petef

Thank you all for your input. It sounds like pre-heating is going to be important. The chips I have are all small - less than a dime in size - but they run all along the edges. I think what I will do is some grinding first to get some clean surface to weld to. Then I will need to pre-heat - sounds like a torch will be the best approach there. I seem to recall from other posts that I will be wanting a temperature of about 450 degrees F - sounds like a lot of gas will be used for the mass involved.

I have looked through a number of the posts in this forum and see a lot of information on resurfacing anvils, but I have a few questions I would like to throw out there. I have two anvils, 160# Peter Wright and 160# Hay Budden(?). They both are in fairly good shape but they both have a number of chips and gouges in the edges of the face. I would like to fill these in and then smooth them out and give them proper radius. I have a Miller 140 MIG welder and a 4.5" angle grinder. I see plenty of references to using stick welders and specific rod types for filling and resurfacing. My questions are: 1. Can I use my MIG welder to good effect to fill in the edges on my anvils? 2. If so, are there specific wire types I should get for my welder? 3. Should I be concerned about pre-heating the anvil?

OK I fired up the forge this morning and performed the experiment. I took a 1/2" square stock 10" long and made file marks at the 1" and 9" positions. This would mark the edge of my vice jaws and twisting wrench. I heated it up and put a 180 degree twist in it, quenched it and put it up against the tape measure. There was no discernible change in the length measurements. I then heated it again and continued the twist to a full 720 degrees which is equal to two full twists. Again, after quenching, I put it up to the tape measure and I could still see no change in the length measurements. I had also used the calipers to measure the cross sectional distance from corner to corner and again after the full twist. The before number was 11/16" and the after was 21/32". So there was a shrinkage in the cross section width from corner to corner. Below are the pictures showing the various measurements. This experiment answered the questions I had so I can move ahead with planning my project.

Steve and Phil, Thanks for both of your inputs. It looks like I will need to do some test pieces as I will need to make several that all need to be the same length. I will repeat your experiment and see what I get with 1/2" square. Pete

Great just the kind of thing I was looking for. Pete

In this same vein I would like to find a source of formulas or rules of thumb that apply to calculating lengths when bending stock. Do you or anyone know of a compilation like this? Pete

John B, Thanks for putting my head on straight. Now that I think about it I see how that makes sense. Pete

Hello All, I am new to posting in this forum but I think this is the right one. Can anyone tell me a good method for calculating the amount of shrinkage in length when one takes a .5" square cross section of stock and you twist it? I would like to be able to control the overall length of a piece and know what it should end up when the twisting is done. I am assuming there is a relationship between the number of turns and the cross sectional size of the stock. As an example: lets say I have a square .5" stock 10" long. I am going to put a twist of 360 degrees along the lengthwise axis. What will the length be after the twist is complete? I am looking for a book reference, formula, rule of thumb or whatever other means there might be of calculating this. I appreciate any inputs. Pete