Anvil Building, Project.

JTknives

JTknives

Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
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I have been gathering all the materials i need to build a anvil. i am shooting for around 350 pounds. im making it in three parts. 1. top, this is the face and horn 2. wast 3. base. i am working on the top now and will be shaping the horn out with the band saw and a cutting torch. then use an angle grinder to finish it. then i will hard face it and the face. i will then use the wire EDM to cut out the hardy hole. i will post some pictures. whats a good hardy hole size?
 
Please do not take this as a critisism, because that is not the intent, but,I think you taking this whole "Sole Source" thing too far. Would it not be cheaper to buy one if you consider the value of your time? Could you not build more knives and make the difference? On the other hand I am sure it will be a great Anvil when you are done based on your other activities.
 
oldrifleman said:
Please do not take this as a critisism, because that is not the intent, but,I think you taking this whole "Sole Source" thing too far. Would it not be cheaper to buy one if you consider the value of your time? Could you not build more knives and make the difference? On the other hand I am sure it will be a great Anvil when you are done based on your other activities.
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amen.....;)

good luck jt
 
Doesn't sound too involved a project, and if it is made from already owned/acquired steel at no material expense, it would take several blades to make up the full ~$1500 difference for a ready purchased one... probably more knives than could be made in the time it takes to make this anvil. But that's just a guess on my part.
 
JTknives said:
I have been gathering all the materials i need to build a anvil. i am shooting for around 350 pounds. im making it in three parts. 1. top, this is the face and horn 2. wast 3. base. i am working on the top now and will be shaping the horn out with the band saw and a cutting torch. then use an angle grinder to finish it. then i will hard face it and the face. i will then use the wire EDM to cut out the hardy hole. i will post some pictures. whats a good hardy hole size?
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Jt, are you going to be making anything other than knives on this anvil? If not then why do you need the horn? All I would make is a block anvil with a hardy hole, get all that mass where you need it. Make any hardy tools you need for scrolling guards and stuff, if you are doing blades only the horn is not really needed.
 
i get a kick out of using my 100 year old peter wright 123 lb. when i am banging on it, i cant help but imagine what all this thing has seen...
 
Every couple weeks I check the local metal supply/scrap yard for the right sized chunk of alloy steel to build an anvil. I allready have one that works fine but I want to make one just for the hell of it. At 33 cents a lbs. with no freight charges I can end up with a 150 lbs anvil for less then $50.

The yard has had several chunks that were very close to what I want but I am holding out for just the right one.
 
Sam Salvati said:
Jt, are you going to be making anything other than knives on this anvil? If not then why do you need the horn? All I would make is a block anvil with a hardy hole, get all that mass where you need it. Make any hardy tools you need for scrolling guards and stuff, if you are doing blades only the horn is not really needed.
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That is a good idea as i am mostly just doing knives right now. but i might round over the front 4 or so inches so i can use it to drawing out.

B Finnigan said:
Every couple weeks I check the local metal supply/scrap yard for the right sized chunk of alloy steel to build an anvil. I allready have one that works fine but I want to make one just for the hell of it. At 33 cents a lbs. with no freight charges I can end up with a 150 lbs anvil for less then $50.

The yard has had several chunks that were very close to what I want but I am holding out for just the right one.
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I have a place here that is called metal mart and they have every chunk of steel you could want. that is where i get all mine. my top chunk is 24" long by 4.5" by 5.5 and comes in at around 180 bounds. so I'm going to face harden it and cut out the hardie hole then weld it to a wast with a huge fat weld then weld that to the base the same way. but now my onley problem is do i use the 5.5" side as the face or the 4.5" side as the face. if i use the 4.5" side as the face then that will mean that it will be 5.5 inches tall plus when i add the other two blocks that are each 5.5" tall that makes it a total 16.5" tall which would be good. how big should i do the pritcher (spelling?) hole. thanks a bunch
 
Hi JT, if you don't need the horn, why not stand it up and have your face be 4.5x5.5". That smaller area may be easier to heat treat, and you can make a base out of any thing to boost it up to the height you want. Take a look at the Sea Robin thread to see if that style of post anvil might be an option for you.

Just a thought, Craig
 
well i decided to do a post anvil and got the base plate from my boss today at a good price. it was some kind of mounting fixture for a mill and is 2" thick by 12" wide and 22" long. comes in at like 150 pounds and it has 1/2" holes evenly spaced out across it for bolting it to a mill deck. so its perfect, and that would make my post anvil over 300 pounds yay :D. not i am going to weld my 24" long anvil to it so that would make 26" tall plus what ever i decide to do for the face. i was thinking of using a 1" thick chunk of A2 and welding it to the top and then letting it hand over one side of the post and put a hardy hole through it but i think i would need some pracing under it as it would hang out past the edge of the post 4.3". any ideas, thanks
 
You could have some square bar going from the far edge, just past the hole going down into the baseplate for more support if needed.
 
jzink1702 said:
stupid q:whats a hardy hole?

-j
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square hole that hardy tools can be planted in

350px-Fciron-anvil_face.jpg
 
now i don't know if I'm going to weld the a2 plate to the face or just try and hardface it.
 
here it is with its new base, it is not welded to it yet but that will be tomorrows project.

my%20anvil.jpg
 
JT go for it. I am building a 400 LBS Flat anvil. They took out the inground car lifts from the shop. The arms are solid steel and about 30" long X 6" wide and 2" thick. I'm flat faceing them and welding them together. I have 5. I have taken one that was being hauled off and beat the crap out of it with a hammer. It has excellent rebound and the 3 lbs hammer did very little damage. minimal cats eye damage. Should make a great Anvil.
Only you know if the time spent offsets the $ value. I got plenty of time and few $$$
 
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