foundryguy

I will be in touch when I get it machined and hardened and meet you at the Bear sometime.

There is a demonstration at the Shelby blacksmith Supply on Saturday. Danvers Child from Lafayette Indiana, he is a well respected farrier. I might be up there as I would like to meet him.

This site has given me great info and it's fun to show what I am up to! 

I am not on here to sell as I have no inventory and need to set things up with a website.  $6 to 7 a lb based on actual weight if I can get things rolling. Its a very expensive part to make to this spec. Hopefully the quality will justify the investment.  

I appreciate all the comments, support and ideas. A 400 and 450 double horn are in the works

Thank you!

My first 200 lb H13 anvil casting. 198 lbs before machining. Anxious to get this tool completed

Thank you for the kind words on my anvil. I will keep you posted on the larger versions in the coming weeks

4 hours ago, JlBlohm said:

60 HRc converted to BHn is 653

Yes sir, that is a hardness number that is not common in the casting world. .45 C is not uncommon but I do not pour it often. We chose H13 as it is a big runner for us and very common at heat treat facilities. My biggest hurdle is heat treat cost. $0.30 to anneal so we can machine them and $1.30 per lb to harden. I have had requests from folks who want them green (not heat treated), not machined or in iron but I do not want anything with my name on it out there that is not completed and in spec. I am in Hart once a week during asparagus season so maybe we can meet up then.  

JLBlohm, I am not sure if H13 can be hardened above 55Rc and honestly i am not sure what material could be? 98% of the H13 I sell is in an annealed condition for machining purposes and that is 20 to 25 Rc. Foundry people talk in BHn hardness and anything over 35 Rc is considered a very hard casting. I pour some nihard and manganese steel but a good hit with a sledge and you could break the horn off, not just chip the part and you could never machine it flat. I would love to know the material something that hard is made of. That said, the only way to know is to burn a small sample on a spectrometer to check chemistry as I am always skeptical. Also, my shop is in Holland and i have property up by you. If you ever care to see my product send me a private message and maybe we can rendezvous at the Brown Bear some time. 

The patterns on the larger anvils are done and being cast this week. I made a 4th anvil,  double horn, 400 lbs with a shelf, it is really cool!  My hardness is 52 to 55, you may be able to get them harder. Thanks for the note on the heel, three people wrote me telling me I am all wrong, you are the 4th that likes it? Cheers! 

10 hours ago, JHCC said:

garbage removed

PLEASE STOP SPAMMING US

Fascinating! Thank you for the followup. Much more strength to the shelf than the one I commented on. 

14 hours ago, Judson Yaggy said:

useless quote removed

I did find some church window pics but thank you for yours. 8624 is a common structural steel and poured by any steel foundry in the country. You see it everyday in construction equipment such as dozers or loaders. H13 is a tool steel used in permanent molds and extrusion dies, mostly for casting aluminum. The advantage of H13 is you can get it harder and it is designed to work with hot materials with out changing its hardness or characteristics. Anyway, I am sure the other castings work fine for the users. 

Question, the tab on the top? What is that called and designed for? I have seen it on different designs. Cheers! 

Post or send me a photo if you are able. My CAD guy, where patterns start these days is looking for something to draw. How big is ideal?

On 2/25/2018 at 5:01 PM, VaughnT said:

200 and 400 lb anvils could certainly find favor with folks if the price is right.  Made in America, too?  That's really sweet to see.  On them, I'd prefer a double-horn anvil with upsetting block and clipping shelf.

Leaving the horn and cutting table soft means they aren't hardened and tempered like they main face is.  Since you're doing the whole thing in an oven, you'd have to go back and somehow spot anneal the horn and table.

Vaughn, The 2 larger models i have drawn up for the heavier anvils are a classic look if you will. The weights are estimates at this time but we should be close, maybe a bit less with finish removed during machining. The only option I have on heat treat is to harden the entire casting. As you probably know, this is an interesting endeavor as there are dozens of ideas and everyone wants something different. I can not tell you how many "ideas" have been sent to me on here and other sites. Heat treating as you may know is very expensive. I might pay $.25 per lb for an anneal prior to machining and close to $1.00 per lb for hardening. Pricing of $6.00 per lb is inline with production castings that we currently make for companies. 

All castings are made in Holland Michigan at my foundry which was started in 1975 by my father who is 90 and still stops in a couple days a week. My Grand Father started my pattern shop in 1945 which I still operate as well as the foundry. The only complication I have is that we are very busy so I am not sure when they will be completed. 

3 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

For Example look at the Nimba anvils being made and the old German anvils being imported; definitely a market niche for high dollar anvils!

I did look at their website, very cool shapes and top dollar prices. I pour 8640 but i am going to stick with H13.  No new shapes in the works, just a couple larger models. I want to be clear, i do not plan on going into the anvil business, just sharing what I am upto and only making a few. I am fortunate to have a foundry at my disposal every day! 

No sir. It was a new mahogany pattern that one of our pattern makers made and was never run. I bet i looked at it for 25 years on a shelf in the back room. After several recent requests for anvils  i decided to run a few. I have no idea who, why or when it was made?  

Hey, I sent him a note. Crazy pattern set up on the photo posted. Thanks for the note. 

Thank you for the words. Remember, many companies import castings that say Made in USA on them. Dake Press, in my hometown, has been doing it for decades. They assemble presses in Grand Haven but all the castings are from China with Made in USA cast on them. 

21 hours ago, JHCC said:

Why not offer both?

Too busy in my shop so for now it is H13, there seems to be a lot of interest! 

21 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

My only other suggestion would be to up the size to at least 150# as that is a good starting size for a shop.

I have a couple larger ones in the works. Stay tuned

Maybe I should have chosen ductile, I can produce it at half the cost? For now we will see how these go, so far so good. 

The hardy is straight, it was the best option with the core I had to make. it can be used on different sized anvils. On information, I gathered some knowledge here and a couple of other sites. It seems in this area there is no "good answer" if you will, just a lot of opinions. I pour iron, ductile, steels, stainless and tool steel and it seemed H13 was a good choice. Pricing is pretty much what we charge for the material. I am surprised what ductile anvils sell for, almost the same price, they should be half as much. 

i know little about the step and hardness. My plan is to harden the first batch to one hardness level 52-55 Rc. That process cost $1.00 per lb at best. I  need simple and quick as things are very busy. To be clear, I am a life long foundryman, not a blacksmith! 

5 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

You will have to do some good advertising to explain the benefits of H-13. A 125# JHM runs $574, and they are a good anvil.

A JMH as advertised is made of ductile iron which is an inferior material for anvils. I see their 125 lb product as being $764 on a web site. Link removed

I pour ductile iron daily, it sells for around $2.00 per lb so with machining and heat treat it would be in the $3.50 to $4.00 range. 

I am not going into the anvil business, i happen to own a foundry and doing this for some folks that have asked me to make a quality product. My research showed me H13 was the best material i can make them out of that I already pour on a daily basis. 

4 hours ago, JHCC said:

it may be simpler and more affordable to heat-treat the H-13 uniformly and leave it at that.

I think that is what i am going to do. 

4 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

@foundryguy You taking on custom orders? I can supply the pattern..

Not at this time, my foundry is swamped ever since Trump took office. I have 3 anvils kicking off already.  I would like to see a photo of your pattern if you care to send me a message. 

5 hours ago, JHCC said:

“Soft” as in “unhardened”.  The idea is that the smith can cut workpieces on the step without worrying about damaging the chisel. 

One other question, should the step area be machined to a sparp 

5 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

Foundry guy. how much will these run?

Around $6.50 per lb in H13 with hardening complete. FOB Michigan. At 85 lbs i think UPS or FEDEX can handle them. $550 by my math. 

Hmm? I will talk to my heat treat supplier Friday when i drop them off. I do not know with H13 how localized I can harden and not harden. My main users of H13 are aluminum wheel manufactures, I make components for the wheel molds. I need to farm the heat treat out as we are very busy in our foundry. Thank you for the info

The step and table are going to be machined when we drill the hole tomorrow. Is that what you meant by soft?   The heel was cast as is when we found the old pattern. I added my logo and cut a core box for the hardy, that is all. We can make adjustments down the road should we make more. I own a foundry, pour H13 often and have had dozens or requests over the past year for quality anvils. I am cutting a pattern for a 200 and 400 lb version now. 

Just cast, annealed and machined. H13 tool steel to be hardened to 52-55 RC this weekend. 85 lbs, made in Michigan! We will polish the horn and drill the hole in them tomorrow.