Jonathan,
The answer to your questions is YES! You hit the RR iron where it
will do you the most good, use the surface that best suits your
purpose, have it milled if you need that, etc.
It’s all according to your purposes and you get to decide what,
when, and where.
John
Indiana
My father told me a story from his youth. It seems his family knew a
man who worked in the trolley maintenance shop in Bellingham, WA in
the 30s. This man took a section of trolley rail, bent it, ground it,
polished and chrome plated it, then mounted it as the front bumper on
his Hudson. Now that’s a substantial bumper!
Mike DeBurgh, GJG
Alliance, OH
To address where to hit the metal John- you need to know your
specific purpose… for many (most) non-ferrous, noble, precious
metals- you just need a shallow surface hardness as you are working
with metals that have a low maleability when compared to the
ferrous.
A small bench block is often enough as you are concerned with
reflection, or precussive rebound. the “Anvil” is only there to
distribute the force of the blow evenly to the underside of the
piece you are hitting. When using softer precious metals- this is
all you need. Remember- most anvils for forming soft metals can even
be hardwoods, stumps, and these days the “Delrin” type stakes and
mallets. (Bernard Cuzner, Herbert Maryon and other older authors of
the metalworking trades denote this in texts- even more aincent
tomes refer to a sinking stump or sandbags- these deflect portions
of the blow while not marring the surfaces like a true anvil would)
If you are working with substantial masses of precious metals or
billets of harder metal alloys (Ti alloys (grades 4+) or stainless,
some nickel-alloys and the need for larger masses of the metal to be
moved- follow a simple rule: The smaller the hammer- the smaller the
anvil. You will need a large weighty and resilient surface if you
are using a striker and yourself to flatten a 2 pound ingot of
anything to sheet… if you are using a 2 lb hammer to make
flatware- a simple goldsmiths stake will suffice.
If you use the methodology of a blacksmith- you want as close to
100% of your blow reflected into the piece- so your anvil must be of
sufficient mass and DEPTH to rebound the blow. I say depth because
alot of folks use the RR anvils- and they work (no doubt there- I
made 2 for travelling)… but they absorb and distribute the force
of the blow along the webbing below the head of the rail.
So its not the plate- its what is UNDER it to provide the mass and
rebound… solid cast iron has porosity- absorbs some of the strike-
but is still harder than just a webbing like an I-beam or RR rail.
There are folks that have welded a series of elevator counter weight
plates together to form good ferrous and bladesmithing anvils. Some
folks think bigger anvils are better- but history shows the master
swordsmiths of Persia and Japanese design use small surface area
with solid depth/mass to work on blades and items a small piece at a
time. Look at the “Sea-robin” anvil (google it) and you will get
this concept right away.
Just my .02…I thought bigger was better- till I met a fellow
working on a 3" diameter piece of stainless drive-shaft in a concrete
bucket on a boat… open-sea necessity makes for economy of use and
motion- and storage.
Be safe and have a great day- and never stop creating!
KD
I have one and can not stand to use it. When hit, the sound is a very
high note that hurts my ears. I use a couple of commercial Tee Stakes
and a cheap HBFreight type small anvil for flattening and none
sterling work. It’s fine for fold forming and I don’t care if marks
get on it. I do with the stakes.
marilyn
I have one and can not stand to use it. When hit, the sound is a very high note that hurts my ears.
Get a couple of heavy duty magnets, like the sort used to pick up
nails, I think Harbor Freight sells some for a few bucks. They don’t
have to be fancy rare earth magnets or anything like that, just
something with a fairly substantial mass and pull. Anyway, stick a
couple of those on your anvil and it’ll cut the ring by a good bit.
Works something like putting your hand on a bell to stop the tone,
interrupting the vibrations and whatnot.
Willis
Marilyn,
I have one and can not stand to use it. When hit, the sound is a very high note that hurts my ears.
Place a large magnet on the the side of your anvil. It deadens the
ringing. REALLY.
Kay Taylor
Hi Marilyn,
I have one and can not stand to use it. When hit, the sound is a very high note that hurts my ears. I use a couple of commercial Tee Stakes and a cheap HBFreight type small anvil for flattening and none sterling work. It's fine for fold forming and I don't care if marks get on it. I do with the stakes.
If you have a pritchel or hardy hole in your anvil, put a solid
piece of metal shaped like a candy cane in there approximately the
same size in diameter as the hole and let it hang through. Try
mounting it on a tree stump, or stand made of wood; sandwich it on
thick leather on whatever you have it on now. If you are using it on
a steel or metal stand, take it off and at least put it on a large
block of wood on that stand. I don’t know how heavy of an anvil you
have, but even a small one will benefit from mounting on wood.
Have fun!
Valerie
When hit, the sound is a very high note that hurts my ears.
Put a large wad of Plasticene clay under the horn. It will deaden
the sound. I used this in a classroom that has concrete floors and
echos very badly – and we were using 6 anvils at once. Of course
the students wore hearing protection, but it certainly helped to not
have that high pitched ringing sound.
Deb
Place a large magnet on the the side of your anvil. It deadens the ringing. REALLY.
A piece of chain wrapped around the anvil will work also, and wont
get covered in fire scale.
Regards Charles A.
That's really good to know. How would so mebody go about getting a piece of rail road track?
I got mine by asking on the local Freecycle list. Someone had moved
in to a new house and found a 1 foot section of very rusty RR track in
the garage. She was glad to be rid of it. Cost me nothing.
I invested a couple of hours of my life using an angle grinder to
clean up and polish the surface, and I now have a perfectly good
anvil.
Kathy Johnson
Feathered Gems Jewelry
while the ring is troublesome to sensitive ears, it means that you
have a quality tool. cast anvils have no ring but also dent easily
and are, in my opinion, inferior to a drop forged anvil. in addition
to the magnets, try keeping a big roll of duct tape on the horn if
you’re not using that part. essentially, anything to help reduce the
resonance.
happy forging!
kristi
Wow! What a difference 2 magnets make. I feel like I can finally
hammer in my fourth floor home studio (condo building) and not
disturb my neighbors. Thanks so much for the great tip!
Tracy Arrington