EV Anvil (exhaust valve)

[LMMasterMariner]

Hi guys,
Must say that anvils are very popular tools these days and here is mine, which I 'made' 35 or so years ago.
Drilled hole in my great grandfather's workbench (which is by the way full of worms and more than 120 years old
but it's made of oak and still solid.) and inserted exhaust valve from auxiliary engine of some small ship.
Head diameter is 100 mm and that's more than good for all my hammering jobs.
I don't make horseshoes, nor anything similar for which I need strange shaped anvil.
Regards
LMMasterMariner

[DIYer]

Thanks LMMasterMariner! We've added your Anvil to our Anvils category,
as well as to your builder page: LMMasterMariner's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Anvil by LMMasterMariner

tags: anvil, exhaust, valve

[Ed ke6bnl]

not sure what is meant by an anvil, or is it just something to hammer on?

[Frank S]

Ed. I'll offer an explanation which may be of use to others as well. Any hard object becomes an anvil when another object is placed or laid on it and struck with a 3rd object the 3rd object becomes a hammer regardless of shape or weight this is also true of an anvil. A person could place a nut on any surface then strike it with their fist the surface is the anvil and the fist is the hammer
I often use the counter weight on my forklift as an anvil when I need a very large hard surface to assist in shaping sheet metal also I often use 2 hammers by holding 1 as a back up while striking with the other the back up hammer is at that instance an anvil.
If the object being used as an anvil also has a particular shape that something is formed into over or around then it could be called a die as well
LMMasterMariner's use of a large diameter exhaust valve is just one more example of the many things which can be utilized as beneficial simple tools readily at hand

[LMMasterMariner]

Hi Frank,
Many thanks for an excellent explanation.
Regards
LMMasterMariner

[Frank S]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that the valve came from an engine that had 4 valves per cylinder and the pistons were at least 350 mm in diameter probably idled around 300 RPM and ran at no more than no more than 1000 RPM under full load I won't speculate on the number of cylinders since it could have been anything from an inline 6 cylinder to a 24 cylinder "V" type How far am I off?

[metric_taper]

Gosh, what a lineage of tool life, and from a your Great-Grandfather.
I see worm holes, but I don't see hammer marks on the bench, great way to protect this old surface and patina.
Thanks for posting this.

[LMMasterMariner]

Hi Frank,
I have no idea how big was that engine. I collected that valve from the vessel which I visited on her call to my home place 35 years ago. Can't even remember the name of the vessel so I can't find the details of the engine. Nowadays everything gets bigger and the main engine of my last vessel have 2 stroke main engine of 72240 kW. (@104 RPM). Exhaust valve of that engine would be little bit too big for anvil in my workshop. I could take discarded exhaust valve of aux. engine (4000 kW @720 RPM) from that vessel to replace my anvil, but already had enough weight in my luggage.
Regards
LMMasterMariner

[LMMasterMariner]

Ed,
I am just hobby machinist, not hobby blacksmith and this anvil served me well for the last 35 years.
Material of that valve is excellent but still there are some marks on it.
BTW, there are round bench anvils around. One of them can be found at Benchtop Anvil - Potter USA
USD 95 but no longer available and mine one came for free.
Regards
LMMasterMariner

[LMMasterMariner]

Hello metric_taper,
Thanks for the comments. I can't remember that I have ever missed the anvil or work on the anvil. No hammer marks on the bench, but if you zoom in the picture, there are numerous marks done when cutting something on that bench. Some old paint on it also. Worm holes are still there but all worms were killed during fumigation. I have another work bench which is much younger but in worse condition than this old one.
Regards
LMMasterMariner