Small to medium anvil needed

[Whittler Kev]

I need a small to medium anvil I can transport to friends and local shows for demos and helping out. Anything up to 1cwt (50kg) I can lift OK

(old farm boy you see

).
I am currently using a rail off cut which is ok, but really need a beak on it and reluctant to attack it with a 9" angle grinder
Anyone got anything any good.
I've looked on evilbay but would rather put cash in a members pocket than a traders

 

[MartiniDave]

I've used an old 4 stone weight before now. You can pick them up at farm sales. Alternatively a cobblers last will do the job, often found at car boot fairs. Sadly I don't hve any anymore.

Dave

 

[Neumo]

You could use a setup like Dave Budd has, where he has a small anvil that looks like it came from the 'hardy?' (the small square hole in the anvil that you put attachments in), that is mounted in a section of cut off tree stump. It looked light enough to easyly transport but big enough to bash hot metal with. I am no expert but it looked like a good solution for demos etc...

 

[decorum]

I need a small to medium anvil I can transport to friends and local shows for demos and helping out. Anything up to 1cwt (50kg) I can lift OK

I have a lightly used one.

At 2lbs I'm guessing that it's too small ...


Well, you did say 'Anything up to 1cwt '


Sorry, couldn't resist

 

[Whittler Kev]

I have a lightly used one.

At 2lbs I'm guessing that it's too small ...


Well, you did say 'Anything up to 1cwt '


Sorry, couldn't resist

Not that funny as I do need one that size actually. Been to a blacksmith today and loked at a 20lb er just right for haughling about but not for sale. He had two 3cwt ones for sale and a 60lb er that needed re-facing again as well

 

[decorum]

Not that funny as I do need one that size actually.

Mines the same as this one -

(pic borrwed from TandyLF - my camera is still away being fixed )
If you're interested, £8 + P&P (IIRC RRP is £10.80)

Been to a blacksmith today and loked at a 20lb er just right for haughling about but not for sale.

That sounds about typical

He had two 3cwt ones for sale

:yikes:

I've (in my younger days) hoiked anvils around - 3cwt of anything solid isn't made to be mobile :Thinkingo :yikes:

 

[ged]

I need a small to medium anvil ... currently using a rail off cut which is ok, but really need a beak on it and reluctant to attack it with a 9" angle grinder

The grinder would take forever! I have some chunks of steel scrap that might fit in the web of the rail. Do you have a welding set? Three of them welded together might make a beak that you could slip on and off the rail. Might be quite neat. You can have them* for nothing.

Now all we have to do is get them to March from Derbyshire for nothing. Meets, anyone? I'll probably be at North Wood for a day or two but I haven't told anyone yet.

*As many as you need.

 

[Matt.S]

This topic comes up fairly often. I can't be bothered to type a complete response yet again, but to summarise:

1) Cast iron is, no matter what the seller might tell you, very unsuitable for an anvil. The word 'junk' springs to mind.
2) New anvils are very expensive.
3) Don't look for an anvil with a horn, the face and edges of the face are used for over 90% of forging. Get as big a lump of mild steel as you can, then forge a bickern (dedicated pointybits tool) for the times you do need a horn. The anvil will be better bang-for-the-buck, quieter and the horns will work a whole bunch better than those attached to the anvil.

 

[Whittler Kev]

This topic comes up fairly often. I can't be bothered to type a complete response yet again, but to summarise:

1) Cast iron is, no matter what the seller might tell you, very unsuitable for an anvil. The word 'junk' springs to mind.
2) New anvils are very expensive.
3) Don't look for an anvil with a horn, the face and edges of the face are used for over 90% of forging. Get as big a lump of mild steel as you can, then forge a bickern (dedicated pointybits tool) for the times you do need a horn. The anvil will be better bang-for-the-buck, quieter and the horns will work a whole bunch better than those attached to the anvil.

About what I've been thinking. Looked through a box of scrap (well pitted and rusty bits) of hardy tools today and reckon I could take either a thick chisel or a log wedge and grind it to make a bick. Weld it to some angle or box so it goes in the vice, attach some 10mm x 25mm plate I've got as the top and bobs your bingo. Hopefully will work OK and not too much bounce. The rails ok but fancy a bick to start circles even though I've made a couple of formers from some bolts welded to thick box.

The grinder would take forever! I have some chunks of steel scrap that might fit in the web of the rail. Do you have a welding set? Three of them welded together might make a beak that you could slip on and off the rail. Might be quite neat. You can have them* for nothing.

Now all we have to do is get them to March from Derbyshire for nothing. Meets, anyone? I'll probably be at North Wood for a day or two but I haven't told anyone yet.

*As many as you need.

Damn decent of you ged. Hope someones going your way and I'll definitely take you up on it.

Got given some fire bricks today and bought some fire cement. Me thinks another charcoal forge maybe in the making to go with one I've got and the Gas Swan Cygnet

 

[Matt.S]

You don't need a bick to make a circle. The only thing I think a bick is neccesary for is getting inside a piece too tight to fit the face of the anvil into. (This is why farrers' anvils often don't have a table/step between the bick and the face.) Some people use the top surface of a round bick as a bottom fuller to draw faster, but you can use the far edge of the anvil for this. Or a bottom fuller.

Making a bick from a wedge seems like giving yourself extra work to me. Since you have welding and grinding capabilities, why not start with an old pickaxe? Then you can have one round and one square bick. Weld a length of heavy pipe through the eye and you have a freestanding carbon-steel bickern. Or cut it and weld each half to either end of your anvil block.

 

[dave t]

try a farriers supply house the ausies where making some really nice 56 to 100 pounders for mobile shoing not as expensive as youd think, tho i got one of my brooks from a local school whose metalwork shop had been health and safetied .a damn shame if you ask me it was a cracking workshop with a great reputation with local firms. youll struggle to turn rings without a bick tho you can always use a cranking iron and horns in the hardy. a cast anvil ok as long as its steel faced .take a hammer with you when you go to see one and make sure it rings and bounces well or a big ball bearing does the same job if you can find one. a good anvil may take abit of finding but its well worth the trouble and they do seem to hold their money hope you get sorted cheers dave