captf71 Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 (edited) Greetings. I am an old country boy who has retired and getting ready to return to the ranch. I have been hunting down old tools to refurbish and use. I purchased a Soderfors anvil yesterday at a garage sale ($90) and have begun the process to make it serviceable if possible. Some rocket scientist used it as a welding and cutting table and it has suffered considerable damage. I'm on my 3rd stripping of paint and some of the markings are now visible though damaged. On the logo side it was what looks to be some sort of seal, 125 lbs, 1931, the number 5, and Soderfors Sweden in raised letters as well as stamped. On the foot it is stamped with the number 357. I'd appreciate any suggestions on removing the weld beads and the practicality of filling some of the cuts in the face and table. I'd also "REALLY" be interested if anyone knows what the seal, number 5 and number 357 are. Thank you, Rog Edited October 20, 2008 by captf71 photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 From those two pictures, looks like you got one heck of a deal, for a really nice anvil. I don't see much wrong with it in those two pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keykeeper Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 I agree with M Brothers, leave it alone. Work around the damage, as it is minor. Also, what damage there is doesn't appear to be in any critical areas to me. Maybe dress the sharpness away a little with a file or belt sander so as not to hang up anything you are working on, remove the rest of any paint on the face, horn and table (leave the paint on the sides, it will protect the metal from rust), and get after it. Very nice anvil, with a very nice price, IMHO. Enjoy, and also, Welcome to IFI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOS Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 I have to agree with m-brothers, that anvil looks to be in good condition. The Only thing I would do is clean off the extra paint from the horn and face and start using it! I can't make out too many weld marks, maybe you could take some close-up's of the area's you want to fix. If I saw some more of the damage I might be able to help you out more. I will say that filling the cuts and gouges in the face is a very "in-depth" procedure. I would just leave it the way it is. I'm forging on an old Hill anvil (made somewhere in the mid to late 1700's) that has much more damage than your anvil. I have yet to have any issues with the cuts and gouges from the PO's while I'm forging. If you really want to "fix" all of the cosmetic damage on your anvil, I would recommend looking up some info and doing a lot of research on the subject ( I've seen some info on filling in the blueprints). If you decide to do this just remember that you can do much more harm than good if you aren't careful. hope this helps :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captf71 Posted October 20, 2008 Author Share Posted October 20, 2008 Its probably my photography. The horn and face has quite a bit of weld spatter and a pretty good cut coming out of the hardie. The table has a deep cut about 1/2" long on one corner. I'm not complaining about the deal I got, I just hate to see such a sweet tool abused! I don't know much about this stuff but this anvil has twice the rebound of my Peter Wright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captf71 Posted October 20, 2008 Author Share Posted October 20, 2008 (Yall type quicker than I do.) Sounds good to me. Don't get me wrong, I like my old tools to look good (serviceable) but I'm not much on making them cosmetically perfect. I'll file the real high spatter. When you say use a belt sander, should it be a dry or wet sand? I have an electrolysis tank that I use to get the deep rust out of old stuff. Would it hurt the anvil to run it through that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragons lair Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Bear in mind this anvil is solid swedish steel. No wrought no cast no Welded on top plate. If mine I would probably fill in the voids. I have to ask myself if grandpaw had the means to keep his anvil looking like new (welder beltsander stoveblack) would he. And yes I have tweeked my tool steel hay budden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Use a dry belt sander to remove only the splatter on the working surface of the face and horn. Then use the anvil, then apply a thin film of ATF to the working surface when you finish. You can remove the rust by electrolysis, but then you MUST protect the anvil from rusting again. What are you going to do to protect it for the next 100 years? As to the abuse from the previous owner, use the anvil for a year before attempting any repair. You may find that the repair is not needed. It would be a shame to destroy an anvil trying to repair a couple of beauty marks. After each use, I wipe the face and horn get a thin film of ATF, the entire anvil once a month. Till then I have little rust. YMMV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captf71 Posted October 20, 2008 Author Share Posted October 20, 2008 Thank you Mr. Glenn. I'll get the belt sander going on the morrow and get this thing working. Rog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Many of the spudderballs can be removed with a screw driver. Just put the blade horz against the spudderball and bump it with a hammer. Or take a heavy piece of metal and rub it against the face, it will hit the supdderball and send it flying. Sand the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quenchcrack Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Captf71, I just twists my knickers in a knot to see an anvil used as a cutting table. You have a great old anvil there but the spudderballs (dingleberries?) have the potential to cause other problems. When that hot ball of metal hits the anvil face, it may austentize a very thin layer under the ball. The mass of the anvil will quench this tiny layer into martensite, which is hard and brittle. These little hard spots may cause cracks when the anvil is used. I know I am sweating the small stuff here so I will pose this as a question to the rest of the group: Should he put some iron pieces heated to a black heat on the anvil face after he removes the weld spatter to lightly temper any area that was hardened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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