Anvil edges...

[Fatfudd]

 

Has anybody chipped an anvil edge? I have seen some pretty badly chipped edges and I have always wondered what has to happen to chip off an edge.

[HWooldridge]

I once knocked a chip out of an anvil that was about 1/16" wide and 1/4" long - the edges were too sharp and needed to have more radius - so I took a flap sander to it and removed the raw spot.  Over the years, I have seen more hammers spall and throw a fragment than anvils break.

 

Here's my take on why so many old anvils have chipped edges.  The bodies were generally soft wrought iron and would slowly collapse with use (i.e., the "swayback" effect).  The hard plate couldn't take the movement so it began to crumble.  Once a stress riser started, the rest of the face eventually followed suit.  Most of the old shops also had strikers so now the additional force of a sledge is added to the equation.  If the original crack had been dressed, the subsequent damage might have been avoided or minimized.

 

I might also add some food for thought, which is - how did a smith of 150 years radius his anvil edges?  A file would probably slide on an anvil face and there were no portable flap sanders.  I've always assumed they probably took a flat river stone or whet rock and told the apprentice to apply some elbow grease but it could be that fewer of the older anvils were dressed than we now assume.

[Alan Evans]

snip...

 

Here's my take on why so many old anvils have chipped edges.  The bodies were generally soft wrought iron and would slowly collapse with use (i.e., the "swayback" effect).  The hard plate couldn't take the movement so it began to crumble.  Once a stress riser started, the rest of the face eventually followed suit.  Most of the old shops also had strikers so now the additional force of a sledge is added to the equation.  If the original crack had been dressed, the subsequent damage might have been avoided or minimized.

 

I might also add some food for thought, which is - how did a smith of 150 years radius his anvil edges?  A file would probably slide on an anvil face and there were no portable flap sanders.  I've always assumed they probably took a flat river stone or whet rock and told the apprentice to apply some elbow grease but it could be that fewer of the older anvils were dressed than we now assume.

That sounds a most reasonable and convincing theory for the chip formation. I would add that the conditions under which the blister steel was made; added to the the anvil and then hardened were not the most controllable and the fact that many of those anvils survive is a testament to the incredible skill and ability their makers developed. There is bound to be a variation in hardness and resilience given the production system.

 

As to the radiusing of the edges pre flap disc and angle grinder….how about heat and a hammer?

 

Alternatively have you ever tried filing hot iron, use a farriers rasp and it is like grating a carrot, 

 

I believe the Romans had water powered grindstones and I daresay they did not invent the technology...

 

Alan

[Glenn]

How many know how to properly dress the edges of an anvil?  

 

Not just take a grinder to the edge in order to remove the edge but actually dress the edge properly. Can you show the formula for how much to remove, and where? What radius is needed and where? Is the larger edge radius better located at the horn, middle or heal of the face, near or far edge, and why? Most importantly, what type work is done on each radius and at each location?  

 

If you grind away at the edge to make a perfect size radius in order to form the fram on a framinwhizzle, you must ask yourself, how many people are actually going to make a framinwhizzle and need that radius to make the fram?  Then why grind away the edge in the first place? 

 

Once removed you can not add metal back to the anvil to make it original again. Live with the anvil a year. Learn how to use its blemishes to your advantage. You can always take a grinder or a cutting torch to the anvil later if you need to modify it for your use.

[HWooldridge]

That sounds a most reasonable and convincing theory for the chip formation. I would add that the conditions under which the blister steel was made; added to the the anvil and then hardened were not the most controllable and the fact that many of those anvils survive is a testament to the incredible skill and ability their makers developed. There is bound to be a variation in hardness and resilience given the production system.

 

As to the radiusing of the edges pre flap disc and angle grinder….how about heat and a hammer?

 

Alternatively have you ever tried filing hot iron, use a farriers rasp and it is like grating a carrot, 

 

I believe the Romans had water powered grindstones and I daresay they did not invent the technology...

 

Alan

 

I tend to doubt anyone would take a new anvil and redress the edges with heat and hammer.  Granted, it could be done in big shops when an anvil was repaired - but why on an unused edge?  I suspect they either worked it with a stone or simply left it alone.

 

The anvil factories most assuredly had water stones; although I'm not so sure about the average shop - but entirely possible.

[HWooldridge]

How many know how to properly dress the edges of an anvil?  

 

Not just take a grinder to the edge in order to remove the edge but actually dress the edge properly. Can you show the formula for how much to remove, and where? What radius is needed and where? Is the larger edge radius better located at the horn, middle or heal of the face, near or far edge, and why? Most importantly, what type work is done on each radius and at each location?  

 

If you grind away at the edge to make a perfect size radius in order to form the fram on a framinwhizzle, you must ask yourself, how many people are actually going to make a framinwhizzle and need that radius to make the fram?  Then why grind away the edge in the first place? 

 

Once removed you can not add metal back to the anvil to make it original again. Live with the anvil a year. Learn how to use its blemishes to your advantage. You can always take a grinder or a cutting torch to the anvil later if you need to modify it for your use.

 

I ground a fairly large radius close to the horn on the offside of the face for drawing purposes.  I did not measure but it's likely a 1/2" radius that gradually blends toward the heel.  None of the edge radii are intended to form the lower side of any particular item.

[HWooldridge]

Here are a couple of pics of my Peter Wright (this is the one I replated and rehardened about 30 years ago).  I am right handed but work with the horn to my right so that view is offside to my stance.  There is a generous radius that fades toward the heel.