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Welding a cast steel anvil


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If you are a good welder you could clean out one cut very well and using a dc welder lay a beautiful bead of 7018 in it. Peen it a bit and lay another bead on top of the   first weld until you are just proud of the surface. Then grind it carefully to just flush. Hold your hand on the surface. It should be no more than warm and cool very quickly because the anvil is such a large heat sink. Try that one repair out and see how it reacts. Cast steel welds very well with 7018 when the temp is correct and will take on the same color as the cast steel. If you are satisfied the repair is sound you have  a method that will work. Try bouncing a steel ball on both virgin face and the repair, see what happens. I have used this method for minor dings and torch cuts quite successfully on solid cast steel anvils. Certain high strength tool steel rods work quite well also but the color will be different.  Of course there are other methods that will work quite well also....  Ed.

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I have witnessed that very same scenario...in my shop. Yes, I took that advice...once. NEVER again.

Results are a beautiful edge...flat, sharp, and good color.

 

Dead as a bag of sand. And it dings easily.

 

Not scientific on the heat, but not so very hot. weld a little...ping a little...drink a coke...repeat.

 

Now I have a beautiful door weight!

 

Use the 7018 on the final passes and you too will have a door weight.

 

start thinking on a more exotic rods...air cooled...Rc54 or higher.

 

Carry on

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I thought the OP had a few torch nicks to repair...not a major buildup of a large section of the face. That's why I recommended he try one nick first. It has been my experience small welds on minor defects seem to absorb and alloy with the parent metal and a hard peen kind of forges it in place secured by original metal. I would certainly not expect to cover large sections of the face with only 7018....and never have screwed up a job so bad I couldn't fix it.

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I thought the OP had a few torch nicks to repair...not a major buildup of a large section of the face. That's why I recommended he try one nick first. It has been my experience small welds on minor defects seem to absorb and alloy with the parent metal and a hard peen kind of forges it in place secured by original metal. I would certainly not expect to cover large sections of the face with only 7018....and never have screwed up a job so bad I couldn't fix it.

Not arguing against your post specifically, just the idea of using 7018 in any "heavy" application of repair doesn't yield good "working"results. It serves as a good color match aesthetically, and a good build up rod, but its soft when it comes to forging. You might have an instance of it working better on smaller repairs, and the idea of it mixing well with the parent metal is legit, but anything larger than a small nick is no bueno. 

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Ok. I bit the bullet and ordered 10 lbs each of Stoody 2110, 1105, and Messler MG710. The next two broken anvils I find will get the two different treatments and I will post the results (from my point of view, anyway).

Awesome.

 

If there are any other suggestions regarding what might work from the open forum, I'll review the method on my end... 

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