Big chunk of steel/Anvil help

**1911kevin** · 06-08-2012, 02:17 PM

I'm almost ready to begin working on what is almost guaranteed to be the worlds worst forged knife. It's an exciting project I know, I'll share my "progress" so everyone can get in on the entertainment value. The last thing I need to collect is something to act as an anvil and I'd like to go with what Tim Lively recommends as a good start, a piece of 4x4x14(or close to that) mild steel sunk in a bucket of concrete.

http://timlivelyknives.com/basicsetup.htm

I've been googling in vain trying to figure out where I could get something like this(just the steel, I got the bucket of concrete covered LoL) and on the cheap. I haven't spent hours walking through scrapyards yet and I'm hoping I won't have to. Any ideas guys and gals?

I'm also looking at railroad track chunks on ebay as a back up plan but I'm hoping not to go that route. Thanks folks!

**S.Shepherd** · 06-08-2012, 02:28 PM

your block is going to need a hardened face on it, otherwise when you hit it with a hammer it will leave a ding- and the reverse will show up on whatever your forging.

**50calmike** · 06-08-2012, 05:41 PM

Contact our very own Aldo Bruno http://stores.njsteelbaron.com/StoreFront.bok

**Everything Mac** · 06-08-2012, 10:31 PM

You can use a number of different things with great success, http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/anvils/making/

This list is in order of preference - in my opinion.

Anvil: - These can be had on ebay. Picking them up elsewhere is damn near impossible but they do crop up in auctions, local magazines, scrap yards. Be prepared to spend at least £100 - there are guides to buying anvils online.

Rail Road Track - sometimes called RRT or rail track. You can get this pretty cheap at scrap merchants or sometimes with help of a rail way worker. RRT is in my opinion the best alternative to an actual anvil. You don't "need" to do anything to it - but if you have the tools you can do this:
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/...ght=rail+anvil

I had a go at the above and I use it as my portable anvil - a cracking wee bit of kit.
Personally at the very least I would stick your piece into a large fire and dump it in cold water to ensure it is hard. - I did this with mine and it serves me very well.

Fork lift tine - By all accounts these make excellent anvils. You usually need to weld them on to something sturdy.

Caterpillar track - these are good steel and work well. No idea where to get them.

Sledge hammer head - A large sledge hammer head will make a good anvil for smaller work such as blade smithing. These resemble the Japanese round anvils. Many makers have used and still use these. Set them into a large log (cut a recess) or into a bucket of concrete.
If you can weld - and are using the concrete method - I would suggest welding a long rod to the face of the head going into the bucket - this will add mass.

One thing to bear in mind with these anvils is that the small mass will heat up very quickly - to the point where it can't be touched. I would suggest periodically cooling it with water.

I/H beam section - I put these beneath sledge hammers simply because they are not hard. However they have much more mass - especially if set up right. Lannyman uses one of these to great effect.

Steel lump - failing the above - any old lump of steel will do. A 3" across bar of steel a foot long will work very well. - this option varies quite a bit though. If you should find a cubic foot of steel at the scrap merchants with flat faces - this will work a lot better than a bit of rail track. I've heard of guys finding huge lumps of very good steel for relatively cheap - so this option is very relative.

Ultimately an anvil works by having mass under the hammer - the more mass the better it works. - Anvilfire suggest mounting RRT upright and using a small face of the end of the track - or welding another bit of track horizontally onto it.

What you mount the anvil on will also help. - I uses a 50+kg tree stump for my portable anvil once - and it was working better than I could imagine. Simply because of the added mass. (this only works if the anvil is securely mounted I add)

Best of luck
Andy

**Matt Venier** · 06-09-2012, 09:33 AM

Try looking on ebay for tool steel drops or rounds or block. I found my big block of A2 anvil that way.

**TacoMan5000** · 06-10-2012, 01:15 PM

I vote railroad track as well. When I took the train to Newark, there were dozens of pieces of it discarded on the sides of the track. Just walk the lines until you find something suitable.

**1911kevin** · 07-12-2012, 05:26 PM

I got back from a long trip and made a move here finally, Railroad track from ebay it is, on it's way now. Now to construct the forge...

**shakie** · 07-13-2012, 10:27 PM

Good you got the steel on ebay because the railroad will prosecute for anything. you can find a piece of track that has been laying in the same place since the beginning of time. and if they see you pick it up and carry it off their property they will sig the lawyers on you like you were John Dillenger. I know this sounds wimpy but the RR owns a shit load of real estate and have hundreds of lawyers just waitin fo you.