TIL I was mounting my anvil wrong for two years

A guy at a hammer-in pointed out my anvil was rocking because the stand bolts were too tight, not too loose like I thought. I had been shimming it with old license plates when all I had to do was back off the nuts a quarter turn. Has anyone else realized a simple fix way later than you should have?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_christopher1mo ago

Got a buddy who builds custom knives on the side and he told me his anvil was driving him crazy for almost a year. It kept wobbling no matter how tight he cranked the bolts down on his stand. He even welded a little bracket thing to try and stabilize it, which made it worse haha. Then at some show an old timer walked over and just loosened one nut a tiny bit and the whole thing sat dead flat. My friend said he felt like a complete idiot standing there watching this guy fix his problem in two seconds with just his fingers lmao. He still brings it up whenever we talk shop and I gotta admit I woulda done the same thing.

patricia2621mo ago

Wait, so the secret was looser not tighter? That's backwards from everything I would've tried.

sagecooper1mo ago

Read the same thing on a blacksmithing forum a while back, people were saying it's all about the wood compressing and expanding under the anvil. @the_christopher your buddy's story is exactly what I was thinking of, those old timers just know that snug and slightly loose is way better than cranked down tight.

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