homemade anvil question

R

redd1981

Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
251
Hey guys.

I have been doing stock removal for a couple years now and enjoy it and will continue but lately I have been getting the urge to bang on some hot steel.

I cannot afford a proper anvil so I have decided to make one. I cannot for the life of me figure out where to get a piece of RR track to use so I figured I would get the biggest cheapest sledgehammer I can find and put it in a stump just to mess around with.

My question is, a sledhammer head seems to be tad small. would it work if I used a tamper turned upside-down or is there not enough mass underneath the striking area for it to be a viable option?

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
 
Maybe something like this would work out for you, every time I go to the scrap yard, I find chunks of plate steel laying around, this stuff is very hard, 4140 maybe, welded together this beast weighs in at 400LB and cost $90


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Go to a construction site doing concrete, and ask for an "embed" it is a steel plate with studs on the back. They are cast into concrete, you can figure out what base you want to make and pour your own. Trade beer for embed to a firm carpenter. Some are made with a 90 degree bend in them, some are 3/4 inch or thicker. Cheap way to start.
 
Sledgehammer heads are plenty big enough, and they have mass underneath the strike zone. There are bunches of videos on youtube showing third-world smiths making very nice blades and farming tools with a sledgehammer for an anvil.

If you watch ebay and the flea markets, you'll see old sledges that weigh up to 20# and have plenty of face for making knives.

Railroad tracks only work well when stood on end, and then you have even less area than a sledge's head.
 
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