How Much Should Your Anvil Weight? - Bladesmith's Forum

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• How much should your Anvil weight?

How much should your Anvil weight?

By Tayous July 19, 2008 in Beginners Place

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Tayous

Posted July 19, 2008

Tayous

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Posted July 19, 2008

I'd just like to know how much should your anvil weight to do forging with? What is the min weight of the anvil that you could get away with?

Geoff Keyes

Posted July 19, 2008

Geoff Keyes

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Posted July 19, 2008

Somewhere I have a magazine article with a story about a Vietnamese bladesmith. He is using an "anvil" that is a piece of truck axle about 4 inches ling and about 2 inches in diameter, driven into a log. It probably weighs 3 or 4 pounds? He was turning out great stuff and his whole tool kit could be carried by one person.

 

My main anvil is 300ish pounds, and works pretty well for me.

 

It's not the tool, it's nut behind it.

 

Geoff

"The worst day smithing is better than the best day working for someone else."

 

I said that.

 

If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.

- - -G. K. Chesterton

 

So, just for the record: the fact that it does work still should not be taken as definitive proof that you are not crazy.

 

Grant Sarver

Tayous

Posted July 20, 2008

Tayous

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Posted July 20, 2008

Somewhere I have a magazine article with a story about a Vietnamese bladesmith. He is using an "anvil" that is a piece of truck axle about 4 inches ling and about 2 inches in diameter, driven into a log. It probably weighs 3 or 4 pounds? He was turning out great stuff and his whole tool kit could be carried by one person.

 

My main anvil is 300ish pounds, and works pretty well for me.

 

It's not the tool, it's nut behind it.

 

Geoff

 

 

Thanks for that info! I have a local guy around me not a blacksmith just a welder he was telling me I need 100 lbs + to do forging! I just wanted to hear what you guys had to say on this topic cause there are a lot of 20 lbs anvils out there that a person can buy pretty cheap and not brake the bank. I'm going to one day get a nice big anvil but I think the Boss has to see me make some money selling the knives first before I can spend that much money on just a anvil.

son_of_bluegrass

Posted July 20, 2008

son_of_bluegrass

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Posted July 20, 2008

From what I've seen the important things about an anvil are

1 it don't catch fire.

2 it can withstand hammer blows

3 it is stable enough not to bounce all over

 

bigger is generally better but work can be done on an 8 pound sledge hammer head set 1/2 in a bucket of concrete. Before iron became cheap enough large rocks with a reasonably flat face were used. If depends largely on what you're willing to work with and which risks you are willing to take (i.e. rocks tend to chip).

 

ron

Having watched government for some time, it has become obvious that our government is no longer for the people. If the current trend continues, it won't be long untill armed rebellion is required.

B. Norris

Posted July 20, 2008

B. Norris

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Posted July 20, 2008

A very small mass of metal can serve as a very effective anvil if it is SECURELY fastened to something more massive. For example, the eight pound sledgehammer head set in the bucket o' concrete, or the stump anvil mounted in a large section of log. You could take a fencepost, bury it in a posthole, mount a stump anvil on top and do a lot of work. Another option is to get the biggest, heaviest anvil you can and set it on a stand of some sort. For general blacksmithing, the rule of thumb is that you want a mass twenty times greater than the heaviest hammer you will be using. The main thought behind this rule is to avoid damage to the anvil. Using this rule yields the following values: 50# anvil = 2.5# max weight of hammer, 100# = 5# hammer, 200# = 10#, 500# = 25# (or 2 strikers each wielding a 12# sledge.) Apply this to an 8# sledghammer set in 100# of concrete and it becomes pretty evident what it should be able to handle. A 2-5# stump anvil, mounted on a 20# fencepost, buried 3-4 feet deep is a bit harder to figure. The limiting factor tends to be how large a hammer you could hit the anvil with and not crack it or dent it too badly. The mass of everything here is offset by the size of the actual striking surface. My guess is it would be equivalent to a 100# anvil on a stand.

 

~Bruce~

“All work is empty save when there is love, for work is love made visible.” Kahlil Gibran

"It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." - Alfred Adler

Doug Lester

Posted July 20, 2008

Doug Lester

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Posted July 20, 2008

It doesn't even have to be a steel anvil. Wayne Goddard said that he got some good service out of some scrap granite slabs that he got from a grave stone carver. They might even have a few sample of headstones that they might be able to part with. Just remember, raiding a local marble orchard is a major no-no.

 

Doug Lester

HELP...I'm a twenty year old trapped in the body of an old man!!!

Archie Zietman

Posted July 22, 2008

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Posted July 22, 2008

I tried using a slab of granite for a while, but it chipped. My first anvil was an 8# sledge in bucket o' concrete, it works great. More mass means you have more pushing back at the metal when you hit it. If you hit your thumb with a hammer in the air, it will move away, whereas if you put it against a wall and hit it, more of the energy is going into actually crushing your thumb. It's the same with anvils, but a small one can still do absolutely tons.

"I can kill you with my brain..."

__River Tam

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