July 17, 20205 yr The metal pushing out on the sides is starting to form a cold shut, and your inside corner is a bit sharp. I would suggest (1) alternating hammer blows on the set-down and on the sides, and (2) forging the set-down over something with a slightly rounder edge. This piece can be rescued before you do any more work by filing or grinding the sides flat and that inside corner round.
July 17, 20205 yr Author Alrighty, i ground the corners on my anvil rounder afterwards, but might enlarge the radius
July 17, 20205 yr Looks like you set the step on a sharp edge of the anvil. A sharp inside corner which is a stress riser and the likely initiation point of catastrophic failure. Prevent it by setting a step over a rounded edge, 1/8" - 1/4" radius are good though it's also good to give an edge a tapering radius. Frosty The Lucky.
July 18, 20205 yr I radius both edges of my anvil from the step to where the heel begins from 3/8" to 0". This gives me a sharp edge when needed and a 3/8" radius for most of my shoulders. Like Thomas said,, a hot rasp is your friend.
July 18, 20205 yr If you have an anvil where the side edges have all been radiused or chipped and you need a sharp edge, just use the heel. Most of them are still original, sharp edges.
July 20, 20205 yr Or make some tooling for the hardy hole: a block that can have each edge a different radius. Put in place with the one you want facing you.
July 20, 20205 yr I made one of those as well. It was my first experiment with super quench and the 1-1/2" block was mild steel. I made it for my treadle hammer. It's used a lot and the super quench works well. I use it a lot for the finials on my cabinet pulls.
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