Modified Cast Iron Anvil- Yes, it can be done
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- If you have a cast iron anvil, access to a good MIG welder, and an inordinate amount of time, you too can make your stupid, useless cast iron China-made anvil into something that a professional blacksmith might not laugh at, all the while proving to the non-believers that it can be done.
Incredibly, the regular .035 mild steel MIG wire holds up very well on cast iron with proper preheat. You don't need to buy special alloys if you don't want to, though you may get better results overall.
The hardface wire I used specified that it was good against impact; some alloys are meant more for abrasion, so check around before buying the first roll of hardfacing wire you see.
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Your skills with an angle grinder are amazing! It looks like the anvil was faced with a surface grinder! Awesome job!
Thanks! It's nothing special. Just decent tooling.
Awesome! Ive been asking blacksmiths about this, they say that you cant. I wish i saw this before i bought my steel anvil, i really like the sound of an iron anvil with a steel face. Thats how a lot of old wrought iron anvils were done, welded steel face.
Glad you enjoyed!
There were some surface cracks in the face due to the nature of the wire, but I spoke with the people who bought it some time later and they said it held up well. Still treat it as an experiment! Good luck. 🙂
A little hint you will get better results with stainless filler rod the ductility of the nickel helps prevent cracking but not as well as pure nickle
Jealousy RUN's DEEP in this little world of anvil lovers... All he is doing is showing it can be done,,, not trying to prove anyone wrong or show he's a pro... A little free time project nothing more... People don't'a got'a do it his way... It's short enough to the point... So why any thumbs down at all,,, I can only think they think they'er better.. Truth is he could of done it differently or with different types of wire or what ever... He answered the question he raised,,, and did a good video saying what all he tried that's all... Good vid good job... Now get your ass back to work...
8hr lunch break, great job you got there, nice looking anvil.
:) little tip on the edges you can clamp a copper bar or stick some ceramic weld backing along the edges so you can keep nice square corners. Will save you a lot of grief on the edges
The weld won’t stick to the copper or ceramic
I have never heard of that trick before. Thanks for the tip.
Cave of Skarzs I’d go with the copper bar for the price point and re usability though. I’d get a couple pieces of 3” by 1/4” or 5/16” or 3/8” flat copper bar (whatever thickness your metal supply store has. The thicker the better). You can also clamp it under holes that need filled in steel. You won’t ever be sorry you had them! Ps if you gap the bar with a piece of welding wire or shim on the edge of that anvil the weld metal will flow through a little giving you just a little material to grind off. Also let the bar cool before removing it with a hammer cause it’s pretty soft when it’s hot lol. Cheers
I’ve wondered if this could be done, now i know. Thanks.
Can it be done? Sure. I wouldn't recommend it. Hardfacing wire is more expensive than tool steel. For about $45 you can get a 1/2" piece of tool steel for the top. That's easier and will likely perform better. Add a hardy and pritchel if desired. Harden and temper. Bevel the top of the cast iron anvil substantially and then weld your way out to the edge. I added a 1" thick top to the big chunk of mild steel that was my starter anvil, and it's awesome. I got it from my steel supplier - it was a piece of cut off from a special order - for $20. Get to know your local steel supplier, they are to a smith what a butcher is to a chef.
The project is interesting, but my Blacksmith soul cried out to see all those Anvils sitting in the weather, for the love of Ogun get some oil and a trap for those Anvils.
Very informative. I love it. Actually this was the thing I was searching for for a very long time. Thankyou...
If you really want to weld cast iron, build a large fire and get the whole thing a dull red.
Now all you need to do is grind off the "55" and replace it with a "62."
Bloody hell i jumped up and tried to go back to work then, realised im at home...whoever that was shouting "back to work"! Just stop it......
You're welcome.
What made the welding wire splatter the way it did ? You made a really nice anvil.
Thanks!
The cast iron itself makes the welds spatter pretty badly. Also, because this is just MIG, that also causes spatter, but not too badly. The hardface wire was inner shield, and that stuff tends to spatter a lot as well.
Make another video on this anvil. Take and fill in the gaps on the side add onto the heal and drill a pritchel hole
Would if I could! Ended up selling it.
@@caveofskarzs1544 aww bummer I thought about doing that to my anvil I have the same exact one but i am getting a new one and that one is kinda sentimental. A guy gave it to me for my very first anvil. I’d feel bad to modify it but I wish it were more usable
@@caveofskarzs1544 but if you ever get to it do it again. But instead of filling in the sides grind off the little lip on top before hand then hard face it and add onto the heal.
You need to use cast iron specialty wire for bit to be successfully because of different strengths etc.
My friend, the proof is in the pudding. The chocolate iron pudding.
Can you remember roughly what settings you ended up with on the welder for each wire? I'm doing a very similar one this weekend.
I'm afraid I don't. I do remember that I turned the heat up pretty high.
pretty sure he mean cast steel>>?
Curious how this anvil has held up? Has it cracked or chipped along the edges?
I wish I could tell you. I sold it a while back because I needed to downsize my tooling situation. But it held up fine for as long as I had it.
Did the hard facing wire require reverse polarity like typical flux core?
If it did, that didn't seem to affect anything.
That's a lotta lunches you missed
>_> I. . . uhh. . . didn't JUST work through my lunches. . . But between you and me, yes, it was a lot of lunches missed. ;)
Neat! Just curious - why not just weld a hard steel plate to the top?
That's a good question. I will go over that in another video when I get around to it. But the gist of it is that a hard steel plate welded all the way around the edges will still have a small gap inside that cannot be seen. This will reduce rebound, and may lead to it eventually breaking due to the constant but slight bounce between the two metals.
Cave of Skarzs not if you milled the two joining surfaces perfectly flat first! Easy Peasy! You could even lap the two surfaces afterwards if .001" wasn't good enough, but I think it would be. I'll let you know how it goes..... Maybe a video! I have the same cheap cast iron anvil.
I think you have to do all weld on the horn though.
I admire your patience and dedication!
That's possible, but I would trust a fully welded face over a plate any day. ;)
I have actually done that on another project, but decided against it. What I might suggest you do is drill through the plate in a few places in the top plate, and plug weld it to the main body. In theory it could reduce vibrations and increase rebound.
👍👍👍
Good info
pretty sure you were not welding cast or wrought Iron the anvil face's are tool steal forge welded to the base at the time they are made!
Not all of them are like that. This one was most definitely cast iron.
Aaron Virgo harbor freight has a 55 lb cast iron anvil, and they are total garbage. They totally exist.
Are you sure that's iron? It makes sparks and shines like cast steel. That's a fortune in mig wire and a lot of time. Truth is if your material is hot enough cast iron works just fine. Many a blacksmith worked on a cast iron anvil for years.
I wish I saw this sooner!!!! RUclips didn’t give me any notification.., but awesome video!!!!!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed.
Nice vid it's been a while
Thanks! Yeah, I know. :P
I have three other videos in the making, but I'm not always able to get back to those projects.
Use pure co2 to get a better burn
That's the shield gas I use.
the yelling was absolutely not necessary. I had to resuscitate my wife at 3 am then deal with her attitude until the next day
If you were joking, I'm laughing.
To be honest, even if you are serious, I am laughing. Sorry, tho.
@@caveofskarzs1544 no need to apologize, either way I have to deal with her legally, might as well make the day interesting.
the video was worth the consequences.
@@fuckthedumbsh1t Lol.
I feel your pain bud. Hope your balls are still attached
There is a difference between cast iron and cast steel I'm betting it is cast steel
Why do you think it is cast steel?
@@caveofskarzs1544 welding with a wire feed and when you where grinding the sparks where yellowish orange cast iron they would have been red
@@rockyroney2666 Ah, I see.
Well, whether you believe me or not, I believe it was cast iron. From my tests prior to even attempting this, and from previous experience, it was cast iron. But, maybe you're more experienced than me! Let me know.
The video does not catch the sparks' color well, and I only now saw that. In real life, the sparks were darker. If it were cast steel, the sparks also would have had sparkles at the ends; these did not. I also cut into a corner of one of the feet to break test, and it broke and looked like gray cast iron.
As for welding with MIG: That was kind of the other point of this video. Right at the beginning, I gave examples of test pieces of cast iron I welded with mild steel, and stated that I even beat on it with a hammer. I was trying to prove it was possible, and reasonably preferable to buying special rods.
@@caveofskarzs1544 The way it welded . You would have had nothing but a mess if it was cast iron
As an academic exercise this is OK, but it is not a practical solution, all else equal.
Far easier solution: buy an actual anvil. :)
But of course.
Too labor intensive...
Buy a railway scrap
Make it cheaper...
Cheaper. . . Yeah. Better? No.
Railway track a) is illegal to gather, and b) has no real mass to absorb the shock of your hammer and rebound it back at you. Better off using a stump with a rail connector plate attached than a piece of track.
I was wondering if this could be done I have an anvil about that size but is twice the weight and defiantly cost alot more but wanted to k ow because a friend wants a cheap one but you get whatyou pay for and if a good steel was on top it might be ok
Yes, I believe it could be done. Depending on how you would charge yourself on labor time, this may be a good investment. Does that answer your question?
@@caveofskarzs1544 yes thank you would it be a good or bad idea to drill holes through the the steel so there is more weld to the top
That would really depend on what it is made of, and what process you are using to weld. If it is a steel top, no. If it is cast iron, yes. If you are using a stick welder, no.
@@caveofskarzs1544 ok thanks again your response is appriciated
did this end being remotely ecconomical?
Yea, warning for the scream would have been very appreciated.
Lol
Very nice and informative video. Shows a very nice alternative to get a "good enough anvil". I fabricated my anvil by arc welding (full penetration most of it 7018 rod) chunks of steel and hard facing rod was very expensive, as you said "cost more that I'd like to admit". You invested a lot of work in this project and with just a bit more work you could have started in a bigger cast iron anvil and get a "more substantial" final product. Thanks for the video
Hey! Cool to hear someone else made one of their own.
I could have started with a bigger one, perhaps, but this one I got for free, and if I somehow messed up it wouldn't be a huge loss. Besides, I'm more confident I can take on a larger one now that I did this with great results. All part of the plan. :)
I am going to have to try this with a harbor freight anvil! I am a welding student and a hobbyist blacksmith. I don't have $1200 to drop on a good anvil. Why not use newly acquired skills!
Eggomania86. Did u do it?
You don't need 1200 for a good anvil I just picked up a old volcan 103 pounder for 225 yesterday
I remember an old fellow told me years ago to put cast iron in sand to keep the heat up
I have heard that too.
From another old fella, setting anything in sand will keep the heat in. I have a few partners in crime and we use agricultural lime, I have found it holds the heat much better.
Nomcast electrodes! They are the bomb for cast iron! I fixed me broken cast iron vice.Holds like a champ!🤘😜🤘
Thanks for the video. I just purchased my first anvil and when it arrived I found it in bad shape. So now thanks to this I have a good place to start to fix it.
Good luck!
Nice modification, can’t wait to see the Hay budden plans
With all the cheap cast iron anvils out there, it's good to know they can be made useful. Now I know what to do with the 91 pounds of cast iron I have that is shaped like an anvil.
@6:20 wow...just blocked you from ever showing up in my time line again.
It wasn't that loud when I was editing, lol.
I just bought one of those acciaio anvils for like 137 for an 88lber. and its actually steel. I think if your going to buy a cheep anvil its better to just look around for something thats at least a decentish material
JFC dude. RIP headphone users. When he says he’s doing it at work mute it for 30 seconds or you can kiss your ears goodbye.
"Look how he massacred my boy...."
I was wondering if it's possible to do the same process as, but instead of metal rod weld to the Anvil, can you use an 1/4 inch steel plate??
That has been done before. However, you cannot get as good of results, since from what I have seen the plate was just welded around the edges, leaving a small gap between the anvil and the plate that will reduce rebound and it will have to be replaced eventually.
@@caveofskarzs1544 Yes but what is you did as you did here and drilled the 1/4 plate with holes same as the anvil?
Also grinding the face of the anvil to as flat as you can before applying the plate. Then filling the holes and around the edges.
@@VNV67 Like I said to another commenter, that would probably increase the durability and rebound, but I would still trust a fully welded one over that. If you have no other choice, then that probably would be a good option.
+Vile As Phunk
for better results take 1/2 or 1 inch plate .
Also i like the idea --- drill couple holes , and weld through it . 8 holes will be optimal,i think.
- - @@caveofskarzs1544
rebound is BS.
6:20 I think I just lost some hearing
Lol.
it looked like a cheese crater in the beginning
6:19 Warning for headphone users
Why did you use a gas shield with flux cored wire? I'm a newbie and just bought a hay budden 80pd anvil that is damn near toast but I'm going to try and reface it just not sure how yet. Do you think I could just grind it down flat and it will work. Its got a divet in the center probably 1/2 inch and sound dead in the center. The face is mushroomed out like a lead bullet lol. Most would say I should have passed on it but it was $100 I couldn't resist. Any insight and suggestions would be a blessing and the foundation for a game plan to having a working anvil. Thanks in advance if you'd lend your opinion and knowledge
Well, the face-hardening wire only came in flux core. In any case, shielding gas doesn't hurt flux core.
As for your Hay Budden repair, I would first like to die inside at the damage you described. . . (Sounds like one I saw on eBay. Did you buy it from there?)
I can't say I have repaired damage that severe on those older anvils, but I can give you my opinion. With a divot that deep, it may not be the best option to try to grind down to it. Bringing it up level with the rest will probably make for a more usable anvil, because on my Hay Budden, the hardened face is only half an inch thick. You could probably grind or cut off the mushroom, especially since that is likely full of cracks as it is.
If you keep what is left of that steel plate there and weld on top of it, it will probably be an easier weld as opposed to welding to the wrought iron body.
I hope that helps. If you have any other questions ask away.
Fork lift forks is a good faceplate
Done me good for 3 years now
Does anyone know if you could do this to a 102 pound Peter Wright anvil. The anvil I am talking about is my great grandfather’s anvil and someone tried to fix it with just mild welding wire and they took the rebound and hardness out of it. So I want to know if I should do the same to this one.
Might check out Essential Craftsman's video on anvil repair. I believe he touched on what to do with a soft anvil. As long as there's enough hardenable material you might be able to reharden it.
Why not just replate?
Sell me one I need
Can Stud-welding of cast iron to steel can give good results? Screw in steel studs into the cast iron base with the stud pattern matched with a 1/2-inch to 1-inch steel plate. Then, weld the heads of the steel studs to the steel plate.
I had never thought of that. From how it sounds, I can't say I would trust it more than fully welding something, but it would be more solid than just trying to weld a steel plate to a cast anvil.
Stud welding 1/4" cold rolled steel to the face is what I did, and this worked very well have forged various items on it. As originally purchased I couldn't even forge a piece of lead without damaging the face.
@@caveofskarzs1544 , idk but from what I've heard...
Preheat cast iron anvil after all your prep work of course for 2.5 to 3 hrs as close to 500 deg f and preheat you top plate also. Have everything set up and ready to weld.
1st set anvil in welding spot.
2 lay an 1/8" fluted rod at each end horn and heal bent so they wont roll
3 lay top plate on the use nickle55 rods to completely fill the whole entire gap between the anvil and the top plate.
* note if your not a fast welder or have to stop for any reason replace anvil back into oven and keep it as close to 500 deg f as possible
That's the way I was told to do it. Gives you 100% weld between the anvil and the top plate
@@danielcrawford7315 Sounds good to me. Thanks! I might try that some time, since it is fully welded.
That is not "stud welding"...that is welding a steel plate to an anchored stud, two different animals.
So you think your procedure, work fine with that 15lbs harbor freight anvil? But you improvise it to different specs
It was 55 pounds. Sorry if I didn't say it. And yes, it does work fine. Great improvement
What temperatures did you use your mig welder at?
Did you use mild steel
The MIG welder heat was set at 25, but it can be different for every welder. I just used a setting that felt right.
As for the steel, other than the hard-facing wire, everything was mild steel, yes.
Cave of Skarzs What the feck heat is 25?
Very helpful. I need to do similar work to my anvil. Thanks
I know I'm way over a year on seeing this and you probably already know by now but if you use a rosebud attachment for your torch you can heat up more of the anvil a lot faster. Great video though buddy keep it up
Would have loved to see a more detailed explanation on testing if metal is hot.
S P I T O N I T
The ONE THING that I wish you had shown was a rebound / bearing-drop BEFORE doing all the welding. It would have been nice to see the before and after. Might help to quiet down some of the nay-sayers! ;-)
I know! It slipped my mind to do it.
Heck yea new video
Are you sure that anvil is cast iron? Nether the swarf drilling nor the sparks look like cast dude. Nice video.
Fancy seeing you here!
I'm pretty certain. I guess I didn't show it here, but when grinding the bevel the sparks were definitely matching those of other cast iron pieces. It also welded like cast, dented like cast, and had what looked to be a cast line, not to mention I have never seen an anvil from China that wasn't cast iron.
I wonder, could you solder or bronze "weld" a piece of steal plate on top?? and I'd use a toaster oven to heat it up .. a lot cheaper and time saving than torch and more even... Just a thought..
Hey, give it a try! I'd love to see that.
Nooooooo...... dude you want a hard face not a soft one and theres now micro airgaps that mess with its vibration properties. Probably reduced its value to a 3rd of what it was worth.
. . . Why do you think it was soft?
Why not just weld on a miepce of steel plate, like a cutting edge or something, drill some holes through both and fill a few spots in the middle, would be way easier and alot cheaper
I considered this. It may work, it may not. But in the case of this, it would be welding a steel plate to cast iron, and while it would be faster and cheaper, it would not be better, since the connection is in jeopardy simply because of the material difference and the lack of connection. I may be wrong.
That anvil had a steel top. The shavings prove it. Cast would have been more like a dust coming off the drill
I thought that too from the sparks from the grinder.
This needs an epilepsy warning lol :P
Hmm. Perhaps.
THANK YOU for this video!! You helped (I hope) shut down a Non-believer!
I’ve wondered if anyone has tried this, now I know...they have. How much wire did you use please?
A very interesting video, thank you,
Sorry for not replying sooner.
I used probably five pounds of wire, tops. Most of it was the mild steel MIG wire.
How much did this anvil cost in the end?
If I'm not mistaken I think those anvils are cast steel it welds similar to cast iron you can do it nicely with mig but has to be crazy hot pre heat cast rod on a stick welder d/c works best but it's still not hardenable would have been easier to seal the edges of a high carbon steel plate with weld and forge weld it on and grind off welds this takes less money work and is the way it was done for centuries
Perhaps. But I didn't have a forge large enough to forge weld this large a piece. Thanks!
If you ever forge weld the face of an anvil yourself, I would love to see it! I know one blacksmith who has, and he said it wasn't easy. There aren't a whole lot of videos about that.
It had to be a cast steel or it would not have welded the way it did
Honestly you could make good money hard facing cheap cast iron anvils like that. Especially since you made that material so thick before you hardfaced.
That has been a thought of mine. I would just need to fine-tune the process to make it cost effective.
Cave of Skarzs also I have soft firebrick rated to 3200°F if you’re interested
WOW great video... Thanks
Looks like you needed a rosebud to heat that cast iron up a little faster.
It would have been nice. Didn't have one, though, much to my chagrin.
NICE
Why not heat treat the anvil?
I would hesitate to bring cast iron anywhere near water when it's been heated. . .
Any recommendations on what you would do different?
Sure.
I would preheat it hotter for one. Next I would use a cast iron welding rod for the first layer at the very least. Might not put as much mild steel in, since that was a big reason it took as long as it did. Lastly, I would have a thicker layer of the hardened steel.
@@caveofskarzs1544 thanks. I'm thinking of fixing up an anvil, probably just needs hard facing but I was curious.
Nickel. Inconel
That would be "best", of course, since nickel alloy cast iron welding rods are MEANT for welding cast, but as I said at the beginning, I was exploring the possibility of welding cast iron with just regular MIG wire.
Also it's cheaper.
Hey any new videos in the making it has been a while
Yeah. . . Three. But my computer went kaput so I can't do anything with them.
Very nice JOB!
Thankee sir!
Nice job.
Thanks, David!
wouldn't the cost of the Chineseum anvil plus the all the mig wire and, no doubt some worn out grinding disks, amount to a small cast steel anvil?
Paddy
That's what I was trying to figure out here. And it's pretty close in price, but mostly because of the amount of time I sunk I to it. If I were to do this again, I believe my process would be more cost-effective.
Noble attempt. I am glad it worked out in the end. My first Idea would have been to weld a piece of cast steel on top of the Horror Fright anvil. I have seen anvils made and sold like that on a commercial basis.
I am no blacksmith, but I have a small 20 Kg anvil in the shop, sitting on the workbench, as a surface to tap things in to place (or hammer a pin into something, you know) and that too has a nice flat and very resilient piece of cast steel on its cast iron body.
On a fun note.... when I first got this I mounted it on some soft 8 by 2".... so the first time I used a hammer on it, the whole contraption was so 'springy' , it nearly hit me in the face !
All the best!
Paddy
that Hardface wire (10lbs) is as much as forged steel Chinese 66lb anvil. Still very good video. Def not cost effective for me. And you have a nice selection of anvils!
Yes pinging helps cast iron relieves stress. I have welded the same broke vise back together three times. The last time it held several years and is still being used. I guess. I used rods made for cast.
tim smith Vice will be made of cast steel not iron.
captain chaos not so, very few vises are cast of steel, it’s too expensive.