A friend of mine wanted to get into blacksmithing but needed an anvil and he had what i wanted so I built him one. I started out with 2 - 4" forklift forks and square tubing and about 15lbs of 7018 welding rod. I first cut the short end of the fork to the length of the anvil face. Next I cut the second fork to the shape of an 'L' using the short end for the bottom and the long side for the upright. Then using the thickest remaining pieces I cut them for the upright for the 'horn' end of the anvil. The remaing pieces were used to form the middle section and additional uprights for each end. I cut one of the remaing pieces from the tapered end to make the horn. I than cut 3 pieces about 4" long to make the feet of the anvil and the base for the "hardy" hole. Tack weld the pieces together to form the anvil and then using a gas forge burner or a weed burner pre-heat the whole thing to 300 - 400 degrees. Then all you need to do is start welding, alternating form corner to corner etc. Once its welded up turn it over, cut the legs at the right angle to get the height that you want and then weld the legs and feet on. Once that is done roll it back over and weld on the 'Hardy". For this I used a length of 2" receiver. The nice thing about the reciever material is that you can weld up different 'hardy" tools (shape) for whatever it is that you are working on. Then start grinding, grind just the face and top of the horn (un-ground = weight).
The entire anvil and leg assembly weighed in right at 215LBS.
This anvil is similar to a 'bridge or railroad anvil'. Fork lift forks can usually be gotten for FREE from a forklift repair shop. Total cost was about $25 (I am a great scrounger).
Thanks to Kevin H. For uploading pics for me.
