hinged fuller .. first anvil tooling!

I made one very similar to that to make a wavy end on iron tendrils for a window grill.

I assume you realize that that leaf spring won't harden if quenched in water. It *must* be quenched in beer. ;-)

Why all the chain?

Ted

Oh, I was just piling chain on there to see if my anvil's ring would ever damp down. It did, somewhat, but there's waaay too much chain on it now. I was too lazy to remove it before the picture. I haven't got a forge yet so right now the anvil is mostly academic, but you gotta start somewhere.

Grant

Ted Edwards wrote:

You can usually damp out the ring by several means: Put a magnet on the underside of the heel Drive a tapered tool in the pritchel hole (not very practical) Tie the anvil down firmly to wood or cork (firmly like with chain and turnbuckles)

Steve Smith

Grant Erw> Oh, I was just piling chain on there to see if my anvil's ring would

Probably the best way to damp an anvil is to get some sheet lead and seat the anvil on the lead. I bought a new 275 pound Peddinghaus anvil, and it was unbelievably loud. I bedded it on two layers of 1/8" sheet lead I got at the scrap yard, and it is totally dead sounding now. It was an amazing change. Here is an image of the anvil on its stand.

The surface you can see on either side of the bumping block is lead. I also made corner inserts of lead for all four corners, so that the anvil is only contacted by lead, no steel or anything else. It is a remarkable way to deaden an anvil that will not cause you to have things hanging off your anvil. Nahum Hersom, the grand old man of Repousse' fame, was the one who put me on to this solution. You are much like me from how your anvil stand looks, you like things to look nice as well as to do the job well, and you could easily set you anvil on the lead, scribe the footprint, and cut it out to fit precisely. I would also cut a small piece to insert between those fine curved holders you made and the anvil.

I should add that I also bedded to of my other anvils on lead, and one of them, a Kohlswa, which was not very loud to start with, didn't change a great deal. The Peddinghaus is solid tool steel, and rang like a bell before the bedding was put in. The Kohlswa was already very much muted before the lead. I just wanted to see what it would do, and I had extra lead so tried it.

I guess I might add one additional thing here. My Peddinghaus is much higher than normal. I can also place a foot under it when working. I got a crushed lower back in 1973 in a construction accident, and have lingering back problems today. The anvil height, and stand design, prevent me from having back problems after many days of continuous work at the anvil, and also allow me to see much better. My other anvils are lower, and I use them if I really want to whale on the metal, which is very rare because I have a power hammer for the roughing out of my work. If you have an aching back after your day at the forge, you may want to raise the anvil. There is no "right height" for an anvil....whatever works best for you is the right height. Certainly knuckle height is way too low for just about everyone.

Ron

I have a 232# Peter Wright that rang very loudly until I RTV'd it to the stump. If I bang on the heel it still makes _some_ noise, but, in the middle of the face?... pretty quiet.