Got an anvil and a bunch of questions

C

CDH

Joined
Jun 8, 2007
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283
First, is it restorable to a usable condition? I don't see it being usable in its current condition. It weighs in at 92 lbs and the maker is Vulcan. Yes I have heard some comments on them from earlier threads...but it was free thus far.

Second, what would it take to get it into usable shape? I'm thinking of attacking the sides with an angle grinder to try and square them up for starters. The pitted face worries me too. I have a welder buddy that might be able to help if needed...

Third, other than adding mass, does the horn really benefit knifemaking? I'm thinking of shortening it a lot...it is soft without nearly the rebound (as tested with a convenient claw hammer and tapping) as the face.

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Ouch--that is one sorry looking anvil. :) I'm guessing that someone used it as a surface to cut stuff with a chisel. Free is good, though.

When I got my anvil, the advice I was given is that it's always better to build up the surface by welding than to grind away metal.

But if that were my anvil, I'd be on it with my angle grinder in a second. You can use a regular grinding disk to remove a lot of the material, then switch to a 40 or 60 grit flap disk to smooth things up.

Go slow and don't gouge the surface, or you'll have to grind out the gouge, too.

My goal was to get a reasonably flat, smooth face and a couple of clean edges with 1/8" to 1/4" radiuses on them.

If you want to try the welding thing, do a Google search on anvil repair. There are some good tutorials out there. Personally, I don't think this one is worth spending the time rebuilding the face, but I'm hardly an expert.

I do use the horn occasionally for bending stuff. It's not hardened like the face of the anvil is, so it's supposed to be softer. I'd say leave it as is for now. You can always take it off later.

Josh
 
Also, don't know how Vulcans were made, but if there's a heat treat, be careful not to get it too hot when grinding. You may call around to machine shops and see if anyone wants to surface grind it.

--nathan
 
silver_pilate said:
Also, don't know how Vulcans were made, but if there's a heat treat, be careful not to get it too hot when grinding. You may call around to machine shops and see if anyone wants to surface grind it.

--nathan
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Given the mass of an anvil, you would hafta be REALLLLLLYY hoggin to get it hot enough to matter.

in the normal course of bladesmithing my 200Lb anvil will get hot enough to give you a nifty little burn (don't ask) if i work for several hours. especially when welding.
 
I don't know anything about Vulcans, but looking at the surface of this anvil makes me wonder if the face is even hardened. When I accidentally hit the face of my Mousehole with a hammer, it dents the hammer. I have a hard time seeing a chisel surviving an attempt to make marks like this one is showing...

Josh
 
By reputation Vulcans are soft with a welded/brazed on hard face. Tapping this one with a hammer and visually examining it does nothing to deny that reputation. The face will rebound a claw hammer nicely but the horn and body are more of a dull thunk and very little bounce.

I have heard of hard facing them by welding (brazing) and building up the face. I'll look into it and see if my welding buddy has heard of it. I sharpen a lot of knives for him, so it may be payback time...:D
 
Oh, this was from the estate of a guy I know...his grandfather's. The guy must have been a gorilla...
 
I have a vulcan that I dressed when I got it. From the rust pattern and coloration, it's quite obvious that the body of the anvil is iron and there is a hardened steel face plate that is welded on the top. Not an uncommon method of construction, as I gather (although that gathering is purely anecdotal).

That said, grinding could prove disasterous. I het a good rebound from my little 100 lb vulcan, but of you grind away the steel face, you'll be trying to use a dead soft iron anvil and you'd be better off with a rock.

I'd try a wire wheel on an angle grinder, take it easy, and see if you can get a peek at how much steel you got left on the face (brush the corners of the body / face juncture). If you got plenty of steel, take it nice and easy, grind carefully, and you'll be ok.

OTOH, if the face is getting mighty thin, a welding build up could very well be in order.
 
That baby had a hard life. Remember you only need an area in size of about the size of the palm of your hand to do most smithing...the rest is just extra and for mass...leave the horn alone, you will often need it. I don't reccomend welding on anvils for several reasons and most of the tutorials you will read on the web are wrong. I'm a welder of 40 years. However, I have repaired one anvil, it was totally destroyed without even one flat spot on it. It takes a lot of welding to build it back up. A lot of welding. A lot of expensive special electrodes. Preheat and postheat. I wouldn't do another, just not worth it
 
When I got my anvil I was leery of using an angle grinder for fear of gouging.I stumbled across (i believe in Don Foggs site) a nifty trick for sanding blades by gluing sandpaper to a square bar to better apply pressure and keep things flat.I took a 2 ft long piece of 2x 2 square tubing I had laying around,attached a cheapie chinese bench sharpening stone and went to work.Worked really nice.Cleaned up a majority of the little nicks and pits and was nice and flat.
 
My buddy has a lot of experience with hard facing farm equipment like plow blades and rebuilding worn shafts, so my plan is to let him build it up a bit after I true up the sides and see what I have. He gets materials for free as part of his job, so the wire and gas (full TIG & MIG setup) will be free to us...and all I have to do is keep his fillet blades sharpened (he is a guide on the side, so that is not trivial) for a while until the next favor comes along. :D

Any reason to rebuild the corner for the round tool hole?
 
My guess is that someone had that anvil and didn't have a clue about forging. They beat cold steel on it with a big hammer until the face was mushroomed and it was dinged and chipped to death. Grind the sides as straigfht as possible. Round off the broken corner.Lightly grind the face and let your friend build it up and grind it flat. Leave the bick (horn) alone, since it is used for shaping and drawing and will work as is. Although, a couple of dozen passes with a belt sander would make it look a bit better.
Stacy
 
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