Mill top of anvil flat?

[Prairie guy]

I have a guy who wants me to mill the top of an old 77 pound anvil that he owns. He only wants me to skim the top to get it flat again. Any thoughts?

 

[Doggggboy]

Did one for my neighbour shortly after getting the mill. Used a 3 inch face mill with carbide inserts. Took a while and burned up one side of the inserts but that was probably operator error more than anything else. He had no complaints.

 

[Prairie guy]

It’s just I was always told it’s not a good idea. Too hard, and ruin a good anvil?

 

[Doggggboy]

It’s just I was always told it’s not a good idea. Too hard, and ruin a good anvil?

I had heard that as well but the neighbour wasn't worried, he just wanted it flat. He's just hammering shit flat, not making heirlooms.

 

[Prairie guy]

lol. True. Thanks for the input

 

[Janger]

I’d like to see more. I have my g grandpa’s anvil which is pretty uneven after 100 years of use. It has a lot of erosion on the edges too.

 

[Crosche]

As long as you are not taking too much material off of the hardened face it should be fine. However; I would look at the side profile of the anvil and see approximately how much hard face is left on the anvil.

 

[Tom Kitta]

If its real anvil the hardness is above 50 - so its hard and regular carbide will burn.

Don't take too much - like maybe 2 - 3mm off max.

How flat do you exactly want this to be?

If lots of material is missing either add a new plate to the top or weld back missing material.

I actually just used a grinder with a flap disk - made it nice and flat. It does not need to be machine flat. Its not a precise instrument.

 

[kevin.decelles]

If its real anvil

Yeah, I don't think my anvil is 'real'. way to easy to mark up.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Yes it's possible to mill, but depending on how bad it is, you might have to remove a lot of material to get it "flat" across the board. I'd be more interested in having it smooth with flat to themselves sections, and could live with a bit of swayback. Sharp edges aren't all that desirable either. It's nice to have one that's reasonably sharp, but some smooth rounded edges of various radius' are more desirable. His anvil though, and he wants what he wants. I had a friend beg me a few times to mill his too, but I kind of talked him out of it. Or at least he's stopped asking.

 

[Doggggboy]

Yes it's possible to mill, but depending on how bad it is, you might have to remove a lot of material to get it "flat" across the board. I'd be more interested in having it smooth with flat to themselves sections, and could live with a bit of swayback. Sharp edges aren't all that desirable either. It's nice to have one that's reasonably sharp, but some smooth rounded edges of various radius' are more desirable. His anvil though, and he wants what he wants. I had a friend beg me a few times to mill his too, but I kind of talked him out of it. Or at least he's stopped asking.

He wanted it flat. I needed the practice as I had just bought the mill.
We sat there like a couple kids watching Saturday morning cartoons watching the chips fly.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

He wanted it flat. I needed the practice as I had just bought the mill.
We sat there like a couple kids watching Saturday morning cartoons watching the chips fly.

There's nothing wrong with that too....

In my friends case the top plate was about 5/8" thick, and the sway back about 1/2" There wouldn't have been much left of the top plate had I just gone flat across the top. There's always details that sway a decision one way or another.

 

[Doggggboy]

There's nothing wrong with that too....

In my friends case the top plate was about 5/8" thick, and the sway back about 1/2" There wouldn't have been much left of the top plate had I just gone flat across the top. There's always details that sway a decision one way or another.

Like in my case of not knowing any better
That excuse tends to not work as well when you get older.
At least until you switch to the always useful "I forgot"

 

[wmetfab]

Hi Group,
We re finished a 120# Peter Wright anvil for our blacksmith area. Over all it was not in too bad of shape but the edges were rounded over. The top plate was about 1/2" thick
We built them up by tig welding stellite in small beads about 1" long then ground it with flap wheels if I can recall
We were very careful not to over heat it but at the end still saw a very fine hairline under the top plate.
I sold the entire blacksmith area to custom bike builder Roger Goldammer.
I will never find or be able to own an anvil of this type in my lifetime

 

[Tom Kitta]

Hi Group,
We re finished a 120# Peter Wright anvil for our blacksmith area. Over all it was not in too bad of shape but the edges were rounded over. The top plate was about 1/2" thick
We built them up by tig welding stellite in small beads about 1" long then ground it with flap wheels if I can recall
We were very careful not to over heat it but at the end still saw a very fine hairline under the top plate.
I sold the entire blacksmith area to custom bike builder Roger Goldammer.
I will never find or be able to own an anvil of this type in my lifetime

Why you don't think you will own another PW - I think I actually own one - the rounded edges are not such a big deal as long as they are not chipped. Or shall we say not super rounded - just rounded a bit.
I pre-heated with tiger torch my anvil to maybe 200C before I started to build up the top with a welder.

 

[wmetfab]

They are rare especially to find one in decent shape. They can sell for several thousand $
Part of my work was structural architectural steel connectors for timber framing. I had a full time fabricator/Blacksmith I trained to do that work.
We went to several ABANA confrences. I met and hung out with Uri Hoffi and his friends from Big Blu Hammer, attended his classes.

 

[Ironman]

Why you don't think you will own another PW - I think I actually own one - the rounded edges are not such a big deal as long as they are not chipped. Or shall we say not super rounded - just rounded a bit.
I pre-heated with tiger torch my anvil to maybe 200C before I started to build up the top with a welder.

You're right Tom. A anvil should be straight lengthwise and a slight crown across for drawing out steel. It should have 4 separate radius edges for bending at right angles you will want a 3/8" for thick stuff and a 1/8 for thin. A sharp inside curve is not good for a bend. Many anvils are designed for specialized jobs so shapes vary.

 

[wmetfab]

That is correct IM, a slight crown.
For our purposes we sharpened ours to about a 3/32 chamfer both edges

 

[Janger]

Hi Group,
We re finished a 120# Peter Wright anvil for our blacksmith area. Over all it was not in too bad of shape but the edges were rounded over. The top plate was about 1/2" thick
We built them up by tig welding stellite in small beads about 1" long then ground it with flap wheels if I can recall

Interesting read on stellite. Especially the part on stellite in nuclear reactor.

Stellite - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

@wmetfab where did you get stellite for tig welding? is it available as a tig rod?

 

[Janger]

Kenametal makes various stellite materials. No prices. I did find a welding supply place in the UK. $240ish for a 1kg box of stick electrodes. So... $109 a pound. ok that's a lot...