[TheForge] Peter Wright anvil question

[Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer]

Jane;
Unless the face is a real major mess...anything more than a light 
grinding is probably a mistake...gently round the edges and corners 
where damaged. Generally sharp corners on anvils are undesirable because 
they cause stress risers and cold shuts.
The prior owner of my anvil used it for an oxy-fuel cutting table and 
had left some really ugly areas. I read up on anvil repair and did my 
best to do it right,,,have been welding 30 odd years. My prep was good, 
the preheat, interpass temperature and post heat were carefully 
controlled. I used the right underlayment and hardfacing rods and used a 
small airhammer to peen each  stringer bead and so on.
Now, a number of years later, I have softer areas surrounding each weld 
repair and am beginning to see some crack propagation beginning on the 
most heavily used edges. I do use the edges as a fuller a lot. I still 
don't know how I could have done a much better job.
A big PW like that is a rare prize..be nice to it. To a certain extent 
it is possible to carefull hammer out ( a bit at a time) a number of the 
irregularities in an anvil face, but it is noisy and time consuming. 
I've come to regard it as a sort of pennance  for missing when forging.

WinnonaD wrote:

>(Appologies i'f ya also visit the Junkyard - I posted
>this over thar to....) 
>
>Afternoon fellers! 
>
>I jist posted up pictures of the portable forge I jist
>finished rebuilding. If'n ya got nuthin else ta do, ya
>kin drop by me Web page 'n' have a look:
>http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/Cannon/Cannon.html
>
>
>I also scraped the rust off the little anvil I picked
>up - it's a Peter Wright. Around the "3" (in 0 3 15)
>theres two words printed in a circle - I can't read
>the top word but the bottom is "WROUGHT". 
>
>Fer forgin all the little fittings I need to make for
>the cannon carriage and limber, I am going to have to
>have a little work done on the anvil. The edges of the
>top are badly beat up and the top is a wee bit
>sway-backed. I'm going to need a good, flat surface
>and relatively sharp edges. 
>
>Can I "dress" the anvil somehow or am I going to have
>to work on a different surface? (Good anvils ain't
>easy ta come by up here.) 
>
>Thanks fer the suggestions fellers! 
>
>Calamity (what's always findin 'xcuses fer more
>"toys") Jane 
>
>
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