I suppose that could explain why it dents so easily. The material is filling up the porosity voids, either way you end up with an uneven working surface after little use. Really enjoy your videos and have a greater appreciation for your content and others after seeing some of what goes into making these videos. 😅
good catch..thats a positive not a negative..you are the only one out of everyone reviewing this anvil to bust this out...opening the box is a must do...that one should have been rejected ..not patched...unless they are all like that...thanks
I see this is only your second video, and the first of any significant length. I’m impressed, not only with the production quality, but with your skills as well. 👍
You are an impressive craftsman. Especially for such a young man. Never let anyone get away with denigrate your trade or tradesmen in general. As a master craftsman for more than half my life I’ve seen far too many people look down their noses like they didn’t need such skilled people. Without craftsmen very little happens in this world an you should b very proud that you are part of a great heritage.
I’ve definitely noticed a diminished appreciation among the general population for skilled crafts people since my youth spanning the 70’s through the 90’s. People not only have no appreciation for how the things around them are made, but it’s come to the point that most of the things they use and interact with everyday are pure garbage…., and they think it’s completely normal.
Considering I used a Harbor Freight cast iron anvil for about a year, and then used it for another 2 years after I used my welder to put on about 4 or 5 lb of 7018 and then another 5 lbs of hard facing rod. I would say that this Anvil will be more than good enough to get started.
I was and still am looking at this anvil. It’s the guys with some knowledge and experience like you that helps beginners learn what to look for. I am also lucky enough to have a farrier that doesn’t mind answering questions showing me a thing or 3. Thanks for all your time and effort.
I grabbed one quickly too. I appreciate your review and learned a lot. Looking at the one I grabbed (only 2 left when I went.) I'm not unhappy. I saw one of the circles on the face of the one I got but didn't know what it was... The other had none of those but did have an obvious void at the edge. Based on the sample size of 2 I've looked at, I think you may have got one of the rougher ones. that said, at a little over $2/ pound with a coupon, I'm very pleased. I'd call it a good buy considering the other options. I'll be using it as a 2nd Anvil which honestly may have better edges and for now a smoother face than the antique Fischer I've used for a decade. I've subbed and liked all your vids so far. I hope you do really well, sharing a link to your vids with a few friends. You're doing a great Job!
You are doing a good job on fabricating your anvil stand. I worked in a Navy Ship Yard as a certified fist class welder following two years of welding school. I say you are doing a good job. Keep this good work up. Good luck!
Great presentation. Super informative. I almost bought one today. I will inspect one at the store before I purchase it. Looking forward to your next video.
Yes I just checked out the one I bought and you are correct mine has 2 plug welds right in the sweet spot of the face ! I'm glad you brought it up already have a dent right where the repair was made!😔
Good video. I bought this anvil recently. I inspected it at the register before buying it. The first one I looked at definitely had face issues. They brought me another one to inspect and I detected no flaws. It’s hit or miss with Harbor Freight. You should be able to return it easily. Thanks.
I enjoyed your entire video from the simple meat hook and anvil stand builds to your honest opinion of the Doyle anvil. I bought two of the Doyle Anvils, as they are flying off the shelfs. One for my own DIY woodworking/Tinkering shop and the other for a gift to a friend of a friend you is just starting out on his own welding/Machinist shop. He inspected both of them and stated that was great work for that price. I hope your nest Doyle anvil will meet your expectations. Doyle anvil/Harboe Freight should make it right.
Love your review,sorry about your anvil, if Harbor freight won't make good on it I would get in contact with Doyle themself. Do yourself a favor coat everything in boiled linseed oil. Great metal conditioner works on wood too. Looking forward for future videos. Your off to a good start. 🔥🔨
Great researched discovery, we are considering the anvil as we did not like their blue ones 55 lbs'ers. We will open it at the store seek these round filler weld repairs and find one we hope without this issue you shared, thank you for saving us this time and for making a really cool stand for yours. Lance & Patrick.
Use some 6013 and build-up a hard face on it...if you don't swap it for another one. Thanks for finding this issue. I found that the horn is dead soft, too. My neighbor just got one and I'm planning to. At least it's cast steel, not cast iron so hard facing the face and horn shouldn't be too frustrating and I'll have a decent anvil for the price plus effort welding, grinding and polishing. I'm definitely going to look for plug welds now.
Nice stand. I did buy one and it appears I may have one or two of those marks. for the money I paid I don't regret it and plan on adding a top of the line 120 lb anvil. It will suffice for its intended purpose. Thank you for an honest review
I was lucky, mine had no plug welds. However, did find the nameplate drive screws came out with a chisel & very light taps... further improving it's looks.
I noticed those spots @ about 13:52 in the video! They almost look too perfectly circular to be welds though! They appear to be smaller in diameter than the hole. One of the beauties about these Doyle’s is their cast STEEL construction, as opposed to cast iron. If the work you did on it voids the warranty, just grind out the spots and reweld them with hard facing electrode! Cast steel is easily welded, in contrast to the hateful-evil cast iron! Tip: If you do that, grind it out deep enough to require two weld passes, as many hard facing deposits don’t reach max Rockwell hardness until two passes are run-one on top of the first!
Thanks for the the advice! I refaced a 180lb mouse hole anvil about 2yrs ago It had a big sway through the middle. It was quite the job. Definitely don’t want to put the time or money into this anvil. Hopefully they will just swap it out and I have better luck with the next one.
i have one of these on the way, i will etch the face with ferric chloride to check, the Doyle line from HF has a 1 year warranty from the date of purchase, so you should be able to return or exchange it just fine. even though this can be a potential problem i don't see it as a deal breaker.
etching the face is a really good idea to test for things like that. And is easily returned to "out of the box" condition if a problem surfaces. Solid idea sir
@@ImpulseIronWorks my neighbor also bought one of these, i'll be sure to check his too. making a tire hammer by the looks of it, i made my own hammer a couple years back, 100 pound pneumatically driven, feel free to see my video of it.
Glad you did this review I was going to get one today but decided to hand sand some blades instead. I'll get it tomorrow and now I know what to look for. Us knife guys like hand sanding so much I couldn't wait until tomorrow to do it LOL
The first one I bought had a large area in the middle of the face that was welded and was softer that the rest of the face. Bouncing a ball bearing put small dents in it. The rest of the face was hard. I exchanged it for another one and even looked at before I took it home and it looked fine. After cleaning the grease off I noticed three spot welds on the face easily noticed by the different color in the steel. These spots were out of the way of the main surface area so I just decided to keep it. Seems to be a common problem now.
I bought this same one for my son for Christmas and do not like the color. I think you saved me from the dreaded red, yours looks way better. I will be doing the same for his. Thanks for the video and I will subscribe.
As we are all in the same boat when it comes to buying cheaper tools just for a hobby and really not our bread and butter job I to have the HF Anvil and for the money beat it up and use it for what it was intended for, hell I don’t even want to spend a ton of money on a want to be black smith and I have been doing it long before Forged in Fire drove the price of this shit through the roof. Great video and have fun . P.S. I have seen really expensive Anvils in my 25 year journey doing this with a shit ton of defects and have seen really experienced smiths blow the horn two inches back off of a anvil with a weak spot in it. So don’t feel bad .
I bought a Doyle anvil and found similar discolored blotches on the heel near the pritchel hole. I haven't yet forged on the anvil and investigated those discolored spots. Thanks for the heads up. I'm not too bothered by small casting blemish repairs on the face. I guess I don't have the same expectation for a $2 a pound anvil as a $5+ a pound anvil. If the anvil return or exchange doesn't work I'd just ignor the repair spots and use it. It looks like you're about to build a power hammer. I look foreword to seeing what you build. Based on the tools you have in your shop I bet you'll eventually purchase a heavier shop anvil and delegate the Doyle anvil to maybe a portable travel anvil. That's what I'm doing with mine.
Very nice anvil stand. Hopefully it works well for you. Very nice job review it. Very helpful and definitely informed video. Can't wait to see more videos soon. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Forge On. Fab On. Weld On. Keep Forge lit. Keep making. God Bless.
I just got done stripping north the ones I bought yesterday and neither have the same issue so I believe you must have received the first batch of runs that if you all did not know it’s still a cheap harbor freight tool so no they will not throw away or not use even bad ones they will fix it and sale it but yeah not a single plug weld on the X2 I bought just yesterday in central Arkansas
Thanks for fair review and believe truth from you. Nobody wants to find fault, but believe we must have people of experience going forward in our behalf. I'm 4 years of experience with only a hobby I've loved and partly because I tried to be safe . I got the "ugliest blue " anvil and I didn't skin that blue off but painted gray paint over the ugliest blue. Something really big about the comparison is that Hardy hole of the blue is 3/4" and as my tools also from a previous anvil I can use my 3/4" tools they fit my blue . That Hardy hole on the Dole "China Red" Model must be metrics since neither 3/4" or 1 " is a " workable fit that doesn't wobble so users going to cut down all their 1" Hardy tools and upset all their Hardy tools or adding weld and grinding every Hardy tool they have or buy or build until their next replacement and just might need to work all their Hardy tools all over later. No I don't need a metric Hardy hole mistake in my hobby. I'm rejected about the Hardy hole of metric size. Thanks for showing and giving fair information 👍
After watching your video I thoroughly inspected my newly purchased Doyle anvil and was relieved to not have found any defects. I love the stand you made, keep up the great videos
First video I've watched on this channel but I'm guessing the future build he alluded to is a power hammer build. Looks like he has the anvil and main post sitting there.
I would consider drilling a hole in the bottom of the feet on the stand and filling the legs with sand then welding the holes shut and grinding them flat. Would add some weight and cut down on vibration and noise.
Thank you for your review. I bought that anvil. I've only had 30min to beet some metal on it, I didn't see the same yours had. I did notice rebar cooling sown left a scare on the face approx 1" from out side. Mad me think about taking it back myself.. Thanks again😇😁
So that anvil is meant for light hobby use and the face hardness is probably as-cast vs. being deliberately hardened.. At that price point, I can fully understand the manufacturer just wanting to repair the casting vs. scrapping it for minor casting flaws, and due to the intended light duty use, they probably felt it was OK to just weld with conventional mild steel filler; a product suggestion therefore would be to use hardfacing wire to do the repairs instead of mild steel.. You have a few options at this point: 1) return the anvil, HF will either refund you or just exchange for a new one, but there may be flaws in the new one as well; 2) map out the extent of the repairs, grind/drill them out and re-weld with hardfacing wire/rod and re-dress the face; 3) just use the anvil as is.. Personally, I'd just use the anvil as-is, and if and when the repaired areas become problem, I'd grind, hardface the entire surface and re-dress, but I would bet that because the face hardness is only "as-cast", the rest of the surface will get dinged up with work and you won't even be able to tell where the soft spots are..
Thank you for the comment. I would like to find on in better condition. This particular one had 9 of those round spots. 6 easily visible the other 3 harder to pic up on the camera. If it only had 1 or 2 spots that were not in a high use are then it wouldn’t have been such a big deal. They spots dented deeply after one strike to see if they where hard. That was not the case with the rest of the face. I returned this one and looked at 2 more. The one in the box had 4 visible spots and the display model had 2.
Perhaps after years of use, it with be hard faced at some point. I wouldn’t recommend welding a plate to the top as it will only be connected on the edges..does not work the same as the hardened plates that are forge welded on the cast and wrought iron anvils.
Mine...I ground the corners, dressed the surface with a belt sander and palm sanded it, and only see six pin head flaws -along the edge. I have used jewelers anvils, typically, and look to have as few blems as I can. All uniform and even across the 'high use' area of the anvil. So- I think I will be able to live with this . B.V.
the face of my anvil looks ok but there are some small pits and fissures in the wide part of the horn. I hope they didn't try to plug weld my horn. only Mrs.McGooch is allowed to do that
The splayed legs prevent tipping. My anvil weighs 300+ pounds and I don't evah want it toppled over because we were moving a piece of equipment and bumped it.
This is the problem with anvil availability. I know its bad but heck how is anyone supposed to get into it without spending a months salary? Sigh thanks for the info, great vid.
You already removed the paint and sanded parts of the anvil. I don't think an exchange or return is in your future, though it could have been had you left it "as purchased."
@@ImpulseIronWorks well, good luck. If they do exchange it after your mod, I’ll be impressed. But I’m surprised at what you found. I bought a black 132 lb Acciaio a couple of months ago, and the face is perfect. Welding on the face can be a problem if it’s done after hardening. If it’s done before and they use a 55 RC hard face weld material, it can turn out fine.
I know anvils are different quality. But does the working of an anvil over the years .... season it so to speak. I've seen some very old anvils as worn and then refinished , leveled and polished. The ball bearing test was impressive as well as that distinctive ring .... resonance of a truly great metal working essential.
Steel can and will work-harden to a certain degree, so it's possible those soft spots he found will improve with age, but they'll never be the same hardness as the rest of the surface.
the point is to buy something already to use not waste a day fixing a brand new item, you buy a new car and it breaks down first day do you just say oh well Ill fix it if I can or take it to a local garage and fix it or do you go back to the dealer and say WTF?
@@BubuH-cq6km The real point is that this is a Harbor Freight product. You don't go into a HF purchase expecting much more than you paid for. In nearly every case there is room for improvement. I am sorry that you failed to understand that. I can fix the anvil, but not your misunderstanding.
If you need a usable anvil at a reasonable price, what are your choices?? I have had good service from many Harbor Freight tools I wouldn’t have bought if I had to pay “regular prices”.
@@ImpulseIronWorks I think I posted this comment to the wrong video. I had to watch the whole video again to see what I was talking about five days ago. It beats the hell out of me 🤷🏻♂️. The same day, I was indeed trying to figure out where I left my miter saw. Anyway, I enjoyed your video at least twice.
I picked one up after talking to Roy from Christ Centered Ironworks. HF has/had a 25% off coupon in their mailer, which was with no exclusions, so I got mine for under a hundred doll hairs. For what you are paying for, you are getting a much better anvil than the Acciao in my opinion. The hardy and pritchell holes are also so much better thought out on the Doyle. So all in all, I would recommend this for a beginner, or a seasoned smith that’s looking for a travel anvil (or for teaching with)
As long as it doesn’t have soft spots all over the face like mine did, I would also recommend it. Just have to get lucky. Returned mine, inspected the 2 they had with no luck.
tire hammer it looks like your building looks like your building a tire hammer, i want one of those.I built my forge press last year that stand you built came out amazing bummer about the plug welds on face of anvil definetly return that if you can hope you make some knife making videos in the future new sub👍👍✌ thanks Mark
Just picked mine up. I don't see any plug welds but I checked at the store. It has a very slight small indentation on one side edge but no biggie. The thing that bugs me the most is it didn't come with instructions. There is no on/off switch so how do you get it going??? Jeez. :-(
My biggest reason for refusing this "Chinese Red" anvil is that Hardy hole doesn't fit my 3/4" or my few 1 inch Hardy tools. I'm not going to buy this because I'd need to rebuild the Hardy tools I have and any I buy . It must be some metrics size. I'm not fool enough to size all my hardy Tooling
That's weird man. I just went and checked the surface on mine and its flawless. Are those plugs the same size as the pritchel? Almost looked like "test" holes for production maybe?
Smaller than the pritchell, looks like they just filled in casting flaws. Glad your looks good! Hoping I can get on that isn’t like this, I like the anvil other than that.
@@ImpulseIronWorks Yeah Harbor Freights return/exchange policy is pretty liberal lol. I'm sure they're aware of the quality control "challenges" they endure and would be more than willing to get you sorted :)
From everything body else Ive heard they said similar about it having defects but there spin it’s the best cheap one to buy to see if you want to have smithing as a hobby if it is save up for a better one they also mentioned professional blacksmiths to stay away
Contact Doyle!!! Lol harbor will just replace, I’m going to get one soon. I’ll look tomorrow tho and see if there’s any plugs 👍 I’m in Kentucky, by the way.
the point is people are expecting to buy something and be able to use it out of the box not spend time pissing around fixing new 💩 then again you don t have to be a rocket scientist to know there's a reason why they have such low prices on their products
@@BubuH-cq6km you want a perfect tool. 2 options. Buy it. Or build it. With enough money you can buy a anvil that is exactly perfect. It's going to run $1500 to $2000 usd. That is for a light, nice anvil. You spending 1/10 at China freight. It's going to be blemished. You can fix the blemish or go get a anvil. The paint removal is unnecessary. Polishing the smooth surface. I can see that. Smoothing the underside of the horn. I don't see a applicable use for it. The welding of the top plate is normal for the industry. It is a solid cast. In a sand. Blemishes and imperfections happen. It's not porous. It's a blemish. You intentionally hunted for a reason to return it. Congratulations you found it. Odds are when you put the wire wheel on the top you removed the flatness and broke the heat treat on the surface witch is very thin on the top. That makes it soft. 3 to 5 microns is the depth of the treatment. For God sakes do not grind on a anvil. If you are buying harbor freight junk. You are broke just like me. So I recommend if they exchange it you use it as is. It is perfectly serviceable out of the box with cosmaline removal.
@ImpulseIronWorks yes. I watched it start to finish. I even commented on it. I use a old pice of train track. I have a section of pipe inside a section welded to a table. It's mounted in the upright center and can flip. So I've got a round section. Or I pull the hitch pin rotate for a flat table.
I don't see any defects on mine but did you have to do anything to see the defects on yours or you saw them once you looked closer? I'm shining a strong flashlight and wiping the face with a paper towel but not seeing anything that stands out. Should I be doing anything else?
It’s definitely possible!! He didn’t drill the area out or make cross sections, so theirs no way he can know for sure if they were plug welds. It’s a likely cause though.
You have a "foot-actuated hammer" in the workings? I see that solid 4-5-6" round stock standing there. I caint see what the diameter is from that short view?
well I'm not surprised at all what I am surprised about is how many 🍭 go back after getting scammed the 3rd time , for me after 2 lemons I'm moving on to the apple stand
about to return my 2nd Bauer band saw to HF, again after just a few months, and will have to buy YET another warranty. Two more warranties after that and I will have paid twice the price to have a portable band saw for a year.
Well… it enabled him to produce content. That’s a plus. And what’s more, that content can help others with this or any similar anvil. So everybody wins. Also…. I think that when he tells HF that the flaws only revealed themselves after he began “good practice” preparation of the surface, they’ll have a hard time arguing against his request for an exchange.
I’m not a blacksmith or anything like that I just work on motorcycles and do a lot of fabrication work not at a professional level but I noticed I’ve been beating my vise up prettier good so I’m in need of an anvil, I found a piece of railroad track and was going to try to make an anvil,which way do you think I should go ? Harbor freight anvil or rail road track, thanks for the video
@@-o-The-Duke-o-uh, try again. I have a friend/neighbor who gave me some railroad iron pieces. Made in China. He worked as a contractor replacing iron, ties, etc.
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Thank you for the review. I just bought one myself and haven’t seen or had any issues as of yet but I haven’t had it for more than a week
thanks for the comment
@@ImpulseIronWorks I'm glad you pointed out the plug welds. I'm still probably gonna buy one eventually, but at least I know what to look for.
I believe what you are seeing is venting sprues for casting... This would explain the near perfect circular shape and the porosity. Hope this helps
Would that also explain why those spots are much softer?
Are they visible on your anvil?
I suppose that could explain why it dents so easily. The material is filling up the porosity voids, either way you end up with an uneven working surface after little use.
Really enjoy your videos and have a greater appreciation for your content and others after seeing some of what goes into making these videos. 😅
It doesn't seem to explain why they are softer than the rest of the face.
good catch..thats a positive not a negative..you are the only one out of everyone reviewing this anvil to bust this out...opening the box is a must do...that one should have been rejected ..not patched...unless they are all like that...thanks
Definitely shouldn’t have made it past QC
I see this is only your second video, and the first of any significant length. I’m impressed, not only with the production quality, but with your skills as well. 👍
Thank you, I definitely have a deeper appreciation for content creators after seeing a little of what goes into it.
You are an impressive craftsman. Especially for such a young man. Never let anyone get away with denigrate your trade or tradesmen in general. As a master craftsman for more than half my life I’ve seen far too many people look down their noses like they didn’t need such skilled people. Without craftsmen very little happens in this world an you should b very proud that you are part of a great heritage.
I’ve definitely noticed a diminished appreciation among the general population for skilled crafts people since my youth spanning the 70’s through the 90’s. People not only have no appreciation for how the things around them are made, but it’s come to the point that most of the things they use and interact with everyday are pure garbage…., and they think it’s completely normal.
Sadly we live in a disposable society.
Thank you for the kind words and advice! What was your main trade?
Considering I used a Harbor Freight cast iron anvil for about a year, and then used it for another 2 years after I used my welder to put on about 4 or 5 lb of 7018 and then another 5 lbs of hard facing rod. I would say that this Anvil will be more than good enough to get started.
I was and still am looking at this anvil. It’s the guys with some knowledge and experience like you that helps beginners learn what to look for.
I am also lucky enough to have a farrier that doesn’t mind answering questions showing me a thing or 3.
Thanks for all your time and effort.
Thank you, if you find one without the plug welds I have no doubt you will be happy with it
I grabbed one quickly too. I appreciate your review and learned a lot. Looking at the one I grabbed (only 2 left when I went.) I'm not unhappy. I saw one of the circles on the face of the one I got but didn't know what it was... The other had none of those but did have an obvious void at the edge. Based on the sample size of 2 I've looked at, I think you may have got one of the rougher ones. that said, at a little over $2/ pound with a coupon, I'm very pleased. I'd call it a good buy considering the other options. I'll be using it as a 2nd Anvil which honestly may have better edges and for now a smoother face than the antique Fischer I've used for a decade.
I've subbed and liked all your vids so far. I hope you do really well, sharing a link to your vids with a few friends. You're doing a great Job!
Thank you, hope you enjoy future videos!
Great video man. You deserve more subscribers ❤
I appreciate that!
Good review honest an to the point by the way good fab work on the stand
Thanks for comment glad you enjoyed it!!
Thank You for the Honesty, I understand what to look for before purchase, like the stand build also great work Thanks again
You are doing a good job on fabricating your anvil stand. I worked in a Navy Ship Yard as a certified fist class welder following two years of welding school. I say you are doing a good job. Keep this good work up. Good luck!
Thank you for the positive feedback, glad you like it!
Fist class welder! Wow! 🤔🤔🤔
Thanks for the honest review of the Anvil
Thanks for the comment!
Great presentation. Super informative. I almost bought one today. I will inspect one at the store before I purchase it. Looking forward to your next video.
Yes I just checked out the one I bought and you are correct mine has 2 plug welds right in the sweet spot of the face !
I'm glad you brought it up already have a dent right where the repair was made!😔
Bummer, thank you for sharing your find
Damn dude I have to be honest your channel is doing amazing already. 30 thousand views between 2 videos in less than 2 weeks. Keep it up brother.
Definitely taking off far ahead of expectations
Looking forward to seeing your content and your channel grow.
Good video.
I bought this anvil recently. I inspected it at the register before buying it. The first one I looked at definitely had face issues. They brought me another one to inspect and I detected no flaws. It’s hit or miss with Harbor Freight. You should be able to return it easily.
Thanks.
Glad you found a good one!
I enjoyed your entire video from the simple meat hook and anvil stand builds to your honest opinion of the Doyle anvil. I bought two of the Doyle Anvils, as they are flying off the shelfs. One for my own DIY woodworking/Tinkering shop and the other for a gift to a friend of a friend you is just starting out on his own welding/Machinist shop. He inspected both of them and stated that was great work for that price. I hope your nest Doyle anvil will meet your expectations. Doyle anvil/Harboe Freight should make it right.
Thank you for the comment! Harbor freight took it back no problem and I found one that looks much better!
Love your review,sorry about your anvil, if Harbor freight won't make good on it I would get in contact with Doyle themself. Do yourself a favor coat everything in boiled linseed oil. Great metal conditioner works on wood too. Looking forward for future videos. Your off to a good start. 🔥🔨
Thanks for the tip!
Great researched discovery, we are considering the anvil as we did not like their blue ones 55 lbs'ers. We will open it at the store seek these round filler weld repairs and find one we hope without this issue you shared, thank you for saving us this time and for making a really cool stand for yours. Lance & Patrick.
Returned this one and found a nearly perfect one in very pleased with, good luck! Thanks for the comment
Use some 6013 and build-up a hard face on it...if you don't swap it for another one. Thanks for finding this issue. I found that the horn is dead soft, too. My neighbor just got one and I'm planning to. At least it's cast steel, not cast iron so hard facing the face and horn shouldn't be too frustrating and I'll have a decent anvil for the price plus effort welding, grinding and polishing. I'm definitely going to look for plug welds now.
Nice stand. I did buy one and it appears I may have one or two of those marks. for the money I paid I don't regret it and plan on adding a top of the line 120 lb anvil. It will suffice for its intended purpose. Thank you for an honest review
If mine only had one or two spots I would’ve felt the same
Nice job on the video. I will look for the vise and watch for what you said.
Thanks for watching!
I was lucky, mine had no plug welds. However, did find the nameplate drive screws came out with a chisel & very light taps... further improving it's looks.
I noticed those spots @ about 13:52 in the video! They almost look too perfectly circular to be welds though! They appear to be smaller in diameter than the hole. One of the beauties about these Doyle’s is their cast STEEL construction, as opposed to cast iron. If the work you did on it voids the warranty, just grind out the spots and reweld them with hard facing electrode! Cast steel is easily welded, in contrast to the hateful-evil cast iron! Tip: If you do that, grind it out deep enough to require two weld passes, as many hard facing deposits don’t reach max Rockwell hardness until two passes are run-one on top of the first!
Thanks for the the advice! I refaced a 180lb mouse hole anvil about 2yrs ago It had a big sway through the middle. It was quite the job. Definitely don’t want to put the time or money into this anvil. Hopefully they will just swap it out and I have better luck with the next one.
Are those voids due to poor casting process?
i have one of these on the way, i will etch the face with ferric chloride to check, the Doyle line from HF has a 1 year warranty from the date of purchase, so you should be able to return or exchange it just fine. even though this can be a potential problem i don't see it as a deal breaker.
Looking forward to seeing what you find when you etch the face, honestly I hope you find it to be flawless. Good luck
etching the face is a really good idea to test for things like that. And is easily returned to "out of the box" condition if a problem surfaces. Solid idea sir
@@ImpulseIronWorks my neighbor also bought one of these, i'll be sure to check his too. making a tire hammer by the looks of it, i made my own hammer a couple years back, 100 pound pneumatically driven, feel free to see my video of it.
@@ragnarokbladeworks yeah, its something i started doing when buying old anvils to check for repairs.
Glad you did this review I was going to get one today but decided to hand sand some blades instead. I'll get it tomorrow and now I know what to look for. Us knife guys like hand sanding so much I couldn't wait until tomorrow to do it LOL
did you end up getting one?
I don't do any work in metal. Never have, never will. But this was a really well made and interesting video. Well done.
Thank you!
Thanks for the heads up!
Very nice review! Really useful, not just a puff piece.
The first one I bought had a large area in the middle of the face that was welded and was softer that the rest of the face. Bouncing a ball bearing put small dents in it. The rest of the face was hard. I exchanged it for another one and even looked at before I took it home and it looked fine. After cleaning the grease off I noticed three spot welds on the face easily noticed by the different color in the steel. These spots were out of the way of the main surface area so I just decided to keep it. Seems to be a common problem now.
Not what I wanted to hear, thank you for sharing your find.
I bought this same one for my son for Christmas and do not like the color. I think you saved me from the dreaded red, yours looks way better. I will be doing the same for his. Thanks for the video and I will subscribe.
Excellent review, thanks for posting this.
As we are all in the same boat when it comes to buying cheaper tools just for a hobby and really not our bread and butter job I to have the HF Anvil and for the money beat it up and use it for what it was intended for, hell I don’t even want to spend a ton of money on a want to be black smith and I have been doing it long before Forged in Fire drove the price of this shit through the roof. Great video and have fun . P.S. I have seen really expensive Anvils in my 25 year journey doing this with a shit ton of defects and have seen really experienced smiths blow the horn two inches back off of a anvil with a weak spot in it. So don’t feel bad .
Nice job on the stand. Even with the defects that anvil is way better than HF's previous blue anvils. Well worth the money.
Glad you liked it! Definitely better than the cast iron one
I bought a Doyle anvil and found similar discolored blotches on the heel near the pritchel hole. I haven't yet forged on the anvil and investigated those discolored spots. Thanks for the heads up. I'm not too bothered by small casting blemish repairs on the face. I guess I don't have the same expectation for a $2 a pound anvil as a $5+ a pound anvil. If the anvil return or exchange doesn't work I'd just ignor the repair spots and use it. It looks like you're about to build a power hammer. I look foreword to seeing what you build.
Based on the tools you have in your shop I bet you'll eventually purchase a heavier shop anvil and delegate the Doyle anvil to maybe a portable travel anvil. That's what I'm doing with mine.
Indeed, collecting all the parts for a power hammer build. Always looking for a larger anvil and may build one.
I purchased one a few days ago but didn't move any steel off of it yet but thanks for the heads up!!
Hope you enjoy it!
Very nice anvil stand. Hopefully it works well for you. Very nice job review it. Very helpful and definitely informed video. Can't wait to see more videos soon. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Forge On. Fab On. Weld On. Keep Forge lit. Keep making. God Bless.
thanks for the encouragement!
I just got done stripping north the ones I bought yesterday and neither have the same issue so I believe you must have received the first batch of runs that if you all did not know it’s still a cheap harbor freight tool so no they will not throw away or not use even bad ones they will fix it and sale it but yeah not a single plug weld on the X2 I bought just yesterday in central Arkansas
That’s great news!
Thanks for fair review and believe truth from you. Nobody wants to find fault, but believe we must have people of experience going forward in our behalf.
I'm 4 years of experience with only a hobby I've loved and partly because I tried to be safe .
I got the "ugliest blue " anvil and I didn't skin that blue off but painted gray paint over the ugliest blue.
Something really big about the comparison is that Hardy hole of the blue is 3/4" and as my tools also from a previous anvil I can use my 3/4" tools they fit my blue .
That Hardy hole on the Dole "China Red"
Model must be metrics since neither 3/4" or 1 " is a " workable fit that doesn't wobble so users going to cut down all their 1" Hardy tools and upset all their Hardy tools or adding weld and grinding every Hardy tool they have or buy or build until their next replacement and just might need to work all their Hardy tools all over later. No I don't need a metric Hardy hole mistake in my hobby.
I'm rejected about the Hardy hole of metric size.
Thanks for showing and giving fair information 👍
3/4 works perfect in mine
I think folks need to temper expectations. It's a $150 anvil. From what I have seen so far, it's quite a step up from the Vevor anvils.
No soft spots on my Vevor, been using it for a 1 1/2 yrs
Maybe I got lucky with one and unlucky with the other
After watching your video I thoroughly inspected my newly purchased Doyle anvil and was relieved to not have found any defects.
I love the stand you made, keep up the great videos
Looking for a defect free one now. Returned mine, looked at the only one they had in a box and the display model….no luck
First video I've watched on this channel but I'm guessing the future build he alluded to is a power hammer build. Looks like he has the anvil and main post sitting there.
correct
I would consider drilling a hole in the bottom of the feet on the stand and filling the legs with sand then welding the holes shut and grinding them flat. Would add some weight and cut down on vibration and noise.
Definitely want to do that at some point!
Thank you for your review. I bought that anvil. I've only had 30min to beet some metal on it, I didn't see the same yours had. I did notice rebar cooling sown left a scare on the face approx 1" from out side. Mad me think about taking it back myself.. Thanks again😇😁
Thank you for the comment! Hope you enjoy it, any idea why the rebar would do that?
No Sir, it was 1/2" and I felt very soft. This is my 1st anvil. Better than RR## lol
Thanks for letting us know.
thank you
Thanks for being honest cause I was gonna buy one my next trip to store.i will still buy one if it checks out ok. Now I know what to look for 👍
So that anvil is meant for light hobby use and the face hardness is probably as-cast vs. being deliberately hardened.. At that price point, I can fully understand the manufacturer just wanting to repair the casting vs. scrapping it for minor casting flaws, and due to the intended light duty use, they probably felt it was OK to just weld with conventional mild steel filler; a product suggestion therefore would be to use hardfacing wire to do the repairs instead of mild steel..
You have a few options at this point: 1) return the anvil, HF will either refund you or just exchange for a new one, but there may be flaws in the new one as well; 2) map out the extent of the repairs, grind/drill them out and re-weld with hardfacing wire/rod and re-dress the face; 3) just use the anvil as is.. Personally, I'd just use the anvil as-is, and if and when the repaired areas become problem, I'd grind, hardface the entire surface and re-dress, but I would bet that because the face hardness is only "as-cast", the rest of the surface will get dinged up with work and you won't even be able to tell where the soft spots are..
Thank you for the comment. I would like to find on in better condition. This particular one had 9 of those round spots. 6 easily visible the other 3 harder to pic up on the camera. If it only had 1 or 2 spots that were not in a high use are then it wouldn’t have been such a big deal. They spots dented deeply after one strike to see if they where hard. That was not the case with the rest of the face. I returned this one and looked at 2 more. The one in the box had 4 visible spots and the display model had 2.
Consider welding a 1/4" to 3/8" hardenable top plate to it. It'll make a world of difference.
Perhaps after years of use, it with be hard faced at some point. I wouldn’t recommend welding a plate to the top as it will only be connected on the edges..does not work the same as the hardened plates that are forge welded on the cast and wrought iron anvils.
Mine...I ground the corners, dressed the surface with a belt sander and palm sanded it, and only see six pin head flaws -along the edge. I have used jewelers anvils, typically, and look to have as few blems as I can. All uniform and even across the 'high use' area of the anvil. So- I think I will be able to live with this . B.V.
Glad you found a good one!
What about welding a hardened plate to the top.
Just a thought.
That more time and effort on a brand new anvil that’s it’s worth to me. This anvil should’ve never been sold in it current condition.
I picked up one of these Sunday at the HF in Newcastle DE. The face is hardened and ground, no plugs that i can see.
Glad to hear it
the face of my anvil looks ok but there are some small pits and fissures in the wide part of the horn. I hope they didn't try to plug weld my horn. only Mrs.McGooch is allowed to do that
I think you should build just a vertical post so the legs won’t be in the way while you move around the anvil.
The splayed legs prevent tipping. My anvil weighs 300+ pounds and I don't evah want it toppled over because we were moving a piece of equipment and bumped it.
This is the problem with anvil availability. I know its bad but heck how is anyone supposed to get into it without spending a months salary? Sigh thanks for the info, great vid.
You already removed the paint and sanded parts of the anvil. I don't think an exchange or return is in your future, though it could have been had you left it "as purchased."
Could see the defects until after removing surface layer, I’ll post what happens with the return…?
@@ImpulseIronWorks well, good luck. If they do exchange it after your mod, I’ll be impressed. But I’m surprised at what you found. I bought a black 132 lb Acciaio a couple of months ago, and the face is perfect. Welding on the face can be a problem if it’s done after hardening. If it’s done before and they use a 55 RC hard face weld material, it can turn out fine.
I know anvils are different quality. But does the working of an anvil over the years .... season it so to speak. I've seen some very old anvils as worn and then refinished , leveled and polished. The ball bearing test was impressive as well as that distinctive ring .... resonance of a truly great metal working essential.
Steel can and will work-harden to a certain degree, so it's possible those soft spots he found will improve with age, but they'll never be the same hardness as the rest of the surface.
Looks like the Minnesota fats j stick meat hook. I used to own one back in the 70s. Got it from Minnesota fats himself .
Im not familiar with that one Ill look it up!
Sweet stand! The other thing is just an A.S.O. That hook is awesome too!
Glad you like it! Thanks for commenting
Now that’s a TABLE!!!
Good job!
Thanks!
hanks for the video,, I did buy one and had to have it shipped to me,,, I'm one of the lucky ones ,,, could not find one flaw.
Informative and very interesting videos. Video toggery fee is very good as well.
Glad you think so!
Get yourself a bunch of hard facing rod, and Give it a couple of layers. Those anvils aren't face hardened anyway, so it can only help!
the point is to buy something already to use not waste a day fixing a brand new item, you buy a new car and it breaks down first day do you just say oh well Ill fix it if I can or take it to a local garage and fix it or do you go back to the dealer and say WTF?
@@BubuH-cq6km The real point is that this is a Harbor Freight product. You don't go into a HF purchase expecting much more than you paid for. In nearly every case there is room for improvement. I am sorry that you failed to understand that. I can fix the anvil, but not your misunderstanding.
@@bigGeo5460 Would you buy a car at Harbor Freight too? Lol.
If you need a usable anvil at a reasonable price, what are your choices?? I have had good service from many Harbor Freight tools I wouldn’t have bought if I had to pay “regular prices”.
@@lonnieblackwell5107 Same here.
Keep doing these vids. You do a good job with them. Won’t be long you’ll be smoking $15 cigars!!!
thank you
I need a new miter saw. That’s all I learned from this video.
Glad you found some value in the video!
@@ImpulseIronWorks I think I posted this comment to the wrong video. I had to watch the whole video again to see what I was talking about five days ago. It beats the hell out of me 🤷🏻♂️. The same day, I was indeed trying to figure out where I left my miter saw.
Anyway, I enjoyed your video at least twice.
I picked one up after talking to Roy from Christ Centered Ironworks. HF has/had a 25% off coupon in their mailer, which was with no exclusions, so I got mine for under a hundred doll hairs.
For what you are paying for, you are getting a much better anvil than the Acciao in my opinion. The hardy and pritchell holes are also so much better thought out on the Doyle. So all in all, I would recommend this for a beginner, or a seasoned smith that’s looking for a travel anvil (or for teaching with)
As long as it doesn’t have soft spots all over the face like mine did, I would also recommend it. Just have to get lucky. Returned mine, inspected the 2 they had with no luck.
tire hammer it looks like your building
looks like your building a tire hammer, i want one of those.I built my forge press last year that stand you built came out amazing bummer about the plug welds on face of anvil definetly return that if you can hope you make some knife making videos in the future new sub👍👍✌ thanks Mark
thanks for the subscription! and yes a tire hammer
Keep on hammering young man
Thanks for the encouragement and the comment. I hope you enjoy our future content!
I got one to use as a travel anvil. Mine looked great.
It’s the perfect size for that!
Just picked mine up. I don't see any plug welds but I checked at the store. It has a very slight small indentation on one side edge but no biggie. The thing that bugs me the most is it didn't come with instructions. There is no on/off switch so how do you get it going??? Jeez. :-(
Use the pull rope.
⭕️😂... it's a kick start 😂😂
You have to plug it in first
My biggest reason for refusing this "Chinese Red" anvil is that Hardy hole doesn't fit my 3/4" or my few 1 inch Hardy tools.
I'm not going to buy this because I'd need to rebuild the Hardy tools I have and any I buy .
It must be some metrics size.
I'm not fool enough to size all my hardy
Tooling
3/4 works very good in mine
If I purchase one what do I look for?
Discoloration?
Pit holes ?
I'm going to take it out the box there and inspect it
Yes and yes
That's weird man. I just went and checked the surface on mine and its flawless. Are those plugs the same size as the pritchel? Almost looked like "test" holes for production maybe?
Smaller than the pritchell, looks like they just filled in casting flaws. Glad your looks good! Hoping I can get on that isn’t like this, I like the anvil other than that.
@@ImpulseIronWorks Yeah Harbor Freights return/exchange policy is pretty liberal lol. I'm sure they're aware of the quality control "challenges" they endure and would be more than willing to get you sorted :)
Why are there pictures of a different anvil used to show the problems? Minute 20:16 clearly shows a blue anvil and not the red Doyle anvil.
Sorry it was the lighting, if you look at the location of the pritchel and hardie hole you will see it is indeed the Doyle anvil
What was it you made from that railroad spike? And what is it for? Thank you for your time and knowledge.
It’s for flipping steaks on the grill
Thanks, I’ll have to try to make one. Again thank you for your time and knowledge.
Are you planning to make a "power hammer" of some sort...with that stock steel you pointed out?
Indeed
From everything body else Ive heard they said similar about it having defects but there spin it’s the best cheap one to buy to see if you want to have smithing as a hobby if it is save up for a better one they also mentioned professional blacksmiths to stay away
I returned mine and found one without the defects. Inspect before you buy, no need to get one with all the issues my first one had.
There is a railroad spike missing from somewhere.
I used to walk the tracks when I was a kid…they vibrate out all the time
Contact Doyle!!! Lol harbor will just replace, I’m going to get one soon. I’ll look tomorrow tho and see if there’s any plugs 👍 I’m in Kentucky, by the way.
Let’s us know what you find!
Seeing the metal off to the side it looks like a power hammer is in your future??? 😁 👍
Correct
At the price. If you get those. Drill it out, and weld it up. Or even weld over it with some hi Nickle content rod. As hot as you can get it.
the point is people are expecting to buy something and be able to use it out of the box not spend time pissing around fixing new 💩 then again you don
t have to be a rocket scientist to know there's a reason why they have such low prices on their products
@@BubuH-cq6km you want a perfect tool. 2 options. Buy it. Or build it. With enough money you can buy a anvil that is exactly perfect. It's going to run $1500 to $2000 usd. That is for a light, nice anvil. You spending 1/10 at China freight. It's going to be blemished. You can fix the blemish or go get a anvil. The paint removal is unnecessary. Polishing the smooth surface. I can see that. Smoothing the underside of the horn. I don't see a applicable use for it. The welding of the top plate is normal for the industry. It is a solid cast. In a sand. Blemishes and imperfections happen. It's not porous. It's a blemish. You intentionally hunted for a reason to return it. Congratulations you found it. Odds are when you put the wire wheel on the top you removed the flatness and broke the heat treat on the surface witch is very thin on the top. That makes it soft. 3 to 5 microns is the depth of the treatment. For God sakes do not grind on a anvil.
If you are buying harbor freight junk. You are broke just like me. So I recommend if they exchange it you use it as is. It is perfectly serviceable out of the box with cosmaline removal.
@@BubuH-cq6km Looks like you can use it out of the box. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist…
hopefully you found time to watch the part 3 video
@ImpulseIronWorks yes. I watched it start to finish. I even commented on it. I use a old pice of train track. I have a section of pipe inside a section welded to a table. It's mounted in the upright center and can flip. So I've got a round section. Or I pull the hitch pin rotate for a flat table.
I don't see any defects on mine but did you have to do anything to see the defects on yours or you saw them once you looked closer?
I'm shining a strong flashlight and wiping the face with a paper towel but not seeing anything that stands out. Should I be doing anything else?
They appeared after I applied paint stripper and took a wire wheel to it. Hopefully you don’t find anything on yours.
Maybe wipe the face down with vinegar and let it sit for a bit? You might get a color shift in softer spots?
Don't expect Mercedes Benz from Yugo
Power hammer?
Is it possible that these circular defects are from the sprue holes during casting?
It’s definitely possible!!
He didn’t drill the area out or make cross sections, so theirs no way he can know for sure if they were plug welds. It’s a likely cause though.
@@ZYGTropicalsone thing he said was the metal is softer in the discolored plugs.
I believe that you have the makings of a power hammer.
Correct
You have a "foot-actuated hammer" in the workings? I see that solid 4-5-6" round stock standing there. I caint see what the diameter is from that short view?
Clay Spencer tire hammer
Power hammer for future build
Correct
@@ImpulseIronWorks is that sow block(the anvil portion) a single solid piece of round bar stock? For your power hammer?
@@jonballard4453 indeed
Check out what happened when I took the anvil back to Harbor Freight. New video up now! ruclips.net/video/keS_6lu_04c/видео.html
I was watching and trying to figure out what those rings were.
Yeah unfortunate, but very happy with my second one!
well I'm not surprised at all what I am surprised about is how many 🍭 go back after getting scammed the 3rd time , for me after 2 lemons I'm moving on to the apple stand
about to return my 2nd Bauer band saw to HF, again after just a few months, and will have to buy YET another warranty. Two more warranties after that and I will have paid twice the price to have a portable band saw for a year.
What's your trick to index pipe to have miters lined up? Thanks. :-)
I think I just eye bales these but you can throw a level on the 1st cut to line them up
After finding those flaws you went ahead and built a stand for it, I guess the flaws were not that bad after all.
Planning to exchange it in hopes for a serviceable one
Well… it enabled him to produce content. That’s a plus. And what’s more, that content can help others with this or any similar anvil. So everybody wins. Also…. I think that when he tells HF that the flaws only revealed themselves after he began “good practice” preparation of the surface, they’ll have a hard time arguing against his request for an exchange.
You are making a tire hammer !
correct
Thanks
I’m not a blacksmith or anything like that I just work on motorcycles and do a lot of fabrication work not at a professional level but I noticed I’ve been beating my vise up prettier good so I’m in need of an anvil, I found a piece of railroad track and was going to try to make an anvil,which way do you think I should go ? Harbor freight anvil or rail road track, thanks for the video
if you are considering blacksmithing in the future go with the doyle anvil, if not the rr track will probably work fine.
Stick with the railroad piece. It's hardened and isn't made by our enemy.
Ok thank you
@@-o-The-Duke-o-uh, try again. I have a friend/neighbor who gave me some railroad iron pieces. Made in China. He worked as a contractor replacing iron, ties, etc.
@@waylandLindale You got it wrong. The railroad was made in America by the Chinese. Very different.
LoL returning it... dude should've done that before you stripped the paint... thanks for sharing reala doe
That will be a quench tank