Jack Olsen Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 All right. I'm not a blacksmith, and don't have plans to get a forge anytime soon. I recently learned to weld, and built a bench that I could pound stuff on. While I was working on that, I first took a look at this forum and -- through a picture a user here posted -- ended up making an impulsive purchase of what I'm sure is a useless lump of cast iron. (The dollar is to show scale. I don't need any jokes about it being the most valuable thing sitting on the bench.) Still, if I could mount this thing on something about stump height, I think it would have some use when I need to flatten/bend/break something in my shop. It weighs 202 pounds and is 12" high and 32" long. The most immediate problem is that the face of the thing isn't flat. It looks to have been cast one half at a time and joined together -- poorly. My question: is there a cheap/free/reckless way to machine down the face of this thing? It's too heavy to lift easily, much less ship. I'm hoping someone's got a clever suggestion for grinding the rise out of the center by repurposing my existing tools. Any ideas? Jack Olsen Los Angeles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 The "seam" on the anvil is the parting line. It was cast as one piece, just never finished after casting. It is either cast iron, or cast steel. A spark test should let you know what you have. Dull sparks = iron. Sparks that are bright and have secondary sparks = steel. Also, the sould should tell something. Dull thud is probably iron; ringing should be steel. Will either be a decent anvil or a good doorstop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 No pritchel hole, casting seam right down the center of the face---with draft ugh! Modern mexican cast anvil---watch out as that is a very thin heel even for a cast steel anvil! If it cast steel you don't know what alloy and you are assured it wasn't heat treated. (if it is an hardenable alloy dressing it and then hardening it might make a good anvil out of it!) Do you have a large angle grinder that you can hog metal off with? Can you talk a local Vo-Tech to mill the face for you as a class project? Like using large bastard files drawfiling it while watching TV? Now for an out of the box thought---you may want to leave a section with a slight curve up on it to make for faster drawing, sort of a wide bottom fuller. Hope you didn't pay more than 50 cents a pound for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewOC Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Hi Jack, welcome to iforge forum! Even a cast iron block comes in mighty useful, so don't fret on that point. In my humble experiance, a perfectly squared and precision ground anvil is rarely needed- it all depends on your intended useage. May i suggest just grinding off the sand cast impressions of the top surface and say 1.5" down from the top on the sides; also 'break' the arris. No need to worry about flattening the camber from the parting line; get to know the anvil first and what you need from it. Some users find such a feature useful. Form radius on the edges as you find out more about them- what you want and where.My favorite implement for such work is a 9" angle grinder but they are to be used ONLY with experiance and great awareness. after all it is your anvil AndrewOC ps there would be many other more worthy discussions about 'anvil dressing' on this forum, check out in a search. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 It certainly looks more like an anvil than what Harbor Reight sells as one. Clean up the top and the horn and see how it works. Like Thomas said I hope you didn't pay a whole lot for it but if you did so what you got something to work on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 To summarize, lets not jump to conclusions. Clean it up and see if, and how well, it works for you, and whether it is simple cast iron, or possibly cast steel. Worst case, even cast iron is better than a rock. Even a rock is usable. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Mulholland - Tetnum Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 i used a cast anvil for a year and a few different rocks before that and it is cast better than the anvils at HF and i have a used an anvil that looked a whole like that with no mark or pritchel it had a dull ring and was definitely not cast iron but some non heat treated steel do not go try and heat treat this just yet try a wire brush and do a bounce test on it not a grinder and a worst a 120G flap wheel just to get a better look at what you're dealing with or just go use it and tell us how it works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Mulholland - Tetnum Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 a picture of the bottom of the horn or heel would help tremendously with the anvil ID Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt993fod Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 I would be very surprised if that was cast iron. As has already been suggested, a quick tap with a hammer will tell you if it is iron or steel. Just be careful with the heel. It really is a little bit thin. Even if it was cast iron, you arent actually doing blacksmithing so it doesnt matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Matt these things are cast in Mexican foundries with whatever is left in the ladle at the end of the day. Could be most anything but unlikely they would be a top grade steel as they are sold cheap! Don't know why you would be surprised if it was CI; could it be that you are not familiar with the Mexican foundry business? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Jack, I'm curious, just how much did you pay for this Mexican cutie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sask Mark Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 It's actually a nice looking anvil. See if you can swap it with someone that has a high quality anvil sitting in their garden as an ornament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trying-it Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 The day you decide that anvil is too ugly and/or of NO further use to you, just ship it here to southern Illinois and I will put that poor anvil out of its misery for you. You pay the shipping of course. Any anvil is better than no anvil. Now that you have it, start having some fun with it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avadon Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 The Great thing about an anvil like this is if you miss with the hammer your not going to start crying. For what it is you will get great use out of it. Why not just use it as is without touching it at all and see what you think. Then later you can decide if you want to spend time cleaning it up, and if so what you intend to do with it. Remember a lot of people don't have any anvil or ASO when they start. They are literally beating on a piece of scrap steel from a junkyard and the fact that your ASO is 200lb+ is nothing to gauk at. A lot of people start with those russian harbor freight 90lb ASO's. Build or borrow a forge and try it out. You might like smithing so much that this anvil becomes the anvil you started learning on. / my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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