[TheForge] Anvil stands

[Stephen McGehee]

John E.:  The 'Best Way" for some, perhaps.  What's wrong with a block
of wood?  You could not pay me to use a steel stand as you have
described, in my shop.  I much more prefer the feel of my anvils spiked
to a chunk of tree trunk, the wood adds plenty of more mass, absorbs the
ring better, accepts accessories anywhere, costs nothing.  Of course,
everyone does not have access to trees or chainsaws,  and in the desert
20 inch hardwood trees are kinda rare, but before you say those ugly
fabricated stands are the best, try a few others.  Of course this opens
the door to those who hate wood block "stumps" with a passion, I can
already hear the keys a'clickin'  I read an "expurt blacksmith" on
another site condemning those old fashioned things, he was promoting the
use of a pine or fir stand spiked together of 2 bys,  so whatever turns
yore crank.  Of course, if I had a three legged stand as you describe,
all the bits and pieces of arn that accumulate around my anvil could be
piled under it.  Jerry Hoffman designed a pretty useful stand cast of
concrete a few years back, with inserts to allow the attachment of
accessories and bolting down the anvil.



 Stephen McGehee
 Publisher of
 Irony, the sketchbook of an apprentice blacksmith
 P. O. Box 9822  Pine Bluff, AR 71611
 irony@epowerc.net
 (870) 540-0142
 (479) 643-3299 (farm)
 You can see a sample of IRONY magazine here:

  http://lametalsmiths.org/news/page4.htm  )