Anvil wrangling

As a way of helping out my students who are setting up to do forging on their own, I have done a group order in the past for Larry Zoeller burner kits and wool insulation so that they can build their own gas forges. Now I am providing access to inexpensive beginner's block anvils for them as well, the same as the two block anvils I have set up in my shop. It took a bit of wrangling, but they are now cut and ready for pickup.

The anvils began life as two stalks of steel (apparantly mild or thereabouts) roughly 6" x 5" x 60".



This is a lot bigger than anything in my shop can cut, but I cut a deal with a shop that I used to work for to let me use their big bandsaw to cut them into foot-long sections. I came to the shop this Saturday and spent a goodly chunk of the afternoon sawing.





And eventually...



... I got them all cut. There were ten anvils all told, but only nine in this picture because one student loaned me a trailer to get the steel out of the junkyard, and took the first anvil with him.

There are more anvils than ordered at the moment, but now I have them on hand for future students who want them. They need some cleanup and are a bit soft, but work quite well and are easy to repair if dented.