Fabricated Anvil Stand

[Dan Dubeau]

Cleaning up some projects that have been hanging around lately. I bought this material for it back in January, and got tired of moving it around so I decided to just finish it instead today.

Pretty simple fabrication to start. I might add to it later, but for now, I just want to get my big anvil up on it, and off the undersized stump it's been on since I bought it.

Saw set to 12.5*

legs cut 14.74" across the parallels.

Just tig tacked on the corners for now. Will stick weld them on tomorrow morning maybe if I get time. Monday for sure.

Legs are 2x4". Two are 0.25" wall, and one is .187" (just what they had in offcuts). I will fill them with some copper slag for weight, and weld some 1/2" thick feet on which will bring me up to my 16" height I was looking for. Top is 3/4". Should be heavy.....

Big debate about steel stands amongst blacksmiths, but if it doesn't work or I don't like it, oh well, I'll repurpose it into something else and try to find a bigger stump. I plan on putting some silicone down before mounting the anvil as that supposedly takes a lot of ring out of it. My anvil rings pretty good as it is, I don't want to amplify it anymore.

 

[Bandit]

I have not tried it, but I have read that a piece of chain over and hanging down the sides some may help dampen the ringing, others say an old v-belt will do the trick.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I'm familiar with the chain method. I have one ready to employ but would rather not if I don't have to. One thing I did try that seemed to make a difference was an old speaker magnet under the horn. I was skeptical, but it really worked well. Sitting on the steel stand will no doubt change things, so I'll see what I can do when I get it on there. I'm hoping between the silicone bedding, and the magnet it will reduce the ring to tolerable levels.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Took the stand out back this morning and started welding.

Welded the feet to the plate first. First weld of the day. A little shaky, but It'll do. 1/8" 7018.

Legs all welded out.

I was using this as a bit of weld practice, and trying to do as much welding as I could in position. I don't practice that enough, and get pretty lazy rotating everything into a comfy position. Then when I have to weld something all contorted I'm terrible at it.

Then I flipped it over, and filled it up with copper slag. I've been shuffling this bucket around the shop for years after I bought it, and a handheld sandblast gun to try out on something (it didn't work very good).

Tacked the feet on upside down, then flipped it over and welded it out.

Last weld

Then I wrestled/waled the anvil down from the blacksmith shed to swap it over and build the hold downs. Still not %100 sure how I want to do that, but have a couple ideas. One thing is for sure, the old method I used on that "temporary stump" about a decade ago, lasted a lot better than I thought it would.

Not gonna lie, I'm already not a fan of this stand. I think it's going to be tippy, and wish I would have went with four feet. It'll live on a dirt floor, so four would have been fine. I'm already thinking about some stabilizer feet for it if I need to but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Having dumped the stump stand once already, it's a problem I don't want to face again......

 

[Dan Dubeau]

lol that last sentence cursed me......Came out after lunch and it was on it's side again having a siesta.

I don't like it.....I have enough tube left to make 2 new legs, and will cut that single one off and weld 2 more on. I'd rather be safe than sorry, especially with the kids working on and around it. It's 285lb according to the hundred weights stamped on it (225). Having lifted it twice now from the floor, I believe it.....

The good news is, it doesn't ring anyworse than it did on the stump, and rebound seems unaffected.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Here I keep cursing myself....I ALMOST had enough tube left to make 2 new legs.....

That changes my plan of how to cut the other one off....Delicate touch with a cutoff wheel

The cutoff leg still had to get filled with slag, so I hole sawed a hole near the foot. Managed to get it pretty full rotating it a few different times, and welded the plug back in.

Nobody but us will ever know....

Then I filled the other new leg, and tacked the foot on upside down before flipping over again to weld it fully. No I was not in the mood for overhead welding, even though I said I was practicing on this one.....I'm not that good at it, and needed to get this done

MUCH more stable. I'm way happier with this version.

I even took it inside to see how flat I got the feet, and there is zero rock on my welding bench. I was very surprised by that.

It'll live on a dirt floor so it doesn't really matter, but I wasn't expecting it to be that close.

Might go out after dinner and try to finish off some more of it, but might just leave it until tomorrow.

 

[140mower]

Might go out after dinner and try to finish off some more of it, but might just leave it until tomorrow.

Why do today, what can be done tomorrow has been a mantra of mine for some time.....

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Well, a busy week went by, but I did get some time the last 2 days to finish it.

Rolled some 1/8"x1" to constrain the base.

Then close in the bottom with some angle for a shelf

Now for something never before seen in any of my recent projects......

PAINT. Not very often does one of my projects get to the paint stage before getting put to use, but today was such a nice day I thought I'd give it a coat.

Ran out of paint and missed getting the tops of 2 feet, but it should be dry enough the next couple days to be put into service. I'm going to grab a few extra cans, and drag out all the other blacksmith projects and give them a coat too. Maybe....

Can't wait to put it to use.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

All done except the extra paint on the foot, and I'm going to squirt some silicone down before final mounting. Also need to figure out a way to move it to the blacksmith shed, because it doesn't "walk" as good as the stump did

 

[6.5 Fan]

A thing of beauty. Now to remedy the top of that anvil.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Thanks, I've actually thought about doing it now that I have it out, but am just not confident enough to give it a shot yet. I probably should though, because once it goes back in the shed, it probably won't happen for a long while. I have hardfacing rod, a tiger torch and fiber blanket. Watched a pile of videos on the internet about it and read everything I could find, I just don't want to screw it up lol.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

With rain threatening today I wanted to get it moved out to the blacksmith shop. With limited lifting devices, I had to get creative.....Don't try this at home....

Weight carried on hitch, chain to stabilize. Not far to go, and took it slow. Didn't move at all.

Still some muscle underneath all this insulation.....Strong like bull, smart like tractor....

And sitting in it's new home, ready for use.

I put a piece of rubber in between the stand and anvil. It rings WAAAAAAY less than it used to. Still a bit, and that magnet seems to do very little now. But it's actually going to be nice to use now instead of blowing my eardrums out with the sound bouncing off those steel walls.

Another item crossed off the project list. Only took 13 years......