Slightly different(?) idea with a damaged anvil..

[ItsMillerTime]

Hey everyone,

So, I picked up this anvil a while back with some other stuff for a very reasonable price (due to damage etc). It's a 250+ pounder, no name and through hardened. Being that I only paid $125 for it, and there's some major destruction that happened through it's life, I've decided to change it up a bit. This project is on hold though, as I recently left my job at the machine shop to pursue other options. 

Here it is in the truck on the way home:

On the shot blaster table at the shop:

After blasting:

You can definitely see the major damage, as well as the torch burns in various places.

Up in the CNC Mill:

Etc. The table was also machined flat after the last photo, as well as the bolt that was pounded through the pritchel hole was machined out.

My eventual plan is to completely machine off the damaged side, then drill and tap it in three places and make replaceable die plates to fit. Hopefully, this should add a serious amount of versatility, due to the fact that I can make the top or side of the plates to any shape I'd like, whether basic flat, or curved/peaked etc, then drill and counterbore them and harden them before installing. The heat treating of the plates will be a virtual no-cost item, due to 6 years of my 9 at the machine shop as head of maintenance at their Heat Treating shop

Let me know what you think!

 

Edited March 25, 2015 by ItsMillerTime

[Dogsoldat]

not sure what I think about milling the face.  lost a bunch of good life there.  a possible thought would be to mill the far edge at an angle similar the Austrian anvils of course no more material removed than absolutely necessary.  would think being in a maintenance shop you could get the required Stoody rod or equivalent and build that edge up.  (the Gunther method)

[Black Frog]

Through hardened? How did you know this? 

[John McPherson]

Yes, it is a casting, but by who, and what is the composition, and how was it heat treated? (If it was.) 

Are you SURE that it is a cast steel anvil, and not an ASO? No makers mark or other ID, rough surface, unfinished parting lines, even on the table and top of the horn would have scared me off. Those blocky sides and rough shape of the horn resemble no maker that I am familiar with, but heck, what do I know?

[ironwolfforgeca]

if its a cast Iron anvil with that much damage its a BOAT anchor !

machining it down is not going to fix that--weld it up if posable  then machine

test metal ?? what is it ? weldable ??

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I say try it, what do you have to lose? Basically what you are making is a hybrid anvil swage block. To keep things squared up will you be milling in a keyway, or just let the bolts do the aligning?

[ItsMillerTime]

My thoughts:

BIGGUNDOCTOR: Thanks! Exactly what I was going for! I'll be aiming for square face x square face with the outer two faces being my working surfaces (make sense?).. Basically super tight machining likely involving shoulder-bolts. No key etc, just very close tolerances.

IronWolf, BlackFrog and John: My thoughts were Chinese or Indian casting, due to appearance after cleanup. Hardness tests proved overall it was the same hardness everywhere (portable rebound tester, didn't want to mar it further with the King Brinell). I can't completely clarify it being through-hard without some further destructive testing, but I'm not about to go that route.

One thing I can say though, is look at the colour of the sparks in the milling pic! Those are carbide bits! Not soft by any means..

Dogsoldat: Honestly, that was 0.060" off the face, and nothing more. Despite seeing zero for evidence of a "laminated top plate" anywhere, I still wanted to remain on the safe side and remove as little as possible.

My big fear of welding up a new edge as a replacement is that it would just shear off after some serious work time. I understand proper pre-heating etc can come very close to being the same as original, but with zero knowledge of the maker or materials used, this is the best I hoped for. Seriously at 50 cents a pound, I feel I really can't "screw it up" worse than it is..

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Don't know if I would mill the entire side off like you mentioned. Maybe just mill a ledge, or 45° to clean up the damaged section. The plates could have a step milled in that rests against the ledge to square it up.  Or , drill and tap some side holes for possible future attachments like a raised edge to set parts against when doing certain operations. 

[arftist]

Cast iron can be very hard. 

That thing is a hand grenade. 

Not even worth doing a spark test on, since it clearly shatters on impact. 

I wonder how many people have been injured by it so far? 

Put it for sale as a garden ornament. The life you save could be your own or someone you love. Do not sell it as a usable anvil, that would be immoral. 

I know of two deaths from shrapnel caused by a hammer blow. One bled out at the groin, the other at the throat, both DOA.

If it is some kind of cast steel (which I doubt) it is heat treated so improperly as to be very dangerous. 

That would be your only chance of salvaging this thing; soften it enough that it doesn't spall apart anymore. 

Seriously it looks like chilled cast iron to me. It certainly isn't ductile iron or any good alloy for the intended use. 

The other thing it might be good for is a sign for your shop. That is it though, it has no safe use other than a decoration. 

I would suggest machining off the top entirely and bolting on a tool steel plate but;

1. It isn't free-machining (why I think it is chilled cast iron)

2. I still wouldn't trust it. 

 

[Black Frog]

Certainly looks cast with the parting line down the middle of the horn, but the pic of machining the top doesn't look like cast iron to me. 

Looks like strings coming off the face cutter, not cast iron dust.....  ?

Edited March 25, 2015 by Black Frog

[arftist]

Certainly looks cast with the parting line down the middle of the horn, but the pic of machining the top doesn't look like cast iron to me. 

Looks like strings coming off the face cutter, not cast iron dust.....  ?

​Yes but have you ever milled chilled cast iron (white cast iron)?

I don't know what the answer is but I know danger when I see it. 

[Black Frog]

Nope, never milled chilled cast that I know of, which is why I'm wondering what the stuff in the picture is.

Anything I've ever done with any cast iron (not sure if it was chilled cast or not at the time) always came off as dust, not strings.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Black Frog

[arftist]

You would have known. Gray cast iron is readily machinable. White (chilled) cast iron would cut like in the photo, barely at all. 

[Charles R. Stevens]

Don't forget that many Farrier anvils are cast of "malleable" iron, a cast alloy that is much more resistant to impact and can be flame hardened. I make a living on them

[arftist]

Don't forget that many Farrier anvils are cast of "malleable" iron, a cast alloy that is much more resistant to impact and can be flame hardened. I make a living on them

​Pretty sure you meant ductile iron or nodular iron. Malleable iron is cast in thin sections usually. 

The problem is neither of them would have spalled. They are not brittle.

[ThomasPowers]

the parting seam down the center looks very much like some of the Mexican anvils that are cast using old *real* anvils for making the mold.  Usually they are made from whatever is in the bottom of the ladle at the end of the day and so some are a decent alloy but unfettled and unheat treated.  I would suggest  testing it for alloy content.  You might just want to dress it and heat treat it!

[Charles R. Stevens]

You ar corect, Artist. Dictile iron

[ItsMillerTime]

Arftist, you've definitely given me some pause on this one..

ThomasPowers, I think that just may be the ticket to save it, if at all possible. I'll check with the local scrap guys for alloy testing, and as I mentioned, heat treating would be no problem afterwards. I've had the unfortunate experience of watching quite a number of new anvils pass through my hands during my indenture at the heat treating shop. These came through shortly before I left:

Sigh...

I should also mention that some of the stuff on the anvil is definitely previous attempts at welding. Again, I don't know what happened to cause the damage, but it certainly looks like it was used as a cutting torch table, which is what I was leaning towards rather than shrapnel.

Cheers.