My new anvil

J

jtwodogs

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Feb 1, 2009
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Had a friend give me the rail road track. I took it to a local welder. He explained that some of the newer track did not weld well. I told him that my friend had said this came from track that was laid some time in the 30's, so he said he would give it a shot. He put some 1x6 inch stock on it for me, I think it turned out well. Time will tell.
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On another note. Can scraps of say 1095 be stacked and heated and forged back into one usable piece?
 
That will work for basic forging, but I'm guessing the top is mild steel. The old saying is , "Any anvil is better than no anvil."
A thicker top would have been better....2-3" thick.

Stacks of steel "can" be welded together....in a big foundry shop with huge equipment and ovens. You can't do it at home.

A good steel for an anvil is 4140. A solid block 12X4X6" makes a great anvil. It can be turned to the sides and end for different uses.
 
Most of what I will be doing will be stock removal. An anvil of sorts was needed even for the small jobs, was not ready to invest large sums of cash they were wanting for a classic anvil in relatively good shape, and the 1 inch stock was the largest he had.

Maybe someone who knows where I can get a piece of 4140 1x6x18 reasonable will let me know, I can have him weld it on top of what I got.
Thanks
 
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Should work fine for straightening warps, peening rivets, and general pounding tasks.
 
Craigslist search for forklift forks; skidsteer forks; fork tines; forklift blades... They're pre-hardened as is, and can be had at scrap prices... On end they make great post anvils... Steel composition is usually medium carbon steel... Hope this helps...
 
check the scrap yards - tell them to call you when they get some

big hydraulic cylinder rams.
It's probably 1045 hardened ground, polished and chromed.
 
as far as making you own anvil would it be better to get a a big soled steel block(mild steel) ans then weld a 1" thick hardened plate on top?
 
No, it would be better to get a solid steel block of 4140, shape it as desired ( or not at all) and have it heat treated to about Rc50.

As I suggested earlier, a 12X4X6" block of hardened 4140 will make a great anvil for most smaller knife work. That would be about an 80 pound anvil. make it 6X6X12 and it jumps to 120 pounds.
 
Greetings,
Question for Stacy (not to highjack this thread).
I have both 4140 and 1045 6" diameter by 5" to 7" long bar stock for a small bench anvil. Which one is preferred? Note, they are all stacked on my 1914 265pd Fisher anvil.

Thanks,

Dennis Paish


 
I use this with quite a bit of success...

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RR track section that is set in a slot in that 500# locust stump. Then wedges were hammered into the stump along side the slot locking the rail in. The flat is a chunk of 1/2" AR500 welded on. I made four passes on each side to back fill and weld the flat slab on. Preheating the steel and using the correct fill rod can make for a very solid platform. I welded that RR nut to the flat for use with dies. I have a 5 gallon bucket full of old junction bolts. I use them as small post anvils of sorts or weld the threads to the back of a die similar to a hardy hole tool. There is a 1/2"x1" elongated hole in the back that works for quick bending as well.

I've yet to see any stress fractures starting to form and there are a lot of great surfaces to work off of. It's no 500#er but it replaces the 100#er I had been using quite nicely. Honestly better as I do some sheetmetal as well and the curves are nice to have...

I second that forklift tines are awesome hunks of steel. I'd love to find one for a power hammer build... Need to put that on the shopping list...

Here in my neck of the woods anvils pop up often. I just passed a 100# in decent condition for $2.25 a pound in the flea market Saturday. And there's an old 500# anvil rumored to be for sale near me here... Of course shipping would kill ya... lol. And I just missed another 100# that went for scrap... ouch...

If there's a way to avoid violating the 'third party sales' thing but still post them up I'd be glad to. (Stacy? Possible??) I'm not in the market for one ATM as I have something else that needs to be purchased, but it puts me right in the trenches where they pop up here... so...

At any rate, good ingenuity. I like it.

-Eric
 
Just to further my initial post about using a forklift for as an anvil;

4140 will stand up to heavy abuse, and as mentioned by Stacy you can harden it. If you do opt for the forklift fork, cut it, shape it, weld it, but if you can, it's best to use longer pieces and position them on end. More mass under the hammer moves the metal quicker and easier than if you were to lay a 12x4x6 block flat on it's side. The beauty of this is the versatility of being able to use it on end for heavy forging, then lay it flat for finish work.

I just finished up my striking anvil, which seconds as a base for my #200 Fisher...

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It's composition is about 280 pounds of forklift fork, of which I homogeneously welded together... Yes, a fools errand... Countless hours and about 30 pounds of 7018...

Here's a top view...

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* Just go for the block of 4140... lol
 
You can forge weld scraps of 1095 together to make a billet and forge that into a knife. A lot cheaper and simpler to simply buy 1095 bar stock. I've welded up some scraps of 1084 to get a piece big enough for a hawk bit as I didn't want to wait on the mail or such. Even though the same alloy from the same bar was used there was some pattern when etched.

I used two harbor freight russian cast steel anvils for a long time. One I cut the horn off and used for a finish anvil, the other as a forging and shaping anvil. Not a very good anvil, but better than cast iron.

I recently got a Refflinghaus 330 pounder and man what a difference a good anvil makes, it's unreal.

That said, I'd probably find the heaviest piece of rail road track I could, flatten the top some and weld sides to it and fill with hot lead. Use the rail top steel as its hardened medium carbon steel in most cases and would have decent rebound. At least better than mild steel or cast iron.

Or I'd get a 4" square bar of 4140 or such and make a post anvil.

Lots of ways to make a knife making anvil, you don't really need the horn, heel, ect that a traditional London or German pattern has.
 
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