I decided to make a little anvil.

[hook00pad]

I also have one that I made from a piece of rail that my dad used for years.

[G.M.]

Originally Posted by mart

i saw a post on the hamb, in the very interesting "home made tools" thread, showing a small anvil made from a piece of railroad track. This is quite a popular thing to do and mostly involves large amounts of grinding. There are lots of videos on youtube that i found after i made mine. (doh!) anyway, my approach was to try and do as much as i could on my 4x6 bandsaw, and finish it on my milling machine. It's a neat little item, you wouldn't want to do serious blacksmithing on one of these, but it's nice to have in the workshop and i treated it as a learning exercise. If you have some time to spare you can follow the video series. There are four in all, one shows cutting it out, the others show the machining.

I would appreciate any feedback, good bad or indifferent, especially with regards to the videoing.

So if you are not doing anything in particular, why not join me in my shop for a little while.

Here's the first one:
https://youtu.be/rbfi30sxjs4

part 2:
https://youtu.be/bqoc1cnmllg

part 3:
https://youtu.be/gqgbc67b8pc

part 4:
https://youtu.be/g6yspf2eerk

thanks

mart.

nice job g.m.

[Ziggster]

Nice. They ripped up the railroad track over the last few years that used to carry one of the few steam trains still operating in Canada from Gatineau, QC to Wakefield QC near me. It was heart breaking. We still have a local "blacksmith" that gives classes and I thought about taking a few.

[Mart]

I made a couple of plattens for the press from the two offcuts. (The pieces knocked off with the sledgehammer.)
They were gangmilled so all the faces are true and the same height.
Can't load the pics. You can see them in this thread on the hamb.
home made tools and equipment...

[JSeery]

Mart, did you want them loaded here in the thread?

[Mart]

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Thanks J.

[tiger.1000]

Whilst on the subject of anvils. As an engineering apprentice I made this in 1961....much foul language, bruised knuckles, many broken hacksaw blades and discarded files.


It was more pleasant being sent to the shops for spirit level bubbles, a long tale and so forth

[3738]

I too have a 20" section of rail that I have used as an anvil for years

[Ross F-1]

I was keen to make one of these, but found they are selling used rail for $60/ft, if you can even find any. The railroads don't sell rail, and scrap yards won't buy it, otherwise the tweakers would rip up every inch of track.

[RalphM]

“and scrap yards won't buy it, otherwise the tweakers would rip up every inch of track”

That’s funny Ross! But sadly it’s probably true. You ought to see the things they do here.