Anvil Rhinoplasty:

[DocsMachine]

As delivered, my Peter Wright (Photo 1) 140-pounder had clearly seen better days. Beat, chipped, dented, spalled, rusty and probably high cholesterol.

One problem was simply that it was missing an easy half-inch off the nose/horn:
Photo 2


Probably broken off sometime in it's century-long life, by some klutz with more bicep than brains, or maybe it'd just been knocked off a bench onto a concrete floor. Who knows?

I didn't like it for both aesthetic and utilitarian reasons, so it was time to fix it. Unlike the face, the horn was probably pure wrought iron like the rest of the body. Therefore to fix it, we needed nothing fancier than a MIG.

Grind the stub clean of rust:
Photo 3


Squirt on some hot steel...
Photo 4


And a few licks from the angle grinder and an air sander restores the shape nicely.
Photo 5


If only restoring the rest of the damage was as easy...

Doc.

[irnsrgn]

first time you run into that horn with your body, you will blunt it some.

[DocsMachine]

I've spent put'near my entire life in rooms full of pointy things, hot bits, improvised deadfalls and all manner of whirly-blades-o'-death machines. Still have all my fingers and toes, never so much as needed stitches.

I think I'll live.

Doc.

[Don A]

That looks good.

What type of weld did you use for the build-up?

Don

[Mills]

:) that anvil looks to be in about the same shape as mine, I sanded it and have been at it for a while now. The horn looked like factory before you welded it. It'll be interesting to watch the improvements.

[whitebear]

Doc i think all peter wrights have a factory made blunt ended horn on them. all the ones i have are like that and all the ones I've seen/used are like that. not to say that your horn now looks bad it's just not a true peter wright now. Sorry to get testy. it just irks me a little bit. do a little bit of research and find out. if you find out that a peter wright has a blunt end i would by all means grind that sucker back down. Because if I'm correct...which i believe i am...what you did took at least 30%-40% right off the resale price..

Son Daughtry

[DocsMachine]

'Couple o' things there WB:

One, few anvils, even Peter Wrights, are any sort of "collectors item". They're in demand these days simply because new anvils are bloody expensive and even moreso to ship, but more and more home-shop guys like me want to try our hands at blacksmithing.

As in, they're in demand as something to be used, not simply collected.

There are "collectors", but they typically just want a display piece for the garden or the "Apple Barrel" type knicknack wall.

And two, I didn't buy a collectors' item even if they were collected. I bought an anvil I intend to use, and will, in fact, be doing additional repairs via welding, in order to make it more useful still.

Three, if you think any but about 2% of potential anvil buyers would even recognize an "improperly shaped" horn, you might want to run the exhaust fan a little longer. On the other hand, the existing horn was clearly broken- even to the disinterested outsider. The newly-rehaped horn is no longer so.

Fourth, "resale value" is irrelevant, as I have no intention to sell anytime soon. And if I did, any decent anvil up here in Alaska sells for two to three times what a similar piece down there in the States would. Xxxx, I once sold a rough-cut train-rail anvil for $60, and the buyer was happy to pay it.

If my mutilation of this fine example disturbs you that greatly, I'll be happy to entertain your generous offer to purchase it.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

Don- Plain MIG wire. The PW is supposed to be pretty much straight wrought iron, so the MIG metal should be slightly harder, closer to mild steel than wrought.

I'll let you know how it holds up.

Doc.

[whitebear]

i didn't intend to upset you Doc. I didn't mean you were gonig to sell it, or that it was a true collector piece. simply that the colector value had gone down. and i underatnd that you mean to use it. i've dressed anvils so much so i can use themm it's not even funny. it doesn't bother me so much that you did it. as it bothers me that the previous owner hadn't taken care of it at all. sorry i took me agresion out on you. don't worry i'm an old fart i'll try to to upset you to much becasue i know with out a doubt you could put some hurt on me.

Son Daughtry

[ThomasPowers]

Don't think "fingers and toes" think somewhere halfway between your shoulders and your toes...

Now please don't take this amiss; but your logic does not seem to hold for me---Good that you haven't had any accidents (yet); but you know I drove a car for nearly 35 years with never being in a bad accident either---sure glad I didn't cancel my insurance after a fellow turned left right in front of my truck coming the other way...I wouldn't suggest you throw away your fire extinguisher if you haven't used it in a long time either---well maybe I would if it's not in spec any more; but only after you replace it.

I think what you are saying is that the probability is pretty low; but it doesn't hurt to cut out low probability situations when you can. What's that old saying "Live dangerously in as safe a manner as possible!"

When I need a "small point" I have a bunch of bics that fit in the hardy hole--one I made from a spud wrench, forged and forge welded the open end wrench part to fit the hardy hole. Bent the shaft 90. Made another by welding a bit of square stock to a bull pin; it's a vertical and have a small one that was just forged from a bit of stock that's dandy for the sockets on arrowheads...

It's a beautiful job you did though.

[metalmangeler]

It looks good Doc however if you join Apreniticeman's group you may need to blunt it as in a zero gravity situation it could cause a problem. Some Kolswa patterns are made with a horn that looks like it has been cut off .5 inch round on the end. I have one, I have never missed this, I supose it depends on what you are doing. Mark

[sdalcher]

Yup, I was going to dress up the horn on my 140 lb PW. Thankfully I didn't I was moving some steel in and caught the blunted horn in the middle of my thigh. Softball sized bruise and plenty of unpleasant words. I have bumbed into the same place about 3 times now, so no dressing of the horn for me:D

[nonjic]

It looks good !, though someone probably knocked the end of that on purpose after it got 'em in the soft bits!

I fully agree, do what the heck you want with them to make them usefull for us., they will outlive us, and gives the next playstation generation something to wonder about,

Im gonna commit the cardinal sin on mine and throw it on the miller and whip .040" off the face, its not that bad, but I want it flat, so what? - its mine!!!!! - its about 300lb of london pattern cast steel with a pretty good face - it might be softer after, it might not, whats it to do with anyone else ? :)

[DocsMachine]

Be careful milling it, John. I don't know about yours, but the face of mine is hard enough that I'd need better indexible-carbide tools than I have now, in order to cut it. It's hard.

Not that I will- I'm told the PW faces are only about 3/8" thick, and mine has an 1/8"+ deep swayback. If I milled it flat, I'd take a full third, if not half of the face off in spots.

As far as the horn goes, I'm kind of surprised that this group of people who spend their days (or at least free time) in front of raging coal-fired or gas-fired 2,000-plus-degree infernoes, swinging chunks of yellow-hot steel around so they can beat on them mercilessly with large hammers, making chisels and axes and knives and tomahawks and fireplace pokers, has such an issue with one particular piece of steel being only slightly pointy at best.

I don't know about you guys, but if I do something that results in an injury, I stop doing that.

And Thomas, it's not an issue of "insurance", it's simply one of situational awareness. If you understand that you're in a roomful of potentially dangerous objects, whether they're merely pointy like an anvil horn, or truly dangerous like a 250,000-volt transformer, and more importantly you act as such, then the damger is minimized.

Fire extinguishers, after all, merely put out a fire. But I think even you can agree it's much better to not let the fire start in the first place.

Doc.

[skunkriv]

The horn on your anvil was probably not broken at all. If it indeed ever was much sharper it was likely purposely hammered back and blunted the first time the original smith suffered an injury. To his pants. This was quite commonly done. You did do a fine looking job. Bibs are almost $30 now, I will leave my horns blunt (or blunted).

[forgeman]

whats up doc ? nice job on the anvil repair . i have repaired many in the same way, except i use 7018 on the horn and 12018 on the sides of the hardened steel face plate . it holds up pretty well . I will have to disagree with you however , on the subject of anvil collectors . there are many many people collecting anvils and I have seen several old beaters bring more than brand new ones . I have nearly 100 anvils myself . and know of several people with several hundred anvils in there collection

[RainsFire]

^^dear xxx, 100 anvils?
You're the reason why they're hard to find..now aday's!!

I hate when people use stuff like anvils as old yard art.. It hurts me to see that kinda stuff. 200lb wrought Iron rotting away..

[HWooldridge]

Interesting responses...my anvils all have pretty sharp horns. Comes in handy when doing small stuff and I have never walked into one. Maybe I'm lucky or they are set up in a nice feng shui pattern. I use MIG wire with shielding gas for buildup - I think it's plain old ERS70-5 or something similar, can't remember sitting here at the keyboard.

Faces can be dressed pretty well with a right angle grinder and a few sanding discs. A dead flat face is not really as useful as a very slight radius from side to side. In other words, try for straight as possible down the centerline but a little dome across the face helps with drawing and straightening.

[forgeman]

hello rainsfire , I know what you mean , I have rescued a few from the elements also from the guy that uses an anvil for a place to cut steel with a torch and leaves torch tracks across the face . by the way , anvils are not that hard to find . You can buy 10 a day off of E-bay ........if you have got the money lol

[Ferrous Beuler]

^^dear xxx, 100 anvils?
You're the reason why they're hard to find..now aday's!!

I hate when people use stuff like anvils as old yard art.. It hurts me to see that kinda stuff. 200lb wrought Iron rotting away..

Hey Rain, You can feel a LITTLE better at least in knowing I rescued one of these lawn ornaments from rusting in peace.
A 114 lb american wrought ("Montgomery Ward"???) that actually WAS being used as a lawn ornament.
This one will be seeing plenty of good use now that I have lent it to my local abana affiliate group shop indefinitely. Instead of rusting it will now be ringing like its supposed to:D Dan

[Ferrous Beuler]

whats up doc ? nice job on the anvil repair . i have repaired many in the same way, except i use 7018 on the horn and 12018 on the sides of the hardened steel face plate . it holds up pretty well . I will have to disagree with you however , on the subject of anvil collectors . there are many many people collecting anvils and I have seen several old beaters bring more than brand new ones . I have nearly 100 anvils myself . and know of several people with several hundred anvils in there collection

How old are you and what sort of general health are you in?
Just wondering when I should start parusing the estate sale listings;) Dan
P.S. here, have a box of twinkies and some yoo hoo to wash it down...

[Ecart]

I WISH my horn was in better shape. I have a Harbor Freight anvil-look-alike. It's all I can afford at the moment. Yesterday I took an angle grinder to one edge to round it off. Next time I am going to start shaping up the horn a bit. I found out recently how important a good horn is to the work we do in the forge. Doc, you're doing a fine job on that old anvil. Keep it up and put it to good use.
Ecart

[Valentin]

:) he he it's amusing reading all this horn no horn dressing no dressing I also ,,kiled'' an anvil
it was old... and full of charater and then .... i took the angle grinder and ''fixed" it.I have no regret's now althow all the hard work that the previos owner did on it was wiped out in half a day's work:).I was asked the same ...why did u do that why not keep it in the original style ...it was so charming ? I still have no unser but i think i did it caz the anvil was cring for it.If you see an old man sick needing some pills and you think that the pill that you have will help him...It's natural 2 give.

Before and after :)

[Jmercier]

/mourn Valentin's anvil. That looked like a gorgeous old german/austrian style anvil that needed just a little TLC... now it looks like an ugly halfwit london pattern /cry.