Follow up on my Peter Wright Anvil repair

[Fe-Wood]

As some of you may remember, I was going to use Robb Gunters Anvil Repair approach and many of the great suggestion offered by all you guys, Thanks

Clinton came up to help with the welding. I don't have that much experience with stick welding, actually, almost nun. He did a great job! Thanks Clinton! Looking forward to the next one!

We used Stoody 2110 X 3/16" almost 10 pounds!!!

My Anvil had extensive damage on both edges and the face. We pre-heated the Anvil to about 400 deg. and welded it up. We didn't have much trouble with it getting too hot, more, not staying hot enough. It was about 250 deg, when we put it to bed for the night in its Vermiculite Coffin. It was still warm in the morning and ready for grinding

I did a rebound test before and after. 80% before, 50% after welding and initial grinding and Saturday, before putting it on the mill, I checked again, it was 60.25%. I'm guessing it work hardens while grinding.

The grinding was not turning out as flat as I wanted, we built up the face about 3/16" and more in some areas. So Saturday I decided to try putting it on the mill and cutting it flat. Turns out there was only 1/16" difference between the highest point to the lowest.

I haven't finished milling it yet but you can see its gonna turnout EXCELLENT :D

I have attached many pictures of the process.

[monstermetal]

As some of you may remember, I was going to use Robb Gunters Anvil Repair approach and many of the great suggestion offered by all you guys, Thanks

Clinton came up to help with the welding. I don't have that much experience with stick welding, actually, almost nun. He did a great job! Thanks Clinton! Looking forward to the next one!

We used Stoody 2110 X 3/16" almost 10 pounds!!!

My Anvil had extensive damage on both edges and the face. We pre-heated the Anvil to about 400 deg. and welded it up. We didn't have much trouble with it getting too hot, more, not staying hot enough. It was about 250 deg, when we put it to bed for the night in its Vermiculite Coffin. It was still warm in the morning and ready for grinding

I did a rebound test before and after. 80% before, 50% after welding and initial grinding and Saturday, before putting it on the mill, I checked again, it was 60.25%. I'm guessing it work hardens while grinding.

The grinding was not turning out as flat as I wanted, we built up the face about 3/16" and more in some areas. So Saturday I decided to try putting it on the mill and cutting it flat. Turns out there was only 1/16" difference between the highest point to the lowest.

I haven't finished milling it yet but you can see its gonna turnout EXCELLENT :D

I have attached many pictures of the process.

Hey that sucker was flat worn out but now looks great! If I can make a suggestion though, one thing I have done on my repairs is before final finish (if its too late dont stress) beat on that thing some with a hammer, it work hardens and compacts the weld and you should do better on your rebound test..

Looks great though!

[clinton]

Fe- dude all that grinding gone to waste? (insert smiley face) We had a great time working on this anvil and we plan to do a couple more in the near future. Here are a few more pictures for those who like to see things

We were able to get some nice sharp edges back on this anvil, next time I hope someone gets some 1/8 inch rod for the final passes the 3/16 rod is kinda hard to control I think that there would have been less grinding work.

[pkrankow]

Nice looking!
Phil

[ThomasPowers]

In the last picture that anvil looks like a real dog!

[hardchines]

Hello, Mark here, I just bought my first anvil, its been along time waiting to find one I could afford and liked. My new toy will be picked up this week, I do not know the weight but looks like a 200 pounder, make unknown at this point, what is known is its in poor condition, worse then the one repaired by Peter above. I have allot to learn about this hobby, I am a decent welder and have stick, mig and tig machines, I had been considering doing the edge and surface repairs using a Mig with 7000 psi wire, any thoughts on this would be appreciated.Thx in advance, Mark R.

[clinton]

Hello, Mark here, I just bought my first anvil, its been along time waiting to find one I could afford and liked. My new toy will be picked up this week, I do not know the weight but looks like a 200 pounder, make unknown at this point, what is known is its in poor condition, worse then the one repaired by Peter above. I have allot to learn about this hobby, I am a decent welder and have stick, mig and tig machines, I had been considering doing the edge and surface repairs using a Mig with 7000 psi wire, any thoughts on this would be appreciated.Thx in advance, Mark R.

I have seen anvil repair done using stick electrode e11018 low hydrogen rod, the guy used this same technique described here and he claimed to have done several anvils with good results, alot cheaper than the hardfacing rods @ $8.00/ lb. The mig would probably be ok on the face to fill any gouges with but on the edge you are going to want something harder than a 70 series electrode

[Fe-Wood]

Thanks Larry- Ya, it had seen it better days..... A while ago.

Clinton brought his needle scaler and we used it a bit to start the work hardening but hitting it with a smooth faced 2 or 3 pounder will be better. When I finish the first face milling I will do that, then sand with a 100 grit disk if needed. I'm not so interested in a mirror finish... I like the texture

As you can imagine I am quite pleased with the results

The dog that turned into the Anvil is Stella, She likes to watch and generally pace around the shop worrying about what I'm doing.

A few things I learned for the next one-
Fill all damage and sway with the 3/16" 2011 clean up the sides and mill flat. Then go back over with the Stoody 1/8" 1105. This will produce an even harder face. Then mill that flat. Not being a machinist, I was a little worried the steel would be too hard for the mill. Not so...

My other PW is almost as bad...

[Sam Thompson]

Your dog looks worried, Nibble suggests a bit of a sit down:

[Fe-Wood]

Thanks Nibble, I'll pass that along :D

[Fe-Wood]

Just for fun, I thought I would do compare and contrast pics. Same anvil different day... A better day

I spent some time planishing the face and low and behold- My rebound test results hit 80% I am amazed how much compression (dimples) I got. You can see them in the second picture. I started with a 4 pound drill hammer then went to a light ferriers rounding hammer. The rounding hammer did better on planishing. More control, depth of blow and accuracy.

[pkrankow]

Its good to know a little work hardening brought the anvil back to its original condition!
Phil

[Sam Thompson]

Does anyone know if WI anvils needed to be 'run-in' when they were new? I've found that anvils that have been idle for a few years improve with use.

[ThomasPowers]

The larger anvils tended to be a bit softer when they start from new and can work harden a bit over time.

I don't know of anything that would make an anvil change properties just sitting though---dislocation climb temp is a bit higher than most shop's ambiant!

I am polishing out an HB that was stored where it could condense; wire brushed off the loose rust and wearing the fine pitting down with hot steel, scale and a hammer!

[Dan C]

Job well done, that looks fantastic!  How has it held up the last 3 yrs?  When you were planishing how hard did you strike the anvil?  I read all I could find on the iforgeiron forum regarding anvil restoration, but haven't found many details on restoring the horn or table, other than what's in Gunther's article on Anvil Restoration.  I would guess that if you are doing the horn or table you would still pre/post heat to prevent any cracking even if you are just forging the tip of the horn?

 

I attached some pictures of the 200 lb PW I recently bought.  For the time being I just plan on using it as is and researching how to do an anvil restoration.  As you can see the edges have mushroomed, but I do have a railroad track anvil that works fine for now as an edge.  As the heel is gouged from a torch and has very little rebound in that area, any resurfacing attempts would start in that area.  The rest of the face rebound is ~80%.  It looks like my horn has been blunted which I'd like to forge it into original shape as much as possible vs. grinding.  The table is pretty worn, I thought to use 7018AC or 6011 rods w/ a Lincoln 225 AC tombstone and peen the beads to build it up unless others on this forum would recommend otherwise.

 

[rustyanchor]

dcraven:

 

As a heads up, most of the anvil horns you run across are blunted and there seems to be a pretty good reason. After you re forge your horn to a nice sharp point and gouge yourself on it, you will re blunt it.

I am no expert on anvils, but from the pics your anvil doesn't look in bad shape, The questions become: does the anvil serve it's purpose, can the mushroomed edges be ground and dressed, it the top plate still in good condition and solidly welded through out ? If yes, why "restore" a good anvil?  If the top plate is thin, cracked, loose, etc. then a restoration is in order

My big anvil has torch gouges all around the top edges and has been edge dressed at some point in it's life but it is still very servicable and I don't see a reason to try to make it "better"   

 

Just my 2 cents (now I'm broke...)

 

Mark

[Dan C]

Thanks Mark.  I'm new to blacksmithing, but have read enough to know that for now I'll just use it as is, learn my way around the anvil and use the track anvil if a sharp edge is needed.  As hard as it was to get this anvil and as long as I had to wait I don't want to mess it up, I'm just considering my options for the future.  I don't plan on making the horn dangerously sharp, but it seems odd that many are blunted like safety scissors when the nature of the work, working a forge, holding and pounding on red hot steel, it'd be the least of your worries.  I'm very safety conscious when working, having everything in a certain place, water, fire extinquishers nearby, keeping the floor swept so it doesn't get slippery from dust & scale.

 

From what I can tell the top plate is in good condition, some dimples and a depression near the step that would appear to be useful if shaping a spoon.  I can tell that someone did a welding repair in the center of the face, but it doesn't seem to have lost any hardness in that area.

 

Dan

[rustyanchor]

Dan,

Please understand I was not trying to be obnoxious, just offering observations from my limited experience and reading. In the end it is yours to do with as you see fit.

My fear with repairing the edges on my anvil is messing it up and ending up with a worse anvil than I started with. I learned to work with the gouges and figure they give Mr Hudson "character".

 

Best of luck.

 

Mark

[Dan C]

I didn't see it that way at all, I have the same concerns about my anvil as well.  I wouldn't want to remove all the character from her 150+ yrs of service.  The mushroomed edges, I see as a larger radius, though towards the heel I'd like to dress those edges up and fill in the gouges.  The table or step was already welded on, which extended to the horn.  I ground and smoothed the excess when I got it.  Then hit it with a wire brush and applied linseed oil.

 

Here is what it originally looked like when I got it.  The streaks on the sides was some tarlike substance.  Based on everything I've read, if I do any restoration on the step or table I would preheat the entire anvil, use a 7018AC and peen the welds, post heat as described in this forum and let it slowly cool overnight wrapped in vermiculite.  I'd probably do some reshaping of the horn at that time.

[Fe-Wood]

dcraven,

Thank you! The repair has held up really well! I use this anvil for students and demos so it has taken some bad hits. I think peening the surface did help. I used a 1.5# farriers rounding hammer to do this. It is still a bit soft as it will show marks my other anvils don't.

 

I just redressed the face and sides and am happy with how well it has held up. If you do make the repairs, follow Rob Gunthers advice. Its the best out there and it works. My rebound is 80%+ about the same as I started with or even a bit better. I heard the other day that the stoody reps refer to Robs technique when asked about using there rod for anvil repairs.

 

The only part of the Robs advice I didn't use was putting Copper on the anvil sides to help build the worn edges up. Mine came out ok but that would have been better if I'd used Copper as the guide. I might be doing another repair later this spring too...

 

Don't try to reforge the horn until you have the skills and the tools to handle such a project. 200 pound Anvil = lots of heat and equipment to hold it. I would weld it up when doing the other repairs.

 

Good Luck!

[Fe-Wood]

PS.

Your anvil looks to be in about the same shape as what I started with or a bit better. When you make the repairs, plan on taking all day...

[Dan C]

Thanks Fe-Wood for the update and suggestions.  I actually thought the repairs might take longer than a day and would need to be broken down in sections over time.  Did you do any repairs to your step or table?  If you had needed to what would you have used?  Seems like in your pictures, it was in pretty good shape. 

 

FYI, in my forge I burn blacksmith coke.  While small, I have been able to repair larger tools such as rock bar as it's built to support whatever isn't being directly heated.  And it does get hot enough as I've burned up a knife I had almost completed.  My thinking was to weld two long steel bars in such a way that two people could pick up the anvil and lay it upside down on the forge table so the horn extends over the forge.  Once it's heated, quickly put it back on the stand to be worked into shape.