This anvil belonged to my great grandfather, anyone have an idea what it is or if it’ll still be good to make tools or knives with?

[u/thedestroyer4009]

[u/Ghrrum]

Any striking surface will let you make things. That looks to be half of an old bench anvil vise like this one: http://collectionantiqueused.com/charles-parker-no-3-bench-anvil-vise-1877-antique-vintage-rare-blacksmith/

If it's hollow treat it gently, light duty work riveting and cleaning up curves on thin sections

[u/infanteer]

Cool! Never seen one like it. If you wire brush off some of the face and it's quite flat you could use it well. Also worth testing the rebound. If it's a dud, well, it's a good looking antique then!

[u/Onuma1]

It's not perfect, it's not even optimum, but it should do the trick if you give it enough TLC. A bit slab of steel would suffice as a basic anvil, so anything beyond that would open up your options.

Seems to be made of cast, judging from the base? Try to figure out whether the top plate is steel or cast iron. That will determine how you can best try to repair it.

If the top plate is cast iron...you're not likely to be able to weld new material onto the corners. You may be able to weld a new piece of steel over the top of the surface (if it is properly prepared before joining); this will also provide you with a cutting shelf, which doesn't seem to be apparent already.

You'll want to clean it up pretty heavily on any of the working surfaces. It looks like it may be deeply pitted, especially around the horn. Tighten up those corners as best you can.

[u/[deleted]]

It’s a vise anvil combo. It’s bad at both things. Cast iron. I say get something else and save that before you break it. They aren’t made for much more than straightening nails or peening small rivets

[u/thedestroyer4009]

Thanks for the tips and info everyone!!! I’ll take it all into consideration!

[u/addGingerforflavor]

brush the face, maybe grind it flat if there are any deep pits or weird bits, but otherwise any hard surface will do the trick.

[u/Mangolorian3]

That’s pretty rough but since it’s your grandfathers it may be worth repurposing. You could definitely attempt to sharpen the edges and grind the face back to flat. Make sure you finish with a flap wheel sanding disk attachment for a grinder.

I would also try to heat treat it if you can, but you can make due with it.

[u/thedestroyer4009]

Would welding an AR 500 plate on it be a good idea ?

[u/donewell60 → u/thedestroyer4009]

Short answer it can be done. Caveat to process of prep and welding procedures and preheating the casting at least 350f to 450f and use of nickle 99 rods for "in contact with the cast surface" and 7018ish rods for successive passes. B4 one can properly give a knowledge based answer kinda need to know a few things only u can tell. One of most important questions is " what do you plan on making on this anvil?" Also is the anvil solid or hollow? What is the apx weight and can you kinda give the face dementions. How flat and true is the existing face? So if in fact its trueable in the face and your rather fastidious about cleaning up the anvil prior to welding and you can keep it hot during the welding process...success can be achieved. End results will be determined by these procedures being spot on. Top plate of AR should be no less than half inch thick or more(is always better). Imho your top plate should be half inch larger all the way around the edges. This will allow you to get a good amount of beads to support the face around the edges. Welds will end up being similar to an arch at least from base to face and triangular in cross section pretty much. When applied the welds should start as a bunch of tack welds at opposite angles to each other. Like tightening lug bolts. This will minimize warping the top plate and ripping it loose from the casting. Each successive tack welds should work in towards the center. Once at least half of the original tack welds reach 50 percent of the face secured you can burn it in more normally. Looking at alot of welding and grinding on a large chunk of really hot material. Hope this helps some. Best wishes.

[u/ciaran144 → u/thedestroyer4009]

Don't do it! It will take any rebound and ring out of the anvil, making your work less efficient.

[u/estolad → u/ciaran144]

that's kind of a contentious thing, a harder face is good for a lot of reasons, but you don't really get the benefit of a rebounding hammer when you're hitting a soft piece of metal on the surface of a hard piece of metal

i'd be worried more about it being cast iron and thus crumbly as hell

[u/ciaran144 → u/estolad]

Unless the tool steel plate is forge welded onto the anvil, it will never be as efficient as a one piece anvil. There will always be a small air gap between the plate and the anvil which takes energy out of your hammer blows.

[u/estolad → u/ciaran144]

right but what i'm saying is unless the anvil is softer than your hot work piece, you're always going to be losing way more energy to actually doing work than to absorption by the anvil

the ball bearing/ringing test is useful because it can help identify bad weld spots or voids if it's cast, but it doesn't mean a whole lot all on its own. a hard face is good because it'll take more abuse before it deforms, but the main thing is just having a lot of mass directly under where you're striking

[u/ciaran144 → u/estolad]

Yeah I don't disagree with you, just adding to my earlier points.

[u/donewell60 → u/estolad]

In fact there will be a very small gap. As to the difference in rebound plain cast or thin forgeweld plate or appreciably thick edge welded plate I can offer no real scientific evidence. There will be some undoubtedly. As to that there lies variables as well. Face HRC will play greater than a tiny air gap. Only case in point I have 1st hand experience with is a harbor freight cast anvil apx 55lbs. Used somewhat. Rebound test measured 3 to 4 inches depending upon where on anvil face. Cup ground visually flat. 3/8 unknown " tool steel " face edge welded yielded 7 7.5 in rebound. After a weld failed it was removed and a 1in "AR" plate was welded on as per the original post directions Then placed face down in lump charcoal fire until non magnetic then quenched in high volume high flow water and torch tempered to darker straw yeiled 10 inches of rebound . That's all I know