Show me your anvil

[stryder]

yesteryearforge, that is one fine anvil stand!! thanks for the input. George

[stevomiller]

Dodge, that is quite an anvil that you are making. Is the face tool steel?

[Hillbillysmith]

I am happy to inform everyone that I finally got my first anvil today at an auction that I was working at for $180. I'm not sure of the weight, but if I had to estimate it, I'd say it's about 150 lb'er. Not a bad deal at all, especially the condition it's in! I'll get my cousin's camera and snap a shot of it and post it this weekend.

[Dodge]

No. Its solid mild steel. Might hard face b4 its all said and done but I've done some banging on it and as long as I maintain good hammer control It is working good. Besides, if I leave it mild I can fix any dents or dings easily with my mig

[ApprenticeMan]

Why not forge weld a tool steel face on it?

[Nolano]

I cant tell whether your being sarcastic or not, so if you are, ignore this.

Do you have any idea how huge a fire he would need to do that? Not to mention a gigantic hammer to make the weld, and some way of lifting both the anvil and face, most people dont really have tongs(or arms) capable of doing that....


Dodge, I would reccomend hardfacing it, with one layer of softer hardface, then a layer of harder. first layer 40-50, then the second should be 50-55. If you dent it this way, you can always patch it up with the same hardfacing rod.
I dont know if your doing this on your own, or you have already found this guide, but here is someone who did the same type of thing:
http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/anvil1/anvil2.html

[Hillbillysmith]

I power washed, wire-wheeled, and dressed the face, horn, and body of the anvil and I found a maker's seal that says "ARM and HAMMER" and under that it says "WROUGHT IRON". While grinding, I think that the anvil is ALL wrought iron and has a hardened face cause you can see the difference in the sparks and it has dramatically different ring tones between the face and horn. I'll get some pics up this weekend as that I have have to barrow a digital camera from a cousin of mine.


P.S.

I don't know whether you are being sarcastic either (ApprenticeMan) but as Nolano said you have no idea what kind of fire, fluxing, tongs, and hammer that would take.

[ThomasPowers]

Arm and Hammer anvils were made in Columbus OH USA, The one I have has a wrought iron body with a steel face forge welded on it .

Not to be confused with Vulcan anvils that use and "arm and hammer" logo but are cast iron anvils with a steel face

Thomas

[bruce wilcock]

each year 5-6 blacksmiths gather at the smithy ,and we forge a anchor ,all forge welded we use fires in the yard to make the crown weld .This year for a change we forged a anvil ,i made two floor fires to weld the parts at the waist .The job was thought out and the only lift was to place the top section on the spigot in the dog hole ,the bottom part we just flipped it over and dragged it out of the floor fire with the dog tongs ,no lifting and we used heavy hammers we then got the job back in the fire and welded bars in to tydy it up with it in the fire the anvil weghed 160 lbs .we have olso made a new pike for a small anvil 95 lb without pike and forge welded it on we made the pike with a blunt end and jump welded it on without taking the anvil out of the fire we pulled it to the side of the fire and throwed a steel plate over the fire to cover it up to let us work and then finished the point of with another heat all on the floor. If a few of you get together and one is forgemaster ,and you make fires to suit the job and get some coal on , you will bumble albout for a start but it will come togeather ,big jobs hold a lot of heat and men tire out so you need a change of men so split your gang up

[Hillbillysmith]

Thomas, thanks for the info on that anvil of mine. The body should be wrought iron because it says "WROUGHT IRON"right on the anvil, by who knows. I think that that is especially cool because I live in Ohio, about 130 to 135 miles form Columbus. If anyone can tell me any more info on these anvils, please let me know. Thanks.

P.S.

I'll post a picture tomorrow.