I recently acquired an 1890 300lb fisher anvil which I got for a great price due to a heavy chip (1/2 inch deep by 3-4 inches long) on the far side.  The horn has some damage as well, but that's something I can clean up easy enough with the angle grinder.  What I'm trying to figure out is what to do with the edge.

My first thought was to grind a radius onto that edge but it would end up being a rather large radius and would need to be 5 or 6 inches long to safely get past the crack beside the chip.

My second thought was to replace the face entirely, but that was a fleeting thought because as much as I need it to be a working anvil, I want to preserve it's history.

My last thought was to try to fill in the crack a little with some 7018 welding rods and grind a smaller radius into it.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.  Also I will try to post a picture soon.

Just work around that area. Fishers have cast iron bodies with tool steel top plates on the body and horn making repairs more difficult than one with an iron body.

It can be done, but if it is not done correctly it will result in more damage than what you have now. 

Yeah, a picture is a must. A lot of people post stuff like this, when there is NOTHING that needs to be fixed at all. (Except the fact that is isn't being used) From what you said, I think replacing the face is totally unnecessary.

Rob Gunter has repaired a few fishers but he admits it is difficult. If you weld into the cast iron you'll need a special nickel welding rod.

5 hours ago, C-1ToolSteel said:

Yeah, a picture is a must. A lot of people post stuff like this, when there is NOTHING that needs to be fixed at all. (Except the fact that is isn't being used) From what you said, I think replacing the face is totally unnecessary.

Been working my other job all day but I will have a picture up in the morning

The horn on Fisher anvils has it's own tool steel top plate, so be careful with grinding on it.

As others have said, a picture is worth a thousand words.  Post some photos and we'll see what the best option is.  Welding to cast iron.... I wouldn't do it, but maybe you're better at welding.  It wouldn't take much to be better at welding than me, so....

16 hours ago, C-1ToolSteel said:

Yeah, a picture is a must. A lot of people post stuff like this, when there is NOTHING that needs to be fixed at all. (Except the fact that is isn't being used) From what you said, I think replacing the face is totally unnecessary.

 

Leave the chip and dress the opposite edge to a slight radius and use as is working around the bad area( lots of useable surfaces besides the bad chip area).

I wouldn't mess with it other then smoothing it out to reduce any further chipping.

Yes that is through the steel face and down to the cast iron.  So you would need some special rods (nickel on the cast iron, build up and then face rod, preheat and slow cool.  Or you could make it a *great* built in swage and go forward  The rest of the face looks so good you needn't worry about that bit.  It does show the true thickness of the steel face vs the  overhang that many confuse with the face thickness.

Not bad at all. Heat up some steel and happy forging!

Looks like it has some saddle in the middle? Doing that on a cast fisher would have taken some work! Lots of history in that anvil.

That anvil looks like it has done a lot of heavy work. That is not just a chip, the steel face is coming off the base and using it like that may actually make the damage worst. 

Sure it is not an easy fix, but in this case I think it is warranted to weld the plate back and make a proper repair. 

Not often you see a Fisher with sway.  

if that the remaining faced areas are sound then just use it, as mentioned above, dress the damaged area a little and use it as an extra feature. As for the horn tip, if you need the smaller end, make yourself a small horn stake or a cone to mount in the hardy hole.

55% nickel rods,

PREHEAT

POSTHEAT

 

There are a lot more rods out today for cast iron, and I find that most are far better than the old nickel rods, but they cost upwards of $50 a pound. 

15 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

There are a lot more rods out today for cast iron, and I find that most are far better than the old nickel rods, but they cost upwards of $50 a pound. 

I really hate the idea of a shiny nickel spot on a cast iron anvil.  Any suggestions on which rod may work other than that?  My thought was the 7018 rods but I truthfully am a novice and I really would hate to damage it further.

The best thing you can do is just STOP where you are now. Welding on an anvil is far more than just running a bead. The top plate is tool steel and any welding on it will create a heat affected zone. Some parts may end up too soft while others may end up far too hard and very brittle leading to further damage. 

Cast iron welding is far different than welding on steel, and is somewhat counterproductive to what you need to do to weld the top plate. The joys of owning a Fisher ;). 

Just use that anvil as is for now, it will be fine. Look at the scars as indicators of a life of use. What stories could that anvil tell? It is kind of like the old military rifles I have. I leave the dents and dings in the stocks even though they could easily be ironed out. Why? Because they help tell the story of that rifle. When I look at them I wonder, where has this rifle been. Who held it? Stuff like that. If you want a pristine anvil, buy a new one. That anvil has earned its scars, just work around them, it isn't that difficult to do. Do not risk further damaging it by doing a hasty repair.

Not to turn this into a TLDR dissertation on welding, but:

Conventional steel filler rods are worse than useless directly on cast iron. They absorb too much carbon from the cast base metal, so will become brittle and break again in the same place.

You need a "buttering" layer between the cast iron and the steel face, nickel will not absorb carbon and will remain soft. You then put a higher strength rod on top, E11018 would work if you have access. The lower down the numbers, the softer the repaired face will be.

 The Vulcan that we repaired at school has a 7018 face that dings easily, but also cleans up easily with a flap wheel. Students hammer like lightning, they never hit the same place twice. 

There are far better cast rods then the old E99 but they run in the $50 a pound range, which is worth it for certain projects.

I would still strongly suggest not messing with this anvil at this point in time. 

Man, You're Crazy!