Thread: Railway iron anvil

I don't know what a piece of railway iron would cost there, but on some of the blacksmithing forums I visit there are folks who have set various bits and pieces of steel in concrete to use as anvils (even sledge hammer heads).
What is your current anvil attached to and how is it attached? It sounds like you could secure it better or secure it to something bigger. Of course you could use a smaller hammer .

ron

Originally Posted by xcam

Whats a reasonable price for 1.5 metres of railway iron to make anvils out of? Has anyone set an anvil into a tub of concrete to boost its weight? I have a small anvil and it jumps up and down when I use a 4lb hammer. I'm not interested in spending big dollars on a 200lb anvil.

It's free if you go and help yourself (and you don't count legal fees). I don't know the cost is the real answer, but I was given several pieces when down in Bairnsdale some years ago.

DO NOT use a sledgehammer head for an anvil (and similarly, don't ever hit any hammer with another one). Hammer heads are hardened and skelps can fly off them when struck.

A friend was trying to dislodge a balljoint on his van's steering by holding a club hammer against one side of the steering arm and belting the opposite side with a ball pein hammer (to break the taper's bond). On one occasion he missed the steering arm entirely and smacked the club hammer. The skelp that flew off the corner of the ball pein hammer lodged in one of his eyes and he lost the use of it as a result.

Originally Posted by xcam

Whats a reasonable price for 1.5 metres of railway iron to make anvils out of? Has anyone set an anvil into a tub of concrete to boost its weight? I have a small anvil and it jumps up and down when I use a 4lb hammer. I'm not interested in spending big dollars on a 200lb anvil.

G'day & welcome.
I have a railway line anvil which sits on a large yellow box billet. The bit of wood took me longer to move than making the anvil.
I have not used concrete to weight anything .
The railway line anvil is not ideal......but then, neither am I.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

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Hammer heads are hardened and skelps can fly off them when struck.
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Yes and so are anvil faces and here in the US railway rails are made from work hardening steel so it gets hardened as it gets used. If it is a concern the hammer head can be drawn to a softer temper. Of course you don't hit the anvil or hammer face if you chose to go that route, you hit hot steel.
This is not to say I actually advocate the use of hammer heads but it can be done. I have seen hammer faces chip when driving hardened concrete nails and hammers that were in serious need of dressing that have chipped during use. I've been hit in the cheek and it drew blood. I've seen old anvils with chipped edges. This is a risk of swinging a hammer the only way to be sure of avoiding it is to not use a hammer, if you're otherwise concerned, wear a face shield or goggles.
I say know what the risks are and if you don't accept them, then don't do that activity.

ron

Thanks for the ideas, guys, I'm going to offer $25 for the 1.5m piece of railway iron, about twice its scrap value. I found a Medalist anvil 30 kgs for $115 delivered to Bendigo from Justools, a melbourne seller - I know its going to be Chinese but its such a good price!!! I saw a piece of "I" beam at a garage yesterday 70 cms high, top 22cms by 50 cms and at the limit of what I could lift (60+kgs) but he wouldnt sell! Cheers, xcam.

Made one a few years ago ,very handy little bugger it is too.

The really cheap Chinese anvils make good boat moorings but are so soft - probably due to lead & other rubbish in the iron - that they dent very quickly - or break in two. I have one that is stopping a tree from blowing away - waste of money. I have seen them in 55 & 110 pound sizes, you can identify them as the horn is a vaguely melted square cross section & quite blunt - there are better quality ones that have a proper offset conical horn that don't dent when you hit hot iron on them, but I don't know if they break.