A planishing stake is a tool that is used for well... planishing! That is the art of curving steel. And it is a fundemental part of plate armor making. I will be making some armor and of course I need a stake and this is how I made it.

I also have a video tutorial on making this. It is at the bottom of this page.

Here is a look at the completed project. The planishing stake (or ball) is a cast iron shotput welded to the top of that stake.

I ordered a 12 pound cast iron shotput from amazon.com > It is important that you get the cast iron one. There are a variety of materials that shots can be made out of. The biggest point about this is the ability to weld it. and also its resilience to hammering.

This is the exact one that I purchased:Cast Iron Outdoor Shots on Amazon

Next we need a piece or bar stock or channel stock to mount the ball to. Measure the size of the hardy hole. The hole sizes do vary. Mine is a 1 inch square hole so I purchased a length of square stock that is one inch in diameter.

This picture shows the stock sitting in the hardy hole.

Cut the stock to the desired size. I am a bit vague about the exact size of this length because you can make it to whatever is comfortable for you. I cut mine very long. It can be trimmed down at any time.

You do want it elevated up off the anvil so the anvil doesn't get in the way of shaping steel.

Now let's weld this thing together. Use a grinder or some other type of grinding tool to remove a section of the enamel off the shotput. This is prep work for welding.

Then tac weld it with a welder. But for an iron shotput this isn't going to be strong enough for long term use.

Then we used an oxy-acetylene torch to really heat it up and melt it together. Bit of a tricky job here because of the mass of the shotput.

Watch the video:

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