Drongo96 Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 Hi there everyone, just kicking off with the blacksmithing trade hoping to get into it. Slowly collecting tools, made a coal forge the other day. Luckily I picked up this anvil for $150 which has some major damage. Not too sure on how to restore the hardy holes. No idea what's going on with the rivet either. I've been told from about hard facing with a welder and also milling, forming lump of steel to weld on the break. Not too sure yet. From tip of horn to break 650mm Anvil face width 150mm Height 350mm Horn length 300mm Any advice, tips, tricks and info would be greatly much appreciated. Cheers guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 Welcome to IFI... have you read this yet? READ THIS FIRST Knowing where in the world you are located will help with answers, hence the suggestion to edit your profile to show location. Use it as it is and make a portable hardy hole. Doing any welding or milling will more than likely ruin the hardened face, unless the person doing the work is experienced in repairing anvils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drongo96 Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 Profile all fixed up, thanks mate. I was also thinking along the lines of having a portable hardy hole. Defiently an option to think about. Saying that it would great to have a complete anvil. I'm guessing it is out of my depth though for now. Thanks for the reply. Good to be here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Shimanek Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 I second the motion to use it as is; if it fell off it must not have been needed,haha. Get a swage block, ASO, etc for your hardy tools. Welcome to IFI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drongo96 Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 Hey Steve, thanks for the reply mate. Hahaha that seems to be the case honestly, will be looking into the rest for sure. Quick question. The face of the anvil has a 5mm belly. Would it pay to have it ground machined-milled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Shimanek Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 I do not think so; you would be removing good hardened steel from the face, and a flat top is not really needed along the whole face. Most forging is done near the step behind the horn, as that is typically the place with the most mass. A slight dip may even be useful to help straighten pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drongo96 Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 Too easy mate, I will take this advice and run with it. Thanks a lot for that. Problem solved! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Shimanek Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 An anvil is a great tool to have; knowing how to use it is even better. The horn is good for bending and rounding; the step is good for getting 90 degrees bends started and other things (some smiths use it for cutting); the edges along the top can be ground to various radii and forged against to produce shapes, and the top for general forging. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 My anvil doesn't have a heel on it either. You learn to be creative. I have a piece of railroad track plate that has 8 square holes in it. Mounted upside down on the back of the stump that has a railroad track anvil mounted to the front. Comes in handy. Or I find ways to use my vise. I use it to pull out the branches of a horseshoe. It will also hold jigs for different applications. Where there's a will there's a way. Congratulations on your new anvil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 All good advice above. I've been looking to make a portable hole from a stump with a piece of square tubing in it. I don't have any hardy tooling yet anyway so I'm in no hurry. I have a few handled top tools I use. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelonian Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 I've been using a heelless anvil for about 8 months now, and I have not found it very limiting to my work at all. To hold the hardy tools I've made, I've just driven them into a log section that I keep next to my anvil. Also, an old trailer hitch makes a pretty good improvised light duty anvil heel. Just attach it to your anvil log/stand with the sweeping section of the hitch overhanging the edge, and you're done. You could also drift the hole in it to be square if you'd like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Hammer Posted July 1, 2019 Share Posted July 1, 2019 My take on your anvil is that the rivet head is from the original wrought iron starting piece. With some of the older wrought iron anvils with steel plate tops, they started out with a pile of wired up wrought iron scraps and forged them into one solid piece. Some of these companies advertised that they used the best quality wrought iron scrap. My guess would be that the rivet isn't wrought iron possibly and got thrown in the original starter stack. It never fully forge welded to the stack so when it started to be used it caused an issue. This is just a theory because I see the hardy hole remnants behind that rivet so the rivet wasn't plugging up a hardy or pritchel hole remnant. I also look at the wrought iron around that rivet and see that it was in a pretty good forge welding place but the rivet was not so much. I could be totally wrong on this, but I'll let others weigh in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drongo96 Posted July 4, 2019 Author Share Posted July 4, 2019 MC Hammer - Hey mate, thanks a lot sorry for the slow reply there. In my opinion you're on the right track. It's interesting to say the least! Cheers for the reply. Chelonian - Thanks for the tips mate much appreciated, I've set it up nicely now. Have a big 90kg H beam. Going to set it up with a few hard holes anyway. CrazyGoatLady - Thanks for the advice! Great stuff. And thank yoy! Already been breaking it in haha. Such good fun! Thank you very much Steve Shimanek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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