Reducing the holes on an Acciaio anvil

[lary]

Acciaio anvils have some really large hardie and "prichel" holes. Worked on making  this one a little more user friendly.  I did lay blocks of ice on the face while welding. Cool idea for a broach Shainarue.

 

[Goods]

Lary, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m concerned about how you welded your anvil up. (They are good improvements, and the manufacturer should take note!)

Laying blocks of ice on the anvil while welding could increase the chances of HAZ (Heat Affected Zone) cracking. When welding hardenable material, normally you would preheat and post heat the material to prevent “auto-quenching” of the material around the weld and shrink cracks. Peening the weld is also important to prevent cracking.

This is intended to help others who may have a need, not a criticism. Also, if I missed any steps, please let me know.

Keep it fun,

David 

[lary]

 Goods- Sorry my post was pretty vague on details. For the pritchel hole I laid down short beads of 7018, then peen then air needle. Repeated this several times to build up the area. Used a flap disc to smooth it out. The ice was mostly to keep the heat treatment from being affected between the two holes. These anvils do have that sweet spot where there is good rebound and are sort of hard in that area. As far as separation/cracks, the horn does get pretty hot from the repeated welding. Pictured below is the same make model 132 lbs 60kg. I did the same to it back in February. I've been forging on it ounce or twice a week ever since. But I used a mig welder for that one. Its not perfect, there is some pitting. But I can use it to drift holes. I figure it wont likely see any heavy forging in that area.

[JHCC]

lary, is the weld around the hardy hole to sharpen up its edges or to reduce the size of the hole? To put it another way, are you just welding at the face, or for the entire depth of the hole? How are you cleaning up the inside of the hole?

[lary]

I used an air chisel to smooth out the rough casting down inside the hardy hole. I cut a piece of angle iron long enough so I could get two weld beads on the top and bottom of the anvil. Used a die grinder with a carbide bit just inside the hole on top to put a bevel for welding in the angle.

[lary]

I reduced the size so a 1 inch hardy tool can fit with just a little play.

[Goods]

Sounds like you were careful. I’m quick to offer caution to others about welding on anvils. My Colombian had the edges welded up by the previous owner. It’s not really bad, but it’s not good either. In places it’s chipping away with some of the base material. in other areas it’s crumbling from what I expect is cold working. 

[lary]

Sounds like the welds are breaking away from the cast iron part of the anvil? May have used the wrong type of rod or not enough preheat. These Acciaio anvils are cast steel except for the occasional patch of plastic body filler on the bottom. Which was a little annoying when welding the hardy hole. As far as critiquing don't sweat it. I'm glad somebody's paying attention.

Just a little FYI, anybody considering fixing damage to the face of an old anvil with 7018, I was able to cut into the welds easily with a file when dressing things up.

 

[JHCC]

Okay, so if I understand correctly, you welded a piece of angle iron inside the hardy hole to reduce its size to 1" square? That's pretty clever, especially since the inside of the hole is not a load-bearing surface.

What was the size of the hole before reduction?

[lary]

It was 1 3/16". It's now 1 1/8", I used 1 1/2 x 1/8" angle and cut it lengthwise to fit. Had to do a little die grinding / touching up for a 1 inch hardy to fit.

[anvil]

Of course looking at this from the other side of the "whole",,, now you cannot use any hardies bigger than your hole.  I've found it better to modify the hardy shaft than the actual anvil.  

[JHCC]

Or make an adapter. This style can be made from a piece of angle iron or bent sheet steel:

And this one is a tube with the rim flared out to keep it from slipping down the hole:

(Photo credit: Glenn)

[anvil]

Thats it. And there are many other ways to modify the shaft. Too big? Fit it with a grinder. Too small? run a bead with a welder or torch and grind it or file it. These are just a few ways of handling this problem. 

[JHCC]

Adapters also mean that you can use tooling on a number of different anvils.

(I'm lucky that both of my London-pattern anvils have basically the same 7/8" hardy hole, even with the same slight rectangularity (albeit with the long dimension on the X-axis on the Undisputed King of Anvils and on the short axis on the EBUA). However, I do have an adapter that allows me to use their bottom tools in the striking anvil/portable hole or directly under the nodding donkey.)

[lary]

Yeah adapters, I thought about that too. Every hardy tool I have is 1 inch as with where this anvil will wind up when I'm done with it. Typically you would see a hardy hole this big on a larger anvil. Not saying you guys aren't bringing up a good point, it's probably a more common way to deal with a hole that's nearly a 1/4 inch too big. Besides, if the need for a larger square hole repeats itself it give me an excuse to start bringing home swage blocks.

Speaking of size, there advertising for these things might be a bit misleading...  

[JHCC]

Let’s turn back to the pritchel hole. Can you elaborate on that modification?

[lary]

 The first one I did 8 months ago I used a piece of 1 inch shaft bored out 1/2 inch lengthwise. A lathe is needed for this method. The second one I slid a piece of 1/2 inch into a piece of 3/4 inch thick wall black pipe. Long enough to poke out the bottom of the horn, and slightly above the height of the face. The method with the pipe did a better a job of filling in the hole. And then weld peen, weld peen, I think it was 4 or 5 layers before getting it built up enough to flap disc it level with the face. 

[ThomasPowers]

I have 3 anvils with 1.5" hardy holes.  I drop sq tubing in with the diagonals cut and folded out into tabs.