Home Built Anvil

Well I started down this path to get into blacksmithing with the idea of starting from scratch with a nonexistent budget. My boys and their friend decided they wanted to build a forge which I documented in an earlier post. So here I have this huge forge but, nothing to use to work anything on. So I start down the road to finding an anvil. All I can say is that this road was one heck of an experience.

First off I figured on finding an inexpensive anvil at someplace like Harbor Freight but, that was a nightmare. I tried to buy one that was in their advertisement but it was always out. After trying to buy one for 3 months I finally called the corporate office to find out what was going on only to find that they were no longer carrying the anvil. So scratch that idea. Next I tried find a used anvil but, after months of searching I couldn't find any in my area and the ones that I could find were not cheap and the shipping was even more in some cases than the cost of the anvil. So scratch that idea too.

So I started reading everything that I could about anvils to figure out what to do. Well what I found kind of shocked me at first. The earliest anvils were just stones and after that they were just a block of iron. It wasn't until just the last few hundred years that anvils started to take the shape that we think of as an anvil today. So I got this idea to try and make my own anvil and this how I did it.

First I scrounged some steel pieces. you can see in the picture below the steel was varied, rusted and dirty but, hey you don't complain when you get the steel for free.

I was able to get 2 steel blocks that were cutoffs, 3 used high carbon steel pieces from some heavy equipment, a used steel pivot pin and a piece of hardened high carbon steel scraper blade. I can thank my father in law for helping me to find this steel although he wasn't quite sure about my idea but, he was willing to wait and see.

So I cleaned up the steel with wire wheels and grinders to be able to get some good steel exposed in order to try and get the best welds I could. Next came the challenge to figure out how to design and assemble the anvil. After some test fits I also found that I had to cut the angled sides off of the rectangular late that I was using for the top of the anvil. This let everything fit together better.

Once I had the top plate cut (which turned out to be harder than I expected because that is some tough steel) I set the center post and welded it to the top plate. Then lined up the sides and welded those on. I used some extra cut steel bolt lengths that I had to put through the holes in the side to weld to the center post to help stiffen and support the sides.

For the record I over welded this thing like crazy to make sure that it was strong enough to stand up to the repeated impacts and vibrations. It's hard to see in the picture but, I had ground down the corners to a 45 degree angle about 1/4 inch deep on the sides and on the center post. I did this to get the best penetration and the strongest welds I could. It's also hard to tell in the pictures but those weld beads are about 1 inch thick.









Next I had to figure out the horn (beak or bick depending on where you are from) and the center support. Here I laid out the steel blocks to be able to measure and cut the center support as well as mark to weld up the horn.

Here you can see  I welded up the center support as well as the steel blocks for the horn. I also welded the other part of the center support but, you can't see it in the picture as it is behind the center post. I again ground a 45 degree angle about 1/4 in deep on all of the edges to be welded. I also went back and made 2 more passes on the welds for the center support. I figured this support would end up taking the brunt of the impact vibrations so I wanted to make sure those welds were pretty beefy.





Next I added a square tube and round tube. I added these as liners for the hardie hole and the pritchel hole. I wanted to make sure that I could keep things from blocking those holes.

Here's what the top looks like at this point. My plan was to keep just the hardie hole and pritchel hole open and to weld up the other holes so that I can get a solid flat surface that I can file and grind level and smooth.

Thanks to my son we were able to scrounge these 2 large flat pieces of steel for the feet. They are about 60 pounds each. After adding the feet the anvil is now pushing 200 pounds! I have a friend of mine that is a professional structural welder that stepped in at this point to help add some serious welds on the feet and top of the anvil for me. Let me tell you his equipment welds so much faster that mine and has the high carbon wire and rod. I was amazed how fast it was but, I won't try to get one because my wife would kill me.

I ground down the filled holes on the top plate as you can see in the picture. I just have to say that wow that high carbon steel welding wire is much harder to grind down than even the structural rod that I had been welding with before. So once all that was ground down flat I started to shape he horn, Rather than grind it all of I cut the angles off first then started to work on it with the grinder to smooth it and round it out. I did however run into a problem on the bottom side of the horn. Do to the angles that I cut off and the amount of steel that I ground down, to help round out the horn, I lost my connecting welds on the front bottom section of the horn. So the joints had to be ground out and I then rewelded. This made the horn nice and solid. You'll also notice that I cut off the rest of the center post that extended past the feet. I cut it off and then ground it down level with the feet to give the anvil more contact and support down to whatever I mounted it on.

Here you can see my finished anvil. After some filing and grinding. I may still have to round the horn a little more but, I figured I would try it the way it is first to see if I would need to our not. My hardie hole is about 1 1/4 inches square. I also used a file to give a little relief around the hardie hole. Man does it take forever to file that steel! I also left the edge on one side with an almost sharp corner and the other side is rounded more.

This is the back of the anvil. I put a plate on it for several reasons. Also notice the bottom of the plate is notched out. This was to leave and opening for the pritchel hole so anything punched in it would be able to fall out or be cleared. The reasons for the plate were both structural and to cover all of the filling. Ok now I know you're saying what filling? Well in the beginning my anvil rang like a bell. Oh it was bad. I had to figure out something to deaden that ring or there was just no way I could use it. So I took some bent up old T-post fence stakes that I had and cut them up into pieces and hammered and welded them into the open spaces inside the anvil that were acting like resonance chambers. This also added more weight to the anvil. My idea worked pretty well and the bell ring is gone. I didn't like the metal T-posts showing out of the back though so the plate was there for double duty. I did leave a few places open like the holes in the side and a couple on the bottom in the front and back just in case I need to deaden the sound any more. If I have to do anything else I figured on melting some lead and pouring it into the openings that I left but, only if needed as my anvil now is already about 225 pounds. This thing is rock solid!

My next project was a stand to support the anvil. I used angle iron to make the frame and distribute the weight. I also included a cutout to allow for the pritchel hole to be cleared without the anvil having to be removed from the frame. The anvil fits great and the frame worked great but, I ran into a small problem, the legs. Because I used hollow pipe that I had on hand I ran into the bell ringing again. It took me a few minutes but I cam up with an easy solution that worked great, fill them with sand. One thing we have a lot of here in the desert is sand. It worked like a champ and it makes the stand very stable.

So now I can setup m anvil and give it a try. After I work out any bugs and finalize everything I'll give the sides of the anvil and the stand a coat of black high temperature paint to give it a little rust protection and make it a little nicer.

As I've been writing this up I just had a thought about possibly adding a hanging rack for the hammers I've collected to the side of the frame. Then again maybe I should make the rack separate so I can hang my tongs on it too. Hmm so food for thought for future projects maybe.