Vulcan anvil info

[DirtyDusty]

I was just given this anvil. Came out of an industrial maintenance shop. Started cleaning it up, because it had several small welds on the surface,  1/4” dots, and several rough coats of epoxy paint. I am assuming it’s 250lbs, by the “25”molded in the front. Face seems to be pretty flat with sharp edges. Only flaws I see are a couple of pits in the top. Anyway to fix these?

[Frosty]

Nice looking anvil but without a closer look at the pits  you're not likely to get a meaning full answer. So I'll give you the basic/ stock answer.

From what little I can see the pits are NOT severe enough to risk damaging the anvil with a repair. They are not large enough you can't easily work around them. They look like cutting torch pits made by someone using the anvil as a convenient place to run a cutting torch.

Wen you to attempt a weld repair of an anvil face you must preheat it to reduce the HAZ zone embrittlement around the weld bead. Just cooling an anvil afterwards is not a trivial process. You want it to cool slowly but not normalizing slow or you'd have to reharden and temper the entire anvil. This is NOT easy to get right if you know what you're doing.

My advice? Use it as is. She's got a couple generations of good working life in her with a little basic care.

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

I agree with Frosty (as usual).  Vulcan anvil are known for having a thin high carbon face which may mean it is more difficult to "repair" any damage.  I agree that the face pits are nothing to worry about.  Yes, it would be nice if they were not there but overall the anvil is in great shape and has much life left in it.  This is the big brother of my origianl anvil, a 100# Vulcan.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

You couldn't beat the price of her with a big stick.. My Vulcan has a 10 cast into for the weight 100 + pounds also the year 43 made in 1943.

I also agree with Frosty and George about just using it. Trying to repair the minor flaws will do more harm than good. My first London pattern anvil, over 30 years ago, was a 110 pound Vulcan and I still use it more than my Hay Budden or MP Farriers anvils.

A lot of folks scoff at the Vulcan anvils because they were marketed to schools and low cost anvils at the time. The greatest advantage with them is they are very quiet, however the rebound is not as good as say a Fisher & Norris anvil which is also very quiet. That disadvantage has never bothered me or slowed down the work on her. All it needs now is some BLO every where except the face, to keep the rust down and hot steel hammered on her to keep the face shiny, a little ATF or WD-40 on the face if she will not be used regularly will do.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails.