- Joined
- Oct 30, 2002
- Messages
- 3,974
Well, I'm up WAY too late on a work night. But once I start a project like this, I just can't walk away until it's mostly done.
The new (to me) anvil came in today. It's a 148 pound Hay Budden. My wife said the FedEx guy looked like he was about to crap his pants as he carried this anvil to the door. I thought for sure he'd use a dolly. Anyway, it's in good shape. You can just make out the "Hay" and a "B" on the logo. The rest is pretty much gone except you can sort of make out "New York". The number on the foot is long since gone away. I looked from every angle and couldn't find a single number that was legible, even with pencil shading on paper. There is some chipping along both edges, but they are smooth chips and there's still plenty of good edge left to work. Not a single big ding in the face. Just small and uniform surface pitting from age. A few chisel marks can be seen on the step and on the horn. There's more dings on the horn, but no real biggie there. Just the slightest bit of sway in the middle when checked with a straight edge, but hardly noticable. When I got home to check it out, I rang it and it sings like a church bell and seems to have good rebound. Not to shabby for an anvil pushing at least 80 years old.
Anyway, I picked up some lumber and made a stand. The anvil sits exactly 32.5" high which is just perfect for me. I used cutouts to secure the feet and some big chain tightened down to 8" long lag bolts secured in the stand. The stand itself is liquid nailed together as well as secured together with all thread and most of a box of 3" construction screws. I never realized how tough it is to build a large wooden project with just a sawzall as my portaband couldn't handle the larger wood.
Makes me wish for a table saw. I also added silicone under the anvil, and that coupled with the chain and stand almost completely silences the strong ring of the anvil to a dulled "tink". Still have excellent rebound in the hammer.
I took a flap disc lightly to the horn and some to the face to polish a bit before I went home. Still have a lot of sanding to the face to make it shine, but we'll see if I ever get around to that or just go to forging.
I'm sure I'm missing something or not making sense somewhere, but it's nearly 3 in the morning! The pictures aren't the greatest, but they were taken on my phone as I forgot my camera when I went to the shop. Let me know what you think!
--nathan
The new (to me) anvil came in today. It's a 148 pound Hay Budden. My wife said the FedEx guy looked like he was about to crap his pants as he carried this anvil to the door. I thought for sure he'd use a dolly. Anyway, it's in good shape. You can just make out the "Hay" and a "B" on the logo. The rest is pretty much gone except you can sort of make out "New York". The number on the foot is long since gone away. I looked from every angle and couldn't find a single number that was legible, even with pencil shading on paper. There is some chipping along both edges, but they are smooth chips and there's still plenty of good edge left to work. Not a single big ding in the face. Just small and uniform surface pitting from age. A few chisel marks can be seen on the step and on the horn. There's more dings on the horn, but no real biggie there. Just the slightest bit of sway in the middle when checked with a straight edge, but hardly noticable. When I got home to check it out, I rang it and it sings like a church bell and seems to have good rebound. Not to shabby for an anvil pushing at least 80 years old.
Anyway, I picked up some lumber and made a stand. The anvil sits exactly 32.5" high which is just perfect for me. I used cutouts to secure the feet and some big chain tightened down to 8" long lag bolts secured in the stand. The stand itself is liquid nailed together as well as secured together with all thread and most of a box of 3" construction screws. I never realized how tough it is to build a large wooden project with just a sawzall as my portaband couldn't handle the larger wood.
Makes me wish for a table saw. I also added silicone under the anvil, and that coupled with the chain and stand almost completely silences the strong ring of the anvil to a dulled "tink". Still have excellent rebound in the hammer.I took a flap disc lightly to the horn and some to the face to polish a bit before I went home. Still have a lot of sanding to the face to make it shine, but we'll see if I ever get around to that or just go to forging.
I'm sure I'm missing something or not making sense somewhere, but it's nearly 3 in the morning! The pictures aren't the greatest, but they were taken on my phone as I forgot my camera when I went to the shop. Let me know what you think!
--nathan
)
