Sonicadventure Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Hi and thanks for the forum. i have need of a smaller anvil for forging small items. I bought the $19 15-pound cast iron anvil from Harbor Freight last night. My plan was to trace the face of this thing and cut a piece of tool steel about 3/8” thick, drill and square a hole for the hardys, and have my neighbor help me weld it to the face of this anvil. i guess my questions are: 1. Can tool steel be welded to cast iron? If so what kind of tool steel would be best for an anvil face? 2. What kind of surface prep should be done to the anvil? It is coated all over (except the striking face) with some kind of blue paint. I was thinking I would just put this thing in my fireplace and let it burn off and then cool overnight. Good idea or bad idea? 3. What would be the best tool steel to use for this? After I have it shaped to fit, what type of heat treatment should I do to it prior to the welding? I was thinking a cherry red oil quench, weld, and then temper the whole anvil at like 450 for a few hours in the oven after the weld. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Welcome to the forum! Facing a cast iron anvil with tool steel is unfortunately not a job that the average guy can handle. The cast iron, tool steel face anvils such as the ones made by Fisher were faced by an entirely different process than electric arc welding. So the short answer is no. ...the good news is that you can buy a %100 tool steel anvil with the small face you are wanting but with MUCH more mass under the hammer for less than you will ever spend on a Harbor Freight door stop!! Take a trip to the local scrap yard, and pick up a larger axle, or any solid piece of steel for that matter. Even a sledge hammer head makes for a respectable anvil. You can use a vise (or the Harbor Freight ASO) for your hardy tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Welding cast iron requires special processes and rod (I am aware of at least one company claiming to make a rod that doesn’t require preheat but it’s much more expensive than the already expensive high nickel rod) then you would have to lay down impact resistant hardfacing rod (generally 2 layers of two different expensive rod). Even done yourself it’s expensive in preheat fuel, electricity, rod and grinder disks. as C-1 alludes to their are much less expensive ways to go. first I would recommend a quick google images search for “Iron Age anvils” and “Viking age anvils” (image search helps get around all the heavy metal band, software and sports returns). Second have a look at the pined posts concerning improvised anvils Or here Drops from machine shops, large pins and axles from heavy equipment repair shops, scrap from salvage yards etc. a portable hole can be made easily (square hole in small heavy plate welded to a heavy wall tube) for a hardy hole. Wile a bric can be forged as well. We have a lot of information available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 7 hours ago, Sonicadventure said: Hi and thanks for the forum. Welcome to the forum... It will be more expense and trouble than it's worth. https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/53873-read-this-first/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 At my favorite scrap yard a piece of 4"x4"x8" steel weighs about 80 pounds and costs US$16 and will be a much better anvil than the HF one will ever be! I also find pieces of dozer plate with 1" sq holes in it---got a 50# piece ($10) sitting by my door right now. I hope you haven't blown your budget buying stuff that won't work before researching what does work. But the lesson is *priceless* anyway. Stop by as I generally keep some "starter kit" stuff to hand as new folk seem to have trouble finding it and I can find it faster than I can get rid of it...(I plan to visit the scrapyard next Saturday morning...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Hammer Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 You could even buy a really abused smaller anvil and you'd have a better time forging on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Actually this project has been done before by an IFI member. The thread should still exist...a.lucky search may find the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 All the threads I looked at ended about the same, as what's the use. https://www.google.com/search?q=welding+plate+to+anvil+"iforgeiron"+site:www.iforgeiron.com&client=firefox-b-1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjFl4bf54DZAhUBzWMKHZgRC04QrQIIMygEMAA&biw=1366&bih=611 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 16 hours ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said: All the threads I looked at ended about the same, as what's the use. https://www.google.com/search?q=welding+plate+to+anvil+"iforgeiron"+site:www.iforgeiron.com&client=firefox-b-1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjFl4bf54DZAhUBzWMKHZgRC04QrQIIMygEMAA&biw=1366&bih=611 I couldn't find it either, but I remember it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanglediver Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Bad idea. It sounded like a joke question, it was such a bad idea. Take a welding class. Please do not ask really bad idea questions at home. I am a trained professional in and on bad ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 On 30/01/2018 at 1:24 PM, MC Hammer said: You could even buy a really abused smaller anvil and you'd have a better time forging on it. That is my thought when I see the trouble and work people get into making railroad anvils and the like. Small anvils called tinsmith anvils can be had for little money. They are not particularly useful for general blacksmithing but for small projects they work fine if you set them on a largish base. Welding will cost much more in rods and electricity than buying a proper anvil. A small anvil set on a large iron tripod properly anchored will be a useful tool for a beginner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I find it odd when we get the "but what if I welded it to this large chunk of steel that would make a great anvil just as it stands on it's own" folks. I blame the Roadrunner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welding Rod Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 I just made a custom track anvil and welded a snowplow blade on the top for the working surface and 3/8” plate for sides I’ve never seen any like it on google I used it for the first time today and was pleased with how it worked it only cost me 40 bucks to build it and 8 hrs labor I’ll try to put a picture of it on Facebook under Snake Road Forge the anvil ended up weighing 90 lbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 Why not post a picture here? There are a lot of members who do not do Facebook, myself included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 6, 2021 Share Posted December 6, 2021 Nor me! I have a degree in CIS and so avoid social media like the plague! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 I avoid social media don't hear from, relatives, the local blacksmith club nor all their friends nonsense about what they had for dinner, etc. and I don't have a degree. How can something so patently unpleasant be called social? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 Lol, come on Frosty! I just can’t understand why you don’t wanna here about what your best friends-brother in-laws-sisters-uncle twice removed on her mothers side had for dinner?!?! and how do you get by? without being plagued by constant click bait trying to sell you the newest life saving gadget to clean your shower, toilet an coffee cup… at the same time? And lastly how do you get through life without playing the newest…. kitten, tile, point and click, zombie apocalypse, farm, rainbow, jewel games? just think about everything your missing Out on in life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BsnNFrnt Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 Not to threadjack, but it seems that the lack of social media participation is a quandary for most folks these days. In my experience - I am a “in person” friend. The stories I regale the common folk with would not translate to snapgram or whatever it’s called. Maybe curmudgeonly disconnection from “social” norms is better than the alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 My Brother started playing online games after he retired. I didn't find out for a few years but he was suffering from ALS and could play the games well enough to keep busy. He kept signing me up to various games ending in "Life" I think anyway. "Farm Life" was really insidious I couldn't turn my computer on without notifications taking over email, websites, everything and I couldn't turn them off. If it was just Dennis and maybe one of his kids I could've handled it but it was like FB. Not only did Dennis's little farm thingies, feed cattle, plow a crop, water something. repair a leaking roof, etc. Then I started getting comments on what to do next to get the highest score, successes somebody somewhere had and a flurry of dizzy comments on it. On and on. I couldn't delete the thing without it either reinstalling itself or Dennis noticing I wasn't there and signing me back up. I started looking through the menus and stuff for ways to make it go away or something so I could use my computer peacefully. What I discovered deep in the menus was lists of pests. I could farm pests! You could earn points by helping other players farm what you were. I made anonymous gifts of Cape buffalo bulls to dairy farmers, crab grass to wheat farmers and one of my favorites air dropped fire ant colonies. If I'd thought it out more and used the breeding function I could've bred sabre tooth beavers for the orchards and super gophers for the root farmers. I got my wish though and was banned for life. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 7, 2021 Share Posted December 7, 2021 I was amazed to attend meetings at work and everyone there was continuously going through their feed instead of paying attention to the meeting. It's like TV; the idea is to replace getting things done with watching people doing things. Our kids kept giving us TVs. Finally we were able to just not get the analog to digital converter and go to just DvD's. The "eye of Sauron" is dark most of the time in our house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.