Dodge Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 HW, Fine looking anvil you resurrected there! You mention re-hardening it in the OP. Could you expand on that a bit? I made an anvil (CNC flame cut from 4" plate) from mild steel. Its actually cor-ten just because it was the material we were running at the time but mild steel all the same. I use it as is and performs pretty decent for mild steel, but have always thought about a tool steel face. I have considered welding up with hardface rod or the like but the idea of all of that grinding makes me shudder even as I type. I did enough grinding as a welder ;) The method you used seem doable however, but there is still the hardening process to be dealt with. I don't imagine it was hot enough to just quench when you were done welding, was it? Thanks Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 Scott, After the replating was completed, I built a "slit" forge by cutting a long slot in a piece of plate to run the length of the face then welded a pipe under the plate to conduct air from a blower up thru the opening; the blower was a Champion 400. The plate was set on 4 pieces of pipe for legs and I screwed some 1x6's around the edge to retain coal from falling off the plate. I built a long fire and got that going pretty uniformly then lowered the anvil from a jib crane - supporting it above the fire so it wouldn't settle and crush the coke. I heaped coal around the anvil and kept a low blast going until the face heated to the point where it lost magnetism. I can't recall exactly but I think it took about an hour after we got the fire going and anvil situated. A friend of mine helped with some of the labor and prior to heating the anvil, we had pre-filled several 55 gal barrels of water and a couple wheelbarrows. When the anvil was ready, we lifted and swung it aside then flipped it upside on the ground (using bars to manhandle it). We started quenching with the barrels and drums then used a garden hose to keep the face from drawing a temper from the residual heat. The face got uniformly hard except for a small spot near the hardy and pritchel - which is not where I do a lot of heavy forging anyway; those areas are still hard enough not to deform when set tools are used there. Welding doesn't make a face hot enough to reharden - you need to be at austenitizing temps for carbon steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 That is fantastic, HW! I would have loved to have been there for that. Thank you so much for taking the time to share. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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