Anvil repair

John,

I recently helped two fellow blacksmiths work on their anvils. Each anvil weighed in around 300 lbs. and the technique that we used was to set the anvil upside down on top of a lit woodstove in order to preheat the top surface and edges where the welding would take place. We let them heat up until they were at least 400 degrees before flipping them over and using a MIG welder with standard wire and gas to weld the dings in the face and the chips along the edges. Next came a gentle grinding followed by more welding if needed. Rough grinding was followed by a flapper wheel to polish the welded areas. The anvils were then allowed to cool on their own.

Hope this helps,

Paul

You might want to post this in sci.engr.joining.welding it's been discussed there before. I believe its a combination of normal (softer)weld filler metal covered by a high moly hardfacing filler. Look for a response from Ernie (welding guru)

Andrew

Two questions.

1. How bad is the anvil under repair?

1. How good of a welder are you?

2. Sometimes I think mellowing out a few dings make more sense than restoring a lot of sharp corners that you may be better off without.

2.If you are experienced in using whatever type welder that you have been using, and the welder is up to the task, then the process can be rewarding. This is not the project to hone skills on.

Mike Graf

Also, note that Ernie has made anvils by welding up hardfacing and grinding it back down.

If you are really going to use this anvil, I'd discourage you from simply using MIG wire (7018?). It's too soft. I had an anvil repaired by a guy who used 6011. He later told me that it shouldn't be a problem because you should never beat on cold iron. Well, It IS.

Guys around here have used two Stoody rods for years. I don't know if they are still available, but your welding supplier will know. One is a build up rod that you can make several passes with. The other is a hardfacing rod that you only use for a top pass.

You may notice from the replies so far that they talk about preheating the anvil and doing all the work at about 400 degrees. This is bad enough when welding, but the grinding has to be done then, too. It's a nasty job.

I regularly grind anvils that have been repaired using an old surface grinder. Even those guys who weld, grind, weld, grind to get a good job leave the occasional void. And, I have often noticed fine cracks that start at the edge and go about 1/4 to 1/2 inch into the face. I don't know if they later on break out, but they sure are there.

One poster said that his friend lets the anvil cool on its own, but the guys I know drop the thing into a box full of vermiculite to slow the cooling.

As another poster asked, "how bad is it?". If face is not too bad, it might be better to simply grind 20 to 60 thousandths (or even more) away than to attempt welding. Many blacksmith anvils have too much sharp edge anyway. (I'm not talking about farriers here). So it may be possible to round off some of the dings, leaving sharp edges back by the hardy hole. I've seen some anvils where the face has actually been squashed out sideways. This is, I think, because that anvil didn't ge t fully hardened when it was made. If this is the case, you can gain some edge improvement just by grinding the face back flush with the sides. I have done this grind-only procedure more often than grinding repaired anvils. You don't have to have a surface grinder to do the job on the face. A big angle grinder and a framing square can take you a long way. Or, if there's a friendly auto machine shop around, you may be able to get them to Blandchard grind it for you. I have heard of people getting this done for $50 or so. (I charge $2.00 per thousandth).

Having said all that, take this link to as good an article on the subject as exists: >

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jjohns> I am in the process of repairing the edges of a Peter Wright 155 lb. anvil I

Through the years I've read dozens of accounts by people who've welded an anvil face or who've heard of it being done and yet I don't believe I've ever read an account of accurate follow-up testing for hardness and uniformity of the anvil face after this has been done.

Has anyone seen this documented? Not to cast dispersions (I'm not much of a welder myself) but in my 45+ years of industrial experience I've met many folks who called them- selves welders but were anything but. I'd be cautious who I entrusted a favorite anvil to, for repair.

dennis in nca

This sounds like a job for your local track welder. :) They do this type of work every day. I remember when they were told not to arc weld directly to the rail anymore, they had to lay down a layer with gas first. Arc builds it up faster but certain welders were having trouble with the "chunk" breaking out.

Fred French the track welder at Bowie AZ wasn't having that problem but laid down the gas weld first anyway.

The gas rod is 1/4" and spark tests like 4340 or 4140. They use a rose bud and make a puddle that's ~1+1/8". They pre-heat the rail.

If you see a track welder, stop and talk to 'im. :) See what he does and how he does it and then ask why. :) Should be no problem for him, he gets paid by the hour. ;) ...and many of them do the same sort of work after hours things like fixing anvils etc.

For sure, and the track welder's job is one job I never wanted. Tell 'im an old SP signal-ape offered his time to you. ;)

That's something a track welder's got fiNgured out, you know it? ;)

Alvin in AZ ps- wonder when old Fred's going to google his name and find where I've bad-mouthed the silly old fart? ;)