Anvil Stand

[jamesemery728]

I picked up a Hay Budden anvil about a month ago on Craigslist. After looking at the anvil stands on I Forge Iron I decided to copy some of their ideas and build a proper stand for this ancient beauty. The anvil only weighs 104# so the "anvil people" call this a small one. I suppose they are right but anything that I can't pick up is a big one to me. I don't do any forging but have just always wanted a decent anvil and finally found one that I did not have to take out a second mortgage on the house to buy. It has the serial number 182314 on the front foot so it was made in 1911 according to the anvil experts. Anyway here is the stand that I came up with.

 

[Amitygravel]

Very slick. Kind of surprised at the three leg design but It does make sense for standing at the anvil while using it. Are you going to anchor the stand to the floor?

 

[ZRX61]

104lb is an odd number, or does it have 104 cast/stamped into it? If thats the case it's actually 116lb

 

[jamesemery728]

Very slick. Kind of surprised at the three leg design but I'd does make sense for standing at the anvil while using it. Are you going to anchor the stand to the floor?

The three leg design is mainly used when you have an uneven floor so you don't have to worry so much about it wobbling and also for standing at the anvil. Three legs are kind of self leveling.

104lb is an odd number, or does it have 104 cast/stamped into it? If thats the case it's actually 116lb

I have a Dr. office stand up type scale that I weighed it on. 104# is just what it came out weighing. There is a single number 5 stamped under the horn on the curved portion of the body. I am not sure what that #5 represents.

 

[Catalyze]

Very well thought out and nicely executed!
Craig

 

[autoclassicnut]

do they ever put wheels under the stands so you can push them around?

 

[Romey]

The reason for as solid to ground as can be is to to allow the energy of a hammer strike to travel down through the waist into the ground and back up. The farther this energy can travel the more rebound it will have helping the hammer back off the workpiece on the strike.
Works this way for trip hammers,power hammers,air hammers and the like as well.
An example would be burying ties in the ground as an anvils stand. A lighter anvil can be rebound better then a heavier one if the light anvil has a solid base into the ground.

 

[hdhogman]

I have an anvil given to me by my uncle. I was going to do the old way that I have seen and mount it to a block of hardwood. Thanks for posting these pictures as I like this way better and easier. Do you think that it is better to mount directly to the frame or use some type of wood to insulate it. I won't use it much, just get tired of picking it off floor to move or use once in a while. Also at what height should the anvil be for propper use ?

 

[wiz56]

I like the design but I think I would have to put rubber feet under it to keep it from busting the concrete. I have a rather large anvil that someone had broken in half and it was bolted back together somewhere along the line. It was outside mounted, make that, sitting on a stump of wood for at least 35 or 40 years that I knew of. The hammers bounced just fine off of it mounted to that old stump.

 

[Amitygravel]

I think as a general rule for height , your knuckles will rest on the face of the anvil without having to lean over or bend your arm.

 

[Nightshift]

I picked up a Hay Budden anvil about a month ago on Craigslist. After looking at the anvil stands on I Forge Iron I decided to copy some of their ideas and build a proper stand for this ancient beauty. The anvil only weighs 104# so the "anvil people" call this a small one. I suppose they are right but anything that I can't pick up is a big one to me. I don't do any forging but have just always wanted a decent anvil and finally found one that I did not have to take out a second mortgage on the house to buy. It has the serial number 182314 on the front foot so it was made in 1911 according to the anvil experts. Anyway here is the stand that I came up with.

Nice stand James. Just a couple thoughts as I look at it ... you might consider welding on some metal hoops to hold your hammers, etc. Also adding 2 collapsible wheels would make it alot easier to move around the shop when needed.

 

[ZRX61]

I have an anvil given to me by my uncle. I was going to do the old way that I have seen and mount it to a block of hardwood.

In the UK they mount em on Elm

 

[Lippyp]

Elms pretty hard to get here now though thanks to Dutch Elm Disease pretty much wiping them out in the 70's and 80's. Another type of stand has hefty sheet metal sides tapering to the top (imagine a square pyramid with the top cut off to leave an opening big enough for the base of the anvil , both bottom and top are left open, the whole thing is then filled with dry sand to the correct height and a floating plate droppen in on top of the sand and then the anvil ontop of the plate. The great thing about this is you get the forces transmitted via the sand with the damping effect of a stump but if you need to move it you just empty the sand out, plus its height adjustable

Like this one on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/blacksmiths-A...519?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2310842eaf

Later stands were often cast iron like these ex British Army ones

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Blacksmiths-A...lectable_ToolsHasdware_RL&hash=item19c4b71229

 

[bobbycoke]

"three legs are self leveling" well not true but it does the same thing any three points can form a plane ie:flat surface, that is why all milking stools are three leged.. on rough barn floor they will not rock even though they may not be level!! I am the holder of much useless information, I know everything just can't remember it all!