Refacing an anvil

[ThomasPowers]

Well if you are a highly trained smith very comfortable with forge welding and able to safely heat and move large steel masses I would say try to forge on a new face. If you have to ask this question I would NOT advise you to try it.

Rob Gunter's method has seen good service.

I have an 1828 William Foster that is missing 90% of it's face that I keep hoping to use for a full face forge weld sometime; but I have only been smithing over 25 years and so would prefer to work withsomeone a bit more skilled....

If you *don't* know what you are doing welding on an anvil can mess it up much worse than leaving it alone.

Torin. I have a Hey-Buden that was in an unheated shed for 50 years or so that has light pitting on the face. I have done nothing but forge steel on it knowing that it will polish it out in a decade or so...One fellow I recently met told me he has a badly pitted anvil he uses to "texture steel" with.

Thomas

[D.Bernard]

Archie,
Our shop group has repaired more than a dozen avnils in various disrepair with great success. We use Rob Gunter's process and suggested rods - they match the face plate steel very closely and if done with some care, the repair cannot be detected from the virgin face plate. We've repaird chunks of face plate gone, bad sways (by build-up and grind) and yes, we have successfully repaired edges of a fisher. If you have trouble finding R. Gunthers method on the net, email me and I'll send it to you. Pre and post heats are VERY important. The only failure I've seen was a sloppy post heat in winter. resulted in small cracks in the edges where repaired. If you plan on repairing it, count on 8 to 12 hours of work from start of preheat to final post heat ready to pack for slow cool. I view an anvil as a tool but if you just want to have an anvil as an antique, then leave it alone. If you want to enjoy working on it, fix it. Just my 2 cents. I Good luck.

[Hofi]

My Way Of Repairing An Anvil Is Different.
I Never Pre-heat The Anvil It Is A Long And Tiring Process And Not Eassy To Do.
I Have 16 Anvils In My Shop 12 Of Are In The School ,and Every Two Years I Have To Repair Some Of Them Because The Students In The Classes Are Missing Many Times And Hit The Edge Of The Anvil And Damege It Aspeciely When Tapering Steel.
I Then Grind The Dameged Corner To The Clean Basic Steel Of The Anvil And Aply Two Layers Of Z 2900 Rod .speciel Rod For Welding
''hard Welding Steels,panzer Steels,leaf Spings,manganeas Steels,tools And Cast Steels, And All The Stainless Steels.
The Tensil Of The Rod Is 750-800 N/ Squer Mm Which Is Very Strong And Tough, And What Is Very Importent The Elongation Is 36%
This Gives A Very Tough And Elastic Base For The Two Layers Of Hard Surface Rod.and This Is Why You Never Need To Pre-heat.
If You Suport It From The Side With An 1/2-3/4'' Flat Bar Of Coper With A Clam Ther Is Very Little Grinding.
With Hols Or Cut Or Kracks In The Anvil I Go With The Same Process.
Once All The Face Of The Anvil Was Destroied I Then Put It On A Miling Machin And Very Slow Took 1/8'' Off With Tungsten Carbide Tool And After That Repaired The Corners.
Hofi