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Liedecker bridge anvil


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Good, bad, or otherwise, USE the anvil and thank your girlfriends dad for thinking of you. Make him something on the anvil and be sure he knows you appreciate the thought and the gift. He may be able to find many more items you can use.

As to the anvil, photos would go a long way in getting better answers as to how good it is.

 

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cant find em in the south.  Been looking, have farrier friends that travel looking.  Hard to come by,  oil field and RR used em.  Very nice.  Restoration in order for sure.  Great anvil, and nice guy to hand it over to ya.  Check out  Jerry Fisk shop tour, he has 2 very nice ones.  

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8 minutes ago, jducharme said:

cant find em in the south.  Been looking, have farrier friends that travel looking.  Hard to come by,  oil field and RR used em.  Very nice.  Restoration in order for sure.  Great anvil, and nice guy to hand it over to ya.  Check out  Jerry Fisk shop tour, he has 2 very nice ones.  

You recommend restoration? How would you go about it, if you have a method that won't do more damage than good I'd love to add it to my mental tool kit.

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Colter: This bridge anvil appears to be cast iron so it's probably not going to do hard anvil work without damage. It is however a terrific bottom tool holder with plenty of weight and width of stance to take hard turning or twisting forces. It appears to be in pretty good condition the stand with tool holder is a treat. I'd be grinning big time were I to get a gift like that. Please do follow the suggestion to make your girlfriend's Father or better yet her Mother a gift or ten. This is no small thing to gift a daughter's boyfriend, they must really like you.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Frosty, hello, how are you?   Two schools here, those that say leave it alone and enjoy as is and express concerns about loss of rebound / temper during weld up process....and folks like me that say restore the tool.  Restoration can affect resell value. 

 1) If there is enough top plate left, wrought  or cast steel- surface grind down to flats as desired.   (grinder converted to belt, start at 36 ceramic 2x72 and work to desired finish)

2) If the abuse / damage is deeper,  you can grind it down to fresh steel and weld it up a bit above where  needed with air hardening steel or any of the recommended / suggested rods (S7 hastelloy  etc ) and methods and then rough grind flats, then grind it flat on surface grinder.   Ive machined them with carbide fly cutter too on a bridgeport, but Ive not tried it on my Burke MVN because surface grinding works so well.  If the rebound isnt where you want it with air hardening steel top plate then just grind it off and weld up with  oil / water quenching steel and heat treat it to your liking. (which is the method for anvils without top plate or cast steel) Yes this takes some time.  Ive done this a few times with S-7 and hastelloy rods.  Works great so far with as good rebound as before.  

3) Another method is: if you have a bs group that can help you strike on a new plate / forge weld / fasten it up then get too it. I enjoy striking.   My local group cant do this but the texarkana group certainly could.  I think these old tools of history deserve to be restored and that's a rare anvil.     Also have a look at "the blacksmith's craft" book     Ive not fixed a broken horn but read on how it's done, and Im ready to try really neat stuff.  

Now Im betting you feel like damage comes in the form of temper loss from the welding build up process. Yes that can happen but then you can just heat treat the anvil (depending on rods used).  No brittle tool steel plate to worry over with proper tempering just like you would with any tool.   easy peasy!    Ive restored a few anvils and lucky me, rebound was good.  My buddy Clay welded /fabricated up a bridge anvil and stand for knife maker Dan Graves from 4140 heat treated fork tines.  He did not re-heat treat,  Sucker moves metal with excellent rebound.   Metallurgy is an amazing subject.    imo Id rather have a fully functioning tool when I can. 

Couple links to look at here:   http://www.anvilmag.com/smith/anvilres.htm

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general-archive/anvil-restoration-88691/

http://www.hobartwelders.com/weldtalk/archive/index.php/t-44362.html?s=03b1bace002aa88445a7bab2714036e4

http://www.docsmachine.com/blacksmith/

Hope this helps.  (realize I have tools/equipment and access to machinery that many do not have)

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Reminds me, I drilled and broached a 1" square hardy hole in a striking anvil of 3" thickness I made with a HUGE tine of 4140 heat treated I got off a buddy from Frymaster.  (This  is a copy of Brian Brazeal's striking anvil) Where I am, the hole costs least $150 (pricing around) but I did it in a tool and die class at local votec as a project.  Good stuff. Love brian's hammer class.   Also made a mandrel in that class, fits hardy and base is 3" with taper to point about 1' tall.  I miss that class. 

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