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I Forge Iron

Anvil sketch and questions


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Alright, For my grad present, I went to my local scrapyard and bought myself 150# of steel. I'm going to make myself an anvil. I don't think it's any kind of alloy. As far as I know, this isn't some special alloy of some kind, it's relatively soft, but it still has decent rebound already. 

 

GwUXih.jpg

 

As for the layout, I figured I want to make something I can't buy. I really like the german and french hornless styles. So here's what I came up with as a design.

ckxMUh.jpg

NBfPx.jpg

 

So what I'm asking is.

What would you suggest for methods of cutting this shape out? or would you suggest welding the pieces onto the sides?

 

Also, for the hard face, I'm thinking one of two methods.

 

One, I buy a tool steel plate, and weld it onto the top.

 

Two, I try to find some sort of large torch, preheat the anvil, get some hard surfacing welding rods, and weld a layer onto the top.

 

So any advice is welcomed, along with any comments that this is a terrible idea and I'm doing it completely wrong. 

 

Thanks for taking a look.

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If it were me I`d cut off the handles and use it till I bumped up against something that required me to modify it then I`d do only the mods needed to complete the job at hand.

In my world function trumps form every time. Once you get it to the point it does everything you need it to do THEN you can focus on making it pretty. My guess is that when that point comes you`ll be too busy making pretty projects to worry about what others think about the tools you`re making those good looking projects on.

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Maybe a water jet can cut the shape you want? Or an eight inch grinder with several metal grinding discs. I've seen a couple of guys attach a piece of tool steel. But if your just going to hammer hot steel on it, I don't think hard facing it will be necessary.

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for Mainelybob. I understand where you're coming from, but the point of this project isn't exactly function. At the root of it, yes. I do want a functional anvil, but I could just buy one. I want to make an object that I feel is beautiful, and something I'm proud to say that I made. But I also want to beat metal on it.

 

I also have the time to do this, so it's not like I'm losing valuable time in this thing. I want to learn, have fun and be proud of my anvil.

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Maybe a water jet can cut the shape you want? Or an eight inch grinder with several metal grinding discs. I've seen a couple of guys attach a piece of tool steel. But if your just going to hammer hot steel on it, I don't think hard facing it will be necessary.

 

do you think a water jet could cut through 4.5 inches of steel? if so that would be my best option. I was going to cut it by torch, but I don't have the equipment for that. My oxy-acetylene setup can't do more than 2 inches nicely.

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Well there's honestly no way for me to know. I can try cutting a bit and attempt to harden to see if it'll take, but I'm willing to be money that it's just some A36 MILD steel. This stuff was in a gigantic pile of scrap. All from the same source. They were all leftovers from cutouts of some bigger pieces. There was way too much and I got this for 15 cents a pound. I doubt it's anything more than mild steel.

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Is it 3",4" thick. Probably not A36 probably a more weldable mild steel, Possibly 516-70 or the like. Cut a a small piece see if it hardens.

 

I'd set up a guide bar and use a 4-1/2" grinder to make the windows use one of these to dress it out.

12-Cplugwhl_rnd.jpg

 

 

 

. Unless I had a buddy with a mill.

 

Weld on a tool steel plate? If you just weld the edges, you will leave a dead air space under the top plate, not as good as forge welded plate.

 

I'd go with the hard face rod, preheat to 200F. Check out the weld supply for prices. 

 

But first I'd hammer on it a while and see how it works for you.

 

I've built a couple anvils with and with out hardface. My favorite was a block anvil with a stellite face.

 

There is nothing like making your own tools, and a church window anvils are just classy . IMO

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Thanks everyone. So I went on yellowpages and I found a place near me that do high pressure waterjet cutting. I'll see if they can cut my piece, if so that'd be my best option. As for the church windows, I know this really nice guy who's a machinist, he might be able to mill that in there. It seems like I won't be doing all that much work myself eh? 

 

For the hard face. I'll see what I can come up with. I'm gonna go see my welding supplier and see what he can offer as a deal for hard surfacing rods, cause that can get pretty xxxx expensive. otherwise I'll just dish out the 60 bucks and get myself a plate of tool steel, give my anvil's top a nice deep bevel and get about at least an inch of penetration under the plate. There's no reason that wouldn't hold.

 

As soon as I make any changes I'll be sure to show you guys.

 

Thanks a whole lot.

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Don't hardface it unless you have all the time in the word to grind it to a decent finish and don't mind it cracking and spalling in use. I'm not going to offer an opinion of the form is more important than function camp, not my thing. Adding weight is more beneficial to working than removing it. Machining the cathedral windows is about it for decent results and not taking forever. you don't need them to be deep, they only have to represent the cathedral features, not be historically accurate. The viewer's mind's eye will fill the details so all you really need to do is suggest the features.

 

Best of luck, have fun.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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You could do a full penetration weld on that church-window plate without too much difficulty by standing it off of the side a bit and snaking a thin rod into the gap.  Basically, the same technique you would use to weld a plate onto the top.  

 

But even if you didn't manage to get complete penetration of the weld, the airspace left is on a non-working side.  Not really a critical area, imo.

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But even if you didn't manage to get complete penetration of the weld, the airspace left is on a non-working side.  Not really a critical area, imo.

 

True. I'll see how much getting the block machined costs and then see if it's worth it. But I might do that and it'll give me more mass in the end. 

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Elsewhere on this sight is a thread about an anvil I made. I did hard face it using Hobart Hardalloy 48. The face was 9.5 x 20. It took me 7 hours of welding to hard face it plus several more to do the grinding with a 9" angle grinder. The Hardalloy 48 is NOT a high wear risistance rod but does get into the mid 50s HRc which is just fine for an anvil. I did not have any cracking problems with this rod, but I have had those issues with much more highly alloyed rods are are designed to stress relieve by cracking.

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