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Refacing an anvil


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Hello.
I am just curious, but how does one reface an anvil? If a new faceplate were simply welded on from the sides it would just reduce the effectiveness of the anvil wouldn't it? (Not being connected to the main body and sucking all of the hammer's energy out by vibrating against the actual anvil face)
so how does one reface an anvil?
Thanks,
Archie

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The traditional method was to dress the face and forgeweld another slab of tool steel on top of it. of course this means that the Fisher style construction could not be re-faced.

Hardfacing is usually TOO hard and should not be used.



I'm glad I read this, I have a Peter Wright that needs some attention in a bad way. So you're saying don't weld it up and grind it down. Simply grind it down and weld on a new plate?
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Weldon, check out the BP's, I'm not sure which one it is (Glenn, ya there? :) ) but it is a good procedure. Also, if you want to check or get a second opinion/procedure do a "google" search on 'anvil repair' and look for the one by Robb Gunter. Either one is a good, sound procedures if followed correctly. Repeating what Thomas P said, hardfacing is too hard and will cause more damage than good. It is also dagerous as it can/will chip and cause injury. (you only have two eyes)

Some will say leave it as is and learn to work around the "bad" spots. Without seeing it, kinda hard to know if it really needs repairing. I know a guy north of you (north of Ft. Worth and a member of NTBA) that uses an anvil that I would have concidered junk! ;) But he does some awesome work on it. He just works around the bad places.

Good luck.

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Some will say leave it as is and learn to work around the "bad" spots. Without seeing it, kinda hard to know if it really needs repairing. I know a guy north of you (north of Ft. Worth and a member of NTBA) that uses an anvil that I would have concidered junk! ;) But he does some awesome work on it. He just works around the bad places.

Good luck.


You wouldn't be talking about Chuck Stone of the Master's Forge would you? I've gone to two classes with him and learned a lot from him. He also helped me build my forge, and if it is, I know what Anvil you're talking about. lol

W
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I'm planning on getting my 473# anvil blanchard ground this weekend. While it was in storage, the area got very wet and despite my covering it up and coating it in oil, it got rusty. After a touchup with a scotchbrite pat it was obvious it had gotten pitted. It isn't deep, but it is pervasive across the face.

The place I'm getting it done has appearently done it before. They told me they will skim the bottom first to make sure it is parallel to the face, then do the minimal grinding necessary to get below the pits.

I'm going to make @%#$ sure it won't get rusty again!

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Well if you are a highly trained smith very comfortable with forge welding and able to safely heat and move large steel masses I would say try to forge on a new face. If you have to ask this question I would NOT advise you to try it.

Rob Gunter's method has seen good service.

I have an 1828 William Foster that is missing 90% of it's face that I keep hoping to use for a full face forge weld sometime; but I have only been smithing over 25 years and so would prefer to work withsomeone a bit more skilled....

If you *don't* know what you are doing welding on an anvil can mess it up much worse than leaving it alone.

Torin. I have a Hey-Buden that was in an unheated shed for 50 years or so that has light pitting on the face. I have done nothing but forge steel on it knowing that it will polish it out in a decade or so...One fellow I recently met told me he has a badly pitted anvil he uses to "texture steel" with.

Thomas

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Archie,
Our shop group has repaired more than a dozen avnils in various disrepair with great success. We use Rob Gunter's process and suggested rods - they match the face plate steel very closely and if done with some care, the repair cannot be detected from the virgin face plate. We've repaird chunks of face plate gone, bad sways (by build-up and grind) and yes, we have successfully repaired edges of a fisher. If you have trouble finding R. Gunthers method on the net, email me and I'll send it to you. Pre and post heats are VERY important. The only failure I've seen was a sloppy post heat in winter. resulted in small cracks in the edges where repaired. If you plan on repairing it, count on 8 to 12 hours of work from start of preheat to final post heat ready to pack for slow cool. I view an anvil as a tool but if you just want to have an anvil as an antique, then leave it alone. If you want to enjoy working on it, fix it. Just my 2 cents. I Good luck.

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My Way Of Repairing An Anvil Is Different.
I Never Pre-heat The Anvil It Is A Long And Tiring Process And Not Eassy To Do.
I Have 16 Anvils In My Shop 12 Of Are In The School ,and Every Two Years I Have To Repair Some Of Them Because The Students In The Classes Are Missing Many Times And Hit The Edge Of The Anvil And Damege It Aspeciely When Tapering Steel.
I Then Grind The Dameged Corner To The Clean Basic Steel Of The Anvil And Aply Two Layers Of Z 2900 Rod .speciel Rod For Welding
''hard Welding Steels,panzer Steels,leaf Spings,manganeas Steels,tools And Cast Steels, And All The Stainless Steels.
The Tensil Of The Rod Is 750-800 N/ Squer Mm Which Is Very Strong And Tough, And What Is Very Importent The Elongation Is 36%
This Gives A Very Tough And Elastic Base For The Two Layers Of Hard Surface Rod.and This Is Why You Never Need To Pre-heat.
If You Suport It From The Side With An 1/2-3/4'' Flat Bar Of Coper With A Clam Ther Is Very Little Grinding.
With Hols Or Cut Or Kracks In The Anvil I Go With The Same Process.
Once All The Face Of The Anvil Was Destroied I Then Put It On A Miling Machin And Very Slow Took 1/8'' Off With Tungsten Carbide Tool And After That Repaired The Corners.
Hofi

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  • 2 years later...

I have a Trenton wrought iron anvil that has the entire hard face missing. It was used hard after the face was gone and the hardy and pritchel holes have the edges curled into the holes. I have read about welding a tool steel plate on top of the anvil but that would be a bigger project than I'm equipped to handle.

Sometime in the past a puddle of weld about 3" in diameter was globbed onto the surface right next to the table. The weld is very tough and I wore out a grinding disk bringing it down flat.

I read Robb Gunter's method and I think that is what I want to do. The LH 7018 is a rod that I'm very familiar with and I can build up the face easy enough. I don't know about the hardface though. I have had 01 steel built up with tig on the faces of stamping dies and I'm wondering about doing this to the anvil. Any ideas?

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Any thoughts as to how well this would work?

Machine the top of the anvil flat. Then attach a tool steel plate by drilling, and tapping a series of holes into the anvil-say 1/2-20 flatheads every couple of inches in a staggered pattern across the entire face. Warm the anvil up, and torque the screws down as tight as you can while it is warm. As it cools it should hold them even tighter. Lastly weld the heads to the tool steel plate, and a weld around the perimeter. My Dad worked on submarines, and he mentioned one job where they torqued down the hollowed studs which were then heated before final torque. The studs had to be stretched a certain amount before cooling. After cooling they were not coming apart.

Another question involves either sheet brazing, or silver soldering a new face on in an oven. How well would that hold?

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