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Even without practical experience, you can make an anvil with your own hands. To do this, just follow our step-by-step instructions.
Anyone can make an anvil from a rail." home handyman» using available tools. Let’s say right away that it is impossible to compare a self-made anvil with a full-fledged analogue. However, it is perfect for tapping small workpieces, bending a rod at a certain angle or flattening it, as well as similar small household work.
List of required tools and materials
A do-it-yourself anvil is made from the following materials and tools:
- A piece of rail. The exact length depends on your preference. However, it is not recommended to take a piece less than 30 centimeters long;
- A ruler and a marker capable of marking metal (you can also use a stroke);
- Hammer, level and file for metal;
- Lamp or lantern;
- Grinder and grinder.
How to make an anvil with your own hands using all this? According to the following instructions.
Important! Decommissioned crane rail Anyone can do. But if possible, use KR-140. It is made from more durable metal in accordance with GOST 4121 and has a number of design advantages. For example, a wider neck, which will provide the anvil with greater stability during further forging work. But keep in mind that the KR-140 does not have holes; you will have to make them yourself.
Step-by-step instructions for making an anvil from a rail
Prepare the work site. Place a piece of rail on the table, mark it with a marker and ruler as follows:
- Measure 40% of the total length of the rails, draw a line;
- Measure half the width of the rail, make a mark;
- Connect the lines and the mark so that you form a triangle or the so-called “anvil horn” on the rail site.
If you still have questions about the correct marking of the workpiece, look at the photos and videos on our website.
Secure the future forging anvil in a metal vice. Turn on the grinder and cut the horn according to the marking lines.
Important! When working with power tools, be extremely careful. The metal vice must be securely fastened to the table surface. The work table should not be loose. To protect your own health, wear a welding mask, protective apron and gloves.
After making deep cuts with a grinder, take a hammer. It will help you speed up the process: use it to beat off the left and right edges of the metal triangle. Be prepared for the edges to be uneven - there is nothing wrong with that, we will process them later.
Take the rail out of the vice, turn it on its side so that the broken triangle is “looking” at you. Use a marker to mark lines leading from the edge of the rail to the inner hole (closest to you). Beat them off with a hammer.
Stepping back an inch from each raw “back” end, draw lines with a marker. Your task is to mark the “tail” of the anvil. Use a grinder to make cuts on the metal, then beat the metal into pieces with a hammer. The "tail" is the functional part of the tool. But since we are creating a home, and not a professional, anvil, whether to carry it out or not is only your desire.
Processing the metal surface of the anvil
Use a sanding wheel to remove any traces of rust from the metal pad. After processing, the metal surface of the future metal anvil should be smooth and even.
After using a power tool, use a hand metal file. The surface should be treated with compounds that protect the metal from rust. You can purchase them at any specialized store.
Perform final grinding of the workpiece surface. Sand the metal with a fine grit wheel again. Perform the sanding process as many times as necessary to obtain a perfectly smooth surface. horizontal surface anvils.
Important! To ensure the evenness of the workpiece surface, use a level. Remember that if the surface of the anvil is uneven, the parts processed on it in the future will also have defects.
In order to make sure, using a level, that the surface is really perfectly smooth and even, look at it from the side “into the light” using a lamp or a regular flashlight. If there are no glimpses of light and there are no gaps between the level and the surface of the workpiece, the work has been successfully completed.
An anvil is a supporting forging tool, which is used to perform cold and hot processing of metals associated with plastic deformation.
You don't have to buy a small anvil; you can make one yourself, basically from an old piece of railroad rail.
Will need
According to GOST, the face of the anvil must be made of steel grade 45L or 35L, and it must be hardened so that the hardness is within HRC 45-50. Therefore, to manufacture this anvil element, you will need a strip of alloy steel with a thickness of at least 20 mm.We will also need some tools and materials for work:
- grinder with different discs;
- grinder;
- blacksmith's forge;
- welding machine;
- drilling machine;
- Baking oven;
- blacksmith pliers and pliers;
- hammer or sledgehammer;
- marker and square;
- hardening oil and a tin container.
Anvil making process
We mark the anvil with the horn and tail directly on a suitable length and cross section a piece of old rail.
With the help of a grinder and cutting disc we cut out the outer contours of our tool, beat off the excess parts with a heavy hammer.
We get, as a first approximation, the horn, tail and base of the future anvil.
We continue to cut out the transitional part between the top and base of our instrument, while simultaneously more accurately shaping the horn and tail.
We remove rust from all accessible surfaces of the workpiece using a grinding wheel.
We give the front transition part a semicircular shape on the grinder to absorb large and constant dynamic impacts.
We sharpen the horn into a round cone, first with a grinder, and then with a grinder. We also grind the base of the anvil on it.
We mark a strip of metal with a thickness of at least 20 mm and preferably from alloy steel 45L or 35L to the size of the top of the anvil from a piece of rail.
We cut out the future face of the anvil from the marked blank using a jigsaw and a grinder. Drill from one edge of the plate round hole.
We grind all sides of the cut strip on a grinder and measure its dimensions with the seat.
Fill in tin can required quantity sunflower oil.
We heat the unnecessary piece, cut from the plate, red-hot in a forge and use it to heat the oil in the container. Only after this, using blacksmith pliers, we place it in forge and heat the plate prepared for the anvil face until red hot.
As soon as it acquires a raspberry color, quickly and completely place it in a container with oil and keep it there until the oil stops boiling.
We compare the hardness of an unhardened and hardened plate using filing. An unhardened plate can be easily processed, but a file glides on a hardened one without removing a single gram of metal.
Tempering: place the plate in the oven and keep it there at a temperature of 200 degrees Celsius for 1 hour.
We again process the plate from all sides on the grinder and weld it to the top of the rail blank, holding it on both sides with clamps, first pointwise, and then with a continuous seam.
We beat off the slag from the seams with a hammer, clean it with a grinder, weld all the holes and cavities on the face, and finally finish all the surfaces on the grinder.
The quality must be so high that the weld between the face and the base of the anvil is completely invisible.
We carefully select the angle between the end of the face and the horn, first with a cutting wheel and then with a grinding wheel: it should be exactly 90 degrees. Next, we subject all parts of the anvil to the same treatment.
We remove the grinding wheel from the spindle of the grinder and instead install a polishing wheel (felt or felt) and continue circular processing of the anvil until it reaches a mirror finish, excluding the transition area and the base.
We place the anvil on the face, mark on the sole of the base the centers of the four holes in the corners, cores and make them on drilling machine for attaching the anvil to a chair, for which it is better to choose a wooden block of suitable cross-section and height from hard rocks wood: oak, ash, maple, birch, etc.
Homemade testing
We check the quality of our homemade anvil. We place it on a block with the base down and begin to tap the face over its entire surface with a hammer. A loud blow should be heard everywhere, and the hammer should bounce almost the same amount as the swing and then continue rebounding until it fades completely.
Here's how I made a small DIY tabletop anvil for my workshop. Below are drawings and instructions on how to make an anvil.
The homemade anvil was made from a piece of railroad tracks. Without the log base, the anvil weighs about 4.5 kg. I plan to use it for tapping hot and cold parts, installing gaskets, stamping leather, and any other kind of light beating or flattening I may want to do.
Step 1: Find a piece of rail
To make an anvil like mine, you will need a small piece of rail. I got my piece, which is about 23cm long, from a blacksmith who teaches lessons in the area where I live.
Also, you can go to eBay at any time - they usually have ready-made anvils, so you can just buy one of them. However, I prefer to spend a little more time, money and effort making my own things as I really enjoy the process of creating.
So, the first step is to ask, search online as well as your local scrap metal dealer and legally purchase some scrap iron.
Step 2: Required Tools
I used angular grinder for cutting and shaping the rail. I have a Makita tool set that was fairly inexpensive when I bought it, but still works great today.
To remove large pieces of material I used a 1mm diameter cutting wheel. I used up two of them during the making process.
For light material removal and general shaping I used a 40 grit disc. I also spent two disks.
To smooth the top of the rail anvil, I used a 40 grit corner/edge sanding and polishing pad, which is not actually tapered (see 2nd photo above). Its flatness is necessary to achieve an acceptably flat surface (this is detailed in step 4).
Other tools and materials used in the project:
- Electric drill with paint and rust removal brush and wire wheel
- Orbital sander with sanding discs 100 - 220 grit
- Wet/dry hand sandpaper 320, 400, 800, 1000 grit
Just for fun, I sanded and polished my little anvil to a mirror finish. This was definitely not necessary as it immediately began to show marks upon use. But it was a fun experience and I learned a lot by going through the finishing process.
Step 3: Leveling the Top, Part 1: Removing the Dips
There was some pretty deep rust on the top surface of my rail.
Rails like these tend to be slightly convex across the entire width, and I wanted my little anvil to be flat. However, for this first step we are only concerned with removing rust and any other defects.
I started with a 40 grit disc and carefully removed small amounts of material until all the pitting was gone.
The trick with this and the next step is to stop early and not end up removing more material than necessary.
Always wear appropriate protective equipment: eye protection, ear protection, lung protection.
Step 4: Leveling the Top, Part 2: Hand Finishing
For this step I switched to a flat sanding disc.
To smooth the top of the rail and remove the fine ripples left from the previous step (as well as any remaining bumps), you need to make smooth, full passes with light and constant pressure so that the sanding disc is perfectly level against the top of the rail.
If you move evenly, you will end up with a very flat and smooth surface. I advise you to try to find a work rhythm that suits you. Each pass must be complete from one end of the rail to the other. However, remember that you are not chamfering the ends of the rails and you don't want any unwanted slopes in the surface.
There is no need to press hard as the weight of the tool is all you need.
To determine the correct speed for each pass, check the resulting swirl marks on the metal. Ideally, you should see a fairly narrow, mechanical-looking swirl pattern.
Step 5: Making the Horn
I wanted my tabletop anvil to have a horn that would allow it to form basic curves.
I outlined the shape I wanted and used a 1mm cutting wheel on the sander to cut the wedge shape as shown in the picture. Each side took about 20 minutes.
Step 6: Shape the Anvil
The size of this notch is determined by the radius of action of the sander. I made two cuts on each side of the rail and even then the full cut could not be completed.
However, the still connected area was small enough that I could knock the piece off with a quick hammer blow (see last photo).
Step 7: Refining the horn, etc.
To refine the shape of the horn and the cutout underneath, I switched back to the 40 grit disc.
I carefully drew lines on the antler with a marker to mark the areas that needed to be removed. They were ground down in sections, similar to how it was done in step 4.
I worked with the shape of the horn until I was happy with it.
Step 8: Remove Rust
Using a wire wheel on a drill I removed all the rust. There are several ways to do this, but I decided to do it quickly using a wire wheel.
Step 9: Sanding
To begin the process of finishing the metal to a shine, I took to the abrasive disc. I used it to remove all the marks left by the sanding discs.
I then switched to the orbital sander, sanding down all the shiny surfaces, raising the grit from 100 to 220.
Same as sanding wood projects, the goal is to remove all traces of previous graining.
When all you see are new marks from the current grit, it's time to move on to the next one.
For the hard to reach cutout under the horn, I used my variable speed Dremel with small sanding discs. He did a great job, although it was a little tiring. I used about 10 discs of each grit.
A note about the orbital sander discs: I started this step using fairly typical aluminum oxide sandpaper discs (which I've been fine with on all my wood projects), but they wore out almost immediately on the metal. Then I switched to Diablo brand wheels, which are made from a “ceramic compound” and the difference was amazing. The discs lasted much longer and were significantly more efficient.
Step 10: Wet Sanding
After all the shiny surfaces were dry sanded to 320, I switched to wet hand sanding using 400, 800, and then 1000 grit.
At this point, the workpiece began to look quite beautiful!
Step 11: Polishing and Waxing
I didn't have any fancy polishing compounds, so I just used what I had. My polish seemed to be working fine as it turned black when I rubbed it in.
After a series of rubbing and polishing I did the same with the paste wax.
Step 12: Notching the Bolts
To be able to secure the anvil, I machined a notch on each side of the bottom plate.
I made the notches using an angle grinder with a 3mm grinding disc. At the same time, for each recess I ground three discs to achieve a recess about 0.6 cm long.
When it comes to a forge, the imagination immediately draws a picture: two broad-shouldered good fellows with a handbrake and a sledgehammer, in the background there is a hot forge, and in the foreground, in the center of the workshop, there is an anvil. She is a symbol of blacksmithing.
Purpose of the anvil
All manual and forging operations are performed on the anvil:
- forging;
- hardening;
- giving the workpiece the required shape, etc.
There is no way to do without an anvil. But store prices are steep and you have to think: how to make an anvil with your own hands. There are many recommendations on the Internet, we will offer ours too.
The design of a homemade anvil
It should be taken into account that the anvil is subjected to large shock loads and impacts. high temperature. Therefore, it must have increased stability and mechanical strength. Its weight can reach several tens of kilograms. The professional anvil is made of 35L alloy steel.
To make a homemade anvil, scraps of crane rails are often used.
On the “face” (this is the flat surface of the anvil on which the main operations of flat forging are performed), an alloy steel plate is installed by welding - a platband.
For ease of use, the anvil should have the following structural elements:
You may not need all these design elements. So, choose the ones you need, and, using the plumbing tools available to you, create an anvil.
Watch the video of a primitive homemade anvil made from a piece of rail.
Base for a homemade anvil
A massive base is used to compensate for the impact energy. One of the following designs is used:
Anvil Location
From an ergonomic point of view, it is most convenient to place the anvil in the central part of the forge and not far from the forge. This will allow the workpieces to be delivered from the forge to the anvil along the shortest possible path. There should be containers with coolants nearby.
Hello everyone, if you have decided to take up blacksmithing and you don’t have an anvil, it doesn’t matter! In this instruction we will look at how to make a simple anvil with your own hands! As the starting material, the author used various components from scrap metal, these are corners, channels, and so on.
The most important requirement for an anvil is a strong working surface; the steel must be strong, must withstand large shock loads and, ideally, should not spring at all. The anvil should also be heavy; due to its large mass, it will not jump when the hammer hits. In general, you can add weight to the anvil by filling the inside of it with concrete or something similar. In general, don’t be shy and show your imagination. Let's take a closer look at how an anvil is made!
Materials and tools used
List of materials:
- channels, angles and other pieces of iron.
List of tools:
- Bulgarian;
- welding machine;
- hammer;
- corner;
- ruler;
- marker.
Let's start making the anvil:
Step one. Cutting the blanks
The author used thick steel plates as the main material. And this is a very correct decision, the metal is so strong and also has a large mass, which is important for an anvil. And these parts can be welded together using square pipes, channels, corners, and so on, whatever you can find. cut the necessary parts to assemble the anvil suitable sizes and shapes.
Step two. Welding
Once all the parts are prepared, you can weld your anvil. All welds must be of high quality. strong. However, when welding thick metal you should not have any problems with this. That's all, after this you can use the anvil!
Step three. Finishing touches
To finish, we go over the product with a grinder with a grinding attachment, or you can also use wire brush. We remove the rust and make everything look nice. It is also highly advisable to paint the product with heat-resistant paint. That's it, the project is finished. I hope you liked it. Good luck and creative inspiration if you want to repeat this!
