HI
Thanx for all the advice on the anvil the worst pit is less than a
mm so there is room to clean it up.
I was only joking about the garden ornament. I am a silver smith so
this will be useful.
It is over 25 years old and had little use, it sat on a concrete
floor in a shed, hence the rust.
This will take some time to clean up then I will get the top milled.
Thanx again.
Richard
Wow you sure are brave, Richard lives in Australia
Yeah, that’s a little to far. Sand that baby down. Hand grinder with
a sanding disk
I agree. Never throw out a real anvil. They are very expensive here
in the U. S. too. Especially in Florida where you almost never see
solid, old industrial equipment of any kind. It seems that even
though 75% of our population is from up north or the mid West where
you can find old lathes, breakers, ect… no one wanted to haul
them down when they moved here.
Rick Powell
If it hasn’t seen much use, you may not need to mill it. I’m used to
cleaning up anvils that are trashed.
If it’s just a bit of surface rust, but the bulk of the surface is
flat and true, skim it lightly with an angle grinder, and you’ll be
good to go. Angle grinder with a knotted wire cup wheel would do
just fine for the rust. (wear an apron and face shield: wire wheels
like to throw wires. Fast, hard, and right at whatever unprotected
spots you leave open. (They know these things.))
Regards,
Brian
Good to get some feedback from you.
Now, anvils, as its your first time with one theres a lot to learn.
Then,
2.This is most important, put a straight edge across the top.
look under it to see if its flat and true or has a slight dip in the
middle.
If the dip is say 1/16th in DONT have it milled. Why? Because when
you want to hammer something flat you need to go past the yield point
of the material and you need a slightly concave form to do this on.
Dont therefore have it milled true as it will be wrong.
Also you say its over 25yrs old.
How old could it be? Before the Bessemer steel process in the late
1800’s all anvils were made from wrought iron with crucible steel
fire welded to the top. If yours is like this its a lot more valuable
than say a modern cast steel one.
You will be able to tell when you clean up the top and down each
side around 1in. youll see the difference in the metals.
Ted
Who uses an anvil of some sort or other just about every day.
Two tips I have fond useful for finishing the horn or other rounded
steaks:
There are disks for an angle grinder that have overlapping cloth
backed grits with different abrasive cuts that can be used after you
have used a standard carborundum grinding wheel or rough files.
If you have access to a big belt sander or can get some used or
broken abrasive belts, the rougher the better, they can be used as
follows.
Cut the belt at the diagonal joint and tear the belt longways into
strips about 25mm wide, hold the two ends, one end in each hand with
the abrasive surfaces together and after securing the mandril, loop
the old belt round the mandril and pull left hand / right hand,
pulling fast and very hard against the mandril. Moving up and down
and changing sides. Good exercise.
You can also buy new abrasive belting in different grades about 25mm
wide, in long lengths off the role if you can find it. My source has
closed down.
David Cruickshank
You can also buy new abrasive belting in different grades about 25mm wide, in long lengths off the role if you can find it. My source has closed down.
If you are looking for a cheap supplier of abrasive belts for this
purpose, find a woodworking company that has a wide belt sander. the
belts are about 1m wide and 2m long (37in by 75in) they will have
50mm or so on each side that is usable for this purpose and possibly
more depending on how the belt was ruined. it is no longer suitable
for sanding table tops and doors but can easily be cut at the joint
and torn into strips usable for this process. You can probably get
them for nothing because you are rescuing them from the landfill.