Questions about Stoody 2100

[patrick]

All- i have an anvil in need of repair. Before people jump on me about need for the repair or my abilities to execute this kind of welding, please know I've done this on numerous occasions in the past and I'm well aware of when and when not to do this kind of work. In this case, the anvil in question is definitely in need of repair. My go-to rod for hard facing has been a Hobart product-Hardalloy 58, which was recommended by them years ago specifically for this application. However, I can no longer find this rod. It is a self hardening rod that does not crack or cross check provided the layers thickness is limited to 2 passes. It appears to be similar to tool steel grade H-12. I have found similar products by Weld Mold  and Core-Met. I have also seen many people refer to Robb Gunther's method using Stoody 2110/1105. The 2110 product is described as work hardening grade that, after work hardening, will have the hardness i'm looking for. However, my experience with other work hardening alloys has been that they really need a lot of pounding to bring the hardness up. I'd rather not have to do a bunch of cold work to the weld deposit to get it to harden. I'm curious what experience this group has had with the Gunther method or even using 2110 by itself. Thanks in advance.

[Frosty]

Would you mind posting some pics of the anvil in need or refacing? The last anvil I welded some new face on I preheated to aprox 350f using a tempil stick to check. I'll have to dig into my shop to find the box of rod I used  and the man door is sort of drifted closed. I lost the stack on the barrel stove and Deb flips out when I even suggest I go up on the roof. Sooooo. I've been out scattering ashes from the wood stove and will dose the man door on the shop so it should start to clear in a couple days. 

Nobody had Stoody 2110 or close in stock and some had stopped carrying Stoody at all so I had to buy by performance description. I used to do way too much hard facing when I was a driller for the drill crew. Nobody else would and if they had to they did a lousy job so it fell to me.

The characteristics an anvil face needs are. Shock resistant with a HRC maxing at or under 60, abrasion resistance is not desirable. Soo I found a suitable rod listed for drum type rock crushers. It laid smooth beads that are impact resistant and do NOT check up to two passes and a max of IIRC 3/8" depth. It requires work hardening to develop full hardness. Soooooo, I made a flat tool for my air chisel and flattened and smoothed the beads while still hot from being laid. It was a PITA but I could run about 2" of bead and still have enough residual heat to HAMMER IT FLAT after chipping the scale. 

If you have to replace missing face more than 3/8" or so use a build up rod, I've actually had good luck welding up damaged face with build up rod. It's not for rock contact but it is very deformation resistant. It is used to build up to levels where it can then be hard faced over and will NOT move under hard facing. For a mental image using say 7018 Lo hy for build up under hardface is like placing a sheet of glass on foam rubber and pressing in the center. using a build up rod is like laying a sheet of glass on a flat table, you can all but dance on the second example because the glass has an inflexible backing. Make sense?

I've used build up rod to repair a couple anvils very successfully even though it didn't have a HRC of 50+/- I don't recall it's been years since I had access and those rods are crazy expensive now.

Sorry if this isn't what you're looking for but I have to go down to the local welding supply and talk to the boys while looking through THEIR book. 

I haven't hardfaced anything professionally in probably 25 years or so. Except one kid's anvil to prevent him from JUST DOING IT. I looked at that as a rescue mission and his Mom cheerfully paid the IIRC nearly $200 for the rod, extra large 50lb(?) bag of charcoal briquettes I used to pre and post heat the face. The cup stone and fine grinding disk for my 9" Milwaukee angle grinder I bought. I didn't charge my time nor propane used. It came out freaking beautiful if I do say so myself. Mom slipped me a $100 tip when she hugged me thanks. 

I was more than even saving a nice old Peter Wright from a teen ager's depredations with the neighbor's arc welder without an outlay for consumables.

A $100 tip and a HUG were pure gravy! Thank you Mom!

Frosty The Lucky.