Anvil repair?

D

Doc Shipley

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Mar 7, 2009
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I got great news yesterday - I've finally gotten permission to go rescue my great-grandfather's anvil from my mother's flower garden! I don't remember the brand or the size, but "Peggy" Walls was a professional blacksmith, so I expect it was a good one.

I'm waiting for pictures to assess the extent of the damage, but I know that it's pretty badly beat up - torch gouges, chipping, that kind of abuse. Is it going to be possible to recover it? If so, what's the process and is there anyone who does that kind of work?
 
you could use hardfacing rod to weld up the gouges, nicks and grooves. then use a hand grinder to reshape them. use a square to check for bow in the middle, a little bow can be compensated for, 1/4" or less can be surface ground usually. but if it's 1/2" or more forget about it...a new anvil will run you about $2.00 per pound...

Jason
 
It can be fixed by an experienced welder who's familiar with anvils. If you have a local blacksmith guild ask around, odds are somebody is or knows a pro welder who knows how to do this right.

-d
 
Thanks, guys, for all the replies.

The link was very informative, but I think I agree with Deker. I am an experienced welder - was code certified, years ago - but I still think I want it done by somebody who's done it before. Huge heatsinks are a bitch to surface.

After all, it's my great-grandpappy's anvil. :)
 
JasonSCarter said:
...a new anvil will run you about $2.00 per pound...

Jason
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I'll take a 300# Nimba,please. While your at it ,throw in a good 100 pounder for travel shows. Check for $800 is in the mail.

Check around, it is hard to find a so-so new anvil for less than $4/Lb, and a really good one may cost $6/Lb. I will jump on any ( uasable) used anvil I can get for $2/Lb.

When I started forging, nearly 50 years ago, it was hard to find a $2/pound new anvil.

Stacy
 
Yeah, $2 a pound new is the best price I've heard for anything in a long time! :) Heck, I paid $2 a pound for a near turn of the century 148# Hay Budden that was well used. I looked at new anvils and found prices ranging from $6 to $8 a pound for the good stuff. Even Emerson's which about the cheapest mostly decent anvil you can find cost $5.30 + a pound.

I'd say as far as fixing the anvil goes, throw some pictures up when you get a chance. If it's got a decent flat surface to it and a few areas of sharp corners, it will work just fine. Also, Nick turned me on to an idea that if your edges are beat all to heck, you can easily make a hardie tool out of a piece of heat treated 1" or so tool steel with a square stem to fit in the hardie hole. You can dress the sides of the plate to whatever radius you want, and have several different radiuses on the same tool.

--nathan
 
Fixing the edges of an anvil is a great big can of worms. I had talked with Nathan about this before...

Basically if you're going to do it, you'll need to build up your base with a low hydrogen rod like 7018, then an underlay rod for hardfacing, and then a hardfacing rod.

A lot of folks think hardfacing rod is a magic wand, but you never want to build up more than one of two layers of bead with it. Think of it sort of like surface hardening what you weld over.

Even after all the prep, welding, and finish work, you'll have to contend with the heat affected areas from welding.

That's why I mentioned the block to Nathan... it's a very easy and solid solution. :)
 
Just got some photos from my brother. He says he can't find any maker's mark. Dimensions are 11" tall, 4" wide, and 26.5" OAL. None of us have ever seen it off its stand, but based on total weight and center of gravity, he and I agree it's probably 80-100lb.

http://www.docsbox.net/Anvil # 800x600

http://www.docsbox.net/Anvil # Same photos at 2560x1920

You can't see too much for the paint buildup (0.125" or so), but the table's not caved in too badly and the edges are in much better shape than I remembered.

What do you guys think?
 
Looks to me like a surface grinder would have the face like new in short order. The corners are not to bad and you can always pick your spot when you want a real square place. Plus having the top ground will get a bit of the corner rounding to go away. Nice anvil especially when you add the family history.
 
ib2v4u said:
Looks to me like a surface grinder would have the face like new in short order. The corners are not to bad and you can always pick your spot when you want a real square place. Plus having the top ground will get a bit of the corner rounding to go away. Nice anvil especially when you add the family history.
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Most anvils don't have more then 1/4-3/8 of hard material on the top so taking a 1/8-3/16 off is not a very wise thing.


I would clean it up and call it a day. I see a lot of use able face on that anvil.
 
If it is a plated anvil you should be able to see the the chance from the side. I agree that taking of a 1/8" off a 3/8" surface plate would not work out.
 
Jeez, that anvil looks fine. Almost ready to forge on already. You can put a flap wheel on an angle grinder and have most of those little surface nicks out in no time, probably. The edges look pretty good, too. With most older anvils you just have to get used to where the sweet spots on it are for different operations. If you have good fairly sharp corners on one area in particular, just use that part to step down at your plunge cut area or shoulder the tang. That kinda reminds me of my Peter Wright 119.
 
Thanks, y'all. I appreciate the input and advice, and I'll post more pictures as things progress. There's a blacksmithing group here, so I expect I can get some expert opinions and whatever help I need when I get it home and get it cleaned up.

I wasn't planning to go get the anvil for a couple of weeks (450-mile round trip), but I may have to zip up there this weekend. I'm all excited.... :D
 
OK, I'm reviving this thread, finally. Too many new toys and not enough playtime.... I have the anvil at home and am slowly cleaning it up. I've also been spending some time with the angle grinder on it, getting the worst of the gouges and dings down. It's not too badly saddled - maybe 3/64 or 1/16 dip at most - but it looks like somebody tried to resurface it and did a really crappy job. The edges have been built up with jet rod, for certain. I don't have any big ball bearings, but if I drop my 2# hammer on it, it comes back real nice.

http://www.docsbox.net/Anvil # Click on the thumbnails for full-size photos

I think it's a 142# Trenton. The stamp on the foot matches what I've found about Trentons online, and if you look carefully at DSC_2151.jpg, you can see what looks like the bottom of the Trenton diamond. If anyone can tell me more about its origin, I'd be very grateful.
 
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If you do have it repaired make damn sure the welder has experience repairing anvils, will furnish references, and then go look at his work. I was a certified welder, carried an ASME Code 9-G6 card until I retired a few years ago. I let a friend that shod horses on the side talk me into re-surfacing an anvil. Damdest mess I ever got into. No rod wanted to work right. I gave up and went to the machine shop that did some work for me and had lots of experience with a lot of different metals. They just laughed and wished me luck. Yes, they had repaired a few anvils. No, they hadn't had good luck with them.

I finally got the thing fixed after a fashion although I had some porosity still. I told him if he ever wanted another anvil repaired my answer was not no but hell no. Since it was one of those "buddy" deals and I didn't charge him anything he couldn't gripe about it.
 
Don Hanson III said:
Nice anvil and a really good size. Trentons' were one of the best.
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Thanks! Truth is, if it were past redemption, or even a POS chunk of cast iron, it would still hold place-of-pride in my shop. :)

The fact that it might turn into a good tool just makes it that much sweeter.

arrowhead said:
If you do have it repaired make damn sure the welder has experience repairing anvils, will furnish references, and then go look at his work. I was a certified welder, carried an ASME Code 9-G6 card until I retired a few years ago. I let a friend that shod horses on the side talk me into re-surfacing an anvil. Damdest mess I ever got into. No rod wanted to work right. I gave up and went to the machine shop that did some work for me and had lots of experience with a lot of different metals. They just laughed and wished me luck. Yes, they had repaired a few anvils. No, they hadn't had good luck with them.
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There's a gentleman here who's a member of the local blacksmiths' society who does anvils. I got to see a couple of working anvils Saturday that he resurfaced.

If I find that the welding goes across the table, should I have it redone? I haven't ground on it much, but as yet I haven't found a good-sized flat spot without porosity.
 
When I saw your pics of the bottom of the anvil my first thought was a Trenton. The hollowed out shape is typical of a Trenton. I agree with Don, great anvil. I resurfaced my first with a hand held belt grinder instead of an angle grinder. It took a lot of work but ended up with a very flat surface.
 
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