Can this ANVIL be saved?

[Ralph]

not sure hard faceingf is the way to go. But I am not sure. Seems I was reading about how hardfacing rod will work harden and get brittle and then you have new repairs to make. BUt one of the real welding folks can step in and correct me if so.

Ralph

[frogvalley]

Perhaps I am in the minority, the voice of dissent, but I would NOT weld that anvil. I have worked on many an anvil, and none of the repaired ones faired well in the long term. Welds tend to come out or off or just wear unevenly. Attempting to heat treat an anvil face to properly harden it is hit and miss for the most part.

I am a full time blacksmith and metal sculptor and I have 6 or so workable anvils, including my first anvil with its broken heel and dinged surface. I did and still do a lot of work on an abused anvil. Sure I have almost new looking surfaces on a couple of my anvils, but you very rarely need a big perfectly flat surface, unless perhaps your sole work is knives.

If you think about it for a minute , you only need a smooth spot on the top that is the size of a hammers face , or perhaps several. You will never need to have the entire face perfectly flat. Just smooth in a few spots. Except for the spot where you hit it with the hammer, the rest of the anvil face will not leave a mark on your metal. You "should" be able to hit those spots with your hammer easily enough. If not then well...thats another rant.

BTW I have a 200lb Fisher Anvil with the cast body and welded steel face , much like the Vulcan. I love it. Its quiet, almost as lively as one of the Peter Wrights I have.

If you are repairing it strictly for cosmetic reasons, don't. If for structural then you need less repair than you think.

Oh and don't use a disc grinder or sander on the face, only on the horn. A Belt sander is the tool for the face.

[Fionnbharr (finn:-)]

I have to agree I wouldn't 'fix' it, I regret ever welding on my HayBudden, the rebound has never been as good and the face dings more easily... Put a radius on all the chips on the edge and try to blend them into several radius's along the length of the face, they are quite handy to have. Sharp edges are for the most part over rated;-) especially for someone who is just starting out. They are just a source of stress risers, and cold shuts;-)

[Authentic Iron Works]

If you use the anvil the way it is, your work will have more of the "hand forged" look!

[Mark]

Personaly I am not sure I would weld on an anvil. As a man who knows welding better than most I will tell you that I would NEVER use wire welding (gmaw)to repair structure, particularly if it will see repeated heat cycle stressing or impact. Secondly HARDFACING is for wear, not toughness. Would you use a file to pound with? IF you must, must, simply must, then use a stick and 7018, or if you are willing to pay the extra use a high mangenese and or nickle rod. Mang and Nickle make steel tough. TIG (GTAW) would do even better, small heat effected zone, better penetration, less oxidation, better control and HUGE selection of rod alloys. Even so there is always the "uneven wear" issue down the road a bit. Then too there is the pre weld and post weld heat treat which is a bear without good equipment.

Personaly I would do what I could with a belt sander, look at it and say, "man I hope I look that good at that age" LOL

Mr. Weygers tells us how to heat treat an anvil in his book "Complete Modern Blacksmith".

I have also had someone tell me that refaceing by welding on a 1/2 to 3/4 inch plate is a good option. Seems like a better idea but hmmmmmm.........

[sandpile]

KBEBOUT--If I was going to fix this anvil, I would find a good piece of steel and cap it. It has had the dickens beat out of it. and been ground on quite a bit. To really fix it. I don't see anyway except to cap it.

My two cents worth.

Chuck

[hiramst]

I just bought a vulcan anvil with the trademark on it. It is very large, 1 foot high and 25 1/2 inches long at the top, and has the no 80 on the right side. Way too heavy for me to pick up and put on a scale. It the 80 a model no that might tell the weight?

[hiramst]

the anvil has a 20 on it not an 80 and I found out 10 means it is 100 lbs and 20 means is is 200 lbs. it has the
arm and hammer logo with Vulcan curved around the top.
Judy

[tetnum]

i see no need to mess with that face is cleaner than my anvil with fewer pits and chunks missing and you can still flatten out a peice and it gives charicter to your work

if you want to fix it its your anvil do what you want but in my opinion its not worth the hassle