Home made anvil

[Grinderman]

I need a reasonably flat pounding surface for some arts and crafts projects. I have a bunch of these cast iron plates from an exercise machine I thought I would use for some mass(80lbs). I’ll probably just bolt the parts together. My question is what type of steel could I use for the top plate. I would need about a 8x12”piece. Alloy, hot/cold rolled,thickness? It doesn’t have to be real tough as the projects are mostly light gauge metal. I would need to be able to drill holes in it as I’ll probably just bolt it to the base. Your input would be much appreciated.

 

[RJSakowski]

I sent you a PM.

 

[ericc]

Are you sure those plates are cast iron? I have one made out of mild steel. Spark test and drill test! If they are cast iron, that is kind of iffy for making an anvil. It might require some touchy welding. One of my fellow blacksmiths packed about $100 of Ni99 rod under the faceplate, only to have it crack. I told him that his anvil was useless, so he asked me to put my finger on the edge. I learned quite a bit about anvil effectiveness in that instant.

 

[Grinderman]

Are you sure those plates are cast iron? I have one made out of mild steel. Spark test and drill test! If they are cast iron, that is kind of iffy for making an anvil. It might require some touchy welding. One of my fellow blacksmiths packed about $100 of Ni99 rod under the faceplate, only to have it crack. I told him that his anvil was useless, so he asked me to put my finger on the edge. I learned quite a bit about anvil effectiveness in that instant.

I did hit them with a grinder and drill, looks cast to me but I don’t plan on welding anything. As I said I’m just looking for a fairly flat surface to pound on. Maybe “anvil” isn’t really the proper term for this. I don’t know a lot about the various alloys of steel out there. Looking for a top that is fairly flat as it comes and soft enough to drill some holes in it. 1018, A36, 4140 seem to be some of the common ones on eBay. Looking foe some recommendations.

 

[RJSakowski]

You won't need that much mass for light gauge metal working. You live in an area with a lot of nearby heavy industry. you should be able to find a piece of heavy plate to meet your needs. I have a plate that is 10 x 16 x 2" that weighs around 90 lbs and I have done some fairly heavy work on it.

 

[Grinderman]

You won't need that much mass for light gauge metal working. You live in an area with a lot of nearby heavy industry. you should be able to find a piece of heavy plate to meet your needs. I have a plate that is 10 x 16 x 2" that weighs around 90 lbs and I have done some fairly heavy work on it.

Agreed, doesn’t have to be that heavy, just trying to use up some junk laying around. Might need it down the road though.

 

[tjb]

I've made a couple of fairly hefty workbenches with 1" plate for the tops. One is 2' x 10'. The other - a trade-out with a guy so it is not in my shop - is about 3' x 8'. But my primary workbench is 4' x 8' with 1/2" plate for the top. All three of them have holes drilled in them for mounting vises, shop lights, and other tools. I routinely do some fairly heavy work on mine - I didn't build them to look at - and they've held up extremely well. If I had it to do over, there's really nothing I can think of that I would do differently. I don't think it's likely you can make a mistake in essentially whatever you use, as long as it's not something super thin like sheet metal. Given that it's only 8" x 12", I think I'd be inclined to first try to find a relatively thick piece of cut-off plate in the 1" range, or even up to 2" like RJ's. I doubt if it would be hugely cost prohibitive. You'd have a hard time wearing that out in two or three lifetimes. Based on your intended use, I think you could easily use 1/2" without being concerned about abusing it. Maybe even 1/4" plate, but that might be pushing it, if for no other reason, simply because of lack of rigidity.

Regards,
Terry