tanglediver

Not enough real estate, barely enough for a 1/2" hole and the weld beads.

...as I hand "the Chief" a stick of gum....

Nah, they are still open tubes. I am prepping some 3/8" bottom plates for them. I'll have to flip the whole thing upside down and weld the plates on (no I won't, that won't work...). Paint would get wasted. Besides, I didn't want red paint on the floor. Flames would be interesting though.

The rods were Stoody 31 (supposed to be equivalent of 2110) and 1105. With the exception of rod diameter, I used 5/32 and 1/8 respectively, I did what I could to follow the Gunther & Schuler method exactly. http://www.anvilmag.com/smith/anvilres.htm I preheated to 400 degrees, ran one layer of 31 rod, then one layer of 1105 rod. That's it, then I covered the entire thing in a wheel barrow full of vermiculite to slow the cooling down. I did this on a 100 degree plus July day, so there was no rapid cooling going on. It was still warm the next day. Once I got back to it, I ran a grind stone over it until only the deepest pits remained. That's a lot of what we call "padding" to burn into a flat surface, the goal being to keep the beads 1/2 overlayed on the previous one to cover the whole surface to a uniform depth. It may be that I ought to throw a layer of 7018 between the base metal and the hard surface rod, I am not sure. I believe I should contact Stoody and bounce it off of someone there.

Agreed. Therein lies the question, "as long as". Who's to say when bits and pieces might let go under energetic work? Well, there is no rush, as I have other anvils which will never see my welder used on them!!

I got in some prep work over the last couple of weeks in my evenings. My every-other-free-Saturday chore this week was to fix my red stand back legs. Not quite perfect, but I can live with them being "close enough". What I HAD to do, was to splay the back legs out for stability, I think I got closer this time.

Here is the lab rat, a 110 pound cast steel, Russian made anvil I bought from Harbor Freight back in the 90's. It originally rebounded about 55%, which is very soft. I want to learn about hard surfacing and anvil repair. So, I had at this anvil, and I can see many fine cracks in the ground surface. The camera may or not show them very well. I tried to highlight some of them. So, I have options. Worst case scenario, I air arc the whole job clean off the top. I think it has already come to that! But before I proceed, I will seek out more experienced people in this regard. By all means, let me have it. Welding school was far more expensive than this anvil and some rods.

That's clean work on your stand Chris, I like it!

I will try, but with my little, old point-n-shoot camera, who knows what will show up. I'll find another thread so as not to hijack BartW's.

I don't keep this at work as in this picture, it would not be wise. I had a small straightening job and it came right back home afterward.

The lab rat, my Russian cast steel, once-available-at-hobo-fright, cost me $XXxx amount new. A ball bearing dented the top and rebounded 50-55% before I began. I've owned it more than twenty years, and it's original job was for setting rivets in leather tool bags. Today I hauled it in to work to use on a job, then hauled it home again. The whole top rings true, but ... the cracks are visible. I spose I can air arc the top back to base metal and start over. C'est la vie. Being that I do weld professionally, and the rods were probably more outlay than I had in the anvil, I pulled the trigger. I stuck to the Gunther-Schuler method as close as I could manage, but there are always unforeseen variations. I want to know how to do this kind of work, it is possible. I post here knowing that I am wide open to critique. It's all good. Failure teaches more than success.

My first anvil became a lab rat for welding practice. And, I am pretty sure my first attempt at hardfacing has cracked. I may want to drive this anvil out to my alma mater and consult one of my professors to see what I might glean from their knowledge.

Heat treated ductile iron, the "Basic" model is the smallest at 70 pounds. There is a yt vid about them.

I just answered my own dilemma by scrolling through this thread. It was so simple, but my head was stuck in a 90 degree block. All I had to do was rotate the two legs at the heel outward, and I would be golden. Too late. So, it will take another free Saturday session to fix this....

I finally had to let go of about a half ton of treasure to the scrap steel bin at work. Sad really, but I see a LOT of leaf springs get tossed. Not so much coils, I've put back a couple of those though.

Once again, I see another Mouse Hole with the same marking as my own, dating from 1820-1835. Nice anvil, a little wire wheel session will have it cleaned up nicely. Congrats!

That rebound does impress! Nice clip, thanks.

WooHoo!!

Hot diggity!! Don't drop it on your toe now.

Well, that's a bust. My argon tank is empty, and have you seen the price of refills these days? We sell nitrogen for tires at work, and I get all I want for free, cause I am an employee, so, nitrogen it is, just as soon as I grease it up, wrap it in cellophane, pack it in pvc end caps, and load it into the next passing satellite launch vehicle. I could have Steve McQueen's Blob eat it though, that thing was nothing but zombified axle grease anyways.

Launch it into orbit. In space, no one can hear it rust.

A new No. 9 being tagged by a bearing ball, this is disturbing. I've dented my own anvil shaped rail with a 1" bearing ball. But then I attempted to quench harden it, afterward it became more resistant to denting. It's tough to be an anvil baby!

It looks nice enough, bigger than any rail. A ball bearing or ball pein hammer test will help in testing the face. Assuming it has decent rebound, only you can say if $3.50 per pound is acceptable.