I bought this anvil a couple of years ago to try the tapered heel to see if liked it. I do like having the tapered heel but I wasn't happy with the overall performance. It had good rebound and the ring was nearly deafening. My son got a chunk of steel where he works and and milled it to fit in the cavity between the feet. I welded it in then welded it to a piece of 1 inch steel plate. I still have nearly 100 percent rebound, the ring is gone, and I'm happy with the performance. It now weighs about 185 pounds.

Interesting! Does the milled steel chunk fill the entire cavity, and if so, is it only welded at the outside? Did you have any issues with cracking in the HAZ, or did you pre- and/or post-heat the weld?

It does fill the entire cavity, it took some file work to get the casting seam flat. Yes it is only welded on the outside. I did bevel all of the edges to get more penetration, an unscientific preheat, and wrapped it in insulation to cool slowly overnight. No cracks observed.

Very interesting indeed.  

I've been toying with the idea of getting one of those 65lb steel anvils from Harbor Freight the next time they send me one of those "We want you back!" 35% off coupons and I have the cash at the same time, and this gives me ideas about how to make it more usable (because I too want a tapered heel).

I have thought of doing that same "upgrade" Laynne. Let us know long term how it holds up

I'll try to remember to give an update in 6 months to a year. I've been using it regularly for a month and a half. I still have my 160 pound mousehole that I'll probably move into position to use for upsetting bar stock.

The welds are holding up well.

That's good news, did all the welding effect the anvil face's heat treat? That would be my main concern with that much bead.

Frosty The Lucky.

On 5/21/2024 at 2:39 PM, JHCC said:

Interesting! Does the milled steel chunk fill the entire cavity, and if so, is it only welded at the outside? Did you have any issues with cracking in the HAZ, or did you pre- and/or post-heat the weld?

Why would a steel anvil crack from being welded?

Welding involves intense heat in a two very small areas: the weld itself, and the surrounding area that is affected by the heat of the weld (HAZ = "Heat Affected Zone"). When heated metal cools, it shrinks, often with tremendous force. If the weld cools much faster than the surrounding area, cracks can form in the HAZ. This is why preheating and/or post-heating the weld is especially important, to reduce the temperature differential between the HAZ and the weld, and to keep the weld from cooling too quickly relative to the HAZ.

This is dramatically oversimplified, and there are a lot of complicating factors, including the specific alloys being welded, the metallurgy of the filler metal, the size of the pieces being welded, the environmental conditions, and so on. Still, this is the basic idea.

Frosty, the face is as hard as the day I started using it. No cracks on the face or near the welds.