Stake Anvil
Stake anvils are commonly used around the world. They can be easily made from scrap resources, axles are a good supply, and are a good way to start if you are building a shop and have limited resources. The anvil face can be shaped for a specific task or general work.
I made this stake from a 2" axle. I hot cut a length and then tapered the tang. I heat treated it by heating about 1" of the face to critical and quenched in a 55 gallon drum of water. The face of the anvil was shaped to match my hammer. I use it to forge the edge bevels and it allows me to forge closer than my large, square top working anvil.
The stake hole was predrilled using wood cutting spade drills of decreasing size. The bottom of the stake is fairly blunt to minimize splitting. Some stakes have a collar to disperse the force and limit splitting. It is also possible to band the stump to limit this problem.
A stake anvil is a handy tool and I expect to make more of them with a variety of faces.
