anvil subsitutes and how to obtain them

B

blood_constellation

Joined
Aug 10, 2007
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96
so if you are a new smith and you dont want to spend all that money buying an anvil, which else could you use? i know you can use a section of rail road track ( and ya that's what im using now, i melted off a little part of it from this no-longer used rail road with some homemade thermite ). tim lively said to use a big 4x4x12 chunk of steel in reinforced concrete. i was going to try this when i just started smithing, but i've no idea where to get a 4x4x12 piece of steel...

what did you guys all start with? and how did you get them?
 
The local scrap metal yard should have lots of stuff to choose from...A machine shop may have a scrap piece laying around...The RXR track works great though.I would suggest hunting the flea markets and junk stores or ask around town and see if you can find a old anvil at a decent price.

Bruce
 
also keep an eye on craigs list in your area. An anvil may come your way if you keep looking
 
Neither could I afford a new anvil and even used ones around here have big prices so I decided to build my own... had the local junk/steelyard cut me off a piece of steel that measured 6 1/2 by 3 and 3/4 about 16 inches long buttered the top with 7018 one coat and then built up a layer of hard facing with some Fornery hard facing rod... the big piece lays flat across two 9 inch pieces of heavy wall 5 inch tubing on end...there are two pieces of 1 and 1/4 by 2 bar welded cross wise on both sides of the tubing where it touches down... for a horn I used a piece of drill stem (oil field) 3 and 1/2 diameter about 10 inchs long that I slotted about 7 inches and forged to a cone and then welded that to one end of the anvil body...ends up being about 160 with a nice wide face...I really like it! Bill A.
 
None of the scrapyards near me have old rails. I'm having a bugger of a time finding anything anvilesque.
 
DrThunder88,
You are in DETROIT. There are rail maintenance yards all around there . Go down to the train station and ask someone where the rail maintenance yard is. Go to the yard in person (early in the morning) and ask to see the supervisor. Tell him what you need (a 2-3' piece of old rail) and he will give you some. I've never heard of anyone who went that didn't get all the rail they wanted.
Stacy
 
The deals are out there, for those who are looking...

Try the local antique stores, flea markets, and go to barn / garage / yardsales. You never know when great grandad's old junk will surface and amidst the old postcards, bent pliers, hammers with broken handles, and other assorted junk, you just may find a decent anvil.

Also, try asking around with relatives, etc. see if anyone knows where an anvil might be just gathering dust and rust.

I found mine at my local high school. I remembered when I was a freshman taking woodshop that there was an anvil in the shop. For what purpose I could not fathom, as no hot work, or any metalwork at all had ever been done in this place, but it was there. In fact, it was a constant source of annoyance for the shop teacher, as it was bolted down to a block of concrete, and students would tip it, roll it on the concrete edges, etc. making him constantly nervous that today would be the day someone caught the anvin on their foot.

Along I came, and offered him $50 for it, and wouldn't ya know, he took it!

I got a 100lb vulcan for $75 ( the principal made him raise the price. I guess he wanted a cut or something). I thought that was the steal of the cetury, and havn't looked back since.
 
bill, you have to post a pic of your avil, lol
dan, you're really luck man. my guild president also had a similar deal, he got a little avil for like $15 bucks... lol
 
I've heard that fork lift forks make a good work surface. Weld to a heavy piece of steel and anchor to a base and you are ready to start.

Scott
 
ya scott, that reminds me, i once found a big flat-ish piece of steel that i wanted to use as an anvil, unfortunately i left it at a friends house and she forgot what she did with it... *cries*
 
A friend of mine worked at a steel fabrication plant, and provided me with two pieces of 4140. This stuff is about 8" in diameter, 10" long.

I set it down in a bucket of concrete just like Tim Lively demonstrates in his video, and was able to produce this -

DSC02659.jpg

100_1096.jpg


I don't have a pic of the anvil, though, just never got around to taking one. Beware, it weighs about 200lbs.!

Andy
 
yea lol, what tim had on his web site looked like it might've weighted 20 pounds, cause most of it is buried in the cement.
and great news for me, i have become a cadet for the fire fighting academy, and sometimes we set old cars on fire and try to put it out. next time they do that, im gonna ask the LT to let me salvage stuff from the burnt cars before they drag it to the dump. think a piece of engine might work for an anvil?
 
I'd have to say that I doubt you could find anything worth using off of a car. Engine blocks and heads are usually cast iron or aluminum and full of odd angles and holes. Axle shafts don't provide much surface area and driveshafts are usually tubing.
-Mark
 
hey i was at habor freight today and they had a 55pound anvil for like 20 bucks get that and mount it to a big heavy block and be done with it i know anvils should be heavier but hey if it works use it
 
You can do alot of research on this stuff online. I have searched on it before, but still being in an apt. I haven't purchased.

Beware of the ALO, Anvil Like Object. Harbor Freight sells them, at least they did when I was searching for a cheap Anvil. They are unhardenable mild steel and easily malformed.
 
SamuraiDave said:
You can do alot of research on this stuff online. I have searched on it before, but still being in an apt. I haven't purchased.

Beware of the ALO, Anvil Like Object. Harbor Freight sells them, at least they did when I was searching for a cheap Anvil. They are unhardenable mild steel and easily malformed.
Click to expand...

hey thanks I didn't know I'll remember that (I still have my greatgrandfathers anvil)
 
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