Can You Forge Weld a Face Plate on to a Harbor Freight Anvil?
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- If Harbor Freight 55 lb anvil is the worst anvil, can it be improved by welding a face plate on it? On its own I don't think it really is a "55 lb rugged cast iron anvil". Let's try forge welding a top plate on this cheap Harbor Freight anvil!
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Whether it works or not at least the blue paint is gone 🤣
Yes indeed LoL cough 😏
That was good.
I was going to say "You ruined the anvil! It's nothing without its pretty blue paint." I won't say that. 😅
Holy cow, im eating my words. I'd LOVE to see a take two!!!!
Let's share this video around And see if we can get it done 👍👍✅
Yes I think you need a part two
I have that anvil, was a gift from my kids. I siliconed a chunk of 4140 forklift fork to the top. Been working great for me so far. The fork is only slightly wider than the face of the anvil & is about 1-1/2" thick. Might be a good candidate for take 2.
I think using an electric forge where you can know the exact temp more accurately might be an option. This is a fun experiment. It can be done. My wife's farriers anvil has a cast iron basd with a hardened face welded on and its very solid. My father in law made it for her. I wish youtube would allow attachments.
Most anvils that have a cast iron base and a steel face actually were welded by casting the base with the steel face in the bottom of the mold.
Yeah please do a take two. Have you considered sand casting your own steel anvil from recycled tools, wrenches, hammers, etc?
Thank you for your channel. Definitely interested in the redo of this video. It's worth another shot
Your welcome And congratulations on being first 🥇
Love the video. If anybody could do it...you can. Your tenacity is admirable!!
Thanks Roger!
Went better than I thought it would.
We welded a 1” thick steel plate to the face of our HF anvil and it’s worked great!
My first thought was no, highly unlikely, but now I would like to see you and Thomas give a more controlled second go! I now think its possible! Nice try Roy!👍
I just bought a new Vevor Cast Iron 55lbs off Ebay for $114cdn not realizing it was Iron. I tried to cancel within 5 mins once i noticed my error. I contacted Vevor and they gave half my money back and I kept the anvil. I have to say, It's a bit of an upgrade from my homemade RailRoad Track anvil that was equipped with a hardy, a pritcher, and a horn but only weighed 10lbs. I found it works well with hot steel, I sure won't try to make and hardy tools with the hardy. I have forged tongs, tools, and other items I have sold. So it paid for it's self within two days or owning it. Sure it is not my dream anvil but it will do for now. I only have just over 200 hours blacksmithing in my shop, I have around $400 cdn invested into my setup (including my shop, which was all reclaimed steel roofing and wood) . I have made almost $800cdn in the two months I have been smithing. I have found keeping track of the numbers have inspired me to keep on this journey!
I don't know if you'll personally get it done, but I do know it's possible to forge weld the two materials together, as the Fisher Norris ones were tool steel forge welded onto cast iron (or specifically cast iron cast onto the forge weld temperature tool steel I believe)
Now that I've seen the whole thing, I think that maybe running a bead around the entire edge may help here as well. There would be less chance of the failure of the "tack" but also would help seal out air. You could flat-grind both and then do it with just a regular pre-heat rather than doing that in the forge, and then after the welds are on, into the forge for the forge weld. Cast iron is a tricky mistress, but I think you can get it done!
@@solarhawk77 have to agree with you on this one, gotta see attempt #2
Do it!!!! We need results. The internet needs to know!
Don’t know much about smithing. But having a oxy acetylene torch nearby should help it glowing hot while hammering the plate on.
What a hoot! Cracked me up. Love the treadle hammer kit, by the way. Good luck, and be careful.
we live to learn and learn to live. Forge on. god bless.
Yes take 2 please!
Good “Maybe” indeed! Better by far than I was expecting.
Definitely worth a 2nd go at it! Q: what if y’all barb the steel face plate prior to welding like what’s done for facing wrought iron hammers? With a preheated/fluxed cast iron anvil face, the barbs should sink in.
Roy, Please try Iron Mountain Flux on the next attempt. I love this concept, great video even if it didn’t work as intended.
Thanks brother
I was gonna say, "Roy can do it!!" But I read Troys comment. Dang it!
I'd love to see take 2! Please!
it will be good to see take two. Take what you learned and run with it.
that was awesome!!! I started forging with that anvil. I'd love to see another go!
Fun experiment.
This was a cool experiment to watch. I hope to see part 2.
I would definitely like to see you give it another go.
So I say yes try it again. While you're at it, could/would it be worth trying on a different brand or something like a forged anvil? Would it do the same or would it be different? I enjoy blacksmithing but I am not a smithy myself, your channel was interesting and I joined because of that and you channels title.
Thanks for subbing And yes I think it would be worth it in the right circumstances...
Try it again Roy! Half a weld worked. Perhaps if you tack it in more places. I think it will work for you.
Give it a shot!
I didn't expect any of it to weld, to be frank. Nice work!
I think it will weld by getting both white hot, pressed, and clamped. Allow to cool then slowly bring to white hot.
I was so curious about this... I hope you try it again
Long time no see, great video. I was really hoping for your success. Can't win them all. Look forward to you retrying in the future
Years ago I had an anvil that my dad had built Ye f welding 2 pieces of narrow gauge RR rail together I found a piece or 1 1/2" carbon and wanted him to put it on the top,he was a very good welder and had a hard time getting a bond..
I think the back end failed because it got too hot. The horn probably worked as a thermal sink to keep the front half from melting.
I would not have used a sledge to set the forge weld, but I'm impressed that you got any of the steel to stick. I bet the second attempt will be successful.
I know that some things are difficult to see on video. So the temps are hard to judge, from my point of view. Having said that, the anvil didn't look like it was up to full welding temperature on the first heat. Whereas, due to the faceplate coming off, it looked much hotter on the second heat. But again, that's from my perspective. I'm sure it looked much different irf. I've been watching you for years now. So I'm well aware of your skills. If there's anyone who could pull this off, it'd be you Sir.
Thank You for your time and efforts!!
I found this video very entertaining - something I couldn't and likely wouldn't attempt even if I had the setup. From the standpoint of holding my attention I'd say it was a complete success. Keep experimenting Roy.
Have you ever heard of J B Weld? It's like a liquid metal that comes in 2 tubes and you mix it together and it welds anything to anything.
Valiant effort. I can't imagine doing anything useful with welding and cast iron!
Thanks for watching
you added those tack welds... Thanks for the bit of metallurgy. perhaps next one? btw like^1000. that should add enough likes to get over the crest.
Good try Amigo! Could I recommend for the 2nd take, to weld all the way around the plate and anvil with "special cast iron welding rods" just to make sure the plate doesn't fall off.
Ehh, problems with continuous welding it, you gotta flux it/clean off the scale, or you’d have nothing but huge amounts of slag inbetween the plate and the face. And the special rod, that would probably work best/be available and not hideously expensive is just plain ol 309L stainless rod. Plea, to even get what could be called a decent weld with carbon to cast, or stainless to cast, the cast has to be very clean, like shiny clean, and preheated, for the best chance. Along with the steel very clean. But I definitely agree that some more stitch welds around it would be better, like a couple spaces apart, and an inch long or so at most in the front and back, and like 3 or 4 on each side would definitely help keep it stuck in place, for the heat. I commented further up, and said, running over the whole face with 309L first, would probably give them the best chance. As that changes the cast iron into a more high alloy steel right at the surface. Makes it easier to stick carbon steel to it. But that’s a ton of time and welding rod for an experiment. Would be cool to see though, haha.
Boy I lost it when you did the reveal 🤣🤣🤣
I would have started getting it to as close to a welding heat as possible with the feet in the anvil first, after tacking the surface. Then flipping it around, bringing the steel to a welding temp.
Oh! And i would do it with charcoal too, build up a ridge around the firepot with bricks to be able to build the fire higher!
Forgot to add the most important part, hecking cool idea! Would love a part two!!
I'm hoping for a take two
You got this
If you have an arc welder for electrodes you can try welding hard facing rod on one of those anvils it may work. Not sure haven’t tried using hard facing rod on cast iron. That worked great on the huge chunk of mild steel I have. I use it as a secondary anvil like block to move it around easier than the anvil I have mounted.
Took me awhile to figure out you were doing it in 2 stages. Thought you were going to try it in one go; anvil to just below melting and steel to about 1950. I was freaking because the anvil top wasn't a uniform temp.
I don't know. Cast iron is a tricky beast. It always wants to fall apart on me when I mess with it.
A very cool attempt!!!
What about a lower temperature "silver brazing" it instead? - with a sheet of silver between the two layers - Silver would be bloody expensive, maybe copper or brass/bronze will do?
I think a brazing would be much easier and then you could just grind and clean (not polish) both faces flat (the tool steel and anvil), lay a sheet of copper or brass between (thin sheet, that is), weld them solid around (so it won't pour out the side as you heat it up) and then at low temperature and using small hammers - force the steels to lay flat on each other. This will make sure they are sitting one on top of the other flat - and the copper/brass will fill the voids and create a solid bond....
Tyrell knives does something really lovely and similar with blades - I wonder if it would work with an anvil (to be honest, I've been thinking of treating my own home-made anvil this way, addying a layer of tool steel on top.)
Just my oddball 2cents
I think it will work
maybe if the whole anvil is heated uniformly in giant propane forge it will be easier. Coal forge is hard mode. Thanks for the great video!
I'd love to see a "take 2"!
I think if you can get it hot enough it will work. At least temporarily. Then maybe delaminate due to the different thermal expansion of the two materials. Or, not weld at all. Idk.
I hope so 😬. Take 2plz!
The second test might be easier to manage with the 15 pound variant which should mean less time fishing it out of the forge and getting it to the anvil.
I'm sad for the wasted faceplate lol. The anvil not so much. Go for it Roy.
I would think machining the hard steel for taper head bolts, then drill and tap the anvil might make for better results. I've got some pieces of heavy truck frame I was thinking about doing this to. I could also get some AR400 and do the same thing.
Great try!
I'd like to think it can be done.
Couple of ares I think about.
1 add iron powder in te Flux er majic Pixie Dust
2 don't burn it ( ducks the flying hammers)
3 start hammering in the middle then work out to the edges in multiple heats w Majic Pixie Dust n iron powder
4 have you thought of simple wire welding a quasi face then forge weld the tool steel on that ?
Yeah, this way works, but I’ve tried it. The center doesn’t weld very well. The tacks can break off. Back then, it took several guys. One or two to hold the plate on, and the others to whale on it a few times, and hopefully, it welded. But not every time. Sometimes they had to try it several times before they got a usable anvil.
I would say that it is probably possible. A little crazy maybe, but possible
Awesome video as always, I have a question for you. How has the HF anvil you hard faced held up?
Got a new video coming out on that this next week
@@ChristCenteredIronworks Very excited to hear that, thanks for the response
My gut feeling is that the two different metals have 2 different welding temps… large (realitively) working surface area… it could work but I’d be skeptical about a full forge welding. Maybe the edges. Hope it works!
It will work.
Also, a question from a very inexperienced guy in this field. Would it also have been better to to start in the middle and work your way out? For the striking. And I mean at this point, you gotta have quite a few wrecked blue anvils…do you have a blast furnace? If so. Can just turn to them wrought…and make something worthwhile, haha.
Have you thought about brazing it on. You can get it hot enough looks like, just about as good as forge weld.
I’d say give it another shot with one of their 15 pound anvils, heck you could try different faces and heat cycles. If you got a good result with that, maybe it could be replicated on one of the larger ones.
I'm gonna say that "anvil" is gonna turn back into the recycled sewer pipe it was made from as soon as you hear it up.
Anything can be done. May not be perfect but if you dream it you can do it.
If you rewind, that's the only section that Roy put flux. ON CAMERA
You can do it just trust your self
Go for it !
Awesome video. I think heating separately seemed to work better, maybe could be the way to go for take 2?
I think it would work if you heat the anvil long enough to decarburize it in a big enough propane forge, closed from the air. I don't know how slow it would decarburize, but I'm certain that I can get it down to 0.30 to 0.60% Carbon. It would require an optical emmision spectroscope or one of those - EXPENSIVE MACHINES($60,000 to $500,000!).
I have one that I bought 2 years ago just sitting around in my apartment. It’s pretty to look at but i wanna try to weld it with some nickel rod lol
if they are too different to weld well, perhaps a sheet of intermediate metal in between might help?
Possibly it depends a lot on how both the carbon steel plate and the cast iron behave while heated and under the pressure if the forge welding process if it will be successful
Braze the top on. Get some flux and braising foil. Grind both surfaces flat, flux em, foil them then heat on your fire until the braze melts.
Interested concept. Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should. The cost, the work and the energy that goes into making or modifying an anvil doesn't make a lot of practical sense when you can buy an inexpensive 60 #or a inexpensive 140# anvil from Vevor for approximately $150 to $250 respectively. The time and energy and costs involved in this process, a person could buy a larger first rate high quality anvil.
Nothing ventured nothing learned. Give it another go. In the spirit of experimentation how about you run the forged welded portion of the anvil through a bandsaw and cut out a few profiles. That way you will get an idea as to how uniform (or not) was the.weld.
lets see a take 2
I've got to say no, as the anvil is cast iron. Keeping my fingers crossed though and watching the rest of the video now 👍
Thanks brother!
If only I had a $2,000+ anvil (probably way more) so I could make a $100 anvil 🤣😂🤣. Seriously though, loved the attempt. I want to see a 2nd try at it.
From what I see, it's a possibility
At the start of the video I said no way. Halfway through I was like maybe, then the top plate fell off. But at the end I was surprised to see that something stuck. So let's doi it again.
I would give it a nother go at it it does look like there's a good chance it will work
I say YES it will work....
Take 2
You have to heat the entire anvil before you tack the grader blade to it I think to get a better weld.
I'm guessing it'll work but that's not really what I care about.
My hope is that with enough videos complaining about their ASO's they'll eventually get the message and contract the factory to put at least a marginally harder face on them.
Harbor freight does seem to care a little or at least try to stay competitive, but then again usually they need to have a popular known brand / product to compete directly with.
If theres no decent quality anvil to compete with I suppose they'll never want to make their ASO's actually usable.
Take 2, practice is learning
Imma guess no. I stick welded mine but it would have been super difficult for me to try forge welding... Let's see what happens...
Welllll neato. Looks like maybe not impossible. I'd love to see a retry. Awesome stuff Roy!
As far as this. I'm wondering if, since you noted that iron melts at a lower temperature, bring the anvil up to about a thousand to twelve hundred degrees and the plate to welding temp. That should be enough to melt the iron. Or use dynamite.
Whether it works or not depends on whether the anvil is cast steel or cast iron.
I would love to see someone make something useful out of those harbor freight anvils lol
It took me a whole 5 minutes to figure out they they were using a grader blade IE blade from a grader; and not a ‘greater plate’ which I guess is as opposed to a lesser plate?
paused. I think it is forge weldable. The question becomes can you weld it Roy? Are you hammering it? do you have a team of 3 strikers? will the cast iron be uniformly close to melting during the initial sticking at the end or center? Will you get the same heat level for re-heats until the entire plate is attached? Will you use flux?
Of course you can weld it!
Now, on with the video.
If the heat is correct it will I would think
So, here’s a thought: could you burn out some of the carbon in the anvil face? I don’t know if you have that kind of control, but if you did that could give you a steel layer to weld to. Thinking about it, that may have happened in this….
I know very well this can be done.
I would make sure that Anvil and the Steel Plate are as clean as possible. I also would have tack welded the metal plate closer to the Anvil. You Pixie Dust, Borax Powder being used as a Flux, looked a little light.