knechtech Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 I got a 80lb vulcan anvil from my sister. It was in very rough shape. I decided it was not any use to me in the condition it was so I decided to try and repair it somehow. Since it only had a thin steel surface that was in bad shape I welded leaf spring plys to the top. I still need to temper top yet and do little more polishing but it seems to have have turn out decent. I haven't had a chance to give it a testing yet but i think it will at least be more useful than it was. I thought I would post this in case it would be useful info for anyone else who has old low quality anvil that is in bad condition. Im useing tablet to post this and it doesnt seem to let me upload pictures. I will try and upoad some from computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knechtech Posted December 8, 2012 Author Share Posted December 8, 2012 http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36473-anvil-repair/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36472-anvil-repair/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36471-anvil-repair/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/36470-anvil-repair/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 You are going to harden and temper or just temper? Or did you preharden the steel before you welded it? To have it come out right you would need to harden it first. Do you have a 50 gallons of oil its a big nasty job. Most springs are tempered softer than what is required for an anvil face as found. Looks great but you may have problems down the road because it is just welded around the edge and nothing in the middle. It also depends on how hard you use it. I give you %100 on appearance though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 It looks like you did a good job on the fix, it may be springy in the middle but forging near the edges should be good. I picked up an anvil that someone added a top plate to about a month ago. They did not cut out the hardie hole or pritchel so I plan on doing so myself. Got the anvil and a set of torches for $125 and I would have paid $100 for the torches so the price was right. I would try to use it as-is before attempting any heat treating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knechtech Posted December 8, 2012 Author Share Posted December 8, 2012 I did smooth top some before adding plate to try and have it against as much as possible in the center. As for hardening the top i was just going to heat the top plate with rosbud and drop in tub of water. Im hoping to find good deal on larger anvil in better condidtion sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 I would try using it before going through the trouble of heat treating. It will take quite some time to get it hot enough to do anything with a rosebud. You will need to get to a non-magnetic heat. Dropping it the tub of water may be dangerous and not very effective, it needs to cool rapidly and dropping in the tub will produce a steam blanket around the anvil that will slow the rate of cooling and you will end up annealing (make it softer) or you may crack the face plate. Do a google search on "Heat tratment of steel" there is a very good source from the Machinery Handbook 1924 edition (I would copy & paste but it won't let me do that anymore for some reason) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 Most of the time leaf spring is 5160 that is an oil hardening steel. Quenching in water is very risky and should result in a cracked face plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted December 8, 2012 Share Posted December 8, 2012 http://www.zianet.com/ebear/metal/heattreat3.html Ok I got help read this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knechtech Posted December 8, 2012 Author Share Posted December 8, 2012 yea i think i will just use as is. that anvil is not worth the extra time or risk of losing work involved so far. thanks for advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 No problem, you did a great job putting that new face plate on there I would hate to see you mess it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knechtech Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Thanks. I tested it out and it seams to work great. I actually left the curve in the spring ply when i attached it i wanted to make sure it was tight to the old face so I welded one end fast and pressed other end down tight, which actually took more force than i thought it might. Im very happy how it turned out for low qualtity anvil it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Glad it worked out for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal99 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 That's probably the best Vulcan in the world now lol. Looks like you did a great job. I'm sure it will serve you well for years to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancellor Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Most of the time leaf spring is 5160 that is an oil hardening steel. Quenching in water is very risky and should result in a cracked face plate. Even with all the mass and heat of the anvil behind the faceplate? I would think that it would slow the cooling sufficiently to allow for a water quench, as even 5160 bars 2in in diameter are sometimes water quenched because an oil quench wouldn't cool it fast enough to harden it properly (or so I've read). Though there is the fact that it is only welded around the edges, so the center might cool quickly enough to crack it *shrugs* In any case, as has been said: Nice looking Vulcan! If you get a chance, I think I'm not alone saying that a video of it in use or a rebound test would be interesting. I can supply the steel bearing ball if you don't have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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