Blew a hole through my anvil stand yesterday and had to fix it on the fly

I was forging a 1 inch round bar into a chisel at my shop near Springfield and got too aggressive with the hammer. The anvil tilted and the stand cracked right under the base plate, sending sparks everywhere. I grabbed some scrap 3/16 plate steel and welded a patch onto the stand in about 20 minutes. It's holding now but I'm wondering if I should just build a whole new stand out of tubing. Anyone here ever had a stand fail on them mid-strike?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_nathan25d ago

I read a paper from ABANA a few years back that said anvils in the 150 pound range need stands that weigh at least half what the anvil does to stay stable during heavy striking. Your scrap plate patch might hold for light work but that 1 inch bar is going to twist and bounce the whole setup every hit. I had a buddy near Branson weld up a stand from 2 inch square tubing and he said it never budged after that. How thick did you run that plate weld, just a bead on top or did you stitch it down the sides too?

skylerrobinson26d ago

Blew a hole through my anvil stand" sounds like you're using too light a base for that kind of work.