ThomasPowers Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 I don't have a slack tub in the shop. If I will need water I can haul a 5 gallon bucketful from the hose bib at the house. I've worked too much HC to want that sneaky blade breaking trap anywhere near my forge. A desert normalization works fine for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshua.M Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 Nah, it usually is ok, you throw it into the slack tub and it goes " THUNK…. hisSSSS". Work fast enough for long enough and you can melt a hole of the size you need. HAHAHAHA melt a hole the size you need... my slack tub freezes SOLID Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 For slack tubs that freeze solid, try a heater for livestock water tanks. They come in all sizes. I think I'm gonna get one for mine. Might be in short supply this time of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 I have a couple magnetic oil pan heaters and use them to keep the propane tank from freezing. I warm the anvils with a piece of 1" plate about 10" square first heat is on top of the barrel stove while it's taking the bite out of the shop air. The second heat is standing in the door of the forge. Another good method is hang a coffee can of burning charcoal from the horn or heal, it works well. I've heard cold attributed to breaking an anvil but I've heard virtually all modern tech attributed to UFOs as well. I'm sure if it were -40 and you missed a full swing blow with a sledge you could do damage, maybe knock the heal off. The biggest down check I've experienced with cold anvils is how fast they suck the heat out of stock. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Evers Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 As a farrier in Wyoming, my truck anvil has often been used in single digit temps, occasionally (very occasionally) as cold as minus 10 W/O chipping. Now horseshoe steel is fairy light and at those temps, I never work cold iron, but I still haven't chipped any edges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhitee93 Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 I have a couple magnetic oil pan heaters and use them to keep the propane tank from freezing. You folks in Alaska are a hardy bunch. If I went out and found my propane tanks were frozen, I'd go hide under the bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalmangeler Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 I seem to be in the minority here, but I rarely heat my anvil when it is cold. If you do not miss and hit your anvil with your hammer, you should not have a problem with the anvil being too brittle. It does suck the heat out of your work. This is a big problem when welding other wise not so much. working outside in a heavey rain storm is a bigger problem. My shop is not heated other than by the forge, so it is cold in the winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solano Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Good evening guys, how about warming the dies and or parts of our power hammer, I have an LG25. Any or different input? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 My hot blooded Cocker Spaniel 'Birdie' will do anything for BACON! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yahoo2 Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 An old cutting plate works for me, heated in the forge and dropped over the anvil till I'm ready to start, most of the time I have the same problem as woody, dehydrated smithy, I sweat buckets when its hot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ten Hammers Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 I use a floating tank heater for the slack tub. Have never heated the anvil (even below zero) but I have used heat tape on the wet coal bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 I use a floating tank heater for the slack tub. Have never heated the anvil (even below zero) but I have used heat tape on the wet coal bin. My "coal bins" are some plastic trash cans outside where I forge. For the bin I'm working out of, I just drop in a metal-caged shop light with a 40 watt bulb like you work on cars with and then put the lid on. Keeps wet coal from freezing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ten Hammers Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Dad used to put a 100 watt lamp on top of his battery when it got COLD (read below zero). Indeed kept it warm for better starts. Attached you will see the wet coal bin beside the forge. Heat tape goes under it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 You folks in Alaska are a hardy bunch. If I went out and found my propane tanks were frozen, I'd go hide under the bed. Yes we are. A 20lb. propane tank will freeze feeding one of my 3/4" burners on a hot day in about two hours. Yes HOT, anything above 70f. is inhuman and we have to suffer days in the 80s even! Cold days, say 10f and below a 100lb. tank will run a 3/4 burner most of the day without freezing provided it's at least 1/2 full. Zero and below the magnetic engine heaters keep propane pressure and volume up enough to run two 3/4 burners. I arm my anvil to keep it from sucking heat from the work but I don't hit the anvil, I don't even tap it. Well, once in a while I give it a tap but not for any reason, it just happens, don't know why. Like Metalmangeler, Mark says, welding can be hard on cold days so I use a trick he showed me and heat a piece of plate in the forge to lay on the anvil and weld on it. Works a charm. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Frosty, Frozen propane tanks, ooh, wee not for me!!!!! Just Finished a BBQ. 90+ here glorious day. We're getting early evening storms and then pleasant weather, the thought of warming up an anvil(while obviously needed for some places) had never crossed my mind. It just shows how little we all understand about the ''challenges'' that others may face. This site is great for making us ''aware'' of things like this. Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CleetisMorgan Posted November 25, 2013 Author Share Posted November 25, 2013 So, the next question. My wife dutifully donated her iron to the anvil-heating cause as it's not used much anyway. Won't go there. On Saturday I started heating my two main shop anvils, a 180 lb Fisher and a 154 lb PW. Now, why would the Fisher heat up 3x as fast as the PW? I know cast vs wrought, but I was surprised at the difference. I know when I heat flint for arrowhead replication, the moisture in the micro fractures and the difference in crypto crystalline structure makes a difference. Does it on a big mass item as an anvil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigred1o1 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 my bet would be that the fisher has a flatter top and as a result better surface contact with the iron and if the pw is slightly uneven you are transferring heat via heating up the iron the air between the anvil and then the anvil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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