Alternative anvil

Valk food for thought my first anvil was a piece of un hardened 1018. Stuff squished just fine on it, get it hot and hit it! We also used a piece of granite, not ideal and eventually cracked but it worked for a few blades waiting for our first anvil haha.
 
It happens. Get the 4x4 and learn to dress a hammer face. Then if it sticks use those to pay for a nicer anvil, if it doesn’t your not out $1000-2500.

I’m guilty of parylisis by analysis
 
I got my hunk of steel for free. I got it from a large company's scrap pile. It's 4x4x14 I think probably around 60-80 pounds. If you have a scrap yard near you or a big industrial company (I found mine at Greiner Industries out here in PA) they are sure (with maybe a while of looking) to have a chunk o' steel. I didn't have a lot of time when I went so i just grabbed the piece real fast but I saw a bunch of larger pieces, probably 5x12x20.
 
Unfourtunatley I'm out in the woods of florida. And none of the scrap yards sell to the public. It's all good man Stacy is gonna help me out.

Did you have to heat treat your piece?
 
valknut said:
Unfourtunatley I'm out in the woods of florida. And none of the scrap yards sell to the public. It's all good man Stacy is gonna help me out.

Did you have to heat treat your piece?
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I did not heat treat it. To me it seems very well work hardened and it has a very nice ring to it. There is only one dent in it and that if from missing the hot steel with a heavy blow. I also just got a 5 gallon tub and some quikrete to set it into.
 
I second the Quickrete. I just built a wooden mold out of wood paneling and trim scraps 12x12x22 and it took 7 50lb bags of Quickrete to fill it up. Has been sitting for two days now and i sit the new NC 112lber on there this morning. I can't move the stand at all.... and I'm a big ol'fat boy. Solid as a tank.

I'll share pics soon as I get the wood stripped off it this evening. Cost me $35 in Quickrete and $6 in rebar and $5 in allthread rod. That anvil ain't budging a millimeter now.
 
Okie405 said:
I second the Quickrete. I just built a wooden mold out of wood paneling and trim scraps 12x12x22 and it took 7 50lb bags of Quickrete to fill it up. Has been sitting for two days now and i sit the new NC 112lber on there this morning. I can't move the stand at all.... and I'm a big ol'fat boy. Solid as a tank.

I'll share pics soon as I get the wood stripped off it this evening. Cost me $35 in Quickrete and $6 in rebar and $5 in allthread rod. That anvil ain't budging a millimeter now.
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Very nice. If leave the wood on but that's me. Interested to see how you did this
 
Probably not very helpful, but I'll throw it out anyway: A former employer of mine goes through a lot of 4" x 6" and 6" x 8" hardened H13 dies in their manufacturing process (and occasionally up to 8" x 14"). I know from experience that the dies have a certain lifespan, after which they get thrown into a 55-gallon drum and sold as scrap... to someone. I'm not currently feeling the itch to hammer a knife out, I'm happy with material removal for now, but if I ever want to branch out I have a plan - give them a call and see if they'd be willing to sell me a block that has worn out its use to them (anyone can feel free to speak up or DM me if there is a fatal flaw in this totally undeveloped plan... like maybe they aren't legally allowed to sell scrap to Some Dude).

Obviously that's only helpful if you happen to have a similar resource, but maybe do some googling for businesses in your area that might use big hunks of steel for something, and make some calls. You never know. One man's trash is another man's treasure!
 
Yeah if Stacy can't find his extra cylinder anvil I'm gonna go this route. Wonder if I can put quickcrete In pvc pipe?
 
you can put it in anything that is the right size. A 5 gallon tub just happens to be great for most anvil sizes and the handles can be used to hold you hammer and tongs.
 
Whatever anvil you use will benefit from as solid a mount as you can manage. I had some block anvils for students at one point that were approximately 100 lbs. Until I added some angle iron and bolted them to their bases, they lost a *lot* of energy just bouncing around on top.

My 150 lb. Peter Wright has a face that is 4" wide. 4" x 4" should be decent if you put a good base on it.
 
I couldn't find the cylinder, but found a brand new 50# cast steel Chinese anvil. I have used it as a door stop. There is noting wrong with it and when placed on a solid base, it will work fine for a starter anvil.
 
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