Can this anvil be saved?

[Tooln]

I'm new here and wasn't really sure where to post this question. Mods please move if needed. I'm just getting started setting up for forging. One of the first items on my list is an anvil. I'm retired so funds are tight. A gal I use to work with has this laying in the shed. I haven't seen anything but the picture. Is it salvagable? My thoughts were to fill the chip with weld and then put a plate over the top. Looking for suggestions. Thanks.

 

[jkf96a]

Use the other side My first anvil had half the top plate broken off and I made it work. If the price is cheap to free, go for it.

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

It all depends on what you are willing to accept. Or to say it another way..... If you want to buy nice, fresh oats, you must pay a fair price. However, if you can get by with oats that have already been through a horse.....those come at a cheaper price.

With A LOT of work, properly done, that break can be filled/built up with multiple weld passes (like I said, A LOT) but doing so requires a lot of grinding/cleaning, pre and post heating during welding, then grinding/machining/surface grinding to ensure a flat, true face.... then the difficult part.... it would need to be heat treated. IF you want a fully functional, complete anvil.

There are many levels below that, in which it COULD sorta work....but again, what level of repair is dependent on what you can live with. The most important part being the face.... unless it's FLAT, CLEAN, and SMOOTH, it's going to cause more problems then it solves.

My personal opinion/what I would do.... keep looking, that anvil has way more damage then I would be willing to repair. Find a fully intact anvil, that is in the best possible shape, and spend the necessary money to acquire it. Anvils are like a savings account that draws interest..... whether you use them or not, and as long as they are in good shape, they will only increase in value. The most humane thing for that anvil... is to retire it to the scrap yard.

 

[Chris Railey]

If its free, (or maybe you could get it in a trade) Leave it as is and use what is left like Jason said. If you weld the top plate you will change the hardness of some of what is left. There is plenty there to work on. As an older blacksmith once told me, "An anvil is not a precision instrument, its a hard chunk of steel to hit other steel on". Like Jason my first anvil was missing half of the hardened tool steel plate. I worked on what was left for a few years. The upside is I had half an anvil to use for punching and hot cutting that I did not have to worry about deforming.

I guess Ed and I were posting at the same time because I just saw his post. I forget most times that I look at everything through a blacksmith's eyes and not as much through a person forging knives. A smoother surface is waaaaaay more important for forging knives than for general blacksmith work. That being said I still think for free or trade you can do a lot of work on that anvil especially while you are learning. Trust me you will miss your workpiece often in the beginning until you learn hammer control. Dinging the top of that anvil will hurt your feelings far less than hitting a pristine high dollar investment. Trust me, I know. Take an angle grinder and smooth the thing out and go to work with a harbor freight 2 pound engineer's hammer. Do your best to round the hammer face over to look like a squished ball and you will be set up for a while to forge.

 

[tkroenlein]

I would use it as it is if it's free. Make a couple knives on the good part. Don't put a nickel into fixing it though. A proper repair will easily cost more than a new, good quality anvil.

You can't lay a plate on top of an anvil. That airspace between the two kills it.

 

[Tooln]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm passing on this one unless it's free or next to it.