Making an anvil base

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a little anvil for a very reasonable price off Facebook Marketplace. Now while I had no immediate need for an anvil in the garage, if you love tools, you probably love anvils too 🙂

Naturally an anvil needs to sit on a sturdy base and I didn't just want to settle for the old tree stump solution. I wanted something epic, preferably medieval looking with a mix of charred wood and bare steel.

So I started off with a 100x100x2400 timber post that I cut in 4 and glued together to create the 200x200x600 blank to work from. I used a power planer to get the sides relatively flush without completely ruining it's rugged looks, and also threw a bevel on the edges while I was at it. I traced the anvil's footprint and used my router to drop it by about 10mm so that the anvil sat nice and snug and couldn't slide around. I also used the router to create 2x 25x3mm channels around the base, 150mm from the top and bottom ends.

Once I was happy with the shape and size, I used a blowtorch to char the exterior and really bring out the wood grain, followed by a quick Scotchbrite scuffing to blend it nicely. I sealed the charred base with two layers of boiled Linseed oil.

Finally, I created the 2x metal straps that fit snugly in the channels I had milled, welded the ends and drove 16x 45mm coach screws through it to bring it all together. Overall, I'm super happy with the outcome. The last step will be to add the tool holder to the top and secure the anvil with some brackets that I'm yet to make 🙂

PS: Below you will see the welds I did where the ends of the flatbar met. I welded this in place because the strap sits in a channel and could not be fitted over otherwise. I did these with a little Ozito gasless MIG I bought last week: The new one, where the feed and voltage are both adjustable rather than just the feed rate. It works like a charm 😋

Happy building!

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MartiPedia

@Brad Yeah some of those DIY belt grinders are so epic. There's a German guy who has one complete with parts list that can reconfigure in all kinds of ways.

And for the rest of ye, I'm sorry that I have kept you all waiting but I have finally finished the Battlefield 4 knife!

There's SO much to say about the process but in the interest of not plaguing this thread with continued straying off topic, you may read more about it on my blog at martipedia.org 👍🏻

EricL

Hi @MartiPedia

That Battlefield 4 knife is just epic in its construction. Can you please tell us the highlights of the construction process? Where was the metal sourced, what are the dimensions of the knife and how long did the entire process take? I take it that this was based on the ABC-90 knife in the game.

Thank you very much for sharing this amazing knife project.

Eric

MartiPedia

Hi @EricL

The knife is around 28cm in total length, with the blade accounting for slightly more than half of that. I sized the profile to my own hand during the mock-up process in order to come up with something that would be comfortable for me to use. I've got two kids and a day job in IT so unfortunately, my time to work on my knives is short and sweet, often with a week or more in between where I just get absolutely nothing done. If I could work on it continuously though, I'm confident that I could make it in 5-6 hours (excluding curing, cooling and tempering times).

As for the ingredients and process, well here's a little rundown:

BLADE

The blade is made from an old farrier's rasp: A very popular carbon steel for knife making among beginners and enthusiasts as they are relatively easy to come by and also don't cost much, affording the little mistakes that comes with taking on knife making as a hobby without much of a financial risk. The profile in question has a full tang so it's nice and sturdy and well balanced without the need of a hefty pommel.

HANDLE

The handle is made from Acacia which is an abundant, cheap hardwood that still offers a relatively sleek finish, especially if you're willing to take the time to pick out a piece with an interesting pattern like burls etc. A little birdy told me that Bunnings sells hardwood garden stakes from time to time that also makes great handle blanks 🙂

PINS

I made the effort to construct what is known as "mosaic pins". In short, they are the metal equivalent of that hard candy with the picture that runs the length of the blank i.e. regardless of where you cut it, it will have the same pattern. I made this by combining tubes of various alloys nested inside each other with a rod in the centre, When cold blued afterwards, the brass takes on a dark bronze finish whilst the aluminium remains unaffected, creating the prominent rings you can see in the image.

MICARTA LINERS

These aren't visible in the picture above but I made some orange micarta substitute (hereafter known as "DIY-carta") liners that sit between the handles and the blade. These were made by taking some orange pages from my son's drawing pad, soaking them in epoxy, laying them 5 layers high and then clamping them down between two thick pieces of clingwrap-covered MDF to cure. The slow curing epoxy completely impregnates the paper making it sturdy much like carbon fibre, also meaning that it can be machined and polished afterwards.

PROCESS

- The rasp is annealed in the forge and left in vermiculite to cool down overnight. This softens the brittle rasp metal to prep it for machining

- An appropriately sized paper cut-out of the blade profile is temporarily stuck to the rasp and I use a chalk liner to draw the outline

- Using a combination of my angle grinder, dremel and belt grinder, I machine out the profile's outline, then grind the various bevels. On this knife, there are 3 in total thanks to the tanto-like design. As I get closer to the final profile, I progress up the grit ladder to 400 grit ceramic belts of which the finish is so good, a quick buff with a green rouge on a stitched wheel leaves a mirror finish.

- The blade goes back into the forge, gets a oil quench (hardening) and then spends 2 hours at 200 degrees in the oven (tempering)

- When the blade emerges, the finish is tarnished from the hardening process. I use the 400 grit belt on a low speed, keeping an eye on the temperature as to not ruin the temper. This is especially difficult towards the tip of the blade and gut hook. At this point the blade has a brushed finish.

- I whip out my favourite acid in the world (G96 cold blueing liquid) and go over the entire blade, making the whole thing black.

- I then mask the blade along the bevel line and polish up the cutting edge, leaving the remainder black. This obviously serves no purpose other than looking cool, matching the one from the game.

- For the handle, I cut the chosen piece of Acacia into 2x 8mm scales and glue them to my DIY carta liners. I then trace the blade onto them and use the bandsaw to cut the shape close to the blade profile and drill the pin holes.

- The handle scales get glued to the blade, pins in place and micarta sides towards the blade. This gets clamped down and spends the next day curing properly.

- Finally, the handle gets ground down to the blade profile first, then thinned and rounded out whilst continuously feeling how it feels in my hand. I stop when it's comfortable. The handle then gets buffed and receives a couple of coats of boiled flaxseed oil.

- When all this is done and I'm confident that there's no more grinding, sanding or other finishing required, I throw the knife on the Lansky and take it through the stones up to 1000 grit where it's able to shave the hair off the back of my hand.

And that's that! It's so much fun. I really can't wait to make the next one which is already annealed, this time a Viking Seax, complete with an 8mm brass bolster and pommel sandwiching a leather stack handle. It's going to be pretty nice I reckon.

I do recommend that you visit THIS blog post and have a look at some pics of the process mentioned above, which may add some much needed context in some cases 🙂

Noyade

Hey Martin @MartiPedia

I just looked at your blog - so that was never the real you in your previous avatar? 😁

MartiPedia

Hey @Noyade

Haha that was definitely me, just back in 2017, two kids and a stressful migration ago 😋

Noyade

Okay. Sorry. You're still a handsome man. 😁

KatieC

Wow @MartiPedia that is such a great write up thank you for sharing. I had a look and you are right, Bunnings does sell hardwood garden stakes, I could see how that would be a good starting point for a handle.

Really looking forward to seeing your Viking Seax, the handle sounds wicked!

Katie

MartiPedia

Thanks @KatieC , I'm also super excited to see it take form. I bought some offcuts from a leather belt maker in NSW which I will cut into rectangles first, punch a slot into the centre of each and then stack them over the spike tang of the seax once it's completed. Once it's all set, it will go to the belt grinder for forming and then it's a matter of melting beeswax onto the leather edges until it's saturated, finished by buffing and oiling.

Simple enough on paper, but we'll see how it goes in practice 😀

MartiPedia

Finally got around to building my forge trolley today from some scrap metal and wood I had laying around the garage. Also finished the spool of wire that came with my little Ozito gasless mig. That thing is such a joy to use.

MartiPedia

Made an improvement by adding some robust wings from 25mm x 3mm flat iron that offer the ability to hold fire bricks and tools, and also manufactured some mounts for tying the whole thing. Together it's so stable at the moment.

Also, in other news, I found that mounting my vice to my anvil when I'm not using it works fairly well 🙂 I made some tracks to keep it centred and a square bit that fits in the hardy hole to keep it from sliding around.

And here are some happy flames to finish it off

Brad

How close is the car to the forge Marti?

Has the insulation been hardened?

MartiPedia

Hi @Brad,

The car is parked outside the garage parallel to the garage door, well outside of the forge's exhaust heat 👍🏻

The forge insulation is a 1" layer of kaowool saturated and covered with refractory cement.

Noyade

G'day @MartiPedia

How are you? How's your knife forge going?

I thought of you the other day.

We regularly receive frozen ice packs (Hello Fresh) and my wife asked me what I wanted to do with them.

I told her to throw them into a corner of the yard and when they melt I'll "harpoon 'em like Captain Ahab and Moby Dick and then toss'em in the bin"

She just rolled her eyes as she usually does.

But I needed a surplus knife.

She gave me a Master Chef knife. "Why?" I asked.

"They're rubbish she said."

I was surprised at that until I tried to punch out the slotted metal piece - proved to be just a aluminium rivet and the plastic (which I thought would be solid?) shattered in all directions. Even the handle area is not solid metal - slotted. Poor knife design?

Anyway.

With the knife positioned onto an old broom handle - I'm ready to fight frozen packs, bears and whales.

MartiPedia

Hey @Noyade

I'm doing very well thanks, hope you are too! I've been very lazy on the crafting front the last month or two but I do need to get back into it during my upcoming leave 🙂 I produced a very nice (in my DIY opinion at least) drop point hunting knife as a gift for a friend which you can read more about here: MartiPedia Blog.

I know those ice packs very well yes, and currently horde them in the absence of knowing how to properly dispose so thanks for that 😀

Commercial, bulk produced knives that still look and perform well often have some hidden gems like what you're uncovering here, presumably in the spirit of saving money. It's always a bit frustrating to find that things are not as they seem, but at least the blades are still fair quality steel and that's really what matters in the end. Imagine if it was a mild steel full tang knife. That would have been less than useless 😀

I like the product you ended up with! I reminds me that I still want to produce something similar once I've established what local legislation has to say about it 😋

Now for your next trick, give that handle some gentle shaping features like finger grooves etc, hit it with a torch / stain, sand and oil! Should come up a treat.

Also, a word of caution: In your new ice pack poking and slashing implement pictured above, there's nothing keeping your hand(s) from sliding along the length of the handle in the direction of- and onto the blade. If this happens it can be pretty grim and it's something I don't want to see happening to anyone, let alone fellow DIY folks so please use with care 🙂

You will see that all the knives I have produced to date (other than the one I forged from scratch) have prominent features preventing a hand from accidentally sliding onto the blade during use for this very reason.

Happy crafting!

Noyade

Afternoon @MartiPedia !

"there's nothing keeping your hand(s) from sliding along the length of the handle in the direction of- and onto the blade."

Well, actually there is Marti. At this stage I think I'm pretty safe from that happening. It's a one handed stabbing action with the hand 1.6 metres away from the blade whilst the other hand steadies my one-legged scooter. But thanks for the tip! 😁

Killing a pizza box on a rainy day.

But I do need to keep my foot clear! 😁

MartiPedia

Aaaah, I see @Noyade, I wasn't sure how long you left the handle based on the previous pictures, whether it was just a short piece or literally the whole broom 🙂 You should make a leather strap wrapped handle on it to finish it off, perhaps tie a magpie feather or two in there for good measure 😋

Brad

"I like the product you ended up with! I reminds me that I still want to produce something similar once I've established what local legislation has to say about it"

South Australia is fairly draconian, no double edges, no flick knives, no butterfly knives, no throwig knives and so on...

Just as well my main interest is in kitchen knives.

There is a piece of live edge blackwood that has taken a beating at the hands of a pastry chef. Cleaver style knives are the weapon of choice.

I am importing a sharpener and will look at importing blades to put handles on before lashing out on the complete tool set to make from scratch.

I got an $8 knife I liked the patern of that may just be unhardend stainless steel, went blunt on first use.

Dave-1

Afternoon @MartiPedia

😲 wow to this thread 🙂 Impressed and man its so interesting! How is the forge holding up?

Dave

MartiPedia

Hi @Dave-1 ,

Ah, the poor forge has been cold for a while. We have moved house and just been stuck in general home improvement for a while, but I do have probably 30+ farrier rasp blanks that are all waiting to become cutlery 🙂 The forge is a wonderful thing, as it's not specific to actual forging but also serves as my heat treatment solution for the things I produce. I have a knife blank ready receive its bevel, heat treatment and handle before joining my camping gear so that will probably be the next tenant to that little fiery cave.

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