[TheForge] Anvil height

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

1 I vote for a dense hardwood stump that adds to the anvil mass and facilitates impact transmission to the floor. The more mass under the falling hammer, the less work you have to do.
2 Height depends on the weight of the work you are doing. Knuckle high is right for heavy forging and for using a striker. It's good if you are farsighted too, as focal length seems to be related to striking posture, i think.  
Having observed so many excellent smiths bent over their anvils, and having a bad back, i set mine up higher....though it's harder on your elbow and shoulder. Only St Francis stood perfectly upright at the anvil, i sometimes think. 
I have a second, smaller anvil that's mounted even higher for smaller forging. 
I also had my shop glasses made with photosensitive,  upside down bifocals. The bottom 1/2  has the top of my anvil as the focal length and the top 1/2 is close for fine work.

On Feb 26, 2013, at 11:20 AM, Blakkpawss wrote:


I'm currently in the process of setting up a new shop and the monster known as layout has reared its ugly head. In particular an age old gripe of mine. Anvil stands and anvil height. A lot of what I've seen over time suggests putting your anvil on a stump. However, I've see a lot of purposely built wooden stands in the last several years that make think it would be more useful to me if I designed and built something for my needs. Second, everything I've ever been told or read is that your anvil should stand at a height where your knuckels come to rest on it's top when you drop your arm to your side. This has always seemed fine till I work. I always feel like I'm bent and stooped over the anvil. My back begins to hurt pretty bad after working for a couple hours. Seems like I'd feel better if it was taller, so that I stood straight while working.

Question one: Do you prefer a stump or a stand? List pros and cons as you see them, please.

Question two: do you use the traditional height or do you set it taller? If so why? Once again pros and cons please.

Thanks for the input in advance everyone.

Sent from Samsung Mobile
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