welding on an anvil

[jroady74]

I am new to black smithing. I have an old anvil that looks like someone used a cutting tourch on it. There are Gouges on the face and in the hardy hole. The edges need work too. My question is can I weld on my anvil with 7018 or do I need to use a different rode. Any suggestions would help out alot.

[WmHorus]

Pictures of it might help

[arftist]

Yes, please post pictures before doing any welding. Meanwhile search the site using the search feature. You will find many posts on welding anvils here.

[Francis Trez Cole]

Yes a picture would be nice. If the anvil is steel or iron yes you can do fillet welds with 7018 after each pass you will need to wire bursh the slag off I used an angle grinder then peen the bead once you start keep it going until you are done you will want to keep the heat in the anvil. I did mine and I am very pleased with its out come.

[pkrankow]

7018 is not a good choice. It will be a color mismatch at best, and generally softer than common anvil faces.

Gunter's anvil repair uses Stoody hard facing products, and provides better color and hardness match.

Pictures are very helpful, many anvils have some damage, but not enough to worry about, as working around the damage is very easy. Some edge conditions are helpful for work being done, since edges should be rounded.

Phil

[K. Bryan Morgan]

Here is some information that may be of use.


http://www.anvilmag.com/smith/anvilres.htm

[Timothy Miller]

I forge on my anvil I do my welding on a table.

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Color match! LMAO! Weld the little nicks with 7018, grind it up and use it. Brian Brazeal uses an all-mild steel anvil. Never "restore" your equipment - just fix it. And start using it.

[Dodge]

I third(?) the 7018 thingy. There was a BP a while back (but not restored yet) by Jr Strasil aka irnsrgn on anvil repair IIRC he recommended that rod as well. Jr, forgive me if I mis-quoted -_-

[ThomasPowers]

I had a large old anvil from a copper mine in AZ that the %^&* maintenance crew has used as a prop when gouging. The face was *pristine* between the gouges. I drug it around a number of years until the local ABANA Affiliate held an anvil repair clinic hosted by a Welding instructor and highly talented smith.

He used the Gunter Method and did proper preheat---had an optical pyrometer to measure the temp! Now the anvil is back in duty. (Only two anvils showed up for the clinic which was well as one had had the face milled down too thin to be usable and took 5 hours of work by a pro to get back into using shape and then mine had the gouges but took less time to repair particularly as I requested that it be a using repair and not a Concours d'Elegance repair. I figure my anvil is up to around 410 pounds after it's face lift...)

[jroady74]

thank u every one for your comments. I will try to provide a pic. I am just getting started in blacksmithing but i am a journyman welder. I just didnt know what most anvils were made out of. Thanks again.

[ThomasPowers]

Most anvils are made out of different stuff!

Old traditional anvils have a wrought iron body (forge welded up from chunks!) with a steel face forge welded to the top.

Then there are cast steel anvils, then there are anvils with a cast mild base welded to a cast higher carbon face, then there are anvils with a cast iron base that was welded to a steel face during the casting process, there there are cast iron ASOs.

Knowing the brand and approximate age can help narrow down what construction an anvil has. The book "Anvils in America" by Postman and the upcoming sequel to it is the gold standard for details on anvils!

[Pault17]

At the NCABANA triangle chapter, the big anvil we use for the state fair was just resurfaced a few years back. I asked the smith that did the work (been doing it more decades than I am alive, and very successfully) what he used, i.e. hard-face? He said that hardfacing is not the greatest for anvil resurfaceing as it is too brittle. He said that he used a 70100 or 70120 rod and basket weaved the surface (base run lenght-wise on the anvil, second run side to side, etc) then ground and milled the thing flat. for the past two years it has been used at the fair with no noticeable signs of wear. biggest thing is pre-heating the mass of metal to prevent warping or cracking. at least that was what I remember him saying.

[pkrankow]

At the NCABANA triangle chapter, the big anvil we use for the state fair was just resurfaced a few years back. I asked the smith that did the work (been doing it more decades than I am alive, and very successfully) what he used, i.e. hard-face? He said that hardfacing is not the greatest for anvil resurfaceing as it is too brittle. He said that he used a 70100 or 70120 rod and basket weaved the surface (base run lenght-wise on the anvil, second run side to side, etc) then ground and milled the thing flat. for the past two years it has been used at the fair with no noticeable signs of wear. biggest thing is pre-heating the mass of metal to prevent warping or cracking. at least that was what I remember him saying.

I think you mean 10018 welding rod. The last 2 digits are the coating composition and the first 2 or 3 are the strength of the rod is ksi, or thousands of pounds per square inch.

Phil

[Francis Trez Cole]

There are different welding rods for hard facing some for ware and others for impact. Do not have my book with me. To tell me which ones are for what. I refaces my power hammer with the rods for impact. They have held up well. I made one of brians anvils it was a good investment.

[hammerwolfe]

pre heat your anvil, use 11018 rod, grind, peen, re-pass cool down slow with an insulating blanket.

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

pre heat your anvil, use 11018 rod, grind, peen, re-pass cool down slow with an insulating blanket.

I agree right up to the slow cool-down. There is no metallurgical basis for slower cooling than the mass will give, from any temperature under 800 degrees. The result will be the same as air cooling. Certainly forced cooling (like with water) could raise some purely thermal stresses.

[ThomasPowers]

Yes if the anvil is properly preheated the mass will do a slow enough cool down just in air. (Mine was still hot when we loaded it in the truck as I recall.)

Less massive high C items do profit from a blanket or other method of making sure no HAZ cracking happens.