Anvil help

T

The Hook

Member
Hello all!

Looking for some advice on anvil construction. I posted this on another forum, but looking for more/different advice. I figured it wouldn't hurt to hit a broader audience.

I recently bought a piece of 4340 that is 8.5" in diameter and 6" tall. Well, the seller contacted me and said that the 6" piece was no longer available but he offered me two pieces of 8.5" x 4.5" for the same price.

My question is about "marrying" the two pieces together. The seller said that they were annealed, so should I try to get them welded together and make a 9" anvil?

Could I "dry stack" them and just build a support/stand around them?

I'm posting a picture to show what I have. According to the markings, one is 67 lbs. and the other is 66 lbs. I would like have a 133 lbs. anvil by putting the two together, but I want to make sure that doesn't hurt anything.

I've seen where people will weld another piece of steel on an old anvil to reface it, but I'm not sure that will work here.

Any and all advice is MUCH appreciated!




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You will never get it as good as it would have been if it was solid but I would weld them together. The other thing is it is going to be very "dead" in the annealed state it is in now. you are going to want to temper it. By dead I mean almost no rebound and that will mean you work a lot harder to forge a knife It also means that the face will deform, Annealed means it is in it's softest state so it would be similar to forging on a mild steel anvil. Tempering a large piece of steel is going to be a JOB. I would return them if I could and get something else. From my forging experience a round anvil will not be ideal. I started out learning to be a smith and the London anvil has many advantages, but if you choose to go with a post anvil I would go square so you have a side you can work an knife edge on with out hitting your anvil face. Ed
 
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I started with a 4x4x14" square. My friend who started this journey at the same time as I welded two 8" pieces together. His did not work the same as mine. It definitely takes more work to use his. I gave him mine when I got my actual anvil. I cut a 7" piece off his and use it as my travel demo anvil.

To harden the face I used a torch. Got it non magnetic and poured canola oil over it. After it cooled I heated it to light blue and then let it room cool. Works not the best answer.
 
Check with the local scrap yard and see about getting some railroad track. I have a small chunk about 8" or so and have seen where others have shaped a horn on the front and cut a hardy hole as well.
Im sure some have less than admirable ideas but it does work and might be a better deal than the annealed rounds.
 
Thanks for the responses!

I got a 1" ball bearing and tried the bounce test. They actually have decent rebound. I took a short video on my phone to see what you all think.

[video=youtube_share;Ixz6HGC2B6s]https://youtu.be/Ixz6HGC2B6s[/video]
 
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I took a look at the video..... not trying to be a naysayer......but thats about the the amount of rebound you can expect out of one of the cast iron anvils that Harbor Freight sells. Its one of those things that is certainly "usable" if you have nothing else, but its just going to be difficult, both physically (its going to take a lot more effort to accomplish work on than a real anvil), and mentally (its going to be frustrating working on it). If its all you have, then of course use it, but at the same time I would be looking for a real/quality anvil of the 125lb+ variety.

Personally, I worked on a cheap cast iron anvil early in my career....and within a month that anvil was swaybacked, and I was ready to give up forging. Luckily for me, about that time, I got an invite to a real blacksmith shop, and got to work on a 250lb Peter/Wright......it forever changed my view on what a person needs for an anvil.
 
Thanks again!

I've never really worked with a "real" anvil or compared it to a ASO, so this is pretty new to me.

I don't mind putting in a little extra work for now, until I can afford something better or maybe have one of these properly hardened.
 
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