DIY Railroad Anvil Stand

In this Instructable I will be showing you step-by-step how to make this rustic looking anvil stand. I decided to make this stand because I recently picked up this cool old anvil that was made from a piece of a railway track and had no place to work on it. I bought this anvil because I have gained some interest in knife making and I want to try it out for some of my future projects.

Before you go through the rest of the steps for this project, you should definitely watch the video that I have posted below. The video will show you plenty of clips of me building the stand from start to finish. Also, if you enjoy the video you should definitely hit the like button or even consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Most importantly don't forget to follow me here on my Instructables page so that you can see all of my future projects! Let's get started with this project!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmTQgpH9boc

Materials:

- 9” x 7” Railway Tie

- Railway Spikes (X4)

- Anvil

- 1/2" x 4" Lag Bolts (X4)

- 1/4" x 4" Lag Bolts (X4)

- 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" Lumber

- Wood Stain

Tools:

- Wood Saw or Chain Saw

- Sledge Hammer

- Drill

- Impact Driver

- Grinder with Wire Wheel

- Chop Saw

Because the anvil is made from a piece of railway track I thought it would be cool to make the stand out of a railway tie. So I picked up a 4’ length of 9” x 7” railway tie. To determine the proper height for your anvil, stand up straight and let your arms rest comfortably by your sides. When making a fist the top of the anvil should just be touching your hand. To measure the proper height for my anvil I stacked up some wood until the anvil was at the desired height. This makes it easier if you are working by yourself.

Before I cut the railway tie in half a drilled a piece of wood on each side. This allowed my to keep the saw nice and straight while I made the cut. Believe it or not I used a hand saw for the entire cut! I definitely regret not using a chainsaw to make it easier on myself because railway ties are EXTREMELY hard to cut!

After I was finished the cut I fastened the anvil on the top with some 1/2" X 4" lag bolts and cleaned off most of the rust with a wire wheel. This anvil had not been used for a long time so it definitely needed some cleaning up!

I also cleaned up four railway spikes. I thought that these would work perfectly to hold my hammers on the sides.

Making the holders for the hammers was very easy. I simply marked out the proper positioning for each railway spike and pre drilled the holes. The drill bit that I used had a slightly smaller diameter than the railway spike. This made it easier for my to fasten them into the railway tie with a sledge hammer.

To finish up the stand I made some legs with my chop saw out of some 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" lumber using 45 degree cuts. I added some dark walnut wood stain to match the color of the railway tie and to keep things looking rustic. I then used a forstner bit to make room for the heads of the lag bolts and then pre drilled the rest of the hole. I then fastened them 1" in from the edges with the 1/4" x 4" lag bolts.

I love how rustic the finished product looks and I can't wait to get some good use out of it! Thanks for reading through this Instructable. I hope you all enjoyed this short and simple project!