anvils

[NatG]

I was just wondering if anyone had had experience of using the ceahper anvils from places like machine mart or northern tools, they ten to be around the 10 kilo mark. I was planning on buying one, and having it attached to a chopping block buried in the ground.

any thoughts?

nathan

 

[Ogri the trog]

NatG,
If you're not going to be forging big things, then you don't need a big anvil. Think "outide the box", I've seen bits of railway track, fork truck forks, sledge hammer heads all used as "anvils". If you just need a flat and heavy piece of steel, your local heavy engineering works should have plenty kicking around that they'll let you have for the price of a few beers.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[om2ae]

Hi

Orgi is spot on, I've got some rail track and I beam for anvils, I got these from a scrap yard and along a rail track, cost me nowt and work fine for knifes, I even put a beak on the track one for bending stuff

Martin

 

[NatG]

i've seen a bit of mild steel- about 25mm thick, flat plate. would that be ok? ow would i be better off going for a hardenable steel?

 

[Singeblister]

I use a piece of fork lift truck fork works a treat , I also have a bit of train line which works well , I think Mild steel would dent easily if you miss your work but if you can get it for nothing give it a go , Mild steel now has quite a lot of carbon in it due to recycling and can be hardened slightly ( never tried it just read about it ) Its a shame your not closer i would happily give you a bit of fork lift truck fork posting it wouldn't be an option really though

 

[FGYT]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/downloads/pdf/blacksmithing.pdf

 

[NatG]

do you think a piece of o1 would work? i could heat it with a blowtorch and harden it maybe?

 

[Singeblister]

o1 would work Nat but be sure to temper it to spring hardness which is a purple blueish colour if you get it to hard and hit it with a hammer it would break or chunks could fly off

 

[JohnC]

I got a piece of rail track, It may be worth going to a rail depot or large station and asking for a 1 foot section at the maintainance office.

 

[demographic]

I ambled into the back of the rail head hardening plant at Workington and asked the nearest bloke there if I could have an offcut out of the scrap bin.
Got a length of 110 pounds per yard (thats the high spec heavy stuff as far as I have been told) thats about 18 inches long for nowt
Its always worth asking.

 

[NatG]

thanks for the advice guys) i'll go down to the station and try my luck, if not then i'll get a chunk of guage plate from ebay and try and ht it, it's always worth a go

 

[Matt.S]

As a general warning, those 'anvils' by Record etc. are what we in the blacksmithing community refer to as 'anvil-shaped objects'. They are invariably made from a poor grade of cast iron, which to put simply, is a terrible material for an anvil.

The typical shape of anvil that you think of is known as the London or English pattern. It's only been around a matter of about 200 years, if that. Ironsmithing has been around 4,000 years or so. Over 90% of smithing work can be done on a cube of steel, and that is what was typically used for most of history (and is still used around much of the world).

Mild steel will do OK for an anvil. Not ideal but OK. I use a piece of rail at the moment. Far from ideal but it does the job, and forces me to rely on my skills, rather than certain tools. Rail is fairly high carbon so it's better than mild steel. Some very wie words on rail: http://anvilfire.com/FAQs/RR-rail_anvils.htm