The Armour Archive

hey everyone!
I have been trying to make some steel armour for a while not long term and i was in need of an anvil, my neighbor gave me this piece of a RR track that is pretty wide and weighs about 15lbs, Has anyone ever used one of these or seen someone use them? are they OK to use?
It works fine for the small work im trying to do( im working on a scramasax type knife).


cheers!
JJ

Lots of people use them, they are made from good steel. They are also very handy, since they are portable.

Yeah,
they are very portable and mine rings like a bell when you hit it they are also very flat so they sit good on a table and such. Plus they are cheap or sometimes free! ive seen some earlier(when i wasnt in need of an anvil) at a scrapyard for like 5 bucks.


keep posting!
joker

As Alcy' said Rr track is very ggod steel. If you have a cutting torch and grinder you can shape on end of the track into a horn which would make it even more usefull

I use mine all the time.

Think of your RR track as the smith's tool called a bickern, or bick-iron, which I suppose us ornery mortals would pronounce clearly as "beak-iron."

A bickern is a skinny anvil, for doing skinny-anvil-type stuff. It is often very useful for just about any armoring task where you have to whomp something on something else.

It's often helpful to torch-cut one end into a nice deep anvil-horn shape, so you can poke it into narrow deep things like helms.

You've done well.

I have one, and yes, it is nice for a good amount of stuff, but I wish sometimes that I could have the shape of the anvil, especially the horn.

One factor is how well mounted it is; a good mounting on a heavy stump at the right height increases its effectiveness. On the other claw, you can sometimes do light copper work right in you lap or with a small very portable stump.

It all depends on the project. I keep about three around my forge, and I've given away a couple to beginners/helpers over the years.

They're not much good for forging 1" square stock, unless they've been fitted as dies in a Junkyard Power Hammer.

I wouldn't turn one down.

I have a 12" section of tract that I use often. Unlike my regular anvil it isn't hard mounted to a base so I can slide it in and out from underneath any COP or corizina that I am working on. If you have a flat end then the edge with the gradual curve can be a makeshift creasing stake and I have no regrets drilling dimples in my RR track for rivet heads but I would NEVER do that to my real anvil.

Down side is the top surface is rarly as smooth as a good anvil so you may want to spend a little time dressing it down so it down't scratch your work piece.

happy hammering,
Sean

I have a picture of the one I got from my Knight, Sir Allan Culross.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d178/sedric_1965/portble_forge.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a>
This was at a demo I did last weekend, my lady took the picture.
It works great as long as I stake it down to keep it from bouncing. I have a big magnet I stick on it in the shop to cut down on the ring, but at demos I take it off and let 'er ring loud and true.
S