Is it recomended to heat up surface of very cold anvil ?

O

Ome108

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Apr 29, 2014
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Hi Everyone,
Is it advised to heat a piece of steel and lay it on top of the anvil, in particulary cold weather, so the anvil won't crack or break?
I had read this on the old world dominion website of Q & A.
THANKS,
Ome108
 
Many materials have a ductile to brittle transition temperature. Simple high carbon steels are around 0 F. Other steels have a lower transition temperature. So, it depends on the temperature and on the material that the anvil is made out of. I'd say that it probably won't hurt.
 
BTT can be quite high like 70* F !!
But in your anvil case the difference in mass makes the whole thing a moot point !
Push the anvil closer to the fire if you're nervous !!
 
The anvil isn't likely to break from being cold. What a cold anvil will do iis suck the heat from a blade and make a forging heat last a very short time. As the anvil warm, the heats are longer. It won't hurt to shorten that warm up time by putting a hot....but not red hot.....block of steel on it.
 
I should have added that this is a 38 lb post anvil hardened to an average 54 RC.
SO not much mass.
Does the hammer I use need to be about a 16 oz, as to not be to heavy for the low wt of this post anvil?
Thank You very much,
ome108
 
It kind of depends on how you have it anchored. I have an 8# sledge hammer head cemented into a 70# block of concrete and it doesn't seem to suffer from being hit with a 3# hammer.
 
Thank you,
That makes alot of sense. I did not sink mine into a pail of cement, cause I am building a modular system of a stand out of hard lumber, 2 by 12's on end.
To be able to use one stand for all 4 pieces of hardened steel. The material is mostly H13 tool steel and one piece of s7, and 3 pieces of RR track of various lenghts, held to a 2by 8 with heavy duty electric ties. The top of the metal is about 1/2" higher than the top of 2 by 8 supporting backside of metal post anvil. Will see how it works, thanks for all the advise.
Ome108
 
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