Old World Anvil 4x4

C

comet_sharp

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Aug 22, 2016
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Hey guys,
I have been a stock removal kitchen knife maker for about a year now and would like to try my hand at forging. Shop time is limited to I was thinking of just buying a 2 burner forge from Majestic and have been eyeing the 4x4 anvils from Old World Anvil. They can cut them into larger sizes and quoted me around 240$ for a 4 x 4 x 10 anvil tempered around 40 rockwell with free shipping. Would I be able to bang out some kitchen knives on that? Will primarily be using 52100 bar stock more likely to start. Anyone have any experience with these anvils I'd love to know. Thanks,
Trey
 
You can bang out all manner of knife & trinket size stuff on a 4"x4" surface.
But, $240. I think is steep for a chunk of steel to use as expedient anvil.
 
Steel is about .3 pounds per cubic inch

4x4x10 is 160 cubic inches = 48 pounds

$5 a pound with "free shipping"

Junk years will sell steel at ten cents a pound ish
Try a local junk yard and get a 8" hydraulic ram 30 inches long - it would weigh more and cost half as much
Stand it on end

See google images for sea robin anvil
 
That's pretty low rockwell too, for a bought anvil. I think the Count's dead on. Scrap yards are your friend here- it would be great if you could find a large, worn-out hydraulic chipper bit from an excavator. What a post anvil that would be!
 
You can order a 4X4X10 piece of 4140 from a steel supplier ( Speedy Metals, etc.) They might also do the HT or you can have them
ship it to Peter's HT. who will do the HT for $50. Have it hardened to around Rc50 (temper around 600F/350C).
A block of 4.5X5.5X12" will run about $350 and weighs 85 pounds. That will make a great knife anvil with all sides usable. Make a wooden base for it from 2X12 and it will work like a 150 pounder.
 
Go on craigslist and look for an old chunk of R&R track. Not sure of the hardness but it is hard and there are alot of folks using a piece of it.
 
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