stevomiller Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Hey folks, only my second post here; was hoping you might be able to help me out. I have an anvil that I think is no newer than the early '70's, might be quite a bit older though. It is marked: Gardiner MFG CO Oakland, CA GARCO THOR 150 LBS Solid Steel V I think that it is cast, due the raised text on the side. The casting seems to be good quality. It is a traditional London or American style anvil. It did not have a pritchel hole when I got it 15 years ago (I drilled one), and it appears that it may not have come with a hardy hole (and some numb nut perhaps used a torch to put one in, then filed it). I had the face ground down about 1/8" to clean it up, since a previous smith had cut with a chisel on the face. All corners, etc are in good shape. It appears that it is somewhat soft, and I figure it is because of the hardy hole incident. I can't find anything out about it online. It appears that Gardiner was a large forge and casting works from what little I was able to find out. Any info from you folks would be appreciated. Thanks, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnsrgn Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Solid Steel speaks well for it, at least it's not cast iron, the hardness of the top is sometimes questionable with cast anvils versus the laid on blister steel of the old wrought iron anvils. The Torching would not affect the whole face just an area adjacent around the hardy hole. Also if you drilled it, its not that hard. It will work well for working Hot Iron, but will ding or dent if COLD IRON is worked on it. 1/8 inch is a lot to take off of the hardened top of an anvil, most of the old hard faces on wrought iron anvils was only about 3/8 thick to start with. Its possible to harden the face of your Anvil if you can find someone with a Johnson Gas Trench forge, You will NEED lots of Running Water to Quench it tho. I have rehardened the hard top of a couple of Wrought anvils that went thru fires. I have a large around 400 lb cast anvil and it works well for Hot Iron . It has no name or weight on it. Sounds like you have a nice weight Anvil to work on. Enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevomiller Posted June 12, 2006 Author Share Posted June 12, 2006 I used this anvil quite abit in the past, with no problems. I then damaged my wrist and could forge for many years. Unfortunately, I left it at the historical farm that I used to volunteer at ~ other folks didn't have the same aversion to striking its face with hammers and cutting tools that I did. It now has quite a few marks that are about .015-.030 deep in various spots. I'm toying with pounding iron again and see how I hold up (I know the anvil will be ok). I don't think I will face it again, though. Can you think of a reasonable method of testing to see if it could be heat treated to a higher hardness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevomiller Posted July 12, 2007 Author Share Posted July 12, 2007 Irnsrgn, I found a shop that will heat treat it for me for $100. I also found a guy that is willing to analyze the steel for me so that the heat treater will know what it is. Unfortunately it will take a piece of steel 1" square by .125" thick; I think that I will take it off of one of the feet. This will be a worthwhile project as it will be much cheaper than a new anvil. Thank you for your responses in the past. Also, I read a post on another forum from a guy that wanted to build up the top of his anvil with hardfacing. I know that you are very experienced at these repairs and I will recommend that he post over here. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.