Anvil Heater

[Glenn]

I purchased an magnetic engine block heater for my truck. The idea came to me that it would work great to heat my anvil and tongs. I tried it that night and have enjoyed fingers that don't get too stiff and a comfortable warm feeling while I work. Wind Chapman

[HWooldridge]

It doesn't get cold here very often but when it does, I heat anvil and power hammer dies with 2x4 steel blocks that I put in the gas forge. I place 5 or 6 of them in the forge, then light up and let both heat up together. I then set the blocks between the hammer dies and let them kiss, plus put a couple on the table and near the hardy to heat the anvil. By the time I load the forge with whatever steel I am using and am ready to work, the blocks have shed most of their heat into the tools, so I just lay them on the floor.

I have a 10 inch scale engraved on one side of the anvil originating at the heel. I can easily lay a piece of steel against the side of the anvil and check a measurement. I made the scale by laying out and engraving with a cold chisel then stamping the numbers. The numbers are done normally and upside down so I can merely glance over the anvil and still see without walking around. Some people can convert easily in their mind but I still like to see "6" instead of "9"...

[ThomasPowers]

HW: I laid out a scale on my cutting saddle with a line in the middle and then laid out by 1/8ths from that center line---makes it a lot easier to notch billets evenly for folding...

Capt'n Atli uses an old electric iron to heat the anvil before use in cold weather.

Thomas

[Strine]

At what ambient temperature should heating the anvil be a consideration? Not that it's a worry at the moment... 43C (109F) the other day. I'm more worried about the anvil slumping into a molten mess all over the shed floor. Temps here might get to as low as 5 or 6C (40F) on average overnight and rise to 10C on cold days. Is that a worry?

[Glenn]

Strine, I think they start to worry when you have to buy the thermometers that go below 0*C. We button up our shirts about that temp. :wink:

But I think folks start to get concerned when the temps drop below the minus 17*C ( 0*F) and into the minus 40* below zero C range. And yes the "normal" thermomoters are marked to that temp and even a bit below - just in case it does get cold for a night or two. :shock:

[HWooldridge]

Strine,

We have weather similar to yours but I heat the anvil when my shop gets to 40 F or below. That does not happen very often (it is 72 F as I type this) but we occasionally get blue northers. I am most concerned with the anvil sucking heat out of the work rather than damaging the anvil. However, in northern climes where it really does get COLD, it's best to preheat and prevent shocking the tools.

[bruce wilcock]

Strine if you are trying to get us jealous, its working,,,,,

the way to warm the anvil is to make a set of cart horse shoes and leave them on the anvil whilst you go in for your breakfast ,

[frogvalley]

I keep a 4x6 piece of half inch plate and a couple of other odd shapes that I heat in the forge and then lay on the anvils when it gets below freezing. Mostly thats important for small work, 1/4 to 1/2 stock. Larger stock doesn't usually need it.

For my body and its assorted cold spots, I come over to the shop and start the gas forge or the torpedo heater to take the chill off while the fire gits goin. Then I come back to the office/house and have coffee.

[Strine]

You blokes work far too hard for me. Forty below?...that's the time to sit in front of the fire in the lounge room and mull over important things like how long before that little stick catches alight or the time to buy an airline ticket. A set of shoes before brekky? BEFORE BREKKY :shock: That's the time to walk round the traps with a coffee and smoke and generally ponder deeply, without too much excersion of course, on how the day might pan out.

[Glenn]

Strine, According to the weather Bruce is enjoying single digit C degrees for the next week or more. He would enjoy a warm anvil early on a frosty morning.

http://uk.weather.com/weather/local/UKXX0085 (current weather in UK)

[Mills]

Shucks Strine I don't pull a coat out until it gets to 0 C. :wink: When I do pull out a coat most folks start heading for that fire you refer to.

Bruce I would like to get my wife to agree to letting me get to work BEFORE she feeds me. Something about I get wrapped up in my work and forget it til lunch.

[bruce wilcock]

in Shetland its the wind chill ,minus 1 with a 60 mph N wind and after a day or so it feels like 20 below,there must be a way of working out the wind chill, all i know is it gets cold

[Mills]

When I was roughnecking it would get to 0 C or less and even sitting in the dog house which is all steel container, it gets cold. But you don't get to sit in the lap of luxury for long, cause inevitably the drill bit needs changing or some malfunction occurs and it is spitting rain with 30 MPH winds. I preferred that over sitting in a saddle with numb legs though.

Geez I am too young to be talking about "back in the day"

Just to be on topic a little bit, Since using the gasser I put a rivet block /cutting plate in front of the dragon which is 1"x4"x4" I'll lay that on the anvil when time, got to remember that it is hot though. :oops:

[primtechsmith]

Thankfully in Central Virginia it never gets really cold. And it is also fortunate and lucky for me that Usually by the time I get to the forge Mike has a fire in the wood stove. That helps a whole bunch, not only heating the forge up, but lighting the forge with a shovel of wood coals.

I also lay my cutting block on the fire. I lay it on there right after I have it lit and have thrown some fresh coal on. I let it all soak a few minutes throw the thing on the anvil. And by the time I empty the ash dump, grab my hammer. I push the plate off and get to work....

Peyton

[Ten Hammers]

I really have no problem with heating tooling ( or the anvil for that matter ) until it gets cold ( single digits ). I have actually never heated the anvil. Tooling, yes. It gets cold here but not like Minnesota, Dakota or Canada. 20-25 below is max. I don't do wind chill. It's just cold. I understand the thing about factoring in the wind. I just don't consider the "misery "index of it ( cold or heat ). Weather guys and babes make a lotta folks cold before they head out the door by quoting these figures. Just like 10 cooks talking about making grape jelly, 10 smiths will give you different answers about things. Heating tooling before forging ( or using the first couple of pieces for this) is handy to prevent heat sink and thus speed the process up. When it's time to forge, I just forge and go on with it. If it's that cold, the tooling and anvil will get cold by the time you are done welding a piece or tending the stove and havin a quick cup. You will never get it to stay warm long. If I have to roll the sleeves down and wear a cap while forging, it's COLD. After a few pieces, I take the cap off mebbe. I have to really watch myself during these times. If I have a boatload of stuff to forge at 3

[elkdoc]

I've been using some strips of leftover railroad steel clips about 1.5"x3/4"x9". I heat them up and lay them on the anvil - one on the anvil, one in the fire. I alternate them a couple of times while I'm cutting out steel for my project or finding mood music on the radio.

The more I think about it, the more I like that block heater idea, Glenn. I think I'll look for one. I always know on the night before I'm going to work in my shop, so there's plenty of time to plug it in. Thanks for the tip, buddy! 8)

[bruce wilcock]

all this talk about warming anvils no -on speaks about working on big anvils that have taken up a lot of heat , its no fun the anvil got too hot to touch by 9 oclock and the rest of the day to get through ,the strikers can get away from it if you are working with a change of strikers two on, and two of, but the smith is stuck over the , block, and the day warming up

[ThomasPowers]

Hosepipe, one for ths anvil and one for the smith...

Thomas

[sandpile]

Cold weather and small anvils, some times don't mix very well.

In Mo. it had been colder than blues blazes for several days. The high for the last two days had -16F. it warmed up a little during the night and the temp before breakfast was -10F.

I had lost a shoe on a big saddle mare and needed to put on another. I put my anvil on its stand and started shaping the shoe to fit this mares foot. These were storebought shoes and all I had to do was spread them a little and turn the heels in. After spreading, I stuck the heel up from the bottom through the hardie hole and hit one good lick then a second hard lick and the tail broke clean and smooth from the 88* anvil.

This was an anvil that had been in our family for four or five generations. Made me sick. I have not hit another anvil in -10f temp since.

Chuck

[drason69]

sorry to hear of your loss sandpile

here in WI (former iowan) i have been keeping the anvil heating thing in mind when i do get ambitious and fire the forge. i have a chunk of 4x6x 1/4 steel with a loop welded to it. i put this on the fire as i set up my tools and ect. the little anvil seems to think its ok. im not using my 110 anvil yet, so the little 40 pounder works and is sufficient for most of my 'tinkering' stuff that i do. i do have the other anvil (with no horn) inside the garage for bigger stuff, but i dont use it much. it had been reasonably temped here lately, but the last couple of days have gotten down to the teens (F). i will heat my anvil in the 30 degree F range and below, should i get off my butt to do anything during the cold weather season...to many horror stories about anvils breaking to make me take a chance.

[Ian]

I don't have this particular problem myself at the minute but I can tell you that I've seen two chaps I know in the frozen north using old domestic Electric Irons to warm up their anvils.
They just layed the Iron on the face plate set at the lowest setting (cotton or silk, I'm not an expert overnight. In the morning they had a warm anvil that wouldn't rob all the heat out of the work, especially important to a knifemaker.
Steen Nielsen from Kristiansand in Norway ( a multi award winning knifemaker and Blacksmith) uses this trick, so it can't be a bad idea.

[R Funk]

Steel and Wrought Iron exibute a ductile to brittle transition at cold temperatures.

Perhaps some of you remember the Liberty ships breaking in two in the North Atlantic. Brittle wrought iron failures at cold temperatures have been documented since the middle of 19th century.

This transition from ductile to brittle can occur as warm as 30 deg F.

I would recomend that tools and anvils not be used when their temperature is less than 30 deg F to prevent brittle failures.

Earlier in this thread Sandpile relates how he broke an anvil when using it while it was cold.

I have several anvils missing either heels or horns. I have often wondered how many of these broke while being used at cold temperatures.

I would recomend preheating tools as they are more likely to fracture at cold tempertures. This will not only protect your anvils and tools but also protect personal safety as we have all heard stories of fragments of steel flying from tools and causing even fatal injuries.

[Ten Hammers]

I many times set tooling in front of the gasser to heat it to prevent heat sink ( even in the summer). Anvil, no. Ruben, thank you. I yield to your knowledge.

[Little Forks Forge]

I'm in the southern part of Quebec which is more north than most. I use an old iron to pre heat my anvil and it works great (I noticed someone else mentioned it as well). At the start of my forging I plug the iron in and in 15-20 min its ready. I bought my iron at the Salvation Army for 2 bucks.

Oliver

[Daryl]

As far as heating goes, I usually turn up the heat in my shop the night before I go in (yes, a luxury, I know), or I do the old heat up a large piece of flat bar and lay it on the anvil for a while. Once the sweat is off the anvil, it's ready for work. Warmed up to -25C today. Dimag lives much farther north than me, and it gets CCCCCCCold there too.