Anvil Building, Project.

JT, I would leave as is, heat treating that kind of piece, especially A2 for the face would be cumbersome.
 
Heat treating it seems possible, you have a temperature controlled forge, right? I think that if you could find a way to take it in and out, maybe with some sort of big handle, you could soak it at temp and take it out an plunk it onto a big chunk of aluminum.
 
Sam Salvati said:
JT, I would leave as is, heat treating that kind of piece, especially A2 for the face would be cumbersome.
Click to expand...

the body is just 1018 so the onley way to harden it would be to weld on a pre hardened chunk of A2 or cover the face with facehardening welds
 
If you use prehardened, welding it on will surely ruin that. What type of rod would you use? I have a fear that it would crack all over the welds, with the two very different materials.

I suggest hard facing, you could probably chock it up at work and surface grind or mill the face smooth and flat too.
 
i have been doing some research on hardfacing and seam to have found a good one. its called Wearshield MM and hear are some info on it.

Typical hardness values
1 Layer 45-55 HRc
2 Layer 52-57 HRc
Welded on Mild Steel Plate

Chemical composition (w%), typical, all weld metal
C _____Mn____Si____Cr___Mo____W
0.55___0.5___1.5___4.5___0.5___0.5

Wearshield MM produces a crack-free wear resistant deposit with a hardness of 55-57 Rc depending on dilution
and number of layers. It is particularly suitable for applications involving sliding, rolling and metal to metal wear,
combined with resistance to mild abrasion.


Not sure if this is what i want but sofar its the only one i have found that looks like it will work. there is a Wearshield MI that would be even better but thy only sell it in 50 pound lots and that's to much for me.
 
That might be tough to finish at that hardness. You still might try it as is, and if it doesn't work out, you can always drag out the welder.

I wanted to mention, if that's your 24" long block, you may want to determine a comfortable height before you weld the base on. It might feel a little low and need shimming. Maybe set your block in a small barrel packed in sand and decide on a final setup while you're using it.

Take care, Craig
 
I am going to build a plywood stacked base for the base plate to bolt to so that i can get the height i want. the hardness is not a problem that is what they made grinders for ;)
 
I would think that impact resistance would be more important on an anvil than abrasion or metal to metal wear.

If it's hard and slippery it will probably shatter and come apart as the softer base metal moves.

I would choose between mangjet or ABR. The mangjet looks good as it work hardens, which may mean that it will move a bit with the base metal.

I've only used the ABR on augers and bits, the stuff goes on like airbrushing paint.
 
I found this on welding A2
http://www.westyorkssteel.com/A2.html

I have a 300lb anvil I built and used hardfacing rod.
Get a rod in the 50 55 rockwell hardness, if you go that route. much easier than welding a plate to the top.

I welded a 1-1/2" thick block on the side of my anvil for the hardy hole and three different sizes of pritchell holes. That was way easier than cutting a square hole in 4" steel.

any how that's how i did it.
 
This one would be the way to make the weld. From the link above;

B. Welding in connection with hardening of soft annealed A2 tool steel.
· Heat to austenitizing temperature.
· Cool to approx. 500°C.
· Weld at approx. 500°C.
· Cool to approx. 100°C in the same way as at normal hardening, then temper to desired hardness.
Electrode: Hard facing electrode.

I am sure the idea is that once it has dropped from Austenized to 500c it is going to go to martinsite no mater how long at 500(possibly bainite if held long enough?) No stresses will occur as everything is hot. You would need to wrap the exposed piece in koa wool and maybe hit it with a rosebud once in a while to keep it that hot. This would be a place for a big wire machine with like 1/16 dual shield wire so you could make the welds quickly. You would need your base hot also to keep it from sucking to much heat from the A2. Full leathers and a cool vest if you got one as the radiating heat would be terrific. We have them at work. They are a vest that has pouches that you load with chemical ice packets.
 
well i am heat treating the anvil top right now. the funny thing is that i am using material that i dont know what it is. its the stuff i have been testing for awhile and thought was L6 but was not. so i had a big slab that is 1" by 6" by 6" and i'm going to water quench it and pull it out and quench in oil. im shooting for around 55-57 HRC and with just water it will hit 59 and is still amazingley tought i could not get the test peace to chip on the edge by wacking it with anything i could get my hands on. and i tryed welding a chunk to mild steel and it welded ok and right next to the weld bead i tested it and it had onley dropped one Hrc so it was like 57Hrc. we shall see how it goes. I am going to video record the quenching with my phone so i can save it on my website.
 
Make sure you agitate or you will get a soft spot in the center, or atleast run the hose over it in the center of the block.
 
OK its out of the oven and has been quenched. turned out very nice. it's on the surface grinder to clean up the scale and unevenness.
 
I figuar that i will weld it on and try it out, if i don't like it then i will just cut it off. but it has to be better then just mild steel that has like 20-25 percent rebound max. i did a quick test after the heat treat and just sitting on the table i got 75-80 percent rebound off just the plate. so if i get that at least i'm sitting happy.
 
ok the face is welded on and man is it nice. i'm getting a lot of rebound. and the edges tempered a bit from the welding so there just a little softer then the center so thy wont chip but there still around 50hrc or so. now time to weld the post to the base plate :D man i'm getting excyted.
 
well i ended up with a crack across the face from one side to the other but its not big just a hairline and it did not separate so it will be OK, o well you cant win them all can you. It is all done and painted. man i cold worked some copper rod on it and HOLY COW where has this been all my life. it is just amazing that's all i can say, very solid and amazing rebound. i tested the rebound with a 10" plastic tube marked off in one inch sections and droped the ball bearing down it. i would put the tube end on the anvil face and drop a 1/2" ball bearing down the tube with the bottom of the berring starting at the 10" mark. it would come back up to 85%+ and that's to the bottom of the ball bearing not the top just in case you where wondering. o man now i cant wait to get to forging on this beast. the edge hardness is around 53 or so and the center is close to 58 i think but i have no way to test it now. but its very hard but not to hard:D so here are some pictures for you. but there just from my phone so there not very good.

my%20new%20anvil.jpg


my%20new%20anvil%20face.jpg
 
Very nice, man. I couldn't help but think treadle hammer when I first saw that big hunk of a base. I can't afford a fancy hydraulic press, but I have a source for large steel scrap that I can use to make a manual hammer.

Congrats...
 
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