Hello, I finally finished my needed re-build on my 125lb Hay Budden anvil Saturday. I used Rob Grunter's method and needless to say it works great. I re-built the anvil with 70s-2 wire, then Stoody Build-up, and the last 2 passes were of Stoody 965G. I was a long hard process, but now I can not wait to try it out. With the anvil mounted like it is, it does not have that high pitch ring to it, also if a ball bearing is dropped upon it the bearing will return 90-100 percent of its height.

Why did you ruin that beautiful historic anvil? Now historians wont know how people used to abuse anvils. That's a phenomenal job you did there. Though it looks like a show piece in actuality you might find that paint a nuance as hot iron will burn it and fumes will waft up in your face. But truly a gorgeous job. Now get to work wearing it out again!

WOW that is incredible looking! Nice job. 90% is significant and excellent rebound!

Phil

TRitter, That is a great job! I am very impressed! It looks like you put the flat stock around the edge to help support the weld at the edge when you were hard surfacing is that correct?

Thanks for posting this!
Bill D.

Yes, You are correct, I did use flat stock to start and stop the hard-facing on. I did that so I could control the beginning of the arc and make sure the crater is off the anvil for a uniform height weld bead. It keeps the edges all the same height.

Congrats an a nice job, The in progress pics show excellent workmanship A+A+
Rob

Like others have said, WOW! You are a true craftsman. Beautiful job, guaranteed to outlast anyone breathing today.

Mark,<><

Great job, many many hours of work there. I would hate to be your grinder.

Thanks for the comments on my anvil, I can' t wait to try it out. Darn 8hr day job, B)

That is SWEET!! I have a Fisher that could use new sharp edges if you need something else to do! LOL

Very nice job.


Mitch

Your shop or mine. LOL. Kind of far although ;)

Nice anvil save and excellent welding job!

What a beautiful job. Now, this is a nice anvil. Probably increased the value 500%. That's good rebound as well, and another confirmation that the technique is very workable. Oddly enough, I was browsing through the California Blacksmith archives, and noticed a negative story on the repair method.

Wow, NICE JOB. Where can I learn more about doing something similar? I have an anvil that the top popped off of. Well most of the top anyway. I was thinking about tring to rerface it but didn't think it was posible to turn out like that. WHat did you (or should you do) for a pre heat/post heat? How thick should the stooty be? Did you just use a grinder for the final finish? That stoody is hard stuff!! Would it just be dead if you just used 7018 or some other "regular" rod?

Thanks
P.s. I hope this hasn't all been hashed over before, I just found this site a little while ago.

Cody

I use Rob Grunter's method of rebuilding anvils which has the pre-heat and post-heat temps. If the face is loose I would remove all of the face which is loose and leave what is not. I heat up an anvil with a weed burner and check heat temp with a 400 degree Tempil stick crayon. I rebuild starting with 70s2 welding electrode which is a mig wire. I use Stoody 965g and had luck so far with it. When starting the first pass on the edge I clamp a piece of copper block against the side and lay a piece of 3/4in steel under the other side of the anvil to tip it to the copper for a thicker weld bead. Hard-facing does not like a long arc so it needs to maintain a short arc for porosity free welds. The 965g Stoody which I use is a 2layer recommended and a 3 layer max, do not exceed the max. Make sure the anvil it heated and cooled properly each time you weld on it. When finished welding, I grind it down with 7in Dewalt and 9in Milwaukee angle grinders, one with a Norton, Norzon Plus flat stone, and the other with a 6in cup stone for flatness. This is just my way of doing a re-build, but I am sure there are other ways of doing it, just don't sway to far from Rob's process. If I remember correctly there was a blueprint on IFI which used a 7018 rod for in-tel build-up and finished with a hard-facing rod on top. Sounds like a lot of work but it is kind of fun.

Great job!! Being able to fix or build or repair something give a person a really good feeling. You did an excellent job and hopefully will have many years of good service.

EXCELLENT job. Well done.