CheschireCat Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I was recently on the Anvil section of the forums asking about replace a cast iron face with an steel one. I haven't quite yet decided on whether I will or not. However I am leaning towards not replace the cast iron face. Now my issue with the cast iron face is just how soft it is. I realize that sounds a little bit strange however it dents rather easily, (I was under the impression that Cast Iron was very brittle not soft.) So I was wondering if possibly when I refinished the anvil face with a Angle grinder I might have undone whatever temper there was on it. (Not knowing too to much about proper anvil care at the time) What's your take on it. Attached is a picture of the face. I'll see about getting more picture/video of it. Thanks -Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Cast iron 'anvils' are soft and are not good for much if anything. If you read more in the anvils section you'll see mentioned several times that you'd be better off with a chuck of mild steel instead of the cast iron ASO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubalcain2 Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 cast iron IS soft, but because of how coarse the grain structure is, it is also very weak and cracks easily. cast iron can't be effectively heat treated, so don't worry about messing up the temper --- it simply does not have any temper to mess up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I see you have already been told you'd be better served by a block of steel instead of fooling with what you have. Instead of taking heed to that advice you continue to pursue 'fixing' something that should be better left alone. I can tell you if you want some help here and then shrug it off and continue to do so you will not find this place nearly as warm and friendly as most of us do. On another note, you should add you general location to your profile. You might be pretty close to some of the smiths on here and can learn from one on one time with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 CC is not throwing away our advise, but rather asking for more of it. Instead of continuing in his original thread, he tried to make a new more relevant thread. He even put a link to it in the first thread. As everyone is saying, you can't really improve cast iron. It just is what it is. Kudos though for seing if there is any way to make it better. That's called taking innitiative. Now that you have your advise, you can take it and use it. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Others have said before on here, just because you have it dosnt mean it's the best option to use for what you want to make. There was a guy I worked with in an autobody shop who would often go around asking everyone else in the shop what the best "easiest" way to do "whatever task" was. After all the advice from other experienced techs he would still do it how He thought would be easiest, and usually needed help after he messed it up, or would take forever on something that could have been way easier. Sometimes you have to move something out of the way to access what you need to get to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheschireCat Posted January 25, 2017 Author Share Posted January 25, 2017 Ok, I thanks again for the advice. I am fairly new to metallurgy and blacksmithing in general, so I am asking alot of questions. But In my opinion it is better to ask lots, learn more and mess up as little as possible. Not knowing much about cast iron I sought out help. Simple as that. One of the reason I'm so interested in this anvil is the fact that I have another one lined up, a nicer one, (wrought iron body steel face.) I just need to finish pricing things out with the owner. Meaning I have this ASO left over. I figured at the very least I could experiment and learn form it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 As has been stated, such a cast anvil as you have is next to useless for "blacksmithing" in general. That is not to say it is entirely useless! Some would say it will make a good door stop, I'd suggest it is fine for a few other tasks. It will be fine for light work, a bit of copper or tin smithing for instance. Don't go overboard on cleaning the face, you'll only dent it up again as you learn to use a hammer correcty, which is another perfectly good use for it, a sacraficial training anvil. If nothing else it'll see you untill you can either get the other anvil you mention or find a good lump of steel to hit on. But it is not worth trying to improve it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Don't work steel on it! Smooth the face and use it for tooling leather on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave51B Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I believe you stated it was previously your grandfathers. Why not just put it up on a shelf and have him, it, watch over you while you learn the craft on a better tool. Life is Good Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Because it was an old vise part and has holes in it I would lean towards making a lamp out of it with that as the base, and a "hammer" as the light. Get creative with it, but forget using it as an anvil for blacksmithing. As for leatherworking, it would be OK for bucking rivets, but for general tooling it is pretty small. I use a slab of granite for tooling leather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Many questions have been asked and answered here on IFI from people just starting out. It is better to ask before jumping into something you don't know much about. Also researching is important as well. There is A Lot to read and research just in these forums on almost any blacksmith related topic. If you have trouble with the search function here, try a search engine with iforgeiron after what you are searching for. That should bring up topics on this site. As always asking is good. Asking questions with some base knowledge behind it to fully understand the answers is better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WL smith Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Hey chessy I got a story for you I bought a cast flatter once that was a mess. Filed it flat and had a piece of tool steel sized for a new face The plan was to silver it to the cast. While heating the two pieces in the forge the cast flatter tipped while the coal burned. Grabbing my tongs to restaighten it in the fire it disappeared into a puddle in the bottom the forge. Don't heat that anvil just use it on soft forming or make it a homage to your grandfather! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeaverNZ Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 Hi there Without trying to be critical and trying to help you along maybe you need to change the working hight to reduce the edge hits from your hammer try putting a thin piece of wooden ply on the face of the anvil and practice and /or change the hight until you get nice round coin hits on the ply. hitting on the edge like that onto a hard surface can spall pieces off your hammer at a great rate of notts and would put marks in your workpiece that are hard to remove Cheers Beaver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheschireCat Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 13 minutes ago, BeaverNZ said: Hi there Without trying to be critical and trying to help you along maybe you need to change the working hight to reduce the edge hits from your hammer try putting a thin piece of wooden ply on the face of the anvil and practice and /or change the hight until you get nice round coin hits on the ply. hitting on the edge like that onto a hard surface can spall pieces off your hammer at a great rate of notts and would put marks in your workpiece that are hard to remove Cheers Beaver No, offense taken, however I would like to point out the fact the marks are from when I had first first started forging. Now a days, that particular anvil has both been clean-up and retired. My current anvil, 65lbs (Cheapo store bought ASO) has next to no marking on it. Like you said, those notts are hard to get out. As a hobbiest/novice I already have enough of them I don't need anymore. (That and I also got around to making a custom anvil stand. Perfect height for me, not to mention a few inches ajustabillity up or down.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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