Anvil Stand

[doubleboost]

I have been given some 100 year old 9 / 4 joists .
These are bolted together to form a solid block to mount the anvil on .
Is it a good idea to put some rubber sheet between the block and the anvil .
The anvil will be securely clamped to the block .
The idea is to take some of the "ring" out of it. The block will be used with the grain running vertical .

 

[Mick Annick]

I think it will depend on the anvil - I’ve got an old Peter Wright one that sits happily on an old oak log straight onto a concrete floor and is lovely to use. Next to it I have a French anvil on a log twice the diameter & mass sat on a rubber sheet and wrapped in rope and it’s unusable it’s so loud

 

[hotponyshoes]

What are you mainly using the anvil for?

If you want to beat something and make it a lot smaller/thinner/longer in a short period of time with the least amount of blows then no rubber. Although using wood is not ideal for that either.
Basically anything that absorbs ring also sucks up some of your hammering effort.

Rubber can also let the anvil bounce around under heavy blows which is anything from annoying to dangerous.

A lively ringing anvil gives a nicer bounce to the hammer which helps when you are doing lots of repetitive tapping (like making a leaf or something)

I don't like the ringing and I'd rather my elbows wore out before my ears so I have rubber in my daily one and it's on an aluminium stand as well but I'm not doing any heavy work on that one.

Lead sheet is a good alternative to rubber.
Neither will last long under heavy use.
Casting a load of molten lead into the top of a wet tree trunk then dropping the anvil in was always a good cure for a 'ringer' but I haven't seen anyone do that since I was an apprentice

Ball and chain works well for a hollow ringer if you can find one. 4pt milk carton full of water if you can't find a ball.

Or just make your clamps with enough adjustment and then you can try the rubber then just whip it out and knock the clamps on down if you don't like it.

 

[doubleboost]

What are you mainly using the anvil for?

If you want to beat something and make it a lot smaller/thinner/longer in a short period of time with the least amount of blows then no rubber. Although using wood is not ideal for that either.
Basically anything that absorbs ring also sucks up some of your hammering effort.

Rubber can also let the anvil bounce around under heavy blows which is anything from annoying to dangerous.

A lively ringing anvil gives a nicer bounce to the hammer which helps when you are doing lots of repetitive tapping (like making a leaf or something)

I don't like the ringing and I'd rather my elbows wore out before my ears so I have rubber in my daily one and it's on an aluminium stand as well but I'm not doing any heavy work on that one.

Lead sheet is a good alternative to rubber.
Neither will last long under heavy use.
Casting a load of molten lead into the top of a wet tree trunk then dropping the anvil in was always a good cure for a 'ringer' but I haven't seen anyone do that since I was an apprentice

Ball and chain works well for a hollow ringer if you can find one. 4pt milk carton full of water if you can't find a ball.

Or just make your clamps with enough adjustment and then you can try the rubber then just whip it out and knock the clamps on down if you don't like it.

 

[doubleboost]

It won't be getting any real hard use .
The wife has taken a bit of a fancy to bashing hot metal .
The stump it is on is rotten and far to low.
I may use heavy chain to hold it down .
The molten lead sounds just up my street .

 

[hotponyshoes]

It won't be getting any real hard use .
The wife has taken a bit of a fancy to bashing hot metal .
The stump it is on is rotten and far to low.
I may use heavy chain to hold it down .
The molten lead sounds just up my street .

Pour a layer of lead, wait until its just solid enough to take the weight then put the anvil on and pour more around.
Lining the hole with sheet first saves a bit of fire and doesn't spit like wet wood

 

[brightspark]

well the proper stands are cast iron and a few blacksmiths i know use a treet trunk and the anvill is stapled on

 

[hotponyshoes]

I've got one in the workshop that rings like nothing else. Not particularly loud but the frequency resonates with me. Its on its original matching stand so I've not wanted to mess with it. Headphones for that one and a bit of music normally helps with the artistic type stuff I'm normally doing (badly) on it.

 

[hotponyshoes]

well the proper stands are cast iron and a few blacksmiths i know use a treet trunk and the anvill is stapled on

I'm not sure 'the proper stand' is the correct term for a cast anvil stand.

They are certainly a good option but I always got the impression they were made by the same people who make cast anvils mainly because they had the ability to do the casting.
The modern anvils at the top end of the scale are drop forged from tool steel and none of those manafactures currently offer a cast stand as far as I know.

Ideal for an anvil that you want to beat on to get good efficiency but they never fit particularly well so you get movement. Never had much luck wedging one.
Biggest disadvantage is the most important thing to do with an anvil is set the correct working height and that's hard to do with a pre-made cast iron stand.

Logs/trunks are excellent both in behaviour and cost. They also have a big advantage because you can make dedicated tool holders and just hammer them in at the start of a job putting the exact tools you need within easy reach.
You can also take a chainsaw to a trunk when you need the clearance for that one-off job that nobody else can work out how to do.. and those are the ones that pay for the next anvil...

 

[roblane65]

I have been given some 100 year old 9 / 4 joists .
These are bolted together to form a solid block to mount the anvil on .
Is it a good idea to put some rubber sheet between the block and the anvil .
The anvil will be securely clamped to the block .
The idea is to take some of the "ring" out of it. The block will be used with the grain running vertical .
View attachment 466830

Putting it to good use already ,and thought a bench was on the cards .

 

[gaz1]

watch this

now the japanese have it in the ground

listen to these blows on there anvils

now you can install it in ground but above ground if you plan it right

 

[Bsmith]

I have been given some 100 year old 9 / 4 joists .
These are bolted together to form a solid block to mount the anvil on .
Is it a good idea to put some rubber sheet between the block and the anvil .
The anvil will be securely clamped to the block .
The idea is to take some of the "ring" out of it. The block will be used with the grain running vertical .

What you have will be absolutely fine John. The finished height should be, the top of the anvil level with the users clenched fist while standing beside it.

 

[Dev]

I think it will depend on the anvil - I’ve got an old Peter Wright one that sits happily on an old oak log straight onto a concrete floor and is lovely to use. Next to it I have a French anvil on a log twice the diameter & mass sat on a rubber sheet and wrapped in rope and it’s unusable it’s so loud

I’ve no direct knowledge but I thought the point of using a chain on an anvil was to deaden the ringing?

 

[Pond frog]

This may daft but a layer of plasticine under the anvil can be very effective it always worked for me and I hate ringing anvils.

 

[Mick Annick]

I’ve no direct knowledge but I thought the point of using a chain on an anvil was to deaden the ringing?

You’re right, but I don’t have any chain!

 

[hotponyshoes]

Doesn't need to be chain.
At farrier demos/competition (where we have to carry 12 anvils in by hand) I've used those lifting loop things. Soak in a bucket of water and wrap around the anvil.

 

[Brad93]

They make a foam/rubber that is bonded between two aluminium plates that does an excellent job.

We had an anvil stand before, pretty sure it was an american product. Wood with sand in the middle, really dampened the noise of the anvil.

 

[hotponyshoes]

If I had a big enough printer I'd print a tpu base and see what effect that had.
Would be nice if you could print them out like lego blocks so you could easily change the hight if required.

 

[bigegg]

If I had a big enough printer I'd print a tpu base and see what effect that had.
Would be nice if you could print them out like lego blocks so you could easily change the hight if required.

On the back of the "Lego" idea, could you print smaller mats that link together like a jigsaw?

 

[Screwdriver]

Here's mine: https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/ye-olde-forge.77451/post-1214341

All I did was to rout out the top and fit the anvil into it. Nice and snug.

No glue, no rubber, no clamps. It's held in place with gravity and while you can get it to come out, it's stuck in there solidly enough for me.