[TheForge] Fwd: Anvil repair

Sat Apr 27 12:54:03 EDT 2013

James:
I understand the impulse to weld up the edges of your anvil and confess i still have a fair amount of old stick rod too ,some of it must be 50 years old now.....and pull it out and use it from time to time. It doesn't improve with age.

But in light of what you describe of your anvil edges, i respectfully recommend that you smooth out those edge radiuses and work with them.
 I think you'll find that having a range of edge radiuses to work against, is very useful ( faster drawing than on the horn, for example), and you won't risk ruining your nice old anvil.
A crisp edged block stake for your hardy will provide the hard edges on the few occasions you actually need them.
Otherwise, hard edges are just an invitation to cold shuts.

20 years ago i did a very careful job of welding up the damage done by my anvil's former owner, and now i can see very fine cracks developing in some of the heat affected zones of the welds. Just a matter of time.

On Apr 27, 2013, at 4:53 AM, James wrote:

Not long after I posted my request for anvil repair info, I found an old article by Robb Gunter on the subject.  His article mirrors, pretty much, some of the replies here, cleaning, preheating (300 -400 F), etc.  He uses a propane weed burner to preheat prior to repair.

Regarding the Lincoln Abrasoweld stick electrode I mentioned. These are really old electrodes that I've had for maybe 30 years. I called Lincoln Electric and was advised that this rod is the same as what they now call Lincoln Wearshield ABR and would be fine for this application.  It is limited to 2 passes however, so I will need something underneath.  The Lincoln tech suggested their Wearshield BU (build up) underneath, after cleaning.  He commented that there would be no problem welding just about anything into the old wrought iron base.

So, I'll practice on a rod or two to see how much deposition I get with the ABR.  This should give me an idea how much build up I'll need.  The edges of the old anvil are hammered down to about a radius equal to a 3/4" - 1" round bar would look like.

In the FWIW dept, I snipped and pasted tech comparison of the BU/ABR electrodes.  It appears that didn't make it thru the robot and/or moderator review process.  Oh well, I wasn't trying to advertise for Lincoln.  The Lincoln BU rod has an as welded Rockwell of 15-28 depending on # of passes, the ABR rod's Rockwell is 28-53 for 2 passes.  The spec for ABR rod states it is a "good low cost abrasion and impact product".

Thanks guys,
James

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