ANVILS

[bazmak]

Hi everybody. No Myfords to do at the moment so looking around for small projects.I have taken an interest in anvils and watched numerous refurb/make projects
Learned a lot about what i always thought were just lumps of steel.I learned that the older original anvils are superior and worth thousands of dollars
Imagine my surprise when on Utube i learned they can be found buried in soil in the woods and dumps.and refurbished
Now i have no room or requirements for an anvil but what i do need is a small riviting block or small anvil for general punching/metalwork
All i have is a small piece of railway iron/dolly that i have had many years and a small vice for flattening metal etc.Model engineer blacksmith
I hunted thru my scrap bin and found offcuts of heavy wall RHS and flat bar that could be welded together and cleaned up.The only piece i needed
to buy was the top plate 100x25mm flat x 300 long for $15. Making was simple but labour intensive. I think it will get plenty of use and minor mods
can be made for different applications.Photos show the end result and i am very pleased with it. PS if i find an old anvil at the dump i wont knock it back

 

[RM-MN]

For light duty your anvil will be OK but for heavier work the anvil depends on its mass to absorb the shock of the hammering which is why some of the old anvils are so expensive and heavy. Now that you have made that one, set it on a wooden platform instead of on concrete as the shock of hammering will eat up the concrete. You may also discover that the top surface needs to be hardened. Your piece of railway iron is probably work hardened on the surface and will make a better anvil. Without hardening you are likely to find the surface dimpled in a short amount of time.