As I was moving some things around in the forge room I came across a custom tool I hadn’t used in quite a while. I don’t remember the project on which I was working when the idea occurred to me. It is a depth stop base. Bars can fit into the square tube sockets and support work at a determined height.
As I rolled out the cone anvil with which it was used, so I could take a picture showing the tool in context, I recalled the day I got the cone. A fellow contacted me and said he had one he wanted to sell or trade. It had belonged to a relative who had been a farrier. He kept it in his garage and never used it. Now he was moving and wanted to be rid of it.
I already had my homemade one with concrete fill and another really nice antique cast one but I offered to take a look. The size and condition were satisfactory and the price was right but the disappointing thing was it’s wall was only about 3/8” thick so it was rather light. When making a small radius, like a horseshoe, it was adequate but it was’t heavy enough for larger work.
To make it useful, I filled it with dry white sand and welded on a circular base plate. I has enough mass to work well now. The larger diameter base also make the travel quicker when rolling it into place to work as well as improving stability.
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| Sand filled cone mandrel. |
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| Cone anvil helper jig. |
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| Mandrel helper jig in place. |
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