tool maker at the machine shop i work in but i dont just make tools. I make vice jaws, tool holders, bushings and tool supports, gauges, basically anything that needs fabricated to do a job. All of those tings needs a print to go off of and i have to draw them up. 

My mom is a quilter. She is all the time going off to quilting retreats and the like. 

20 hours ago, Ridgeway Forge Studio said:

If you really want to impress us, select steels for the anvil that have different carbon and nickel content and make the whole thing one giant low level Damascus anvil. You’ll never be forgotten that way!!

I mean 7018 does have around .3 percent nickel so lol but if I’m going to go that way I am going to buy some either mig wire with a higher nickel content or some 8018-C1 electrodes which contain around 2 to 2.5 percent nickel

 

I took a year of drafting in high school, have done a bit of CAD work, and continue to work on my hand-drawing skills. They are all useful tools for conveying ideas to clients and co-workers as well as for thinking through design and execution challenges. 

electrodes which contain around 2 to 2.5 percent nickel

2 Nickels is a Dime, Be Creative, Don't ask Permission. The Disaster is going to be AWESOME!!  Give it a Name like you would your Child, No Different!!

Neil

On 2/23/2026 at 6:59 PM, FlatLiner said:

Here is my 260+ lb post anvil made from two 2 in x 8 in fork lift tines welded back to back.

Nice it reminds me of an old saw makers anvil with that nice wide face I am assuming it is not hardened then correct?

 

Update everyone!!! I just had a thought I wanted to run by and see what everyone thought about it 

i currently just have a little probably 45lbs anvil I made last year made from a section of railroad track it does not have a hardy hole I have around like 2 yards of railroad track left and I just had the thought of using a chunk of the railroad track as almost like the core of the welded anvil obviously I would still have a lot of beads to run but If I used that as the base in combination with just welding random pieces of scrap steel 

what is everyone’s thoughts on this i plan on having the anvil in the end be around like probably 100 lbs i would love to be able to get it up to like 140 or even 200 lbs but I’m not sure how reasonable that is 

Stand it Ver-Tickle. A few minutes with a Grinder, you can make all kinds of shapes for Bottom Tools, you will NEVER loose them or wonder where they got moved to. Weld 2 or 3 or 4 together, think of the possibilities!!. Keep the Mass below the workface!!

Neil

The problem with rail track is that thin web, hence the suggestion to turn it upright. I have seen anvils made by filling in the spaces in the web to give better support. 

 

Rail is fairly high carbon, so keep that in mind when welding it. I still think you should start with 2-3 pieces of heavy stock and weld from there. If you get 4 25lb drops welded you have a 100 lb anvil. Add a horn and heel and it is closer to 150lb. Add an upsetting block and you might be 160/170. 

The carbon content of rail varies with manufacturer and product, generally from five points to as high as nine. Pre- and post-heating the weld would certainly be recommended.