The traditional blacksmith’s anvil stand is a big chunk of log or a stump, but I had this idea of making a laid-up stand out of 2x4s and plywood. It seemed like a good design.
After lunch I headed out to the lumber yard to get stuff to make the anvil stand, turned right out of my driveway, went about 300 yards, and my neighbor had just felled a Mighty Oak Tree and was chopping it into rounds. About 20 minutes later, he had sliced two pieces off the great loaf, and tipped them into the back of my Tahoe using his skid-steer.
He was concerned that I might have trouble getting them out.
As it happens, he was right. The wood is fresh and wet and each round weighs about 300lb. When I unloaded the first one, I rotated it, then pulled it toward me, and it rolled off the back of the truck and (naturally) came right at me. I did my best impression of an Irish step-dancer, and apparently it was good enough. Then I tipped the round onto my fine art shop dolly and huffed and puffed to its final resting place. That’s code for “I am not moving that !*&#*!& again.”
Rather than being smart and making a tracing, I actually lifted the anvil twice.
Plunge-routing a bed for the footer seemed like a good idea but made a terrible mess. The good news is that fresh shredded oak smells wonderful.
Then, I soaked it with a lot of linseed oil. So far, it has absorbed 2 liters. I’m sure it’ll take more than that over time.
The shape of the round is about as perfect as it could be. My neighbor cut the surfaces as straight as he could, and it rests on the floor just right – there’s no wobble at all. And I don’t think it’s going to blow away or slide around.
I’ve been a bit deadlocked on the benches; I have one assembled (the welding bench) but the other is still missing some parts. The nice folks at Simplified Building [sb] accidentally sent me 6 tees in the wrong size. Be careful about going to the Simplified Building site – it’s inspirational and it’s very easy to get carried away. Kee clamps are fantastic to work with, but they’re not cheap. On the other hand, if you’re the kind of person who builds benches that ought to be able to support several tons, then Kee clamps may be just your thing. Kee clamps are, basically, Tinker Toy components that you can use to build things out of steel conduit or black iron pipe.
The second bench should be done next week and then I’ll hook up the drops for the electricity (there is going to be a panel box on each bench, and a long power-bar on the underside) Then I can finish the benches with some beeswax oil and start bolting grinders and bandsaws and steel plates and other goodness to them.
I am a messy worker and I chastise myself constantly for it. I mean that literally: all I do about it is chastise myself. So I got to thinking “why don’t I put my tools away?” Well, the answer is simple: I don’t have to, and putting them away means a lot of walking back and forth. So, I devised a “tool wheely boodler” which has steel pegboard on both sides, and is made with indestructible steel tubing and Kee clamps. It ought to support a huge load of stuff and I can just roll it around to wherever I’m working and maybe then I’ll be able to discipline myself to put my tools away. We’ll see!
Achy all over from moving heavy stuff, and my hair smells of oak sawdust, my hands of linseed oil; it’s been a good day.
I’m incredibly lucky, the way that stuff I want seems to just put itself in my path. Sometimes, it’s almost embarrassing. But then I remind myself that Sithrak is probably doing all this just to set me up so that, when he pulls the plug on me, I’ll be all the more miserable.
The other round is perfect stool-height. I’m going to find some kind of cushion and it’ll be a good observing, coffee drinking, and thinking station.
I don’t know what sort of brilliant plan you had for the 2X4s and the plywood, but this is WAY better. Those stumps are perfect! When I used to form metal a lot we used a stump like this, but with no anvil on top. The anvil was on the work bench (a special one) and we had a spot in the stump hollowed out from all the pounding. It worked great.
And how awesome that you just drove down the road and there they were… so lucky!
The rolling tool stand is a great idea. I work at a bench so it’s easy for me to just flex my arm and put the tool away, plus my tools are really tiny, but with big tools like that, your stand will work really well. I’m going to show that to the Partner, perhaps there is a rolling tool stand in our future. :-)
What a fine chance encounter, it looks great, as does the rolling tool stand.
Glad you managed to jig out of the trunk’s path. We have found the odd chunk of tree trunk over the years and wrangled them home for use initially as garden stools, then eventually fungi and bug homes. The hardest was a metre length of scots pine trunk found on a beach in Northumberland, no where near the road access of course. We improvised a sled with some bits of plastic barrel, fishing net and rope that werre also on the beach, then expended a lot of energy pulling our prize over the sand dunes back to the car. It lasted for years looked great and was the perfect height for me laid sideways, I prefer low seats.
Why the linseed oil? My woodworking experience is far too limited (mostly, a custom computer desk made from 3/4″ plywood) that I’m not clear on your reasoning here.
Oooh, what a nice little anvil, all settled on its oiled log end. Make sure you give it a regular pat with a 2lb hammer as you walk by, the ringing voice of a healthy anvil is a joy to a metal basher’s ear.
cubist@#3:
Why the linseed oil? My woodworking experience is far too limited (mostly, a custom computer desk made from 3/4″ plywood) that I’m not clear on your reasoning here.
Good question! I don’t really have a solid answer, but it goes something like this:
when oak dries, it often checks or splits as the wood shrinks and the log tensions internally. I don’t want that to happen, so I soaked the top with lots of linseed oil to seal it (a bit) so if it dries out, it’ll dry from the bottom.
Also, linseed oil does beautiful things to wood grain – it’s a great classical finish – linseed oil naturally polymerizes into a sort of plastic-y stuff that is waterproof and holds up well to handling. My knife handles are finished with 8-10 thinly-rubbed layers of linseed oil. [stderr]
A shorter answer is that I’ve found that linseed oil is nice on wood and smells great and I have a lot around. So I looked at the stump and thought “Oil that baby!”
Lofty@#4:
Make sure you give it a regular pat with a 2lb hammer as you walk by, the ringing voice of a healthy anvil is a joy to a metal basher’s ear.
It has a lovely “ping” to it.
I haven’t posted pictures of my hammers because I’m afraid you will all hate me for having beautiful things. It’s kind of embarrassing how nice they are.
kestrel@#1:
I don’t know what sort of brilliant plan you had for the 2X4s and the plywood, but this is WAY better. Those stumps are perfect!
I agree. My plan for the 2x4s and plywood was a sort of jenga-stack of 2x4s with stressed interior plywood layers, the whole mess bolted together with recessed threaded bar at the ends of the stacks. It would have weighed less, but it would not have been anywhere near as pretty. And that piece I have the anvil on is perfectly anvil-shaped. It’s a sign from the
godsdogs!we had a spot in the stump hollowed out from all the pounding. It worked great.
As soon as I mentioned to certain people that I got myself a plasma cutter for Xmas, I had several oblique hints that it sure would be nice to use my plasma cutter to cut out some shapes for armor. Gosh, oh, yes… Subtle hints – like the kind a cat makes when it’s breakfast time. I don’t think I’m going to do armoring (I made a crusader bucket helm in college and I did not enjoy the experience at all!) but the other stump might make a good pounding-spot. I was toying with the idea of rolling it back outside next year and using a wood-carving wheel on an angle-grinder to cut a stool-top shape into the top, so it’d make a better seat. Thomas Moser, I ain’t.
The rolling tool stand is a great idea. I work at a bench so it’s easy for me to just flex my arm and put the tool away, plus my tools are really tiny, but with big tools like that, your stand will work really well. I’m going to show that to the Partner, perhaps there is a rolling tool stand in our future. :-)
Usually I’m using big tools – which are a pain to put away and get – like circular saws and biscuit joiners. It sure is a lot easier to just reach over and pick the biscuit joiner up off the floor… Small tools are no problem. The way the benches are made, I’m going to have a lot of storage space underneath them. My original idea was to cut holes in the top and run the wires underneath, and run the belts to the grinder’s motor, etc, down to the lower shelf, but the reality is that I have so much work-space I don’t need to do that, and it’s going to be easier to maintain everything if it’s all right there. I showed a picture of the rolling tool wheely boodler to a friend of mine and he went out and built one the next week, for his garage. Pushes up against the wall when tools aren’t being used but wheels right over to the car when they are. The problem with conventional tool-chests is that they get monstrously heavy. That’s why my tools are on the floor and my tool-chest is full of soap molds!
And how awesome that you just drove down the road and there they were… so lucky!
I am indeed ridiculously lucky. When my luck runs out, I’m soooooo screwed.
jazzlet@#2:
We have found the odd chunk of tree trunk over the years and wrangled them home for use initially as garden stools, then eventually fungi and bug homes. The hardest was a metre length of scots pine trunk found on a beach in Northumberland, no where near the road access of course. We improvised a sled with some bits of plastic barrel, fishing net and rope that werre also on the beach, then expended a lot of energy pulling our prize over the sand dunes back to the car. It lasted for years looked great and was the perfect height for me laid sideways, I prefer low seats.
A meter length? Yipe!
Logs make great benches.
When I was a kid my dad made a bench for the yard, out of a chestnut trunk split lengthwise. I’m sure it’s still there (it was soaked in linseed oil) we called it the “cyclopean bench” because it was both comfy and ugly.
Crickets bats (willow) were traditionally rubbed with linseed oil. Beautiful smell!
I love the mobile tool-rack. I recently invested in a handy tool caddy which has already saved me a good many trips back and forth from doing something in the house to the workshop to get the tools that I didn’t bring with me the first time as there is only so much I can carry in one go.
You’ve reminded me of my Dad’s “portable” tool chest that he kept (still keeps?) in the back of his car. I can still picture him walking down the garden from the garage of the childhood home, one arm out as far as possible as a counterweight, but still listing alarmingly.
Sunday Afternoon@#9:
Crickets bats (willow) were traditionally rubbed with linseed oil. Beautiful smell!
Did not know that!
Many thin layers of linseed oil are the classic “French finish”
I can still picture him walking down the garden from the garage of the childhood home, one arm out as far as possible as a counterweight, but still listing alarmingly.
Ah! My grandfather had one of those, too! It was a wooden trough-like thing he made, which could be filled with about 120lb of stuff. And he’d haul it around like it was nothing. Or, he’d pretend it was nothing while us kids were watching.
Pleeease, show us your hammers….I promise not to be envious…
The good news is that fresh shredded oak smells wonderful.
Yes, it does. By the way, over 50 years old pine wood also smells nice. There’s a lot of sap inside my old wood, hence the nice smell.
I am a messy worker and I chastise myself constantly for it. I mean that literally: all I do about it is chastise myself.
I’m the same except that I don’t even bother chastising myself. As long as I don’t waste time searching for stuff in my mess, I don’t see any problem with there being a bit of mess in my workplace. I see mess as a problem only when it starts reducing my productivity.
My knife handles are finished with 8-10 thinly-rubbed layers of linseed oil.
My windows are covered with two thick layers of linseed oil. At first I started with many thin layers and after a while I concluded that I’m not willing to bother with that. I’m lazy. I usually just put a thick layer of linseed oil on the wood surface, then I wait for a few hours for wood to soak up the oil. Then I remove from wood surface all the leftover oil that’s not absorbed. I repeat the same process two days later and consider the job finished.
Of course I use linseed oil only on the wood that is inside my home. From the outside my windows are treated with a paint made from boiled linseed oil, pine tar, and pigment powder. I have south facing windows and I live in a place where we get plenty of rain and snow. I believe that linseed oil alone isn’t enough to protect wood that is outside and exposed to sunlight, rain and snow.
Marcus @8
We were still quite young and on holiday and it seemed like a good idea when we started … then at a certain point we’d put so much enrgy into moving it there was no way we were going to abandon it, we definitely earned that bit of trunk with sore hands and shoulders (from pulling the rope) and a lot of sweat.
Gotta love a good peg board.