I finally hit a breaking point with anvil vibration ruining my shop floor

For the past year, I've been fighting bad vibration from my anvil every time I hammer. I followed the classic advice and bolted it to a heavy oak stump for a solid feel. But now, my concrete floor has a web of cracks from the constant shaking. Some friends at the forge say to switch to a sand-filled base, which cuts down on shock and is easier on the body. I tested one last week, and it did reduce the vibration, but the anvil moved too much for my liking during hard hits. So I'm stuck choosing between a stable setup that wrecks my floor or a dampened one that feels loose. Which camp do you fall into, and has anyone solved this without giving up stability?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_susan3mo ago

In my first shop, I cracked a three-foot section of floor from anvil shock. What finally worked was a sand base inside a heavy tractor tire. I packed the sand HARD and set the anvil on top. To kill the wobble, I lag bolted the anvil through the tire into a big plywood plate underneath. That combo gave me a stable hit and protected the concrete BIG time. You still need to check the bolts every so often, but it beats fixing floors every year.

margaretrivera3mo ago

Oh man, my friend Brian tried the sand thing but his anvil still danced around... maybe he missed the tractor tire trick like @the_susan used. He ended up just putting the whole mess on a giant stump instead.

nelson.dakota2mo ago

Sand in a tire is a total game changer, my old shop had the same concrete cracking problem until I tried that setup. I used a layer of rubber horse stall mats under the plywood for a bit more give and it really soaked up the vibration. The key is getting the sand packed down rock solid before you even set the anvil in there. It's a bit of work to get it all bolted down tight but so worth it not to worry about the floor.