HF Anvil

[DReicht]

Will HF Ship their 110 anvil to me, or do I have to pick it up? See I was given a small 35 lb section of railtrack, but I'm not equipped to harden it through quenching. Is it ok if I make use of it until I get a better anvil?

 

[deker]

Generally HF will ship anything. Sadly the good old days of "Free Shipping on Orders of $50 or More!" are gone

-d

 

[DReicht]

:-\

Until I can afford it, say in a few months, would it be alright to start practicing on a tiny, not even 35 lb but more like 25 lb RR track? It turns out I could harden it, but I would only have it for a few months, would it be ok to use unhardened?

 

[Matt Shade]

Go ahead and use the track until you can get an anvil. If it is a used section of track, it should already be work hardened enough that you won't tear the face up. No need to try and heat treat it.
The biggest problem with the track for now, is getting it to stay still. Clamp or bolt it to something heavy and solid, and you should be able to work on top of it ok.

 

[Vinny203]

i was givin a oh let me messure real fast .. its like a 2 ft peice of track. now earlier today i was setting up shop. i turned a peice of 5160 and turned on its side and gave it a few hard wacks and it didnt even scratch the track. this was with a cold peice of metal. do to the fact i dont got my forge yet :grumpy: :grumpy: but i was just screwin around you know... but you should have no problem with the track for a good while. take your time with an anvil. you want a good anvil. and my studies have shown they dont make an anvil like back in the ol days you know like the 70s lol

 

[DReicht]

OK good I was worried I was goign to end up puning my lawn up with a spilt quench tank

Speaking of, is it ok for me to use a 5 gallon galvanized bucket if I'm just doing knives instead of a oil water heated quench tank with rockets on the side and a gps computer?

 

[Vinny203]

ive seen a few tanks. as long as you can manage the temp of the salution.
let me see what he uses in the 50$ knife book and my new blacksmith book............ k basicaly he just uses the food pans they use a buffets
right with a regulator brick basicaly this brick is set in place so you dont dip the whole blade unless you want too.. as seen in the image below which is from
Wayne Goddards 50$ knife shop a.k.a THE BIBLE a must have its cheap.

 

[DReicht]

So just a tank with some sort of heating element would be good? I.E. basically a fryulator would work??

BTW I have to get the $50 Knife Shop....all my other books don't compare.

 

[Vinny203]

yes i mean a buffet pan with a camp hot plate under it works fine. its what your gonna use inside it id study about.. some ppl use animal fat. i know the first/knife im working on right now i did in a mixture of oils including old harley oil.

 

[DReicht]

I was thinking peanut oil, cheap and plentiful and people have suggested it.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Stay away from hot plates and camp stoves under a quench tank (This spells disaster!!!).The tank does not need a heating element,either. Just heat up a bar of steel and stick it in the tank. Do this a few times until the oil is about 120F. That will be fine for maybe 15 minutes. A roasting thermometer clipped to the tank side will tell you the oil temp. If it drops below 100, stick a hot bar of steel in again. The exact temperature of the quench is not all that important. 100 to 130 is the desired range.The proper quenchant is far more important than its temperature.
To make a tank heating tool,do this. Take a round bar of 1/2" mild steel about 3to4' long. Heat it to bright red about 4" up from the end. Bend it back on itself to make a double thickness,4" long. Heat it 4" up again and bend the doubled section back on the shaft. Hammer this all down .The extra mass at the tripled end will heat a bucket of oil fast.One note of caution. When you stick the heating tool (or any red hot seel) into the oil, don't pull it out until it stops gurgling and rumbling. If you pull it out too soon, it will burst into flames as it vaporizes the oil on the hot metal.If this (when this) happens, just stick it back in the oil and let the flames go out. Let it cool down again before removing it.Quenching indoors is a NO-NO unless your shop setup is specifically designed for it.
Stacy