[TheForge] make shift anvil

Fri Oct 17 13:40:01 2003

Hey Charles you're definitely on the right track.
The mass of the anvil must be directly below the hammer striking point to
insure the greatest effect of the hammer strike. The final critical part of
the equation is the homogeneity of the steel.
Any cracks or voids disrupt the vibrational harmonics of the strike on the
anvil. So  the junction between the anvil bottom and its stand significantly
reduces  the effect of the hammer blow.
An excellent illustration of this effect is observed when striking a forged
anvil where the steel face plate weld has begun to separate from the anvil
body.
You get a dull clank and an ineffective strike.

 There is nothing wrong with a cast steel anvil, if the foundry does a
perfect casting with no voids or imperfections in the anvil.

 I suspect that if Philip tries forging some large stock on a good 200 lb.
anvil she would put her toy anvil out to pasture.
Chuck

----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2003 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] make shift anvil

> 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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>
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