[TheForge] make shift anvil

Fri Oct 17 10:56:01 2003

This isn't a case of male ego run amok.   Anvil and Hammer are both 
kinetic energy mechanisms.  One imparts it the other absorbs it.  Though 
it might be possible, I would not consider it practical to work 1/2 
thick stock with the same hammer as I use to planish sheet metal.  The 
same holds true for the anvil.  An anvil design for turning light shoes 
or making nails is not going to do the work of one designed for forging 
heavy wagon fittings.   I do not bolt, nail or strap my anvils down.  I 
fit them into a steel or wood receiver that exactly fits the base. They 
are tight enough that pulling them out without lifting the base as well 
is very difficult.   One old timer that took the time to give me some 
pointers taught me that was the correct way to do it.   His point was if 
your anvil is moving around, its trying to tell you it is too small and 
you are abusing it either with work too large or wrong technique.  It 
kind of works out  well.   The areas to strike that are most likely to 
make your anvil move are horn and heel.  Coincidentally the weakest 
points on an anvil, and the ones where you see them fail 
catastrophically are of course, horn an heel.   An anvil will sit still 
for a lot more pounding if you are right on the sweet spot above the 
base.   The anvil mounting discussions I hear always amuses me.  
Particularily the theory that if you mount a fifty pound anvil on a two 
hundred pound stack of scrap iron/cement/log etc will give you a two 
hundred and fifty pound anvil.  I do believe that the weight of the base 
will help, but I believe that a pound on the base has about a hundredth 
of the effect of another pound in the anvil.   Think about this.   Have 
you ever used a soft iron hammer that has a carbon steel forge welded 
face?   When the face starts to seperates, the performance of the hammer 
sufferes immediately.  This is the case as well with old anvils where 
the face has started to seperate.  These are two situations where the 
surfaces are a near perfect match for each other and they are still 
substantially fused together as well.  Even in the best stand, I would 
bet the the actual contact points are a small percentage of the anvil 
base ( I would guess ten percent).  You could find out pretty quick with 
machinist blue.   In order for the stand to absorb the energy from the 
anvil, there has to be firm physical contact.   Further, the contact 
(and the mass) has to be near directly under where the blow is 
delivered.   This only makes sense.  You could buy one hundred foot long 
piece of 1/4" x 2 steel, lay it on the ground and hammer on it, but 
despite it weighing 170lbs, it would still be useless as an anvil, so 
the mass has to be largely aligned in the same vector as the hammer 
blow, and it need to be whole.   I haven't yet seen anyone suggest that 
you could emulate a three pound hammer by duct taping an extre pound on 
to a two pound hammer.   All you would get is a two pound dead blow 
hammer.   Anyway, my thoughts and probably wrong.   I have fantasized 
mant times about hooking up a bunch of strain gauges to my anvil to see 
if I can't get solid proof one way or the other, but that will have to 
wait for the futire.   The truth is, I would be more likely to use them 
to answer the real puzzler, which is the whole lighter hammer faster 
blow, vs heavy hammer slow blow conundrum.  I am a heavy hammer guy, but 
would like to understand why I am right ;')

Charles

Phlip wrote:

>Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...
>
>  
>
>>yes i agree  one of the best is a large peace of steel -if you can find a
>>square peace that is over 100 lb. would serve you for now in the mean time
>>get Chuck Robinson to show you some of his anvils nice stuff
>>    
>>
>
>Jeeze- you big anvil boyz make my back hurt. Gimme 50 to 75 lbs any time...
>
>Saint Phlip,
>CoDoLDS, smiling happily at her soon to be acquired 50 lb anvil, with the
>_sweetest_ horn....
>
>"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
> Blacksmith's credo.
>
> If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
>cat.
>
>Never a horse that cain't be rode,
>And never a rider who cain't be throwed....
>
>
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