[TheForge] Fw: Anvil repair

Sun Oct 17 02:14:05 EDT 2010

  When i got my anvil, one i'd been watching for years, the interim 
owners had used it mostly, with sledges,
to break cast iron on,, like pipe fittings into a desired size of rubble 
for scrap.
  It was their favored method of fixing things that were frustrating.
They did this after they got pretty loose, on beery afternoons.
It had been owned by  a retired smith turned junk yard maestro and was 
in good shape..
So when i got it it had suffered some. on the far side, by the horn, the 
corner was creamed and the chipping
became smaller up to the hardy hole...except for some knuckle sized 
chunks and 2 deep torch cuts...on the one side.
I didn't want to weld anymore than i had to, so i ended up with a radius 
that tapers progressively smaller towards the hardy.
At the corner by the horn, that radius may well be 1"...It used to 
rankle me.
Now i use it to do most of my more aggressive drawing out.
I use a blunt crosspein over that round edge and it works like top and 
bottom fullers. Because it's over more of the anvil's mass, it's less 
work than using the horn...quieter too.
Yes, the plate was pretty thick when it was new.....
A delicate hand with a belt sander works.
Quenching a big mass like an anvil,,,it's difficult to quench the center 
of the face fast enough, much less as fast as the edges.
So, often the center of the face is softer ,and if there are distinct 
high spots and visible hammer dents...it's possible to do a fair amount 
of leveling there, with, say, a rounding hammer.
I have a hard, polished one on a long, thin handle i use for that. I 
dink away and the rebound causes the hammer to nearly float.
It takes some patience, but i can take that high spot and herd it back 
where it came from..sometimes. Works well on wrought horns too...but, 
gotta pay attention to work hardening...Safety glasses and a face shield 
for this unapproved method.!

On 10/16/2010 7:13 PM, Jason Nass wrote:
> Yeah, that was the direction I was leaning, I just didn't know if there were
> any reliable methods to fill as there are 2 spots where the chipping is
> pretty severe, I'd have to grind it to damn near a 1" radius to clean them
> up. If I happen to stumble on any machine shops in the area that can flat
> surface grind it down maybe 1/16" or so, I might go for that, There is
> plenty of plate, so I'm confident it could withstand that little bit of
> thinning down without damage. I'm no PW expert, but I seem to remember being
> told the plate on them was pretty substantial.
>
> Jason Nass - MacTalis Ironworks
> me at wargoth.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of peter fels&  phoebe
> palmer
> Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2010 9:59 PM
> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fw: Anvil repair
>
>    As you have probably guessed Jason..
> I'd respectfully advise gently rounding the chipped edges and grinding a bit
> off the high spots.
> If you need a crisp, square corner( to encourage stress risers), use a hardy
> stake.
> Ask 30 smiths how to do something and you are sure to get 29 conflicting
> directions.
>
> On 10/16/2010 3:53 PM, Jason Nass wrote:
>> About what I figured. The Sway isn't really bad, only about the
>> thickness of a quarter tail to step at the worst of it. If I can find
>> someone in-town with the ability to grind the face flat for a
>> reasonable price, I'll probably go that route as it will clean up the
>> edges a bit and get them where I'll have a small length where they are
>> semi-square. I like to have a spot on the face where I can get a nice,
>> clean shoulder with 1/2 on blows, but it is far from critical. I was
>> mostly just wondering if there was a reliable way to clean them up that
> wasn't a huge pain.
>> Jason Nass - MacTalis Ironworks
>> me at wargoth.com
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Andrew Vida
>> Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2010 4:09 PM
>> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
>> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fw: Anvil repair
>>
>> You're WAY overthinking this.   Get some Lincore 50 wire or SmoothArc
>> 600 rod.  Grind out the chips to clean metal. Preheat to 400*.  Lay in
>> your filler.  Grind.  Let cool.  Done.
>>
>> DOn't worry about sway unless it is really pronounced and is affecting
>> the work.  Dead-flat is not necessary - some say not even wanted.
>>
>> You can increase the edge readii, too, though I am not a fan of this
>> approach.  Leave as much of the anvil in place as possible, IMO.
>>
>>
>>
>> Jason Nass wrote:
>>> While we are on the topic of anvil repair, what is the best way to
>>> address chipping along the edges, I recently picked up a 1860-1900
>>> era Peter
>> Wright
>>> 157# at a good price, $1.50/lb. and it has a little chipping along
>>> both edges, not so severe as to be unworkable, but a little in the
>>> way
>> sometimes.
>>> I am torn between taking a little off the face, (which I will
>>> probably do anyway because it has a tiny bit of sway),  or just
>>> making the rounds on
>> the
>>> shoulders a little larger so that the chips disappear into the shoulders.
>>> Any reliable ways to build up the shoulders without completely
>>> trashing
>> the
>>> heat treat? I've seen the process, and while I am confident I could
>>> pull
>> it
>>> off, I really don't want to anneal it, mill it and then re-harden it
>>> if I can avoid it.
>>>
>>> Jason Nass - MacTalis Ironworks
>>> me at wargoth.com
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>>> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Freeman
>>> Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2010 1:38 PM
>>> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
>>> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Fw: Anvil repair
>>>
>>> Mike--
>>>
>>> That's absolutely correct, and Josh (who may be lurking here) has the
>>> Fisher-Norris patterns to prove it.
>>>
>>> Fisher-Norris had a special mold form for sand casting anvils.  It
>>> looked just like the anvil, but had an extra lump on the top.  The
>>> sand mold was made around the pattern, the pattern removed, and the
>>> surface plate - plus an extra cast steel plate for the top of the
>>> horn
>>> - was inserted.  This left an anvil-shaped void below the plates, and
>>> another void above it.
>>>
>>> The mold was filled inverted, so the void "above" the plate filled
>>> first
>> and
>>> pre-heated the plate to red heat.  The rest of the mold was then
>>> filled
>> and
>>> the whole allowed to cool.  The chunk of cast iron on top of the
>>> anvil had not adhered, and was easily knocked off.  But the
>>> pre-heating allowed the rest of the anvil adhere to the plates (which
>>> is Fisher's discovery) and a solid anvil resulted.
>>>
>>> On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 11:17 AM, CGRAF<adveniam at att.net>   wrote:
>>>> I seem to remember ( and Seeming to remember is happening more and
>>>> more) that some of the tool steel tops were welded to the base of
>>>> cast anvils by placing the heated steel plate in the mold and
>>>> pouring the cast
>>> over it.
>>>> It might work, but I cannot find any corroborating documents in my
>>>> piles of crap.
>>>>
>>>> At any rate it sounds less nasty than trying to forge weld a 3/4
>>>> inch plate onto a base.
>>>>
>>>> Am I remembering something real or just a dream?
>>>>
>>>> Mike Graf
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>>>
>>> --
>>> Bruce
>>> NJ
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