[TheForge] Anvil stand construction, long detailed description of.

[Barking Crow]

At Saturday's FABA meeting here in NW Fla. we put together 11 anvil stands
that Skeeter Prather had designed and cut out. They were pyramids of  5/8"
plywood about 24" tall and I believe 10 degrees angled in.  We put a 1 x 2
in each corner and glued everything with carpenters glue and screwed it all
together.  They were remarkably strong and stackable which was important as
they are for various FABA functions to use under 11 85 lb anvils for classes
and demos and can be stacked for better storage between uses.  We assembled
them around a piece of square plywood which Skeeter had cut at 10 degrees on
all sides.  Actually we screwed and glued the sides together and then
dropped the top in to square up the top of the pyramid.

Today I made a stand for myself but I wanted it to be pressure treated as my
work is outside.  Pressure treated plywood is available locally only in 1/2,
too thin and 3/4 which is amazingly expensive.  So, I opted to make my 10
degree pyramid out of 2x pressure treated which is also amazingly expensive
when you get a 2 x 12 which is what I wanted. An 8' 2 x 12 or the top choice
stuff was $16.50 and it wasn't nearly enough.  I also used up a lot of
pressure treated 2 x 10 that I had around from the side of the road.  I
wanted it pretty tall so I chose 26" for the length of the vertical pieces
from the long point of the 10 degree cut on one end to the long point of the
10 degree cut on the other end (on the opposite side of the board).  All the
side pieces were cut this way.  I made the inside of the top of the pyramid
out of a 2 x 10 which I ripped at 10 degrees all around for a 9 1/4 " square
and screwed the top of the sides flush to the top of this piece.  The base
was about 20 "on a side.  Each side was made from a piece of 2 x 12 and a
piece of 2 x 10.  The outer edge of each piece was ripped on a 10 degree
angle from the bottom to the top and the two pieces butt together (factory
square edge) in the roughly middle of each side.  I used a lot of exterior
construction adhesive and 3" deck type screws for which I predrilled the
holes to make driving em easier and reduce the likelihood of splitting.  To
strengthen the butt joints down the middle of each side I covered the joint
on the inside of the hollow pyramid  with 5/4 pressure treated that I had
lying around and of course screwed and liquid nailed the 5/4 to the 2x
overlapping the joint from the top of the inside to about 2" from the
bottom.  The final top was a piece of 2 x 12 screwed and glued to the 10
degree beveled square piece of 2 x 10 that the tops of the sides had been
screwed flush with the top of.  Instead of cutting hand holes near the tops
of the sides, like Skeeter had done on his plywood stands, I used a piece of
2 x 12 for the top that was roughly flush with the two sides but stuck out
about 2 " on the other two sides of the top of the pyramid and made a good
way to pick it up.

The stand is quite heavy duty as well as quite expensive and labor
intensive, (I couldn't believe how much trouble it was to think thru and
build even though I had seen and assembled Skeeter's) but I'm using all this
band width to describe it as I just  love it and may keep it for a work
surface instead of mounting the anvil I had intended to go on it.  The
cantilevered top "handles" may also function well as clamping sites.  I also
cut one piece the mirror image of the one I needed, so that added to the
cost. The pieces can get a bit confusing.  Anyway, its a great stand or work
platform if you have the time and resources.  Next time I think I'll use
Skeeter's design and 3/4 PT plywood.

Jeff Valentine in Tallahassee where today it was supposed to feel like 102,
and I believed em.