[TheForge] Re: Anvil height

[Mike Spencer]

Blakkpawss wrote:

> In particular an age old gripe of mine. Anvil stands and anvil
> height.

Repeating in part what others have already said....

I tell people as gospel (which of course it isn't) that the right
height is at the crotch of your thumb when you stand straight but
relaxed with your arm at your side. That's about an inch higher than
knuckle height.  Works for me.

This is, however, too high for easy use of anvil tools, especially
tall ones such a guillotine fuller/cut-off. [1] For a quick hardy
cut-off or swage round-up it doesn't matter but if I'm using the
guillotine, I have a piece of railroad tie with a big ring bolt in one
end that stands out of the way on end.  I can grab the ring, fling the
tie onto the floor and step up on it. The ca. 6" gain in height makes
it possible to comfortably swing a 2.5# or 5# hammer to hit the
guillotine ca. 10" above anvil height.

I used a stump (spiked to a wooden floor) for many years just because
a neighbor gave me a massive crotch from a beech tree he'd felled and
I liked it.  It was wide enough that it also supported a swage block
next to the heel of the anvil. But I did have to stand too far from the
anvil in some cases.  Hence:

In the new shop, with an un-spike-to-able concrete floor, the crotch
was too wobbly so I went for a stand. I don't think it has the ooompf
[2] of a log set on end in the ground (I started with that).  It
*does* make it possible to get your thigh right up against the anvil
and/or your toes underneath, avoiding the temptation to bend over when
your toes hit the stump.  That ever-so-slight bend-over, repeated
again and again because your toes keep you a tad too far from the
anvil, is a reliable source of lower back pain.

> 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.

Just so. Stand closer, as straight as is comfortable.

My stand's four legs are 1x2 HSS.  The anvil tray is 1-1/2" x 1-1/2"
angle. The legs are splayed a little for stability, i.e. the footprint
of the stand is maybe 4" to 6" bigger in both dimensions than the
footprint of the 300# anvil. The legs are braced with 1"x1/4" strips
to prevent further splaying on three sides (not on the side where my
toes go.)  It's sturdy enough for hand forging and light striking.  I
wouldn't want to see round-house blows from a heavy sledge on it day
after day, say for making anchor stocks.

Several times, when Cecil Parnell was still alive, I went to his shop
to make anchors and graplins for him. He was a legendary weldor,
fabricator and repair-anything-er but only a so-so smith and about
5'4" tall but with a figure like an oil drum.  His 400#+ double-horn
anvil was set low even for his height. I raised it about 4" which made
it good for round-house striking but still impossible for me to work
at. Happily, he had a very fat, stubby, heavy, maybe 80# stake anvil
that fit the hardy hole. So I would get either Cecil or whoever was
standing around to strike with a 12# or 16# sledge when needed but
worked on the stake for everything else.


FWIW,
- Mike


[1] There's a cute name for these I forget what it is.

[2] Ooompf: One then technical terms, y'know? :-) Charles' anvil
    probably has maximum ooompf.

    "I really need to work that out in hundredweights"

        1173385714285710000000000  0  0

    You're welcome. ;-)

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^