Hi all,
New here. I've been interested in blacksmithing since i was a kid, and seeings i'm a boilermaker i thought i'd get into the finer, art'y, side of metal working.
I had my eye on a nice 256kg refflinghaus anvil on ebay, but you know how ebay is, only one winner. so i decided to make my own, although alot smaller, and i thought i'd put up a couple of pics of my handywork.
I'm not sure if it will be hard enough though so i'm thinking of hardfacing it or welding a plate of bizalloy on top.
At the moment it has a real nice ring to it when i strike it, especialy on the horn.
Anyway, tell me what you think.
Cheers. rad...

Nice job.

Is bizalloy air hardening? That would be best, IMHO.

Either way, if you weld a plate on top, it should be as close to 100% pen as possible.

Welcome.

Welcome Rad........''so I decided to make my own''.........The mark of a true blacksmith for sure, nice job. Is the face actually soft? If It's tough I'd say leave it be, if not some tool steel plate would work. Laying down piles of hardfacing and re grinding or milling seems like a flail to me....mb

I'd use it as is, if its steel it should work harden as a worst case scenario. And if you have the capability to make an anvil like this, then you have the capability to mill it out and put a tool steel top on it later if needed.

So go with my approach... Hammer now, work out kinks later.

Hot steel is *soft* if it's marring the face of your anvil it's too cold! Also the idea is to not hit the face of the anvil with the hammer so it's only soft hot having contact.

Use it and then decide if you want to go forward with mods, (You might look up the Gunter method of anvil repair if you decide to weld on it. At an Anvil repair clinic I saw an old anvil that had had the face milled perfect---and way too thin to use fet a new face built up with a welder. Good preheat and about 5 hours of work and a lot of rod and abrasives but it was good as new at the end.)

Good job on the anvil. I can't add much of anything that the other guys haven't already said. Give it a try and go from there. Thanks for sharing the pix. :)

Looks great! You will be up and running in no time.

Good job, it looks better than my Trenten.

Welcome aboard Rad, glad to have ya. If you'll put your general location in your header you may be pleased to find out how many smiths are within easy visiting distance. It'll also save us old farts who're traveling from relying on our memories about who's in the neighborhood if we want a snack or spot to nap.

Nice looking anvil Rad. Are you going to broach a hardy hole? The round hole is probably close enough to broach out. hard facing rod is a generally poor choice for facing an anvil. After you get done exposing yourself to excessive IR and hazardous fumes you have to risk eyes, hide and hearing grinding it to finish. Forget milling, even spinning diamonds have a limited life on hardfacing.

Use buildup rod instead, it's intended for impact resistance and not flexing. It's purpose is to furnish a non-moving base so hardfacing rod won't spall in use. Build up rod welds like a 80xx series rod so it lays pretty smooth, requires no preheat unless your anvil stock does that is, and is merely a pita to grind rather than health and appendage risking.

As said though, the idea is NOT to hit the anvil, do your hammering on HOT stock. Even mild steel of those dimensions will stand up well. If your anvil stock is med or higher carbon and is subject to work hardening try blunting a needle scaler or using a planisher in an air hammer and beat the snot out of it.

If any of these things fail you, your anvil is nice enough to sell for a good price and you can build yourself another. You might want to take a look at Brian Brazeal's home made anvils. After spending a few days with Brian and Lyle I now see how truly useful his anvil design is.

Frosty the Lucky.

Looks great! If you go to the local farm store and buy a "cow magnet" you can stick the magnet under the tail of your anvil and the magnet will absorb a lot of the sound. Again, you did a great job.

Color me slightly green with envy. Great job though, nicely done.

Thanks Guys,
Yeah i think i'll just use it and if it gets too mauled up by me learning how to handle a hammer then i'll just mill it and put a plate of bisalloy on top. we have heaps of them, use them as wear plates on our skid pumps.
I took to one with a lump of steel and could'nt put a mark on it, so it should be tough enough for an anvil. ;-)
Was'nt going to put a hardy hole in it, too much messing around for me ;-) I'll just make up tooling to suit my pritchel hole, its 25mm so should be strong enough, and i'll make somthing to hang over the end of the anvil so it does'nt rotate while using it. sound like a plan?? It'll do for a first i guess, one day i might make a big one when i have the time and the steel, maybe aroung 250-300kgs with all the bells n whistles. there i go, dreaming again.
Anyway, thanks for all the great coments, makes all the hard work worthwhile.
Cheers, rad... :-)

Square holes aren't THAT hard to make, it is fiddly though. A diamond point cold chisel can help.

Phil

A Q&D method of turning a round hole to a sq one is to drill it oversized and then drop a piece of Sq structural tubing in it and weld in place---probably take less time that making your tools with a outrigger. A good weld at the top and bottom should do it, no need to get the middle as well.

Wear plates are fairly good for anvil faces, they're impact resistant but being abrasion resistant can be a problem if you ever need to dress it. Still, it's unlikely a mere human will do much damage to a skid plate.

Broaching a rd into a sq hole isn't that much fiddlin but if you don't have a broach or somewhere you can borrow or rent one. . . A 25mm rd hole is plenty to run a saber saw in, pick the right tpi and take your time and you can just saw a hardy hole.

You can also forge your hardy tools with a tapered shank like Brian Brazeal's and they'll fit fine, be solid and easy to remove. It'd be good practice forging large stock too.

A sq. sleave works well too, the radiused corners are no concern.

Frosty the Lucky.