I hardened my HF anvil

C

cwhittington

Joined
Sep 6, 2002
Messages
106
My buddy and I rigged up a forge using my smoker-barbeque/hairblower/pipe and a ton of homemade charcoal.
We loaded the bed of the forge with about 8" of charcoal and got it going well- we then put the anvil face down on the bed of coals, and as the charcoal was consumed very quickly, more had to be constantly added to keep it up around the sides at least a couple of inches. After about 1/2 hour, it was ready, so we lifted it out with a bar through some wire loops we wrapped on beforehand. We then lowered it into a plastic bushel of ice water. The water boiled for well over a minute and the water got too hot for our hands, so my son had to run for the hose to cool the water down. After taking it out, I could see that a couple of areas of the face got burned. I belt sanded it a little then let my hammer lightly bounce off the surface-
the change in tone of the ring was amazing, and the entire face was hardened dramatically, especially the middle portion that got most of the blast. I did notice a few hairline cracks that seem to have opened up from the quench- they were visible before I sanded the paint off the surface but after polishing the face (prior to heat treat) they were not apparent. I am extremely pleased with my anvil and would recomend the anvil to anyone who might want to tackle this sort of job. It helps immensely to have a friend who is into smithing too.
 
That's a great idea. It's good to know that you can harden them because you can't beat the price. Another idea could be to take a HF anvil and have a hardened face welded to it. I don't know if this would really work or not, but you could end up with a lot of weight and a hard surface for little money. -chris
 
Well done

They told the Wright brothers it would not fly.

I'm to much of a scaredy cat to try something like that. I'm pleased for you. Some guys get a large ball bearing and check how high it bounces to compair hardness. Im not sure what the mesure is.

Ok now don't just sit on your hands lets see a couple of blades.

I'LL look forward to the pictures.

Stay happy.

Added edit
I just read a post on anvil testing Indian George describes the ball bearing test.
 
welding a hardened face on an anvil won't work. The steel has to be in an annealed condition to weld. otherwise you get stress cracks at the heat affected zone.

If you weld a face on an anvil both pieces need to be annealed and the anvil as well.

The if you do weld it you have an air gap under the face, not good, lousy rebound. Unless you do a full penetration weld, bevel the anvil so you can weld the entire underside of the face to the body.
Then you have to anneal the whole thing to releive the stress from the welding and then harden and temper the whole thing.

Did I mention keeping the the anvil preheated to about 350 to 400 d while you are welding it:)
 
I have repaired my anvil by welding, the corners had
been broken off and there was a low spot on the base.
I used LH70 rod and did not pre heat the anvil,
after welding I ground it flat and squared up the
edges with a hand held grinder checked the face
flatness with a straight edge and made the necessary
corrections. Worked good nice and hard, no problems
for 14 years. Gib
 
I got rushed since my buddy showed up and we just decided to go for it and I didn't think about doing a before and after ball bearing test and I'm kicking myself now. Anyway, the rebound was noticably improved. I did a quick and dirty BB test and the rebound of the BB is around 50%, I didn't have a ruler or anything. Not the best by any means, but not the worst and way better than it was. It really wasn't that dificult, at least with someone else.
 
Glad to here it worked for you, been thinking of doing the same to a block of steel for a blade anvil. Now if I can just find a large squar block of hardnable steel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top