[TheForge] Fwd: Anvil repair

[Andrew Vida]

On 4/27/2013 12:54 PM, Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer wrote:

> 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.

This is not always possible.  We repaired a few VERY messed up anvils 
that were missing whole chunks of their faces.  I have chased cracks a 
good inch and some down into the wrought body of a few anvils in prep. 
There's no smoothing such things out because if you did that your 
anvil's face would either look like the surface of the moon or you'd 
simply grind all the steel away.

I don't know where all this nervous nellie stuff comes from.  I would 
also point out that  any given anvil has only so many regrinds in it 
before one is faced with the choice of adding new material or 
acknowledging the new door stop.  Building up edges works.  It is proven 
in experience.  Case closed.  How many people in the world do you think 
would be capable of welding an entirely new face on to an anvil?  Two?
>
> 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.

You say nothing about cause.  You welded, now there are cracks... so? 
What are we supposed to take away from that statement?  Embrittlement? 
By what mechanism?  How do you know it was related to what you did and 
not what a previous owner did?  Was your filler appropriate or was it 
shyte for that application?  You may have been careful and might still 
have done something wrong.  There are several possibilities here 
including several metallurgical ones I've not listed.

Maybe you're just a mean old blacksmith who mistreats his po' po' anvils.

Bet that's the real reason there are cracks.

>
> 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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