Reconditioning a Face

[PaulKrzysz]

I have a anvil with many chisel marks on the face. Most are not over 1/32'' deep. I would like to know what methods anyone would recommend to smooth the face down. Belt sander? Angle Grinder? Or are you feeling cynical and want me to file it?
Thank you!

[wd&mlteach]

If they are not too deep as you are suggesting I would use a belt sander. I would also search this out as others have asked this question before. If I were cynical I would have suggested a leather strop.

[ThomasPowers]

First of all is their enough face thickness not to worry about losing some of it?

If so a belt sander should do it and you do NOT want to grind all the way through every dent! Just clean it up a bit. The old large anvils tended to have softer faces due to auto tempering and slower quenches and so often show more dings.

[Sask Mark]

My large anvil was in a little worse shape than yours. I spent about 8 hours with a friend preheating, welding, grinding etc. to rebuild the face. You need to follow the correct methodology with the right rods to get acceptable results.

[pkrankow]

Try it and see if they transfer to your work. I suspect they will not affect hot work.

Phil

[Rich Hale]

Before you use a grinder take a small ball pein and work around each mark carefully and the dings may close up. Then a flatter hammer for more of the same..i suspect the anvil will work out fine if youi do this and not need anything more aggressive.

[Old N Rusty]

I had an idiot drive a chisel into the face of my mousehole anvil. The dings closed up nicely with a lot of ball peen hammering and T.I.G. welded 1/16" E 70-S2 mild steel . Weld with very low amperage , peen each tiny pass. Do not build up a bump, just fill cracks. I would not use a grinder at all on the anvil . A belt sander or sandpaper flap discs should be all you need to finish it .

[murfcabbage]

I went the hard way and it worked real good. I took a file to my fisher which had a dinged up face. The file stays flat on the face and I just elbow greased the bugger. After maybe 10-30 minute sessions, the face came out really nice, no heat build-up, no over grinding. The beauty of the file is that you will not overdo it. Major arm work though.

[macbruce]

#36 grit cup wheel held FLAT in swirling motions across the whole face, then on to Finer grit flap discs flat across the whole face. The dissapearing marks are a good indicator of how even your progress is. I wouldn't try to get all the marks on that one, works for me.........

[PaulKrzysz]

I put a little work into it this weekend. I used a angle grinder with a cutting disk, then a belt sander, and finished it by hand.
http://s1137.beta.photobucket.com/user/Paulky/media/kk162.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
If someone can tell me how to put decent sized pictures in my post I would appreciate it.
If i upload then directly they are always too big.

[pkrankow]

You need to resize your images. 800x600 is a good size. Under "More reply options" next to the "post" button is the stuff for attaching images.

I use GIMP for resizing. There are more lightweight programs out there though.

Phil

[David Gaddis]

Phil is right however that is over simplified. Think in steps. Get a program that will allow you to import pics and re-size them. Here it may seem very complicated..but ...when re-sizing a picture most programs are thinking in inches. Generally right there beside the options area you chose pixels instead of inches or dots per inch. Most here will choose 400 or 600 or 800 pixels in the horizontal choice. That makes a decent size picture that is easy to upload or download or look at.
Good luck with your very nice anvil.

Carry on

[pkrankow]

delete