Idea for an anvil type thing

[Railrider1920]

Hey Folks,
I have been using an old small piece of railroad track as an "anvil". I haven't found anything better yet, much less a true anvil I can afford. I have these steel rods I have gotten from work. They are about 1 1/2" across and 10" to 12" long. One that is 1 3/4" across and a few that are about 1" across. I was thinking about cutting them down to 3" or 4" long. Take 3 of them and line them up side by side and weld them together (red lines). I could have about 3 rows of 3 rods. More if I use the smaller rods as well. With the cut off scrap, try out a HT for them. I also have a piece of steel that is 1 1/2" thick, 4" wide and probably 20"-24" long and weighs about 30 lbs. This piece is soft, a hammer strike on an edge rounded it a little. I was thinking about HTing this and attaching it to the top of the rods.

All steel is unknown material.

Drawing below would be what the rods would be like, I would just attach the thick "plate" on top of it. Do you think it would work out as an anvil? Maybe get some rebound? I will still be looking for a true anvil. I'd just like something a little bit bigger to hit on. Not only that, it just sounds like a fun thing to make.

 

[Salem Straub]

I'm 95% sure that all that steel scrap you have will turn out to be mild... and if you're looking for rebound, I think this built-up thing will disappoint you. Even if it's a hardenable plate on top, getting any sort of even HT on it will be problematic.

Not trying to rain on your parade or anything, just my thoughts.

You sure you can't find a nice chunk of forklift tine anywhere, or some 140# rail to make a bigger anvil out of? I've got a chunk of 140lb. rail, it has some rebound. Most rail you find will be heat treatable, too- in the 1075-1080'ish range.

 

[Railrider1920]

Not trying to rain on your parade or anything, just my thoughts.

No, not at all. Exactly what I wanted, an honest opinion. The "plate" probably is mild steel. The rods probably arent though. I am fairly sure that they are the rods used to attach a knuckle to a train, so I would think that they are made to particular standards, whatever they may be. I have been picking them up whenever I have seen them laying around at the stations.

These are the pins

It's funny you mentioned getting a bigger piece of rail. I work for the railroad and cant find any to take home. I just dont work on the tracks or in a yard. If I did it would be a little easier.

I have been looking for a forklift tine or any other item to pound on for a while. One scrap yard around me has about 6 sets or more, but will only sell them as a set for $400. I went to a different scrap yard today and they had a lift with tines still attached in their scrap pile. I pulled off one of them and bought it for $8

The end with the red arrow is the sharp end. Black arrow is the side to the forklift. I'm thinking that the sharp end needs to go down and the edge that gets hammered on is the edge where the black arrow is. Does this sound right? Or should I turn it around the other way and hammer on the end where the blue arrow is?

 

[Salem Straub]

I've seen guys just cut the back of the tine off, and mount it vertically in concrete poured into a bucket. Of course the cut end of the tine may not give you a large working surface, but it should have good rebound and actually be perfectly sufficient for forging blades on. Or you might try cutting the elbow out of the tine, then welding the tines together side by side vertically- same idea as the first, but double width working face.

Other than that, I guess just play with different ways of using it without cutting it; if you could find some solid mass of mild steel etc. to weld it onto as a faceplate, you could lay it on flat and get a wide, long face out of it.

Search around for "forklift tine anvil." You should find some different ideas. Bigger tines yield more possibilities.