I have finally finished my portable anvil.
I spent weeks searching ebay and the like for a suitable anvil to use when ‘out and about’, all to no avail. They were generally too large (like my regular anvil at 200lb plus), or too small, being for jewellery work.
The decision to make one was therefore forced on me. Mine began life as a scrap piece of RSJ I had lying around and a £4 length of scaffolding pole sourced from a local scrapyard for the legs. Add in some odd pieces of metal for bracing, some time on the forge to shape the beak, a couple of hours with a MIG welder, and a portable anvil is the result.
Finally I hardened the top face to make it wear better and to give it a nice ring when hit.
It will never be as durable as a solid cast steel anvil, but then I don’t need it to be. I have my full size anvil for regular blacksmithing work and this will work perfectly for smaller ‘out and about’ work.