Tomorrow's project: hardfacing an anvil

**ksmeggy** · 10-09-2009, 10:02 PM

I've been looking into doing this for a couple of years, but I've only just got all the equipment together to be able to do this. The last missing tool was a surface grinder (old Rockwell Delta unit, with a 6x18" Brown & Sharpe magnetic chuck), I found one cheap and changed the motor, just got it running last week. The anvil is a rather old 125 (?) lb which I believe was made by casting iron over a 1/2" hardened plate which makes the working surface. A chunk of that plate has broken off, the anvil is practically unusable right now. It is quite possibly even older than I think, it might be entirely forged, with a forge weld between the 1/2" plate and the body of the anvil. The horn is pretty much OK, I'm not planning on touching that.

So the plan is as follows: take a grinder to it just to get most of the surface down to bare metal; gouge out any pits and cracks with the plasma on my Longevity 518D, making sure I don't leave any slag; heat the entire surface with a couple of propane torches to get it up to 450-500 degrees; clamp aluminum bars around the perimeter (well, one side where there's a major issue); weld away with hardfacing rod (again with the 518D on stick, or I may alternate with my Hobart because of duty cycle issues), making sure to relieve stress with a ball peen hammer after each bead; remove aluminum bars and let it cool overnight, sheltered and under some fiberglass insulation; surface it on the grinder the next day.

Any comments before I try this? Am I about to ruin an expensive anvil? I will take before, during and after pics, and post them here.

**KHK** · 10-09-2009, 11:57 PM

Sounds like a plan to me. Let us know how it works out. Good luck!!

**weldingtwopotatoes** · 10-10-2009, 02:27 AM

This sounds interesting. I'd really like to see the photo's.

**junes** · 10-10-2009, 12:06 PM

I don't know about this stress relieving with a ball peen hammer? Idk and it's just gone be a pain with the aluminum bars watch melting them

**ksmeggy** · 10-10-2009, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by junes

I don't know about this stress relieving with a ball peen hammer? Idk and it's just gone be a pain with the aluminum bars watch melting them

Correct on both counts. I got the ideas online, there are surprisingly few online stories of hardfacing or repairing anvils. Perhaps because anvil construction varies a lot between manufacturers and time (it turns out mine is roughly 150 years old). The idea with the aluminum was especially to keep the hardy hole open, it's a pain in the @ss to clean it out once it's coated with hardfacing. However, the aluminum does draw the arc like a magnet, and it contaminates the puddle enough to make it a very bad idea (the puddle solidifies with a bunch of little air bubbles). So I had to drop that idea, if I have to clean out the hardy hole or anything else I'll just gouge it out with the plasma. As for stress relief, my anvil is entirely forged, with a forge weld between the base and plate. That forge weld was not very well done, which is why chunks of the plate were breaking off. Tapping it with a hammer when hot simply accelerates the separation. I had to stop and do an emergency counter-measure (welded a bead of 7018 all around the plate).

Then I had to take the welding slowly enough for heat to transfer into the body of the anvil proper as I was welding, I was checking with a spot thermometer and never got more than 100 degrees difference over a span of 3-4 inches in the height of the anvil. Still, I know that roughly 1/3 of the plate is not making good contact with the body of the anvil, just from the ring of a hammer on it now. This is partly because I never succeeded in preheating it nearly enough, I should have improvised something much hotter. I do have a forge, but it's not sturdy enough for this. I should have dug a hole in the ground and buried the anvil with enough charcoal or hardwood to keep it burning for a couple of days, and made some sort of 2-man yoke to lift it out and onto a work table. That's the bad news.

The good news is that it seems relatively easy to weld on the forged base. So when I'm tired of listening to a dull thud whenever I hammer on it, I can just cut off the entire top, build it up with a suitable filler, and weld a new hardface on it. I'll have to shop around a lot more though, I think the rod I was using today has too much chromium for an anvil. It's from a local manufacturer (Sodel) that doesn't give the chemical composition of their rods, I'm going by the grindability and color of the metal. Hopefully next time I'll get it right.

No pics of the welded anvil, but here's a couple of before pics. I tried taking a video of the plasma gouging, but my camera ate it.

**ksmeggy** · 10-11-2009, 05:00 AM

Thanks, I will look into that. I have a much older version of that torch, but I didn't try to use it yesterday.

Wow, that HF stuff is cheap! I wonder what shipping to Canada would cost... I suspect more than the torch.

**torqueman** · 10-11-2009, 05:35 PM

I just bought a 250 lb anvil. It is in rough shape but usable. Everything I have read says it is not really worth trying to repair a badly damaged anvil. The really sad part is there are anvil collectors who are making it hard for us guys that want a decent anvil to use. They have pushed the cost of 100+ year old anvils up to the cost of new one. Modern anvils are made out of better alloys and is one of the few things that is made better today than in the past. However if anyone has a Peter Wright or a Fisher anvil they want to sell for a buck a pound let me know.

**ksmeggy** · 10-11-2009, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by rhett

Just cannot resist adding this documentary for our friends up north

I think this is more appropriate, as far as Canadian TV shows, for a bunch of guys with plasma cutters and fancy welders (and duct tape... don't forget the duct tape!):

---------- Post added at 12:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 AM ----------

Originally Posted by ksmeggy

I think this is more appropriate, as far as Canadian TV shows, for a bunch of guys with plasma cutters and fancy welders (and duct tape... don't forget the duct tape!):

OK, well if I can't embed this, here's the link: YouTube - Red Green Show - All Wheel Drive

---------- Post added at 12:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 AM ----------

Can someone explain to me how that happened? I don't want to edit for fear of losing the video, which somehow got embedded without me using the 'Youtube' button on the text editing box.