Astonishing Results! Hard Surfacing a Harbor Freight Anvil

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Can you forge weld on a faceplate to the harbor freight anvil? kzbin.info/www/bejne/qX3domuNiM19jq8 This is the latest video in this series... You don't want to miss it!

[@mountainwolf1]

Godbless you and thanks for always dropping some wisdom.

[@kurtbogle2973]

I'm a retired professional welder. A word of caution about hard facing. Don't put on over 1/8 inch or it will chip off. It's just the nature of hard facing.

[@marv8481]

If you treat it like cast iron and pre heat it and post heat, or just get a bunch of heat into it before welding, you’ll get good results. Work at a paper mill and the chip yard/hog fuel boiler equipment receives a ton of wear on drag chains, screw conveyors, and I’ve personally built up more then 1/8” with good results.

[@678friedbed]

@@marv8481 just because someone is a professional doesn't mean they are good.

[@jong2359]

@@678friedbed This is too true. I see sooooo many "professionals" that acquire a title either educational or employment based.... and never progress. Getting the credentials and titles is just a starting point - it is what you do with the opportunities that those things (title/creds) afford you that really matters.

[@bayoutrapper]

@@678friedbed Nor, do they know everything. I've been a welder/fabricator for 32 years, I still learn new things everyday. Maximum 1/8" is what most rod manufacturers suggest.

[@bayoutrapper]

@@jong2359 It's what you learn from experience that becomes wisdom. 32+ years of building everything from utility trailers, to gas and oil pipelines, to nuclear power plants. That piece of paper just got me started, I learned to weld and fit on the job.

[@tonyturner487]

From a profession welder standpoint; there are rods designed specifically for hard surfacing underlayment (buttering layer) such as “tensilweld” made by Washington alloy. This particular filler metal is an excellent all-around maintenance rod and is essentially a high tensile strength 312 stainless which helps tremendously with porosity in cast materials. That is what I use for my anvil repair when I need to replace horns, heels, & repair/replace faces.

[@Plastikdoom]

Nice, I only weld a lot for my job, not certified or anything, as not needed, I was thinking and mentioned, either 309, or 6010, etc in that series, then hardface. Just out of experience.

[@tonyturner487]

@@Plastikdoom 309 would be a much better choice rather than 6010/etc due to its ductility by nature along with the added silicon in most stainless filler metals helping the porosity issues that are inherent from castings.

[@nabrup3]

I would like to see you test a harbor freight anvil with another piece of high quality metal welded to the face of it.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Coming soon stay tuned 😊

[@fredbaker9019]

@@ChristCenteredIronworks my thoughts as well. Interested in the out come. Thank you

[@ericrichardson3332]

That was my thoughts too, also would different thickness of high quality steel welded to the top/face of a harbor freight anvil make difference?

[@geoffbeyrent6950]

Would it be advantageous to weld plate steel to the anvil, harden to optimal, and use that as the striking surface?

[@robbullis5025]

It will be interesting to see if the welded surface cracks off under the hammer. In my limited experience in welding cast iron the cast needs to be hot and we used nickel rod (Very Expensive) .

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

We will see 🙈 lol

[@Makermook]

Valid point, but I think the experiment is worth the time and relatively small expense.

[@strykerjones8842]

Recently a friend of mine who happens to be a skilled welder used nickel rod to repair my lathe headstock. It was painstaking but he got it repaired and my Victor 20X40 is up and running again.

[@matthewperlman3356]

I would have too agree with this comment. Though I have had good results TIG welding cast with stainless steel. But I do believe stainless does have some nickel in it as part of the alloy; that's what lead me to try it in the first place.

[@JGilbertMetal]

nickel rod is recommended for cast iron repair due to its increased malleability when cool, so it doesn't put as much strain on the cast iron part (cast iron is very brittle and will sometimes crack after the abrupt heating and cooling which naturally occurs during welding). As such, nickel rod is really not ideal for a repair where the desired end result is a hard springy surface, but might be worth it to try as an intermediate step before the hard face? Might add to the overall durability of the anvil. Similar reason as to why copper and nickel are applied to steel before the final layer of chrome during the chrome plating process.

[@heathfrench3335]

hey roy, I'm rather surprised that it actully worked was not expecting a 14-15 inch robound on the drop test, thanks for another good year have a safe and happy new years and will be watching you in 2022

[@cameronturner5082]

I guess my only question is how much does 2 lbs of weld metal cost in terms of rods used, can that be recouped by buying an anvil that’s just that much more expensive than the harbor freight anvil. All in all very cool though

[@coachcampana]

Add in your time, whats that worth?

[@connorlee7840]

About $5 for a pound of 6013 rod and the Stoody rod $10 (sold in 10 pound pack for $100)

[@petercoutu4726]

For me if it is less than about 30% savings for buying a better anvil off the bat, the whole project is worth the experience for me.

[@MrGregggleziii]

It's just a waste of time. I make 43 bucks an hour. Spending 3-4 hours making a garbage looking anvil isn't worth my time or materials. That being said, if you're a poor smuck with no education or possibility of working anything beyond flipping burgers... by all means waste the time.

[@petercoutu4726]

@@MrGregggleziii sometimes the journey is just as enjoyable as the destination. You can see it as a waste of effort, but for me the satisfaction of working on a project like this is enough for me to enjoy it. But seriously, how small is your ego that you need to brag about your hourly wage to random people. What are you compensating for, did you loose your bathroom tweezers and now your boyfriend is mad that you keep soaking the toilet seat?

[@MrThenarsky]

That was fun! That being said, anvils way back when were cast iron with a forge welded hardened steel face. So this isn't THAT much of a surprise. If you take a cast iron base with a hardened steel face you'll get a pretty lively anvil.

[@connorlee7840]

Your are thinking of wrought iron (iron with hardly any carbon) with forge welded steel faces, besides Fisher anvils pretty much every anvil before 1900 was forged wrought iron with a steel face. I have owned a few from the early 1700s which are solely wrought iron with no hardened steel face.

[@anvilsbane]

@@connorlee7840 right. I do not own a cast anvil. They’re all wrought with steel work surface. The softer iron of the table and horn allow hot cutting without damaging tool.🙂

[@gstongs]

Can't argue with results. I really enjoy this experimental style of video. And the sped up footage of you laying those stick weld beads is strangely addicting. Thanks Roy and have a wonderful New Year.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Thank you Glen and happy New year too 🥳

[@PackthatcameBack]

I've done a little bit of welding in my life and man, I do not envy you with getting rid of all that slag. Always had a rough time getting it out of the edges of the weld.

[@anvilsbane]

6013 rods are formulated for sheet metal, AC current. Also an excellent do all if looks aren’t important.

[@cae2487]

I'd like to see some railroad track done up with that hardening welding rod. Seems to me you could get a pretty decent anvil for pretty inexpensive.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Might do that in the future 🙂

[@grndzro777]

Could be a great idea. Nice huge surface anchored to some old railroad ties. Then hard surfaced.

[@timplett1]

Railroad track is actually decently hard already (especially used, it work hardens), the problem with a railroad anvil is lack of mass. I made myself one as I could get used rail free from work, but I have a piece of rail upright so you get much more mass under the workpiece. I cut another section of rail and welded it to the top of the upright rail to get a bit larger work surface, but still try to do any of the work directly above the upright rail when possible, there is a huge difference in efficiency that way.

[@garethbaus5471]

That would potentially make an actually good anvil.

[@Bobsutubes]

Thanks for taking the time to experiment with various options. Great video as it looks like you have demonstrated a viable solution if it holds up to forging on it.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Thank you for watching

[@chriskelly3678]

How important is the Level surface on the anvil. Pre-newbie-Blacksmith here. Getting ready to turn shed into blacksmith School of hard knocks.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Not super important At first but in time very important for professional work.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Welcome to the community 😀

[@abitoffblacksmithing9985]

Keep at it! I started 2 years ago, my "shop " was outside and covered with a tarp every night . Very seasonal ( I live in Northern Idaho) Now I smith in 10×12 shed that I have made into a full blown blacksmithing shop. I fabricated my own forge And I am using a chunk of mild steel as my anvil. Works fine, making hooks knives, decorative twists etc.. The moment you move that metal under your hammer..... I was hooked. 🤟🇺🇸🇷🇺

[@abitoffblacksmithing9985]

Also , this channel , GS tongs ,black bear forge were extremely helpful in my journey as a Smith. Thank all of you!

[@chriskelly3678]

@@ChristCenteredIronworks thank You!

[@RedneckForge]

The cost of a Harbor Freight anvil the welding rods the grinding disc and time when it be better then just go by a good a start with just curious what do you think.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

If you already have a hf anvil then this is worth it if not... buy a #66 acciao anvil 🙂

[@JordanHaisley]

I’m curious if hard facing with a OA torch and carburizing flame would give you a better result.

[@homefrontforge]

This is great Roy! Certainly a way to get started without going broke.

[@joecool4836]

The process of welding with a non hard face rod first is called padding. Hard face rods ends up check cracking and padding the parent material can prevent cracking in the parent material.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Thank you for the definition 😊 again not a professional welder I'm just a humble blacksmith and fabricator...

[@RoundOneShop]

I just got my forge set up, haven't made any video with it yet. Im new, only have a few vids so far. thank you for you faith and teachings. I have what I this=ck is the 112 pound Peter Wright anvil, boy does it need resurfacing bad, but I haventyet because its old an I don't want to ruin it. Well, I'm going to try it. Thank you againn for the inspiration.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Be really sure first... You can always weld something to It but not so easily remove something that's attached.. glad to inspire And thank you for watching

[@Edelweiss-uv5xi]

Still using those rockwell testers that fall way below what is needed?

[@americanschweitzer45]

I took a 1/2” hardened tool steel plate and liquid nailed it to my Harbor Fright anvil and it actually works well except a little more bounce than I like!

[@JGilbertMetal]

we call that a "chemical weld" ;)

[@ferrofeles2063]

that bounce is to be expected your basically putting adhesive silicone under your strike face your going to get a ton of bounce and if you hit it on the edge you might start to get separation which can be bad if your working a piece so just be careful liquid nails is not a permanent way to bond that stay safe and check it after every use oh i would also state that epoxy is not even an option too brittle while jb weld or other chemical welding adhesives might work they are probably not going to be the best

[@americanschweitzer45]

@@ferrofeles2063 I knew that using liquid nail would give me more bounce than I wanted, but I didn’t want to weld it so that I had options in the future. Thanks for the comments and advice.

[@53rdcards]

So for the cost involved in buying this anvil and welding materials, how would you say this compares to that anvil you gave away for a year

[@terrystewart2034]

Wow, great information. I have a HF anvil. And another similar type cast anvil. I use them for general workshop efforts and save my larger antique anvils for smithing work. I’ll give this go to see how it works on mine. Thanks!

[@DuriensBane]

That is reassuring to see. I got ahold of an old Mouse hole anvil from a mechanics shop where i live. 142lbs but the harden face was hit with a cutting torch and it began to separate and rust. I took it to my work shop and cut as much of the damaged areas out, and began to butter some 11018 rod over the areas to make a good surface to put the hard surfacing rod on. I havent gotten around to finishing it yet, but to see that it does infact work makes be belive that ill have it in working order, im sure it will still be a dead ringer, as i think at one point in its life it was in a huge fire as while cleaning it up i caught some fractures and started to fill them in. But heres to high hopes that i can get it atleast useable again.

[@erikmorris328]

Im not usually one to make a comment, but I have been very intrigued by your efforts to tackle the harbor frieght anvil and make it usable. I dont know much, but I do know that forge welding a hardenable steel onto the anvil body was tradition. Would love to see how you would do that and how well that would work. And if it doesn't work, a bonus clip of trying explosion welding might make for some great entertainment!!! Thank you for helping us out!

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Never heard of explosion welding before 🤔🤔🤔 lol might be a million veiw video 📸

[@jonathannorthup5705]

Hey bud can you do a short with a comparison drop test between the hf anvil and that big beauty it was sitting on would help put it in perspective 👌

[@ItBurnsWelding]

I'm sure it will crack with some real hits on it. The reason why I say that is you didn't preheat the anvil before you welded on it. When you weld cast iron you need to pre heat it or it will break. I've done A lot of cast iron welding with ni rod 55 and 99

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

It was pre heated just lost the footage before editing... But we will see none the less 😃

[@argee55]

I’d never considered hard facing my HF anvil. Looks like I’ll be following suite. Thanks for the video.

[@faroironandcustoms6577]

I have really thought about doing this with my anvil. Mild steel plate ASO. Thank you for posting.

[@brysonalden5414]

I came to scoff, but your results speak for themselves. Still seems like a lot of work to turn a boat anchor into a usable anvil, but obviously it works.

[@myxangolife]

Lot of work yes, but cheaper then a new hard faced anvil.

[@jaysonlima7196]

I would never use a HG anvil as a boat anchor, without a windlass anyway.....

[@yepiratesworkshop7997]

Well, I'd have bet against that being possible and would have lost my money! Roy did a great job of "hard-facing" there -- something I didn't think could be done -- but he was sure skilled enough to pull it off. I've been beating up iron since I was 13 or so and I was born in '55, so do the math subtract a couple of years for the army, photojournalism and judgin' and you'll be able to figure out my experience level. Among my anvils -- which are mostly older than me by 50 to 100 years -- is one of those Harbor Freight (Russian or Chinese?) things. At it's weight, it is perfect for what I need so that I can do blacksmithing work on 'poop-deck' of my steel schooner. The 'hardness' or SOFTNESS, actually isn't something that worried me. I've seen some of the India Indian videos where some squatting blacksmiths are turning out some pretty damned good looking kukris using a 18 or 20 lb. sledge hammer head as an anvil. One such blacksmith even had two "striker boys" dug down knee-high in the dirt so they could whack the hell out of truck springs and reduce them to the right size for a knife! They sure impressed the hell out of me with what they're turning out with some of the crappiest looking tools in the universe. It says a lot about their mastery of the craft and their artistry. My H/F anvil needs some 'help.' But not in the hardening dept. I can live with that for the work I plan to do on it. Where it needs help is in it's shape to begin with. The horn is too damned fat and it's so far off of being 'round' or 'rounded,' that it's about useless for making anything that needs a graceful curve or circle. It's more like some kind of longitudinal "hump" than an anvil horn. That is the area that I'm going to introduce to Mr. Grinder at next opportunity. Also, all that nasty-assed blue paint needs to disappear. I'd rather have rust than the "advertisement" that I'm using a cheap-assed anvil when I'm forging on my boat. But I wouldn't sell a Harbor Freight anvil short, nor would I sell short a lot of the tools that can be bought there. A lot of "self-taught" and "self-teaching" people who got their first tools there have become some pretty damned good artisans. Hell, at one time, I remember making my forge out of an old brake drum from a Chevy pick-up truck and using a chunk of railroad rail as an anvil. If beatin' iron's in your blood, you'll find a way to do it. Good luck, you Youngin's! Go make somethin' hot and make somethin' special out of it. The world is your oyster.

[@thomassutrina7469]

This is a big plus. I gave a big negative response to the attempt to surface harden since of the brittleness of gray and white cast iron. I included an article of a company that converts white cast iron into Malleable cast iron that is far less brittle. I suspect that the annealing process for white cast iron would work for gray cast iron. If I remember need to heat the casting to 400C for a few hours and then let the casting slow cool. This change the crystal structure of the metal.

[@ADBBuild]

Wow, didn't realize hard facing rods got that hard. I thought they were only in the 30-40 range.

[@c.h.4814]

Great job Roy! For not being a pro welder, I believe you have come up with at least one "Reasonable and viable solution", for a lot of people out there on a tight budget. best wishes from a welder.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Thank you for that encouragement 😊 happy New year 🎉

[@carloscreates001]

Great video. What do you recommend for someone starting off that doesn't have a lot of money to shell out for a good anvil or have the rods to harden a HF anvil?

[@kassiog.6595]

i use a railroad track piece and it is garbage,if you can get any other big piece o metal that isn't as soft, take it

[@Youtubeforcedmetochangemyname]

He has some other videos with amazon anvils that aren't to bad or find your local scrap yard and ask for any chunks of steel

[@jesseherman2453]

Forklift forks are good, if you can find a bent/broken one

[@seanroseblacksmith4036]

Wow. Definitely gonna have to try this. Got a iron anvil for pretty cheap a while back that I wanted to face harden. This looks like a pretty good option...

[@brianfalls5894]

Well Roy I have to admit that this test was very impressive to say the very least. It was a night and day difference!!! WOW!

[@robertlonis9350]

Great results!! I would be curious to see if you could do a video on re shaping the horn into a usable shape

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Might do that on a future one

[@tenza7545]

Honestly being a welder that’s expanding my blacksmithing skills I’m not really good at the blacksmithing but slowly getting better. Anyway usually when welding cast iron with 6013 kinda works but it’s very weak around the weld I’m not sure if it will eventually start to pull off a ST rod is what is normally used to weld cast iron and can be tricky sometimes with preheating and slow cooling to prevent cracks. I’m going to look for a update video for this now.

[@bibleandbibs6407]

Very Interesting, I have never given thought to Hard surfacing one. Looking forward to how it holds up.

[@wallacestalker3803]

Ok what do you get when you braze a tool steel plate to one of these things?

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Coming soon stay tuned 🙂

[@motorteeth]

I'm curious if hard facing a railroad track anvil would have any positive effects

[@dolphincliffs8864]

Being that the manganese steel work hardens anyway,I would not expend the material and labor.

[@PGSchroe]

Excellent. While I have a good anvil in the forge area, I have an old harbor freight anvil in the fab shop. I'm going to give that a try. I have some old 7018 that I need to use up, I'm wondering if that would make a good base layer.

[@matthewkingston6116]

Hi, thanks for the content. I wonder if that would work on a railroad track anvil?

[@jomamma1750]

If you heat the cast before you weld it(and keep it hot during) she'll stick. Did you ever weld on cast before??

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Yes I have 😊 the anvil Was pre heated before welding but unfortunately The footage was lost before editing...

[@jomamma1750]

@@ChristCenteredIronworks Fair enough, should maybe have mentioned that with some graphics. A lot of people watch these kinds of videos for ideas for projects, best to give them full and accurate directions. Cool idea 'tho and many thanks for getting back to me. Be safe out there.

[@gadsdenconsulting7126]

Cool video! Do you think welding a 3/4" thick piece of AR500 onto the surface would be a viable uption here? That's what I'm thinking about doing...

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Good question! I will be doing something similar in a future video

[@gadsdenconsulting7126]

@@ChristCenteredIronworks A 26"x17.5"x1" drop of AR500 is $135 at the local steel place near me, so I'd be better off getting one of the blue boys for the same money. I look forward to a video on this, however!!

[@theafro]

It looks like it'd beat the pants off a piece of railroad track! for a first anvil, it's usable, cheap, and available everywhere, I'd love to see a durability test, with lots of edge-work to see how it all holds up.

[@gman1515]

For a first anvil I'm going to have to disagree with you. 50/50 odds at best a new guy already has the right welding skills and equipment to do this. If you dont then you have to buy the anvil and find and pay a welder to do it for you, which is probably going to be as much cost and a lot more hassle than purchasing a mid range anvil. And id have less durability concerns with the mid range anvil.

[@huckstirred7112]

@@gman1515 apiece of railroad track is one serious tough piece of high quality steel

[@wicklash9065]

At the same time, you could accomplish the same on a rr track and itd be easier than welding cast. I got a few dock cleats im gonna try

[@theafro]

If anybody asks me what they should do for a first anvil, my advice is simple. get the biggest, most solid chunk of metal you can find, and put it on the most solid foundation possible. while rr tracks are made of tough stuff, they just don't have the mass required to make those hard-earned first hammer blows really work. unless maybe you cast it into a block of concrete.

[@garethbaus5471]

​@@huckstirred7112 It just has a terrible shape for becoming an anvil, almost nothing under the hammer and a poor geometry for adding a hardy hole.

[@dangerouspowerG3sper]

hey can you use a hard surface welding rod to make a knife blade?

[@Plastikdoom]

Kinda surprised the 6013 made a decent enough weld to be a filler layer…hmm. Especially without heating the cast. Wonder how well some 309 would do with a preheat, I’ve definitely had to weld ductile with 309 to stainless, or carbon, or other ductile, and it worked just fine. Then run it over with 7018, then hardface? Could probably double layer then with no issues.

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

I did pre heat but some how Lost the footage

[@huckstirred7112]

As a fellow welder fabricator I agree with you %100 stainless first

[@Plastikdoom]

@@ChristCenteredIronworks ahh, ok, no worries, was just curious as to how it managed to work well enough on that much cast, thinner stuff will weld kinda decent without it, if you don’t need a lot of strength. Great results though, I have one of those anvils I got awhile back, and thought about doing that, might actually do it now, any improvement to it would be far better than they come.

[@Plastikdoom]

@@huckstirred7112 yeah, it would bond better and let the 60 or 70 series really weld great. Also figured you’d end up more like an alloyed steel layer on top, as it’ll burn out some of the carbon and mix it all together. Taking out some of the brittleness. Just from basic experience of getting into blacksmithing years ago, and lots of welding for my current job, on dirty crap metals, the old existing stuff on dairy farms, we install and maintain pumps and equipment on them. And before that just shop class and welding on farms growing up.

[@matthewperlman3356]

Ahh I see I'm not the only one who does this.

[@HolzMichel]

a quick spark test would show if that anvil is either cast steel or cast iron. if that thing is indeed a cast iron anvil, the hard facing will pop off on the first good hard use of it. no pre-heat virtually guarantees that, and if it's cast steel without a pre-heat the hard surface will crack eventually if it hasn't already

[@1980Baldeagle]

Thats what the books have you believe. I've welded some cast b.s. monkey metal out of necessity and had it hold for years. Sometimes it just defies reality.

[@HolzMichel]

@@1980Baldeagle there is some truth to that. i've seen it too. the cast iron pieces i've welded with regular rod didn't stick at all. brazing was the only thing i;ve used that actually held together aside from nickel rod. but then it also depends on how much the part is stressed before it breaks.

[@thomasgoodemoot]

Glad to see that it worked out not a doubt that it would

[@Nanan00]

Wouldn't doing a butter pass with nickel rod give a better bond to the cast iron?

[@mikegraham7078]

I haven't done any hard-facing as a pro for... decades, but I seem to recall that Stoody makes an electrode that they call "BU" for 'build-up' that is often used as the boundary layer between the hard-facing and the parent metal. As others have said I would have suggested pre- and post-heating the anvil during the welding process. Bottom line, though... if it works, it works.

[@page76metalcraft19]

That's amazing! Gears are turning

[@brettthompson5919]

Great joy Roy. Happy New Year!!!

[@eddieagha5851]

Hi, great video! I'm just curious, not counting your time what was the added costs of the welding rods you used? Just a round number would be sufficient. I am starting to learn with a HF anvil.

[@jeremyrock9305]

Would it be possible to just weld a piece of a.r plate over it?

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

It's on the list of things to try ☺️ stay tuned

[@obfuscated3090]

Oddly many smiths don't study welding nearly enough. Specialty fillers and weld filler materials in general are highly advanced technology. Welding fora are a good place to learn about them. Stoody, MG and other makers have fillers for nearly every task and being able to repair or upgrade anvils is quite handy. There are also abrasives for every task (Walter, Norton and 3M are rightly famous). Crown Alloys sell the 44-40 cast iron repair MIG wire (requires argon gas) which is outstanding. It can even repair installed exhaust manifolds per aametalmasters Weldingweb and other threads which show pics. Every metalworker should have welding capability. If you want serious amps the old transformer industrial machines can be gotten cheap (because they're heavy, scaffolding casters and an angle base solve that if ya get one without a cart) and their high OCV makes them a joy to use.

[@MinionsSmithy]

Fun video, great results! I think the dirty weld layer was the key to making this work!

[@brevenbuer3150]

Did you pre heat the anvil before welding? I don't know it that was mentioned or not and I am curious if that is a necessary step

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Yes I did but I lost the footage before editing... Pre heat is absolutely a must

[@mazda2284]

my old vice you can beat the hell out of it and it dont ding or dent anywhere , i got it the way it is and someone welded the heck out of it at some point and then ground down , all the faces are clean n true but there is a bunch of weld that wasnt ground down totally on the places you dont use . im curious if they "hardfaced" it like this ? i got a new vice and that thing is super soft , miss with the hammer and puts a nice ding in it , and its sloppy , it took maybe a summer on the new one to mess up the jaws so it wont close flat n true anymore , the old one is tight n true ! way better .

[@kurtbogle2973]

That's a good idea, but you can also buy a piece of bar stock the size you want from a steel shop, and maybe if they have cones get one and weld it on. I have a piece of 2x8" flat bar that I use, but to be honest my Harbor Freight anvil worked ok. I hammered out a sword and several knives on it. The difference isn't huge.

[@rubeshfilm]

So I guess the biggest question I have is; since the layer of hardened metal is quite thin, after actually forging on it for some time, would the work start to temper the hardened surface? Thinner metal heats up a lot quicker. Would be interesting to see a test where you do a significant amount of forging on this anvil, then do the ball bearing test again.

[@timplett1]

Assuming the weld layer was fused well I wouldn't expect an issue as it is really all one piece of metal, just a layer of a different type, so should dissipate heat well into the body of the anvil. If it was a sheet of hard steel sitting on top of the cast anvil, then I could see there being issues

[@richardscarlett7942]

but does the square horn break off as before?

[@ArkansGamer]

I just wonder how it will hold up under use?

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Roy shared the results of it after a while... kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZbdpqGIgMShgck . Thank you for watching. -Jessica at Christ Centered Ironworks

[@brittinghammerforge9441]

So the question is, how does the anvil hold up to some heavy hammer strikes after the heat of welding? Will the heal break off like the other one?

[@Eluderatnight]

A shard in the femoral artery would set you back a bit vs buying a known good anvil.

[@watchthe1369]

I expect if you trimmed it down and welded on about an inch of appropriate hardness steel plate you would get a decent anvil like object. (Preheating cast iron helps with welding by the way).

[@avenuex3731]

Thank you! Been thinking about trying this for the longest but kept talking myself out of it. Would have liked the bounce test compared on that beauty below it though.

[@tropifiori]

Can you weld a plate of hard steel to the face?

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

That's on the list ☺️

[@nicholascervone4734]

👍🏼not bad ! I don't know if it's possible but you can also try getting hardened steel plate and welding it to the surface of it and try that out to see if it's any better. I've heard from people that's the best option 🤷 because you can pick the exact hardening of the plate steel and thickness to your liking.

[@blackgriffinxx]

I think that in question. You could as long as both plate and anvil are very flat

[@henrydando]

ive seen someone do that and they ended up with an anvil worse than the starting anvil because their was a gap between the top of the harbour freight anvil and the hardened plate. a hardened steel plate would have given equally Good results.

[@Plastikdoom]

You’d have to forge weld the whole plate to the anvil face, or you get a completely dead anvilive seen people try it, and don’t remember the channel, but years ago someone took the time to forge weld a plate on, then clean it up, rough, then anneal, harden, and temper it, great results, but definitely for the cost and time, the equipment you’d need, you’d already have at least one good anvil, and likely a bunch, so it’d be a net loss, unless you’re trying to make good ones, out of garbage, and think you can make them fast enough, to justify doing it and selling them. At that rate though, you’d probably have to cycle through as many as you could in a day, on just forge welding, then have people who could anneal and harden them as you welded more, etc. but they’d still cost a lot, so people could just buy good ones for slightly more….maybe even less.

[@blackgriffinxx]

@@Plastikdoom on the price of anvils $350-400 ballpark at the low end for a 70 pounder Not including shipping. So unless you have the tools I would not do the plate way. but the stick weld way. It would be at or less than buying a new one if you started from scratch even then it kind of a win. you now have a welder and anvil. On larger anvil this would be a win. As the start at $800 and up.

[@Plastikdoom]

@@blackgriffinxx yeah for sure, I was saying for forge welding the plate on, not worth it, as it’ll be same cost or more with your labor, materials. And that’s even with big trip hammers, want to try to do it by hand? Sure it’s possible, but will suck, haha.

[@NormReitzel]

Thank you or the testing. i have hard surfced small ( i kg ) jewlery anvils successfully using tghe sme techniques, but hey really aren't anvils at all. Still, I had good results. zi had considered surfacin my HF anvil, but it's an awful lot of work with no idea if it might acually work.Again, thanks for the tesing. Anvils are a hobby for me (as opposed to a usiness) so buying "Good" anvil is right out, until after my yacht and sports car.

[@KurNorock]

I am guessing that if you were trying to hard face a large block of mild steel instead of a cast iron anvil, you wouldn't need to bother with the 6013/7013 base layer right?

[@kansasprairieforge2918]

Pretty darn Amazing Roy!

[@misterrbl5156]

I would say it's perfect in a pinch. If you don't have access to a better anvil or on a job with limited resources then It will work beautifully. The real test would be put it through an honest days work and see what it looks like at the end of the week. You could also resurface the entire deck with a mild to hardened steele plate sandwich. The mild steel would act as a cushion for the hardened steel and give the cast iron base a little protection. Just a thought.

[@tango-bravo]

Great work and video. How much would you charge to do this on a 15 pound Harbor Freight anvil?

[@rogerturman2467]

Does the hard surfacing cross bead crack

[@stoneinthefield1]

Great job! Curious how it would hold up. My guess is not long at all. I had an old 100# Fischer sawyer anvil that was grey cast and hard face plate it too Bounced nice , about 90%. Rebound.

[@jtdundee]

Hey... Harbor Freight... LISTEN UP!!! This gentlman did it in a hobby shop - your factories can do it overseas for $2 a pound in welding rods and and one man hour of work...offer it as a different model for what, $50 more? Well worth it.

[@rabadgett]

Oh man! Let's see the magic happen!

[@MasterofAardvarks]

So theoretically, if you have a cast iron vice with an anvil on it, it would DEFINITELY be worth it to harden that due to it not being a large surface?

[@landroveraddict2457]

I recently picked up two anvils which are in very bad condition , a 50lb and a 350lb both are old and both have a hard surface. I started work on the smaller grinding though the rust and scares. I have the small anvil back to bright metal but there is a dip in the centre of the surface of about 1/8th inch and a few deep scars where the rust penetrated deeper . Would you recommend hard surfacing ? Should I fill the dip or the entire surface? I would appreciate any advice, the large anvil is in a similar condition and I'd like to get my method sorted out before I start on it.

[@jessehubbard9133]

What was the end cost of that anvil

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

About $37 in welding rods and $20!in grinding disc but that's because I had to buy some new And didn't have them on hand... So $69 for the anvil + $37+$20 = $126 if you bought everything new

[@RRINTHESHOP]

Well done, looks like a good job and a usable anvil.

[@SchysCraftCo.]

Wow that's pretty good. Definitely not expecting that. Good video Roy. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Forge on. Keep making. God bless.

[@BackyardBeeKeepingNuevo]

That was a neat result. Props for the cool factor. Did you come up with a total cost to do this including materials?

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Not yet but will hopefully have costing down in my Big finally video on this series 🙂 so stay tuned !

[@aaronschwingel3330]

Great content. I have a question, if you don't mind: You went with the Stoody Self-Hardening rod for this, even though the general recommendation is to use Stoody 2110/1105. Have you been happy with this rod in this application? (re: hardness, durability to impact) I'm looking at different hardfacing rods to use on my own anvil, and I can see why you chose this one- it does seem to have the sort of attributes you'd want for an anvil face. My situation is a bit different though- rather than surfacing a cast iron anvil, I will be surfacing an anvil I made myself out of A36 plate. Would be happy to get any thoughts from you on this Stoody Self-Hardening rod now that you've got some time with it. Thanks!

[@flipstyle1983]

How much in welding rod did it cost to do this?

[@manguydude287]

Excellent video. Thank you for bringing us along

[@workingovertime4429]

Now that it has a seemingly good rebound will you be trying any parts on it?

[@andrewvida3829]

I question the longer term viability of so thin a layer of hard face material. About 30 years ago I had some hammer dies faced with a specialty material which I no longer recall, but it was fairly exotic and made for the sort of application to which I was going to put it. The dies failed in minutes due to the lack of sufficient thickness, which was about 1/4" on a set of 4140 hammer dies. One pound of hard face rods over that large an area isn't going to yield a very thick layer. It will be interesting to see how much use this will stand.

[@jbayles1]

Cool idea, enjoyed

[@jasonschau4218]

Did you pre heat the anvil before welding

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Yes

[@paulorchard7960]

Nice Roy, my concern is the hard face chipping off! Put it to work and we will see soon enough!

[@danvandertorre6349]

now I wonder if it can be hardened more as you did before, instead, use ice to harden it

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

For quenching it will harden to 60+ HRC but My guess is that will cause some big cracks to happen 😉

[@danvandertorre6349]

@@ChristCenteredIronworks gray iron does not crack very easily but the weld I think your right on the weld it may also separate try it on a small piece

[@danvandertorre6349]

thanks for the comeback brother it would seem we are in the berth pains now

[@SpeargrassForge]

Just popped in to say you're developing a glorious beard there Roy!

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Thank you brother 😊

[@Redbeards_Forge]

Haha you actually have the best harbor freight anvil out there now lol.. I don't think I'd go through all that trouble but man that's a nice rebound.. now thinking about it, harding it like that would make it a nice light travel anvil.. maybe that one would be a good giveaway/bid anvil once you done testing it

[@ChristCenteredIronworks]

Never know 😉 Thank you for watching buddy 👍👍

[@Redbeards_Forge]

@@ChristCenteredIronworks Always, you're welcome and Happy new years

[@alanmurdock4319]

I've used Stoody to repair an old Peter Wright. It worked fine. The only complaint I have is that I remember the rod being about $60 a pound.

[@danrid1982]

Could you also hard face the horn?

[@dennisdaugherty1345]

How do you forge a anvil