basher Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 this little anvil was the first thing I made under my alldays and onions hammer. forge welded 1050 face with a mild steel body, 14lb fits snug in the hardy hole of my 800lb anvil or into a stump. the bick was shaped for spear socket welding (flat with rounded top surface) all was going well until I (for some good reason at the time.) quenched it in brine 80 seconds into the quench I heard and felt a loud thump and the anvil is no more!! The face came off at the weld , seemed like a good weld during forging , why oh why did I dump it in brine , I think I was getting obsessed with the bigger anvils I have started and threw caution to the wind along with more than a days work!! I am glad I am used to failures being a long time damascus maker ,this has been hanging around the workshop for a long time whilst I did a bit here and a bit there and I was getting quite attached to it (big mistake) I will re asess it tomorrow and possibly weld a new face onto it as it fits my hardy nice and snug and I wont have wasted all my time!! possibly a layer of damascus stars will turn this disaster around!! next time Ill do it in oil! Ah, thats what you call a learning swerve ball!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Ah yes the "ouchie". I keep the pieces of a blade that failed in a brine quench (made from a horse drawn wagon seat spring) to show new people that when you are not satisfied with an oil quench hardness and try it again with brine you may not win the bet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Olivo Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Had you tried just letting it cool and seeing if it was hard enough for you? It might be worth it next time before you try quenching it in anything. And then if you really wanted it hard it might be worth wile to work up from a softer quench medium up to the one that will give you what you want. Brine just seems a bit harsh for an anvil. Plus your expansion and contraction rates might be so different that even just letting it cool might have its own problems. Looks like it will be a handy little anvil once your finished with it. I have my own stump anvil from a class I am planning to finish the horn welds on this spring and I just plan on letting it air cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted January 16, 2013 Author Share Posted January 16, 2013 it was defiantly too soft for a small bick anvil such as this. and it seemed a bit pointless steel facing it and not hardening. as Batman says we fall down so that we can get back up again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 Try normalizing it a few times before quenching and use a fast oil to quench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 I spent the last hour of today forge welding a new thicker steel face on to the anvil 1050 again (as its what I have about the place.) Forge welded it by hand this time, with a helper . some heating in the gas forge, some in the coke forge . I am glad I don't do this all the time! its really a 3 person job even with a baby anvil like this. The anvil needs re upsetting into the hardy hole Anyhow all looking good (again) and the shape is much better as I worked a heel and have more steel on the bick . one normalisation (so far) and I'll cycle it with my next ht run into warm oil . hopefully It'll stay in one piece .......brine ....as if!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan P. Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Valiant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everything Mac Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 That looks much better now Owen! Good luck with the HT. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 I remember reading that forge welds done by with sledges took better than ones done by power. I have never had much luck doing forge welds under the hammer other than billet type work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 htd and finished again. much much easier to forge the body and add the face at the end than to .add the face to a block and then try and shape that. I oil quenched in a medium oil , and tempered ar 250C so its not super hard but rebound is good and its an anvil ! fitted in my 800 it looks tiny but its bigger than most of my other hardy anvils and would do at a pinch . bigger square anvil next... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 I remember reading that forge welds done by with sledges took better than ones done by power. I have never had much luck doing forge welds under the hammer other than billet type work. I cant think why that would be . I would certainly put it under the power hammer if it would fit . As an aside it was easier to forge weld it up with a smaller sledge as you could resist the blows a big sledge just moved the anvil I welded a big lump of round bar to the end of the anvil stake to act as an inertia block. here are some piccies anvil on anvil , the horn will have to be altered for forge welding sockets and may become a little less deep. here it is wedged in so that I can give it some. As is traditional with forge welded anvils it has the weight 0 hundredweight 0 quarter hundredweight 14lb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Now that's a fine looking anvil! You done good :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluidsteel Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Just fantastic. Next time a video please! I love seeing rather large hunks of steel being forged! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 To further address my comment "I remember reading that forge welds done by with sledges took better than ones done by power." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D6-w1g3_30 You will see in this video they have a steam hammer but they use sledges to do the weld. Only later do they use the hammer to finish the weld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Anvils were traditionally not immersed in water but had a large cascade of water dumped on the face. This allowed the face to cool quickly and harden plus while breaking up the steam blanket. I have rehardened several larger anvils and in one instance, the owner was there with me and wanted to immerse in the horse trough. I counseled against it but he wanted the face "really hard" and thought full immersion would be better. He was pretty shocked when we pulled it out and saw there were cracks and spalls all over the surface. We fixed most of the damage with a MIG welder but I always believed the face would have been fine if we had not dumped the whole thing in at once. I think the old-time wrought anvil makers figured this out since they made hundreds of them over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 Thanks for the comments, this has been a learning curve and I think I am ready to attempt something a bit bigger next time with a crane and a few more people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Olivo Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Turned out awsome. I loved to see the progress and stuff you had to deal with. Really nifty to read the thoughts everyone has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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