Need advice- hardened anvil surface?

R

ritzblitz

Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
293
Hi everyone,

I have been messing around with this large hunk of steel I have and so far I have surface ground both faces flat, made a base, and now I need a face for it. I plan to have someone weld the face on for me.

So my main question is what could I use for a hardened face? Could I contact some steel suppliers and ask them to cut me a hunk somewhere around 4"x9"x1" of some hardenable steel? What type of steel would be the best for this purpose?

After I get the steel I plan to harden it somehow. I probably will send it out for this. What should the hardness be?

Thanks in advance!

Alex
 
You can order steel from suppliers cut to size. Might try onlinemetals.com. They specialize in cut to size small orders. Ask the supplier if they can harden it. They might have on site facilities. If not many large machine shops can do it.
Stacy
 
Thanks for the advice Stacy.

What kind of steel should I try to use? Or would any hardened steel be fine?

Thanks.
 
I dont know for sure how the process is done, but most anvils I've seen only have 3/4" of hardened steel on the body. If they can do it...

I know you can get hard-facing rods and weld on beads of that.
 
Ok,

I looked at some D2 that I could use and it seems that I would need to spend a decent chunk of change to get the size I would like.

So my next question is: Is it even worth it to buy a hardened top if I don't know how good the base part of the anvil is? The question I'm trying to ask is does the majority of an anvil's rebound come from the hardened face of the anvil or the cast section of the anvil?

Thanks a ton.
Alex
 
Rebound is highly overrated. While a good anvil is better than a cheap and poor anvil, almost any hard, flat, reasonably smooth surface will work as an anvil. Once you are proficient at forging, or when doing large work with sledges and strikers, does the difference really show up. What you are describing to do with your anvil should work. Any hardenable steel will be fine. 1050 ,4140,4150, 5160,9260,1070,O-1 all should do. Harden and draw to a tough temper, around Rc 45-48 is enough.
Stacy
 
bladsmth said:
Rebound is highly overrated. While a good anvil is better than a cheap and poor anvil, almost any hard, flat, reasonably smooth surface will work as an anvil. Once you are proficient at forging, or when doing large work with sledges and strikers, does the difference really show up. What you are describing to do with your anvil should work. Any hardenable steel will be fine. 1050 ,4140,4150, 5160,9260,1070,O-1 all should do. Harden and draw to a tough temper, around Rc 45-48 is enough.
Stacy
Click to expand...

I once thought so also but changed my mind after jumping on a dead anvil.Took twice the time and was gave out when I got finished.Hard facing works but the price of rods is too high to consider it these days.Plug welding a plate to a chunk will give more rebound but will need heat treating afterwards to get the full benefit.IMHO, I'd look long and hard to find a decent anvil.You might could afford a Chuck Robinson special after you see what kind of headache you are looking into.
 
G'day ritzblitz, you could consider getting the chunk of steel that you have surface hardened using the carbonitriding process? i looked into it myself awhile back (getting a hard face put on a chunk of low carbon steel) and that process was suggested to me. the company that did it charged per weight of the item being surface hardened. may be worth considering altough i dont know too much about it, i think the hard layer is only relatively thin though? anyways good luck.
 
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