Anvil weight?

R

rachet197

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Jul 16, 2011
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I know this is a dumb question, however I need to know as I am buying one.
How much does your anvil weight? I am asking since I was hearing Rail road Track allot and they weight like 35 pounds, Tim lively uses a 4x4x14 square of mild steel in reinforced concrete!

THX in advance!!!

BTW if you use a railroad track how long is it?
 
mine is 175 pounds i think.

heavier is better. more mass allows the metal to move more efficiently.

jake
 
I use a massive 40 pound roller bearing encased in about 150 pounds of concrete. It works fine. It is no Hay Budden, but it cost about 50 bucks. I do not know if there are any big scrap yards in your area, but I got mine from someone who got it at a scrap yard. The one thing that I would say is that the face should be no less than 4 inches wide. Just from what I have experienced so far, bigger is better.
 
I have 2, a 250lb fisher and a 250lb post anvil. The fisher is incredible and I use it almost exclusively. The post anvil is not nearly as nice but useful for close work where the edges are needed. Get the biggest and flattest piece of steel you can afford. You will not be sorry for a little extra expense.
 
To be useful for forging the anvil needs to be at least twenty times the mass of the hammer and work. If pounding on a one pound piece of steel with a four pound hammer, you need at least a 100# anvil. From there the more mass the better...up to a reasonable limit. Most folks use an anvil between 75# and 200#.

My setup is a 125# forging anvil chained to a 400# flat anvil. I think the steel molecules are migrating from one to the other, because I used to be able to pick up the 125#er without much difficulty to take to demos, but every year it feels heavier :)
 
thegeek574 said:
I use a massive 40 pound roller bearing encased in about 150 pounds of concrete. It works fine. It is no Hay Budden, but it cost about 50 bucks. I do not know if there are any big scrap yards in your area, but I got mine from someone who got it at a scrap yard. The one thing that I would say is that the face should be no less than 4 inches wide. Just from what I have experienced so far, bigger is better.
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Could you please post a pic?
 
heres a pic of my junk yard anvil 360 lb my oldest son and I went to the scrap yard looking for a suitable piece of steel for an anvil, and I ran across a big pile of these 1 inch plates cut with a water-jet all exactly the same size, the only thing I need to do now is get a piece of 5x5 steel and weld it to one end, to act like a horn, steel ,stump, concrete, total cost 85$

IMG_1368.jpg
 
Thanks for the thread, I was wondering this too. In the guideline bladsmth mentioned, does the anvil mass include anything it's attached to, like say a stump or large wood round?
 
Askal said:
Thanks for the thread, I was wondering this too. In the guideline bladsmth mentioned, does the anvil mass include anything it's attached to, like say a stump or large wood round?
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It does if the anvil is secured well to the stump etc.
 
What would be a good way? When I made that post, I was thinking having a section of the bottom stuck in much like a tang in a handle but I realized that carries the danger of the wood splitting.
 
I would say don't factor in the wood, and shoot for 200lb minimum, believe it or not I can get that 360lb piece of steel jumping around pretty good when I am pounding on iron, course I have been swinging a hammer for 30 years
 
If you had a 4"x4"x12" drop of steel, you could set it on a 22" or so 4"x4" and place a few more 4"x4"s around it to stabilize it.
John Katt, you'd get a lot less hopping around, better energy transferred if everything was secured.
If properly done a good small anvil mounted properly will do the work of a much larger anvil and will outperform a poorly mounted larger anvil.

My reference for the 22" was based upon my anvil stand I'm building for my 300# Fisher and 119# Kohlswa anvils. I'm setting them at my wrist height after having the Kohlswa mounted at a couple heights this week. I believe that knuckle height for light forging of barstock or small rounds is easier for me with a higher anvil. I'm shooting for 34" with a couple steel plates under it to allow it to go higher or lower as needed.
 
Brian Ayres said:
John Katt, you'd get a lot less hopping around, better energy transferred if everything was secured.
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The reason its not tied down yet, is I am still trying to decide which side I like working from, the round side or the flat, as you can see it is kind of an awkward shape, I think the 5x5 chunk of steel welded to the top will help me to decide which way will be best, after I am comfortable with the orientation I will weld a couple chain loops to it and tie it down with ratchet straps
 
Many fine Japanese swords are forged on a 6X6X8 block of hardened 4140 steel mounted vertically on a heavy oak base. That is about a 80 pound steel block and the base probably weighs 150 pounds

The base counts as mass if the anvil is solidly set on it and secured. Securing ( and quieting) methods include;
Make feet chocks from oak or steel.
Chain the anvil down, with toggle bolts or lag bolts drawing the tension.
Use construction adhesive under the anvil to make a firm and slip free footing.
Make a metal anvil plate that exactly fits your anvil. Bolt the plate to the stand.


As for stands:
A 16" round stump of the right height - ends cut very straight and flat.
A stack of 2X4/6/8s cross stacked screwed and glued, with as many layers as needed to get the right height.
4X4s, 6X6s, 8X8s, or 12X12s bolted and glued together vertically ( probably the most common stand).
2X12s set vertically and bolted together.
A wooden box or bucket filled with concrete.
A stack of steel plates or objects, preferably welded together.
Welded up heavy angle iron stand ( often called a farriers stand).
 
For what its worth I just built a railroad anvil. I used an 18" piece that itself weighs about 65 lbs. Nice thing about railroad track is that it is easy to bolt down. I put 6, 4"X1/2" lag bolts in it and after the first bolt and each one subsequently it was immediately much much more solid, and much quieter. I also chained it down which is great because it is easy to get very tight. With the lag bolts, chains, and 60 lb of concrete holding it in place it feels really solid and is pretty quite to.
All this to say, that before I secured it to my base it was jumping around and sounded kinda like a tuning fork (really load and long lasting ring). If you are gonna use something lighter, I would say anything under 200#, securing it to the base makes a big difference. But I'm no expert...
 
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