Visited the old forge museum in Pittsburgh and saw two totally different anvil setups

I was checking out the historical displays last weekend, and they had two workstations side by side. One had a classic London pattern anvil bolted to a huge oak stump, like you'd expect. The other was a Fisher anvil sitting on a welded steel stand with rubber pads. The guide said the steel stand was for a traveling smith in the 1920s. It got me thinking about tradition versus practicality for a mobile setup. Which method do you all think is better for a solid, portable foundation?

2 comments

2 Comments

tylerr291mo ago

Actually, that steel stand sounds like a headache waiting to happen. A good stump absorbs shock way better than any metal frame with rubber, even for moving around. The old traveling smiths used wagons, so they'd just unload the whole block.

dylanwilliams1mo ago

My uncle's shop in Toledo has used a steel stand for his main anvil for twenty years. The key is filling it with sand, not just rubber pads, which kills the ring and soaks up shock as well as wood. A solid stump is great if you never move, but a well built stand can be taken apart and moved in a pickup truck. Those old wagons were basically permanent workshops on wheels, not something you'd take to a weekend demo. What kind of work makes you think steel can't handle the shock?