I'd like to craft an anvil for myself, I don't want to buy an anvil, I just want to do it by myself.
How can I craft a medium-size anvil?
I'd like to craft an anvil for myself, I don't want to buy an anvil, I just want to do it by myself.
How can I craft a medium-size anvil?
We'll ignore the question of why you'd want to, given how cheap they are to buy... I've seen many anvils that started as sections of railroad track, with a bit of cutting with an oxy torch to rough them and nearly infinite time after that with a grinder to get them right.
Here is an article on how one man did it. The author, Ernie, used to contribute to RCM, haven't seen his name in a while.
CarlBoyd
If you are a really good welder and have some heavy duty equipment, you can piece one together with 3" or 4" thick mild steel plate, adding a tool steel plate on top. It'll be a lot of cut and grind, but it has been done. A friend of mine made one of about 180 pounds this way.
I had some small (10Kg) anvils cast some years ago at a specialty foundry, but I used an original as a pattern. (diddn't have to worry about the shrinkage). They were made of solid 4130 (I wanted 4140, but that's what they were pouring that day) and heat treated along with another batch of castings.
I know a blacksmith who is forging a couple right now (for a collector) totally by hand. I think at least one of them is about 50 pounds. He is making the parts and then forge welding them together.
I'm talking a LOT of time if you decide to fab it yourself. And then there is the heat treating. Not for the faint of heart.
What part of the world do you live in? I'd be glad to discuss this in more detail of list, if you want.
Also, you might try posting this on alt.crafts.blacksmithing
Pete Stanaitis
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Jasper Tiler wrote:
Having seen the link here before in response to similar requests numerous times it was easy to find using google and the search terms "making anvil ernie" , comes as first hit for me at first attempt.
That's really neat. Thanks for the link!
Chris
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