[TheForge] Fw: Anvil repair

[Andrew Vida]

Jason Nass wrote:
> If you are going to heat treat an anvil face anyway, doesn't it make more
> sense just to reface it with a new plate? It just seems a lot easier to
> me... I could see maybe spot filling with electrode and then spot heat
> treating with a rosebud, but refacing with rod makes no sense to me...'	`

	Just like that, eh?  HAve you ever executed a weld that large?  If you 
haven't, then you have no idea what you're getting into.

	The largest piece of iron I've had at welding heat was maybe 30#.  At 
that mass, standing 3 feet awway will earn you third degree burns if 
your skin is not properly protected.  A 100-200# or larger mass will 
throw off heat you cannot begin to imagine until you stand before it. 
Consider the energy requirements of getting that much iron up to welding 
heat.  None of this is as easy and inexpensive as you may think.

On top of all that, there is the actual task of sticking the welds such 
that they are sound throughout, another feat that most smiths are 
unlikely to be sufficiently practiced at.  This is especially so when 
joining tool steel with wrought, given the widely differing heat 
tolerances and requirements for welding between the two materials.

The people who did this kind of work did it every day and knew the ins 
and outs of the process.   Doing it onesey-twosey constitutes an 
exercise in high risk where success and in some cases even safety are 
concerned.