[TheForge] Refacing old anvils?

Tue Apr 1 12:28:00 2003

Kevin:  The lack of preheat could have caused your cracking at the welded
surface.  Without knowing your exact technique for doing this repair, I
can't be sure.

Some claim that preheating is not necessary, others insist that it is.  If
you choose to preheat (I would...I typically preheat generously when welding
tool steel to low-carbon in "found art"sculpture.) you can use a weed
burner.  I would recommend building a firebrick "igloo" around your anvil,
and inserting the wide weed burner tip from the side or bottom, like a raku
kiln.  Preheat the anvil to roughly 390F by blowing a low flame on each side
of the anvil for 50 min. to one hour.  Use a tempil stick to measure
temperature.

There is a company called Messer who makes a hard-facing welding rod called
MG 710 which is used in this type of repair.  Note that final hardness will
depend on how many beads you run. Contact Messer technical assistance for
advice on the procedure...they have a 1-800 number.  DON'T TRY GUESSING!

    Also, I would recommend grinding out all of the previous weld...not all
rods are compatible.

Remember to take you time and not rush the job.

I hope this helps

                                    Grant Marcoux
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 7:23 AM
Subject: [TheForge] Refacing old anvils?

> I'm a relatively new member to the listserve and I wanted to ask for
> opinions about making repairs to an anvil face.  I picked up an old anvil
> about 8-9 years ago that has a pretty large divot in the work face.  The
> defect is about 2x3 inches and is as deep as 1/2" at one point.  I used
the
> anvil to work smaller projects for about 3 years before I could find
> another anvil in the area that I could afford.
>
> At one point I tried to build up the divot using a hard surfacing weld
rod,
> but saw that over time the repair began to develop a lot of cracks and
> eventually began to chip as I worked the anvil surface.  Over the past
> month I've been considering making a second attempt at the repair, this
> time using a low hydrogen weld rod (7018) instead.  The anvil face has a
> pretty high carbon content (I'm basing this on a spark test) so I'm not
> sure what kinds of pre- and post-heating procedures I should use in the
> repair.  In my first attempt I did not try to preheat the surface, and
I've
> heard that this may have been the cause of the cracking.  I've heard that
I
> should preheat the surface to ~350 degrees and maintain this temperature
> through the weld repair and for 2 to 3 hours after I've completed the
> repair in order to reduce cracking.
>
> I was wondering if anyone else has had experience in making this type of
> repair to an anvil face, and if so, I'd appreciate any insight that could
> be provided.
>
> Thanks,
> Kevin
>
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