Lars92 Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Hi every i bought my refflinghaus anvil about 3 months ago and it has already taken some damage. I was pretty surprised since a lot of people say that refflinghaus anvils do not get damaged very easily. So my question is this a normal amount of damage for 3 months or is my anvil dodgy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickOHH Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Those edges look pretty sharp to me, I would use a flap disc to radius them a bit and that would take out those small chips. A crisp sharp edge like that has more tendency to chip much easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 normally one does not hit the anvil they aim to hit the metal that rests on the anvil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 And this is why we recommend beginners start with a chunk of rail or other lump of scrap iron. You are going to miss. A lot. Plus, you do not know how to gauge the temps to stop forging, and will continue to beat on cold iron. A single newbie student did more damage to the face of my 150 Kg Euroanvil in one day than I managed in two years. I have never let a student touch it since. " Students hammer like lightning, they never hit the same place twice. " The good thing is that yours is deep hardened, and cleaning it up with a flap wheel will not take off all of the hardness, the way it does on a traditional anvil. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 How many actual hours of forging since purchase? Are those edge defects dings or chips? What have you been hammering, only hot stuff or tweaking cold stock too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars92 Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 around 160 hours, only hot steel, i have had a few miss hits and chipped a small piece of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcusb Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 What size did you purchase? I have found the larger anvils to be a bit softer in general. Some say its intentional due to there intended use with a sledge hammer, and others say its due to the difficulty of rapid quenching such a large mass. I tend to agree with the first lot, as I have seen numerous large German anvils with badly chipped edges due to hard tops. The good news is the face dings will work out with use, as for the edges, like was mentioned above, you better radius what you intend to beat on or it will continue to happen. Never hurts to have a well dressed hammer to that's not to hard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matei campan Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Use softer hammers, especially the bigger ones for heavy forging, it's easier to dress a hammer's face than an anvil. In the begining I was looking to get the hardest hammers, but, after the first ding in the face of my anvil, I changed my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Can you dress the edge with a quality file? If a good new file will cut, then perhaps it is not quite as hard as advertised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ede Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Matei is right. Ideally, your anvil should be the hardest, followed by your hammer. I've slipped and hit my Refflinghaus with a sledge while forging a hardy and it didn't dent it due to the hardening and tempering of the hammer compared to the anvil. Perhaps Dick Nietfeld will chime in as he is the N. American rep for Refflinghaus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars92 Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 I have a 100kg anvil. Thanks for all the information every. I'll probably grind of the edeges. I tried with a file and I didn't really get far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlinn77 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 7 hours ago, Lars92 said: I have a 100kg anvil. Thanks for all the information every. I'll probably grind of the edeges. I tried with a file and I didn't really get far. This is a good gauge on Anvifire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Olson Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Was this new and unused 3 months ago? Or is it an older anvil in beautiful shape? Sure looks like an older anvil with all those little pit marks all over the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ede Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Here is Dick Nietfeld's recommendation on radiusing the edge from his web bage on anvil maintenance. 7. For some forging and bending operations a small and short rounded edge on the anvil is very useful. This rounded edge is generally found on all old anvils. Both sides of an anvil face usually have a small (2 1/2 to 4 inches) portion of the anvils edges that are rounded. The reason for “small” is to preserve as much of the square edges as possible. The smaller the anvil, the shorter this rounding should be as there are less square edges on a smaller anvil. The heavier the anvil the more could be the radius, but with a new anvil start with the largest radius being no more than approx. 3/32 inch. That would be the roundness of a 3/16” drill bit maximum. The rounded edge can always be made a little bigger, if needed, but not smaller. My anvil has the roundness of a 1/4" drill bit and 4" long on my 330 lb. anvil. The typical older anvil face would have this larger radius rounding start at the round horn and gradually decreasing/tapering to a square edge back about 1/3 of the length of the anvil face. That would leave about 2/3 of the anvil with the anvil’s sharper edges. Today the trend with blacksmiths is to not taper this round edge 1/3 of the anvil face like was typical in the past. The current reasoning is that bending wider stock on a taper is generally not as good as when bending on an edge that does not taper. Also, limiting the length of the round edge preserves more of the anvil's square edge. Therefore, an even 3/32” radius about 2 1/2 to 4 inches long seems to be the current preferred method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars92 Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 3 hours ago, Kevin_Olson said: Was this new and unused 3 months ago? Or is it an older anvil in beautiful shape? Sure looks like an older anvil with all those little pit marks all over the place. Brand new 3 months ago. Maybe its not as hard as they say it is. Or my friends and I miss hit a lot i dono to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 ? I know every time I miss hit, usually ends in cuss words and happens less and less the more I work.. now inviting people over and looking at my hammers after is another thing. They never hurt my anvil tho.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted April 15, 2017 Share Posted April 15, 2017 On 1/4/2017 at 2:11 AM, Lars92 said: Brand new 3 months ago. Maybe its not as hard as they say it is. Or my friends and I miss hit a lot i dono to be honest. So, how did you make out? Any word on the anvil face as being to soft? Did you contact Dick Nietfeld? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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