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.........

Like so many others, I only know how to do it the way I was taught. And frankly, it has always worked for me regardless of the implement. Grandad taught me to put the handle in the oven overnight at a low heat like, warm or 250. Like when you waterproof your boots. Then when it is still warm shape or finish shaping the handle to a tight fit. Pound it down to a firm fit, wood wedge, steel wedge (nicked to a barb to prevent squeezing out) the soak two days in oil. Linseed was prefered but 30 weight works. (not XW-30) Shape the grip and off you go. Your hammer should have the face dressed periodically and so at tune up time, reoil the grip and head and your hammer will last a long time. I deviate a bit from Grandads method and use hot ............. well that's another story.

Thanks for the welcome Ian. I have been followiong your travels a wee bit. You get to Americay and find yourself nearby, there is a place at the table.

Just thought I would say hello. My name really is Mark, I am also known as Ole (pronounced Oh-Lee) or Griz. I am a third generation worker of metal. I took my smithing classes at Greenfield Village in the mid 1970s. I live near the northern tip of Michigans mitten where, beleive it or not there are quite a few smiths. There seems to be a fun,friendly, informative and kind group of gentlemen and ladies associated with this site. Thank you to those who make it possible. I hope I am able to make a positive contribution. My areas of proffesional expertise are, Safety, Engineering, and Welding.