i have just bought my friend and mentors b36 kohlswa anvil i wanted to honor
him by keeping his anvil alive. plus it is the best anvil i have used.

my question is the hardy hole is not true 7/8 and a very little out of square.
can i grind or file it to square (how and what to use) or will it be easier to
adjust all my hardies to fit. all my hardies fit well in the hardy holes on my trenton and vulcan. as soon as i figure out how to put pictures on i will
show some. i work with hammers and steel not computres

It's your tool so if you want to adjust the hardy go ahead. You want to use a square or triangular file that is about 1/2 inch on all faces and long enough to allow control of both ends. It is a laborious process since the anvil is hardened. It's a laborious process even if the anvil was not hardened! To check square use inside vernier calipers and long reach calipers that can lock and measure the diagonals and the widths. The opposite dimension should be the same, so your widths should be the same at all locations in both directions and both diagonals should be the same. If all your dimension match the opposites then there is little likelyhood of the sides being excessively out of line.

If you ever make a bolster block its the same process if you cannot have it machined. I'm almost done filing and I've been doing that for about 3-4 hours over the past few weeks, and my bolster is 1 inch mild plate. I'm just cleaning up the artifacts from drilling the bulk of the material away. I intend to give making hardies a try, but fear cracking my cast iron anvil.

That said, removing a few thousandths to square up the hole is one thing, trying to resize the hole for 1 inch tools is probably silly. Don't forget to put a generous radius on the new edge of the hole when you are done.

Making all your tools fit this hole will probably be less intensive work, even though there may be a position some tools won't fit. I would limit adjusting the hardy to eliminating that condition, or live with it and mark the tools clearly for position.

Phil

thanks for the info. i think i will file the hardy hole square. i'll keep you posted on my
progress.

Harbor freight has mini belt sanders. Air or electric. about 1/2 in belt and long enough
to get all the way down. On sale it was about $19. Cleaned up two of mine.
Ken.

I wish I found that a few weeks ago!
- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
Phil

that thing may be junk, but it's perfect for this application. when I repaired my PW, I didn't get a perfect right angle on the piece I added, so it's kinda a pain to work with hardy tools.

i have one of those sanders it has worked great for squaring up some holes i had to do i would recomend it if theres a store close and theres allways a 20% coupon floating around on the net and magazines

i think i have the picture thing figured out.
and thanks agian for all who have given info.

matto -check your private message -grant

These will cut any anvil:
Diamond Files: Large Diamond Files, Diamond File Blade, Flat, Round, Square
I use them frequently on a variety of hard metals.

Engineer Mike,
Welcome aboard and thanks for the tip!
Phil

Phil for your bolster block. get it hot and drift it out.

I had the same issue with the 1" Hardy on my Nimba Gladiator... I used a Dynafile air sander like Harbor Freight there talking about. Between power and hand tools I bet I had 4 hours work in getting it sized where I wanted, but now my tools are all rock solid and all seat just as I want... so its worth the work for sure... Good luck!

I though about that, but didn't buy stock to make a drift out of. If I ever try to do this again, or make additional shapes in this block then drifting will be part of the plan.

Would a mild steel drift be adequate to drift out a hot mild steel block? How about something hardenable like 4140? I've been thinking about that anvil I saw, I think Brian Brazeals, looks a lot like my bolster block, only bigger and with legs.

Phil

I guess I should post a pic at some point. Not today, too cold and my anvil is frozen to the floor of the garage. I don't want to even look out there right now.
Phil

Edited December 11, 200916 yr by pkrankow

A mild steel drift should do just fine.