BIGGUNDOCTOR

Looks like an auto body slapping spoon to me.

I'd just leave the horn tip as is. Most of my anvils have blunted horns, and it hasn't made them less useful to me.

Cedar Crest is correct. My new job is light years ahead of my last one. JHCC, what type of work does your wife do?

BillyBones, D-2 gets glass hard. I used it for making the cutting portions of die sets that I made for customers. Wonderful steel, but wrong application for smithing tooling in my opinion.

I would TIG weld it myself. A lot more precise. You will have to anneal the weld enough so it is not brittle. Look on the used market for another one, as they are pretty common and not that expensive.

You can buy a brand new 125# anvil in that price range ($750 JHM) through Anvil Brand. If it was me I would see if I could get him down some more, if not, buy the new one. It is just an anvil, a tool, and it is not in minty shape. For around $50 you can get 200# of good scrap steel to use as an anvil, or with some looking maybe even free.

Welding cast iron is a bit of a hassle to do it right. Rods run around $50 a pound, you need a peening device - I use a large inline needle scaler, and a way to cool it down very slowly - I use gray wood ashes. Some rods use a preheat, others do not. Prep the weld area, lay a short bead down, then peen it as it cools from red heat to black. Brush the weld, and repeat as necessary. The issue with cast is it has a vastly different coefficient of expansion than the weld material. The weld bead shrinks faster, and rips away from the edges. That is why you peen the weld as it cools - spreads it sideways keeping the edges together. When done, bury it in ashes and let it cool overnight. Easy peasy way to repair those items - brazing. One and done way to make it hold the first time.

Welding cast iron is a bit of a hassle to do it right. Rods run around $50 a pound, you need a peening device - I use a large inline needle scaler, and a way to cool it down very slowly - I use gray wood ashes. Some rods use a preheat, others do not. Prep the weld area, lay a short bead down, then peen it as it cools from red heat to black. Brush the weld, and repeat as necessary. The issue with cast is it has a vastly different coefficient of expansion than the weld material. The weld bead shrinks faster, and rips away from the edges. That is why you peen the weld as it cools - spreads it sideways keeping the edges together. When done, bury it in ashes and let it cool overnight. Easy peasy way to repair those items - brazing. One and done way to make it hold the first time.

concrete blade bodies are 4140 according to every manufacturer that got back with me.

Search the forum here for JABOD forge, and the improvised anvil thread.

No I have not. I need to run up there and get a couple of buckets worth as samples to try out.

Strong magnetic stainless is usually a 400 series - 440, 416, etc. but there are other alloys like we used at the shop 15-5, 18-8 if I remember right is also magnetic. 304 is supposed to be nonmagnetic, but it can have a slight attraction. As for the Imperial. I need to get it home and really go over it to see what is missing and what it would need. Definitely engine, trans, brakes. It runs around $3K to do the engine in a stock version, and up to $2K to do the old cast iron Torqueflites. The values of these cars are not what Caddys and Lincolns of similar vintage could bring, and to get it 100% would exceed the value when done. I like the resto mod way myself. Upgrade to disc brakes that are easier to work on and easier to find, maybe a modern fuel injected engine -- a Cummins straight six would fit The 354 weighs in at 720# while a 504 Cadillac is 666# and produces a lot more torque. The old HEMIs do have the cool factor though. That motor in a 2,000# 41 Willys coupe would be more effective than in the 5,100# Imperial. But considering what I got it for, I may just flip it if the market looks good enough, The first thing when it gets home is to open the trunk and see what treasures may be in there. He didn't have the key, so he never opened the trunk.

Not blacksmithing related other than it is two and a half tons worth of steel and cast iron. 1956 Imperial (second year of the Imperial as its own line of cars) with the 354 HEMI. Pretty complete car, that I needed like a hole in the head. But, he was getting a lot of offers for just parts, and I didn't want to see it hit the scrap yard after the front clip and engine were ripped out. Solid floorboards, and trunk. Just surface rust on the body since it was a California car then stored in Nevada. Now what to do with it...... get it running and drive it as is, hot rod it... restoring would cost a ton, and would be more than its end value would be, so I now contemplate flipping it, building it as a patina driver, or hot rodding it.

Frosty, try saw blade dot com.

I would give a call a head of time to see what they have in stock. It is already hitting 80's and 90's here.