Thread: portable anvil

I was wondering what the practical application of the portability was. Now that you mention meets it makes a lot more sense. It is probably the only time you would take your anvil for a truck ride.

Anvils don't have to be all that hard really if you have the mass like Charlies anvil does. Most any steel or wrought iron at forging temp can be worked with tools of low carbon steel. Ideal? No but it will work. If I had a piece like that in the Pic. in mild steel it could be heated to critical Temp. & quenched in the "Super Quench" & it would be a great anvil for most forging. The horn on most vintage anvils was wrought iron & they held up well under all types of use.

Dave"Slawman" Huffman

@spazola. What are the dimensions of the O1 block? Do I dare ask? (inside joke)

I had time to mess with the anvil some today.

The file test cut really well, and the rebound with a steel bearing was abysmal. It is close to dead soft.

In the past I have had decent track record air quenching little O1 parts and dodads, but every thing had a smaller cross section and not this much mass. Air quenching O1 does not get stuff knife hard, but it is good enough for miscellaneous quick and dirty little shop tools.

I will do the anvil again with an oil quench.

I need to figure out a safe, economical way to do it.

Originally Posted by spazola

I will do the anvil again with an oil quench.

I need to figure out a safe, economical way to do it.

My friend, you do fantastic work in your shop and never cease to amaze me with it, however out of the above quote I think that the most important part is this:

Originally Posted by spazola

I need to figure out a safe way to do it.

Keep up that great work and stay safe

Originally Posted by spazola

I had time to mess with the anvil some today.

The file test cut really well, and the rebound with a steel bearing was abysmal. It is close to dead soft.

In the past I have had decent track record air quenching little O1 parts and dodads, but every thing had a smaller cross section and not this much mass. Air quenching O1 does not get stuff knife hard, but it is good enough for miscellaneous quick and dirty little shop tools.

I will do the anvil again with an oil quench.

I need to figure out a safe, economical way to do it.

That parking lot next door should be OK.

How big a tub of canola will you need?

I am in way over my head in this thread, but could you not find a few 5 gal buckets of old deep fryer oils for the one really big quench. 1/2 a drum with deep fryer oil in it in a large outdoor area seems like it fits the bill. However I know nothing about the true logistics of your situation.

It is the handling of the chunk of metal that concerns me. I will build a pole with handles to attach to the bottom so that two people can lift and dunk it.

As for the volume of oil I will just use the biggest metal container I have or can scrounge up.

You guys are all on the right track, thanks for your thoughts.

You had best dunk and run!

I know this may sound off, but you would know the risks...but have you considered befriending an oil change shop? They put old oil into 55gal containers. Your heating set-up is portable, so if you were able to dunk in a large container it might work. Then it would be a booger to "fish" out. I normally wouldn't recommend this to a newb, but it's maybe a "direction" as you will need volume to keep the oil below flash point.

Another likely location might be where heavy equipment is worked on. They normally have cut down 55gal drums for sliding under the equipment to drain the oil. You being the best scrounger I know...maybe these few ideas might get you going.

Of course, protect yourself and others from the nasty bad smoke that it would create.