anvil question

Hi,

I'd also try posting this over in:

alt.crafts.blacksmithing

Good Luck!

Erik

It appears to me that the hard plates were about 1/2" thick or so. Thicker on heavier anvils, I'd think, but about that thick on yours. Things to think about:

- It also appears that the hard plate starts at the height of the "cutting table". So, any thickness above the cutting table would be hard plate.

-We don't know how many times that anvil may have been dressed in the past, so you can't simply assume that you have 1/2" to play with.

-The whole hard plate may have never gotten fully hard. There's a fair chance that the plate gets softer as you dig deeper into it.

-If there are lots of chisel marks, maybe it's one that never got all that hard to begin with. I think they used simple carbon steel for the hard plate and you only have a few seconds for the material to get from "non-magnetic" (about 1450° F) to below 400 or 500° F to get full hardness. With all the mass of the base firmly attached to it, it's easy to see that on might get a real hard plate for only the top 1/4" or so.

-It's also possible that someone already repaired the anvil with mild steel welding rod. There was a guy around here who did that for many years.

So------ I'd first get out a sharp file and test various places on the face to see how hard it is now.

-If it's pretty hard by about the same amount all over, then it won't hurt to take off 20 or 30 thou.

-If it's pretty soft in some places, primarily where it's worn the most, Then the "temper" is already gone and you might as well take it down to get rid of the dings, because you'll be driving those "designs" into every thing you ever make. And, if you ding it up some more yourself (more likely from wild hammer blows than from chiseling, since you are already sensitive to that), you can:

---Just grind some more off.

---Or, you can rebuild the whole face with special rods made for the purpose. This is not a job to be taken on lightly. It is a hot and dirty job. If you want to learn more about this approach, email me off list for more information.

Note: I don't rebuild anvils. I do surface grind them for others who are in your situation and for those who have rebuilt them and want them flat.

Pete Stanaitis

----------------------------

kc wrote:

I speculate.

What if you ground the surface flat and then welded a chunk of hardened steel to the flat top?

Seems to me you might get the flat hard surface you want without having to re-heat treat the whole thing.

It would lose properties valuable in an anvil, such as ring and rebound.

Just curious... what value does 'ringing' add an anvil? Rebound I can understand.

I went way out of my way to stop mine from ringing...

Erik

"Do not call" list???

I think that the value of ringing is the resale value of the anvil. Otherwise I agree with you, I hate ringing too.

Ditto. If it rings, it's probably not cracked or delaminated. Minimizing the ringing in use is good.

Pete Keillor

I definitely buy the resale explanation!

Reminds me of a story an (often delusional alcoholic) neighbor told me once as a kid... he claimed he'd had a job in a train yard, and one of his duties (when not otherwise running the place), was to go around smacking train car wheels with with a ball peen hammer... and report any non ringers he found.

Then supposedly one day every thing he hit started sounding dull... turned out his cheap ball peen was cracked.

Erik

Ringing and rebound are very similar physical properties, they are a manifestation of how little energy is absorbed by anvil, as opposed to being returned to work. So a "good" anvil keeps ringing for a long time after being struck, which is utterly useless, but is a good sign of anvil's other abilities to return energy back to work.

Anyone has a good suggestion to reduce ringing? Stick a rag into the hardie hole? Put a female tit on the heel?

That world work. I recall using the same trick to figure out what parts of a brick wall were toast.

Joe Gwinn

Put lead sheet between the anvil and base. Fasten to board on bucket of sand.

Pete Keillor

"Richard" wrote: "Do not call" list??? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ That list doesn't even work on my telephone.

Welding a flat plate to the top of an anvil would doubtless leave some airspace in many parts of the interface. Pounding on that setup would not have the solid feel of a one-piece anvil.

"Ignoramus16228" wrote: (clip) Anyone has a good suggestion to reduce ringing? (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ear plugs.

As sayings go, it's tit in a wringer, not tit on a ringer.

If it's tinnitus that won't help. Makes it seem worse. Maybe play some chamber music or C&W at low volume or something.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

On Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:36:41 -0500, the infamous Pete Keillor scrawled the following:

A lead sheet on -top- would work a whole lot better. ;)

-- Women and cats will do as they please,

and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.

--Robert A. Heinlein

I use it to find hollow trees that might blow down in a storm.

Ignoramus16228 wrote: (snip)

The lead sheet is a good suggestion. Also, try a large magnet on the underside of the heel.