I know this was 5 years ago but what do ya think about fish plates welding or forge welding to the sides I have a couple pieces of track fish plates and 8 connector plates I think they are called fish plates appear to have hardy holes Idk kicking it around what I'm going to do
I have to say you have the most entertaining videos concerning anvils that I have watched in quite a while. I think it is the fact that you are not taking yourself more seriously than some channels do. I think you have an excellent project going there, and remember even if your welds are not the prettiest, use your grinder-fu to make them perfect. Thanks for posting.
At my job, there's like 10 forklift bits just laying around as well as tons of anvil shaped objects, if my boss ever sells em I'm definitely going to make a anvil out of one
The "don't lean over your work" thing is great advice. I have been afraid of hitting my face with my hammer for a while now that I have an actual steel faced anvil that has rebound, and it wasn't until I asked online and someone brought this up recently that I realized that was the issue. Thanks!
Wow nice work. Making a steak anvil at the moment, I have a couple of anvils but not very flat or square edge anymore. Made heaps of cool hardy tools though work ausome
Loved the build on this video Bennett, very ingenuitive. One of my first anvils was a forklift tine I cut into 4 parts and welded together. The fact you managed to heat treat it like you did was pretty immence. I find it hard to believe you haven't got twice as many subscribers.
Thanks! Once I thought of a way to do the heat treat, I knew I had to try it. I slowed down making videos a bit because I’m spending all my time trying to make enough to pay the bills. But I’m getting there!
I'm in the process of building my own anvil. Started with a chunk of forklift tine and just ran with it lol Somehow I convinced myself I would be saving money to build one. Definitely not the case for me! Lol Looks cool though man and I cant believe you actually heat treated the anvil, that's like the stuff of legend right there. Again nice job and I'm sure it will outlive us all!
@@eduardosampoia5480 Hahaha it adds up fast! I have spent(so far) 200$ on mild steel(for the body) 50$ on a forklift tine(for the face) I'm currently on my third 10lb box of 6011 electrodes still on my first box of 7018. It's been a wild ride to put it lightly. Lol
Thanks for the video, gives me some pointers for when I put my anvil together. I stick weld, but other than that it'll be somewhat similar to your project. The only things I'll do differently is I'm going to harden the top plate before welding it on top of the anvil, and I'm going to try to forge weld the top on using Iron Mountain flux powder. I'm going to try some smaller forge welding projects first to get a better handle on the process and I'm also going to look on TH-cam to see if anyone else has done this yet. Thanks again for the video. Keep them coming. 🖖😎⚒
I'm glad seeing my process (and mistakes!) is helping to inform your plan, I couldn't hope for more. I'm a little confused though, do you mean you're going to forge weld the top plate on . . . after hardening it? Hardening a 1"+ thick plate before arc welding it on would preserve the hardness and temper easily, but the heat of forge welding would completely undo any prior heat treat. Or am I not quite getting what you meant?
I like your anvil and I enjoyed watching you make it. Your entertaining and funny. Even if its not the greatest anvil ever built you built it yourself and should be really proud. I know I would be. Good Job!
@@stokeburner6730 Sure did! I'm editing the last of the Axe videos as I type this. The Bat'leth is from a few years ago, so the video isn't as good as my new stuff, but still pretty cool. I also have a pair of videos on a knife from Destiny.
That was interesting to whatch and I actually learned a lot. You were committed to it and I understand completely, I’m the same way when I start a project. Still turned out pretty good. 👍
I mean, it's cool, but for the same price and less work you can get an anvil that is heavier, bigger, harder, and doesn't have a void between the face and the body. But hey, making that kind of stuff is always amazing.
Okay best advice for welds dont hold the trigger for so long its pulling too much power Weld like youre stacking dimes (tack welds over and over and over) so you are welding by pull trigger Release Pull trigger Release Pull trigger Release It works
Build a tool to make the pieces to build up the tool to make it stronger and work better. Dang shame the center web cracked in the quench. Great fix welding and beefing it up. It may not be pretty, but it should work while you save and hunt for a professionally made "proper" anvil. Great job. Gotta love those little tinks and clunks while working steel, makes you jump every time. Then panic mode sets in until you find what broke loose.
It's worked beautifully and I was able to use it in each iteration over four years, only spending a little money at a time. The sound of popping tac welds is physics' way of telling me to PREHEAT BETTER! :D
1) I reeaaaally enjoyed this video. So many things happening! 2) So much dust on that floor, gracious. 3) Patreon account? Yes. 4) (whispers) what's the really cool new project?
Yep! Especially the "slowing down and rounding up helpers instead of trying to do it all yourself on a whim" lesson. I had plans for a lever thingy to lift the anvil all by myself. That would have been dumb.
Quite possibly, yes. For a small piece of either steel I would default to oil. Based on when the big crack happened though, I probably could have prevented it by better normalizing or by removing the anvil from the water and tempering back much sooner. But all the cracks were far from the face so welding fixed everything :D
@@BennettTheSmith No oil hardening, you should not dip it in a bucket, just prepare water and pour on face of the anvil, when bucket get empty then cooling it down with a water hose. When you put anvil in a bucket full of water anvil create steam on surface and tenst to not cooling that rapidly. Pouring on it breaks that steam surface,and fresh, cold water cools metal rapidly faster. Im sorry for spealing english is not my mother leangue. I made 86 kg anvil, i had smaller crack. If you planing to make another one, go to the big metal scrap yard and find big chunk. Buy steel metal plate and weld on top, and buy round stock for lathe (better quality steel, more harder) and shape it with a angle grinder. Use a stick welder with electrodes that contain chromium (chrom allows to weld high carbon steel to mild steel). Preheat when welding.
Ivan Nekic that’s all very good advice. If I were to make another, I would likely do it differently. Your English is much better than my 2nd language :) The term used to refer to the steam is a “steam jacket”. You’re right, it does insulate the metal. In this case, I still got enough hardness, but dumping water over it definitely would have been better. What sucks is my state doesn’t have big scrap yards you can buy from. All the yards in Maryland don’t want to deal with liability I guess? So I’m trying to find companies that work with metal that might sell me off cuts.
@@BennettTheSmith At the end it all comes to some heavy steel that you can pound on. I score great deal yestrday, got 214 kg anvil for 2200 kuna (Croatia value) is something arround 330 USD and its in good condition. I was watching local advertisment for 3 years and finnally scored one! :))
Because I don’t have a stick welder. *shrug* I also think it’s worth it to show that the right process with a sub-optimal tool can still get the job done. Two years on, all the welds are holding solid :)
I’ve seen that as well. While I agree that would be optimal, this method was good enough to get a good enough quench. What I really should have done was harden the face before welding to the track. At 2.5” thick, I could easily have preheated and welded without ruining the temper and it would have been much easier to quench harden.
Good idea, the through weld you speak of is a full penetrative weld and I never heard of walking a cup. It's called a weave where I come from and going backwards is not a technique often used for welding that kind of material. (Your welding needs more practice in general) Shame it cracked.
Thanks, Having the right terminology is helpful. “Walking the cup” is usually a TiG welding thing, using it here is probably inaccurate of me. I definitely need more practice, a welder I ain’t. Fortunately the crack was in the web of the rail track, far away from the hardened face. So super easy to fix. And shows that the welds were strong enough to tear a crack in the thinner metal elsewhere. I’m kinda pleased with that in hindsight.
I know that feeling. I've been fixing up a bunch of different tools in the past few weeks and it is just so satisfying to fix something PROPERLY and not just "for now cause I'm in a hurry".
It's possible that you may have already paid the price for an excellent blacksmithing anvil just in the costs you have in the "Railroad Track Anvil" that would last 10 years without the horn following off. I enjoyed your video and subscribed, Thanx
Possible indeed, though that money was spent over several years and I had the anvil to use at each stage of upgrade. If I had the money all at once back when I started and knew I’d stick with it, I would have bought one. I’ve been meaning to do a follow up actually, it’s still going strong and I finally did a ball bearing test to check the hardness and rebound. I was quite pleased with the results :D
Not sure what you think I did, but I followed code for an over-breakered outlet (specifically intended for things like welders) Everything between the box and the arc, except the welder itself, is rated for 30amps+. So the welder could theoretically get fried, but it shouldn’t be pulling that much in any case.
Just like with knives etc, tempering back the hardness reduces how brittle/increases the toughness of the steel. Anvils commonly have a hardened face, to increase wear resistance and the amount of energy dispersed in the work piece. It’s a balancing act of getting the best performance but also best durability you can. And yes striking the anvil, especially on the edge, can be bad. Just look at any old antique anvils and you’ll see chipped out edges all over.
@@BennettTheSmith might be worth hittin the scrap yard for one, touch of KoaWool blanket for some insulation and you could Dial the temp for annealing too. preheat, post heat treatment.
charles peagler Man, if you can point me at a scrap yard within a days drive of Washington DC that will actually allow people to buy scrap, I’d be all over it. Seems like all of them funnel directly to recycling plants and don’t allow individuals to purchase. I’ve been looking for ages.
There's many reasons why I say yes, it was. If anyone ever sarcastically asks me if I've heat treated an anvil before, I can smugly reply "yes!". But honestly I'm more fascinated by your use of "tabernacle" here. I'm genuinely curious about what you're using it to mean in this context, I don't even care if it's mean spirited :P So please do explain. In any case, yeah totally worth it. It's still holding up perfectly and taught me a lot and is still my most viewed video... ; )
@@BennettTheSmith The use of the term "tabernacle" is obviously ironic, as the aesthetic result is closer to the style of a "baroque altar" than to an anvil. :-))
Good thought, But my machine has an internal sensor that puts it into cool down mode if I run it too long. I was blowing the breaker within a minute of starting from cold at times. From what I have read about this specific machine it is likely a defect in the electronics. Klutch is sold through Northern Tool and has a really Good return policy for defective products, but since I had a 30amp circuit and that works fine.... *shrug*
Mmmm, not really. It's much harder to mill a hardy hole through a single big block and much harder to heat treat as well. Someone else might be better off going with a big chunk of steel, for sure! But you'd be surprised how difficult it is to get a big chunk of steel around where I live. No scraps yards you can buy from for hundreds of miles unfortunately. Glad you enjoyed it :)
First of all only the striking surface needs to be hardened, in other words only the forklift tine. Second you should have quenched in oil which would have reduced the chance of cracking. All anvils have a hardened striking surface but you will find that the foot of the anvil is mostly cast.
Quenching in oil probably would not have cooled the steel quickly enough to harden it. As I’ve mentioned to several other folks, the issue was not moving to the tempering stage fast enough. Notice that the crack occurred after several minutes after it had been sitting in the water. This likely indicates that the crack that occurred could only have been avoided by tempering. As the stress was caused by the shapes and different alloys of the two pieces pulling against each other. Any quenching media that cooled the anvil fast enough to harden it would have produced the same stresses between the two parts. Even the striking face doesn’t /need/ to be hardened. Only relatively modern anvils have hard faces. As a fellow smith once said, all the great works of smithing were done on soft anvils. But sure, I could have tried to just quench the top part, certainly the web of the RR track base didn’t need to be hard.
Why is Ben Wyatt cosplaying as Legolas cracking anvils in this video? Fun watch though understanding how much work goes into modifying or "improving" something instead of just getting exactly what you need.
*snort* Why not? And yeah, It was a lot of work, but also absolutely worth it for me. That anvil is still kicking and has significantly better rebound than my other, larger, professionally manufactured anvil - which only has a thin hardened plate on the face. If all you want do is just forge knives and you've got the money, sure, buy an anvil! But this taught me so much about welding, machining, heat treatment, etc.
An anvil is not a knife. When quenching an anvil, it is sufficiently massive that water won’t cool it fast enough to cause cracks from rate of cooling. In fact, it is often recommended to use a “column” of water. Think dumping huge amounts of water over it, to try and cool faster. In this case the crack that occurred was due to the stresses between the two different alloys pulling against each other. The crack wasn’t due to the water, but due to leaving it to sit too long before starting to temper it, relieving the built up stresses. Depending on the alloy of steel, it requires different things for quenching. Specific oils, water, even air. The post heat treat welding was far enough from the hardened face of the anvil to avoid losing the hardness. Preheating the anvil to about ~400F allows the welds to take with reasonable penetration and without damaging the structure of the steel.
I too use a Frankenvil. Mine is done differently. I have the Steel from switch track stuff and cut them into plates and made a big sandwich. with a 2inch thick piece from a Gym Bleacher on the top. it's being modified but, I can move steel. FYI the best way to use track is to go vertical. it's difficult to transcribe techniques to when you're learning but it can get you stared. I moved to a frankenvil because when you're still learning and everything you consume is taking into account techniques on an actual anvil face, it's best to have a similar tool to learn the techniques. If I was to remake my anvil from scratch, I would cut the plates into strips and weld them in like bricks. I would have the maximum weld penetration so it wouldn't crack or anything. the only thing I'm really missing on the Anvil is a Hardened Steel face. I have some leaf springs but they're not wide enough to make a single plate, and I would need to special order the Welding rods that's hardenable steel rods.
I know what you mean about using the rail on end. I’ve recommended that to many. You can point people at videos of people using Viking style post anvils for technique reference. :) I can recommend using a solid slave of forklift tine for the top. It’s thick enough you don’t really need to worry about hardenable weld material. And it’s about the right width for an anvil.
I got my anvil back in early November. It was 165lb + a stand for $650. The guy was cleaning out his shop and had never used the anvil. After doing some detective work I figured out that it’s a hay budden. I got a pretty damn good deal.
A log would have been better than the stand before I added the big plate of steel. I have a few pieces of wood I could use, but this table is actually more rigid and massive than a stump. It makes a significant difference as it is very heavy and my anvil is relatively light. I appreciate the thought, though!
Just a suggestion but maybe you should have pushed the welds instead of pulling them. If you were using stick pull it. You did a great job and the anvil looks great
Larger pieces of steel can be water quenched no problem and these alloys in particular can be water quenched. What cause the crack was the stress from the two different alloys pulling against each other. If I had pulled the anvil sooner and went right into tempering, it probably would not have cracked. But it was fine, the crack wasn’t on the face of the anvil, so it was easy to fix :)
My welder isn't nice enough to give actual numbers on the dial, but it was basically the maximum setting. Theoretically it will output ~90amps at that setting.
Just run a heavyweight 10 or 8 gauge drop line directly to a double 40 amp breaker, and plug your welder into that drop line, your power problems have been solved!!!!
Thanks! I'm just worried about any hidden stress cracks that may have already been in the railroad track pieces when I got them.... but I'm sure it'll be fiiiiine...
After 2+ years of solid use, I have seen no evidence of any welds failing. I would agree that more juice would have made it much easier, requiring far fewer passes. If tested to breaking, I’m sure more juice would result in a stronger overall anvil. But it’s clearly strong enough! :)
@@Mr_Bio_Hazard if you have the dollars, that is definitely the better route! Sometimes I like building tools, sometimes I just want something that just… does what I need without any fiddling.
🤔Sorry to say it, I knew as soon as I watched you put it in water that it should start cracking. But I like what you done to safe money by making your own anvil. 🤗
I’m curious why you would say that. Large objects are often quenched in water or very fast quenching oil due to the difficulty of getting it to cool fast enough. The square cube law is not always our friend :P Most of the cracking I saw seemed to be from stress induced in the railroad track from when it was being used to carry trains. Among other things the presence of rust in the cracks indicated that. The major crack was preventable though. The mistake was allowing it to stay in the water far too long. Often, heat treating instructions will say to begin tempering directly after a quench to relieve stresses as quickly as possible. Upon later examinations, you could see the heel of the anvil pulled down a little - showing that the forklift metal was pulling against the center web of the train track REALLY hard. If I had pulled that out and tempered it back 5 minutes sooner...ah well I’m glad you enjoyed it, though I wouldn’t go on record saying this saved me any money! :P
Where I live there is no such thing as a scrapyard that you can go to and buy scrap. :( Trust me, I have looked hard. Called everywhere. Went in person. Nothing. I’d have to drive 4-5 hours at least. Plus the forklift tine was given to me for free so I already had something that would work! :)
Yep. For the thickness of the metal it was fine to use water (plus no way I had that much oil). The crack was mainly due to the super thick face pulling against the relatively thin webbing. Should have brought it out and tempered the web right away. But the crack was fixable and the face is nice and hard!
Well it depends, I suppose. If you achieve a REALLY hard face then yes. You want the anvil to be tough and resist chopping and cracking. The residual heat in such a large mass is going to do a lot of tempering work. The preheating I did for the welding after the quench completed the tempering. Even though I didn’t get a super hard face, it can still be beneficial for stress relief in the metal
Also you really need it to be a lower hardness than any hammer or other striking tool you’re likely to use. Otherwise, any direct blows between a striking tool and a harder anvil face are likely to result in damage to your striking tools at best, or at worst, your striking tool shattering with the force of a small explosion and burying a collection of hardened steel shrapnel into various parts of your face and body.
Yep. Problem is the pretty ones are right next to the ugly ones. So even the pretty one end up looking meh because the overall is inconsistent. Ah well. They’re holding solid and that’s what matters most :)
You my friend, have enough equipment and Just enough experience to be dangerous. Although it was entertaining to watch. Can you remind me of somebody I just can’t put my finger on it
Simply because the whole process was done in multiple steps over many months. The quenched and tempered version was stage three and then four months later I added the extra weight to the sides to reach stage four. Also, the tempering temperature is pretty close to the pre-heat temperature, so it would more or less be tempering anyway.
No more so than any similarly sized chunk of steel. Preheat is mandatory, both to prevent cracking and it seriously helps less powerful welders get enough penetration.
@stephen john gray True, though scrap steel (last I checked) gets you 3-4 cents a pound, but folks sell pieces on ebay for closer to a dollar a pound. If I had a source of rail track, I probably would too.
I know this was 5 years ago but what do ya think about fish plates welding or forge welding to the sides I have a couple pieces of track fish plates and 8 connector plates I think they are called fish plates appear to have hardy holes Idk kicking it around what I'm going to do
I have to say you have the most entertaining videos concerning anvils that I have watched in quite a while. I think it is the fact that you are not taking yourself more seriously than some channels do. I think you have an excellent project going there, and remember even if your welds are not the prettiest, use your grinder-fu to make them perfect. Thanks for posting.
Glad you enjoy the haphazard serendipities that guide me through these projects :D
Making My Anvil, as narrated by a young Steve Buscemi.
I was gonna say Orlando Bloom, lol~!
I think that's his son he even looks like him
At my job, there's like 10 forklift bits just laying around as well as tons of anvil shaped objects, if my boss ever sells em I'm definitely going to make a anvil out of one
Let's take a moment to appreciate that you use your anvil to work on pieces that will get added to...your anvil. It's very meta :)
Much metal, very meta, wow! :D
th-cam.com/video/CCVXVWJ6mbw/w-d-xo.html
The only thing I wished you had is a stick welder.
The "don't lean over your work" thing is great advice. I have been afraid of hitting my face with my hammer for a while now that I have an actual steel faced anvil that has rebound, and it wasn't until I asked online and someone brought this up recently that I realized that was the issue. Thanks!
Wow nice work. Making a steak anvil at the moment, I have a couple of anvils but not very flat or square edge anymore. Made heaps of cool hardy tools though work ausome
A project like that is always a great teacher! I am sure you learned a lot making it!
Loved the build on this video Bennett, very ingenuitive. One of my first anvils was a forklift tine I cut into 4 parts and welded together. The fact you managed to heat treat it like you did was pretty immence. I find it hard to believe you haven't got twice as many subscribers.
Thanks! Once I thought of a way to do the heat treat, I knew I had to try it.
I slowed down making videos a bit because I’m spending all my time trying to make enough to pay the bills. But I’m getting there!
@@BennettTheSmith I understand it's tough to keep a nice balance, either way was a great video.
You earn a like for proper pronunciation of the word "cavalry" at 4:17
Braxton Nelson how do people miss pronounce it I’ve never heard it said any other way?
@@mercury6800 So many people say Cal-vary as opposed to Cav-alry.
Braxton Nelson ok that’s illegal
I'm in the process of building my own anvil. Started with a chunk of forklift tine and just ran with it lol Somehow I convinced myself I would be saving money to build one. Definitely not the case for me! Lol Looks cool though man and I cant believe you actually heat treated the anvil, that's like the stuff of legend right there. Again nice job and I'm sure it will outlive us all!
I did the same thing...I spent 160 dollars on steel...30 dollars on electrodes and maybe 40 dollars on cutting discs. It was definitely worth it.
@@eduardosampoia5480 Hahaha it adds up fast! I have spent(so far) 200$ on mild steel(for the body) 50$ on a forklift tine(for the face) I'm currently on my third 10lb box of 6011 electrodes still on my first box of 7018. It's been a wild ride to put it lightly. Lol
@@dakota-joel7590 you should put up a link ...do you have a video?
Thanks for the video, gives me some pointers for when I put my anvil together. I stick weld, but other than that it'll be somewhat similar to your project. The only things I'll do differently is I'm going to harden the top plate before welding it on top of the anvil, and I'm going to try to forge weld the top on using Iron Mountain flux powder. I'm going to try some smaller forge welding projects first to get a better handle on the process and I'm also going to look on TH-cam to see if anyone else has done this yet. Thanks again for the video. Keep them coming. 🖖😎⚒
I'm glad seeing my process (and mistakes!) is helping to inform your plan, I couldn't hope for more. I'm a little confused though, do you mean you're going to forge weld the top plate on . . . after hardening it? Hardening a 1"+ thick plate before arc welding it on would preserve the hardness and temper easily, but the heat of forge welding would completely undo any prior heat treat. Or am I not quite getting what you meant?
@@BennettTheSmith No, your right, I guess I'll have rethink my process, thanks.
I like your anvil and I enjoyed watching you make it. Your entertaining and funny. Even if its not the greatest anvil ever built you built it yourself and should be really proud. I know I would be. Good Job!
Thanks! :) I am proud of it. It might not be the best ever, but I've made a Bat'leth, an axe, and a whole bunch of knives on it. It'll do for now :D
@@BennettTheSmith Did you make videos?
@@stokeburner6730 Sure did! I'm editing the last of the Axe videos as I type this. The Bat'leth is from a few years ago, so the video isn't as good as my new stuff, but still pretty cool. I also have a pair of videos on a knife from Destiny.
Damn Ben, you built a battle tank! That puppy must be gaining weight too.
I am hoping to put together my own little anvil 😊 but I don't have a welder or help or a lot of resources.wish me luck.🤞
That was interesting to whatch and I actually learned a lot. You were committed to it and I understand completely, I’m the same way when I start a project. Still turned out pretty good. 👍
I still use this anvil. It’s got excellent rebound. :D
I mean, it's cool, but for the same price and less work you can get an anvil that is heavier, bigger, harder, and doesn't have a void between the face and the body.
But hey, making that kind of stuff is always amazing.
Fantastic. I will take some license here :) Forget the downvoters. This is good work.
Years later, it's still solid and in good shape. :)
Okay best advice for welds dont hold the trigger for so long its pulling too much power
Weld like youre stacking dimes (tack welds over and over and over) so you are welding by
pull trigger
Release
Pull trigger
Release
Pull trigger
Release
It works
But behold frakenanvil!!
Build a tool to make the pieces to build up the tool to make it stronger and work better. Dang shame the center web cracked in the quench. Great fix welding and beefing it up. It may not be pretty, but it should work while you save and hunt for a professionally made "proper" anvil. Great job. Gotta love those little tinks and clunks while working steel, makes you jump every time. Then panic mode sets in until you find what broke loose.
It's worked beautifully and I was able to use it in each iteration over four years, only spending a little money at a time. The sound of popping tac welds is physics' way of telling me to PREHEAT BETTER! :D
1) I reeaaaally enjoyed this video. So many things happening!
2) So much dust on that floor, gracious.
3) Patreon account? Yes.
4) (whispers) what's the really cool new project?
It's a secret! Also ALL of that dust was from just one small part of the cutting and grinding on the anvil. That floor was clean directly before XD
@@BennettTheSmith Secrets are fun!
(whispers) but what if you gave us a sneak preview though
@@zoyastorykeeper If he tells you the secret, then he has to kill you. It's the rules!
Very cool. I bet that you have learned a lot during this process.
Yep! Especially the "slowing down and rounding up helpers instead of trying to do it all yourself on a whim" lesson. I had plans for a lever thingy to lift the anvil all by myself. That would have been dumb.
Nice anvil and stand. The track may have wanted oil hardening whilst the forklift tine looked like water did great. Good video.
Quite possibly, yes. For a small piece of either steel I would default to oil. Based on when the big crack happened though, I probably could have prevented it by better normalizing or by removing the anvil from the water and tempering back much sooner.
But all the cracks were far from the face so welding fixed everything :D
@@BennettTheSmith No oil hardening, you should not dip it in a bucket, just prepare water and pour on face of the anvil, when bucket get empty then cooling it down with a water hose. When you put anvil in a bucket full of water anvil create steam on surface and tenst to not cooling that rapidly. Pouring on it breaks that steam surface,and fresh, cold water cools metal rapidly faster. Im sorry for spealing english is not my mother leangue. I made 86 kg anvil, i had smaller crack. If you planing to make another one, go to the big metal scrap yard and find big chunk. Buy steel metal plate and weld on top, and buy round stock for lathe (better quality steel, more harder) and shape it with a angle grinder. Use a stick welder with electrodes that contain chromium (chrom allows to weld high carbon steel to mild steel). Preheat when welding.
Ivan Nekic that’s all very good advice. If I were to make another, I would likely do it differently. Your English is much better than my 2nd language :) The term used to refer to the steam is a “steam jacket”. You’re right, it does insulate the metal. In this case, I still got enough hardness, but dumping water over it definitely would have been better.
What sucks is my state doesn’t have big scrap yards you can buy from. All the yards in Maryland don’t want to deal with liability I guess? So I’m trying to find companies that work with metal that might sell me off cuts.
@@ivannekic1722 A very valid point.
@@BennettTheSmith At the end it all comes to some heavy steel that you can pound on. I score great deal yestrday, got 214 kg anvil for 2200 kuna (Croatia value) is something arround 330 USD and its in good condition. I was watching local advertisment for 3 years and finnally scored one! :))
Preheating and wrapping in welding blankets and then maybe even fiberglass insulation would help with the cracking. Also perfect place for SMAW.
Good video and I would have burried the anvil in sand if it was a different alloy than mild steel.
I also like the comedy in this video. 😁
I love your attitude and sense of humor.
Railroad Rail Anvil = $50
Fork Lift Tine = Free!
Friend Slave Labor = Free!
SUPER MULLET = PRICELESS! And is absolutely, unequivocally, worth EVERY penny...(in my opinion) Nice homemade anvil brother.
Whi didn't you used stick welding instead MIG? Cause stick welding with 7018 rods have a bigger penetration than other welds :)
Because I don’t have a stick welder. *shrug* I also think it’s worth it to show that the right process with a sub-optimal tool can still get the job done. Two years on, all the welds are holding solid :)
@@BennettTheSmith Well, good job then :)
to properly harden the face of the anvil, according to Joey Vanderseege, you need running water, just dunking it in a tub doesn't cool it fast enough.
I’ve seen that as well. While I agree that would be optimal, this method was good enough to get a good enough quench.
What I really should have done was harden the face before welding to the track. At 2.5” thick, I could easily have preheated and welded without ruining the temper and it would have been much easier to quench harden.
Good idea, the through weld you speak of is a full penetrative weld and I never heard of walking a cup. It's called a weave where I come from and going backwards is not a technique often used for welding that kind of material. (Your welding needs more practice in general) Shame it cracked.
Thanks, Having the right terminology is helpful. “Walking the cup” is usually a TiG welding thing, using it here is probably inaccurate of me. I definitely need more practice, a welder I ain’t.
Fortunately the crack was in the web of the rail track, far away from the hardened face. So super easy to fix. And shows that the welds were strong enough to tear a crack in the thinner metal elsewhere. I’m kinda pleased with that in hindsight.
You need a stick welder bo
Good Job, well presented can't wait to see what projects you make on that anvil
I enjoyed that video. I enjoy fabricating mods on my tools more that I do working as well. Best of luck.
I know that feeling. I've been fixing up a bunch of different tools in the past few weeks and it is just so satisfying to fix something PROPERLY and not just "for now cause I'm in a hurry".
You have a ton of time in that project and you are to be comended... Nice functional anvil and an entertaining video... Good job!
It's possible that you may have already paid the price for an excellent blacksmithing anvil just in the costs you have in the "Railroad Track Anvil" that would last 10 years without the horn following off. I enjoyed your video and subscribed, Thanx
Possible indeed, though that money was spent over several years and I had the anvil to use at each stage of upgrade. If I had the money all at once back when I started and knew I’d stick with it, I would have bought one.
I’ve been meaning to do a follow up actually, it’s still going strong and I finally did a ball bearing test to check the hardness and rebound. I was quite pleased with the results :D
Your circuit breaker method starts fires every day.
Not sure what you think I did, but I followed code for an over-breakered outlet (specifically intended for things like welders)
Everything between the box and the arc, except the welder itself, is rated for 30amps+. So the welder could theoretically get fried, but it shouldn’t be pulling that much in any case.
Why did you harden the anvil in the end? would that not be a brittle and potentially deadly anvil if you miss a strike?
Just like with knives etc, tempering back the hardness reduces how brittle/increases the toughness of the steel.
Anvils commonly have a hardened face, to increase wear resistance and the amount of energy dispersed in the work piece. It’s a balancing act of getting the best performance but also best durability you can. And yes striking the anvil, especially on the edge, can be bad. Just look at any old antique anvils and you’ll see chipped out edges all over.
I was waiting for the loud *tink* sound when I saw the trash can full of water.
thank you for the idea of the chain wrap for large objects
It worked very well! Just remember to do a dry run if you’re getting things hot. That helped us get the chains adjusted correctly.
isnt it worth heatsoaking in a gas grill? even if you weld one side at a time.
charles peagler that would have been a good way to preheat before welding. I don’t own one though. Great suggestion!
@@BennettTheSmith might be worth hittin the scrap yard for one, touch of KoaWool blanket for some insulation and you could Dial the temp for annealing too. preheat, post heat treatment.
charles peagler Man, if you can point me at a scrap yard within a days drive of Washington DC that will actually allow people to buy scrap, I’d be all over it. Seems like all of them funnel directly to recycling plants and don’t allow individuals to purchase. I’ve been looking for ages.
Was it worth spending all this time and energy to build a "tabernacle"?
There's many reasons why I say yes, it was. If anyone ever sarcastically asks me if I've heat treated an anvil before, I can smugly reply "yes!".
But honestly I'm more fascinated by your use of "tabernacle" here. I'm genuinely curious about what you're using it to mean in this context, I don't even care if it's mean spirited :P So please do explain.
In any case, yeah totally worth it. It's still holding up perfectly and taught me a lot and is still my most viewed video... ; )
@@BennettTheSmith
The use of the term "tabernacle" is obviously ironic, as the aesthetic result is closer to the style of a "baroque altar" than to an anvil. :-))
@@ANTONINOCAMA That is probably the classiest roast I have received :P
Your welder is flipping the breaker likely because of the short duty cycle on the 110v machine. If you push the machine too far it will not last.
Good thought, But my machine has an internal sensor that puts it into cool down mode if I run it too long. I was blowing the breaker within a minute of starting from cold at times.
From what I have read about this specific machine it is likely a defect in the electronics. Klutch is sold through Northern Tool and has a really
Good return policy for defective products, but since I had a 30amp circuit and that works fine.... *shrug*
That's quite the anvil you got there. Glad I don't have to carry it around :p
Breaking drill bits off in the hole your drilling is a bitch, lol
It’s the worst. Takes a 5 minute operation and turns it into an hour.
Looks like you would have been better off using a big block of steel, thanks for teaching me that. Keep building and enjoying the art
Mmmm, not really. It's much harder to mill a hardy hole through a single big block and much harder to heat treat as well. Someone else might be better off going with a big chunk of steel, for sure! But you'd be surprised how difficult it is to get a big chunk of steel around where I live. No scraps yards you can buy from for hundreds of miles unfortunately. Glad you enjoyed it :)
First of all only the striking surface needs to be hardened, in other words only the forklift tine. Second you should have quenched in oil which would have reduced the chance of cracking. All anvils have a hardened striking surface but you will find that the foot of the anvil is mostly cast.
Quenching in oil probably would not have cooled the steel quickly enough to harden it. As I’ve mentioned to several other folks, the issue was not moving to the tempering stage fast enough. Notice that the crack occurred after several minutes after it had been sitting in the water.
This likely indicates that the crack that occurred could only have been avoided by tempering. As the stress was caused by the shapes and different alloys of the two pieces pulling against each other. Any quenching media that cooled the anvil fast enough to harden it would have produced the same stresses between the two parts.
Even the striking face doesn’t /need/ to be hardened. Only relatively modern anvils have hard faces. As a fellow smith once said, all the great works of smithing were done on soft anvils.
But sure, I could have tried to just quench the top part, certainly the web of the RR track base didn’t need to be hard.
Never Surrender!
Why is Ben Wyatt cosplaying as Legolas cracking anvils in this video? Fun watch though understanding how much work goes into modifying or "improving" something instead of just getting exactly what you need.
*snort* Why not? And yeah, It was a lot of work, but also absolutely worth it for me. That anvil is still kicking and has significantly better rebound than my other, larger, professionally manufactured anvil - which only has a thin hardened plate on the face. If all you want do is just forge knives and you've got the money, sure, buy an anvil! But this taught me so much about welding, machining, heat treatment, etc.
Why did you quench in water??? And why would you weld on something heat treated..
An anvil is not a knife. When quenching an anvil, it is sufficiently massive that water won’t cool it fast enough to cause cracks from rate of cooling. In fact, it is often recommended to use a “column” of water. Think dumping huge amounts of water over it, to try and cool faster.
In this case the crack that occurred was due to the stresses between the two different alloys pulling against each other. The crack wasn’t due to the water, but due to leaving it to sit too long before starting to temper it, relieving the built up stresses.
Depending on the alloy of steel, it requires different things for quenching. Specific oils, water, even air.
The post heat treat welding was far enough from the hardened face of the anvil to avoid losing the hardness. Preheating the anvil to about ~400F allows the welds to take with reasonable penetration and without damaging the structure of the steel.
I too use a Frankenvil. Mine is done differently. I have the Steel from switch track stuff and cut them into plates and made a big sandwich. with a 2inch thick piece from a Gym Bleacher on the top. it's being modified but, I can move steel.
FYI the best way to use track is to go vertical. it's difficult to transcribe techniques to when you're learning but it can get you stared. I moved to a frankenvil because when you're still learning and everything you consume is taking into account techniques on an actual anvil face, it's best to have a similar tool to learn the techniques.
If I was to remake my anvil from scratch, I would cut the plates into strips and weld them in like bricks. I would have the maximum weld penetration so it wouldn't crack or anything. the only thing I'm really missing on the Anvil is a Hardened Steel face. I have some leaf springs but they're not wide enough to make a single plate, and I would need to special order the Welding rods that's hardenable steel rods.
I know what you mean about using the rail on end. I’ve recommended that to many. You can point people at videos of people using Viking style post anvils for technique reference. :)
I can recommend using a solid slave of forklift tine for the top. It’s thick enough you don’t really need to worry about hardenable weld material. And it’s about the right width for an anvil.
I got my anvil back in early November. It was 165lb + a stand for $650. The guy was cleaning out his shop and had never used the anvil. After doing some detective work I figured out that it’s a hay budden. I got a pretty damn good deal.
Ask your librarian to inter library loan the book 'anvils of america' Or buy it for $ 100
00:38 Why has Orlando Bloom started making Anvils?
Lumpy welds . The driving force behind the invention of the abrasive disc .
I see people giving away free wood sometimes. You can probably find a decent sized tree trunk for an anvil table.
A log would have been better than the stand before I added the big plate of steel. I have a few pieces of wood I could use, but this table is actually more rigid and massive than a stump. It makes a significant difference as it is very heavy and my anvil is relatively light. I appreciate the thought, though!
@@BennettTheSmith you remind me so much of my old shop teacher lol
That’s a cool one, wouldn’t want be moving it much though haha
I feel your pain with blowing breakers. I've got the same problem.
Just a suggestion but maybe you should have pushed the welds instead of pulling them. If you were using stick pull it. You did a great job and the anvil looks great
Talks about preheating before welding so it doesn’t crack , quenches in water and cracks it 😬
Larger pieces of steel can be water quenched no problem and these alloys in particular can be water quenched. What cause the crack was the stress from the two different alloys pulling against each other.
If I had pulled the anvil sooner and went right into tempering, it probably would not have cracked. But it was fine, the crack wasn’t on the face of the anvil, so it was easy to fix :)
nice video. I watched the whole thing without skipping anything.
If it keeps you out of trouble im happy for you my friend i need a good peice of that forklift tine 😊
What did you have the amps set at?
My welder isn't nice enough to give actual numbers on the dial, but it was basically the maximum setting. Theoretically it will output ~90amps at that setting.
Just run a heavyweight 10 or 8 gauge drop line directly to a double 40 amp breaker, and plug your welder into that drop line, your power problems have been solved!!!!
a rubber mat under it works wonders for sound reduction
@Elijah Nathaniel Ishmael lol@you. ok sure I have the mat under mine and it does help reduce the ring
Muy bueno , yo hice lo mismo, aunque vos la mejoraste mucho con el templando !
Thanks! How is yours holding up?
@@BennettTheSmith fantástico e hecho muchos trabajos , como hobby esta bien !th-cam.com/video/vEsUL-3ZVdI/w-d-xo.html , saludos desde argentina
I like it!
I copped a 7lb sledge to the forehead off a cast iron striking anvil (video's on my channel haha) nice build mate!
great job! I am sure it will serve you for many years! with all that weld I doubt the horn will fall off :) Liked !!
Thanks! I'm just worried about any hidden stress cracks that may have already been in the railroad track pieces when I got them.... but I'm sure it'll be fiiiiine...
Use SS wire next time it has a higher nickel content and you won't hear your tracks, or welds breaking
Along with lots more pre heating. You need to have someone heating it while you weld
Put your forge burner on the other side while you weld steel that thick
I'd also suggest getting a stick weld its alot more effective and cheaper nice job tho
You really need more juice in your welding. Those aren't going hold for long amounts of pounding.
After 2+ years of solid use, I have seen no evidence of any welds failing.
I would agree that more juice would have made it much easier, requiring far fewer passes. If tested to breaking, I’m sure more juice would result in a stronger overall anvil.
But it’s clearly strong enough! :)
@@BennettTheSmith I'm looking at a new forging press.
@@Mr_Bio_Hazard if you have the dollars, that is definitely the better route! Sometimes I like building tools, sometimes I just want something that just… does what I need without any fiddling.
@@BennettTheSmith I was going to build one. Some really good forges being made by guys at home.
Nice work you should call this the terminator anvil
Once I ended up with the balmpien in the forehead ... Though have seen another Smith do it several times on one day 😂
You did a great job.
While pitching propellers for sewage treatment I have taken a 20 lb maul handle to the forehead.
Knocked me clean out.
... ouch o.o
Bennett Marschner I can share a video of you want! Our security cameras caught it
Right on man. That thing sure is ugly. But who cares? You made and reinforced a freaking anvil. Nice work. Better than anything O could have done.
That anvil will be a bear to take camping.
Yep! But worth it :D
draznin ; what in the devil would you take an anvil camping for ????
Maybe a new anvil would be nice
It's good to see Martin Shkreli doing something constructive, instead of ripping off people that need medicine.
shawbros lmao
yeah brother you really need stick welder ,you can pickup a good used one for a hundred bucks , penetration is the key good man
Do you "Stick" weld?
🤔Sorry to say it, I knew as soon as I watched you put it in water that it should start cracking. But I like what you done to safe money by making your own anvil. 🤗
I’m curious why you would say that. Large objects are often quenched in water or very fast quenching oil due to the difficulty of getting it to cool fast enough. The square cube law is not always our friend :P
Most of the cracking I saw seemed to be from stress induced in the railroad track from when it was being used to carry trains. Among other things the presence of rust in the cracks indicated that.
The major crack was preventable though. The mistake was allowing it to stay in the water far too long. Often, heat treating instructions will say to begin tempering directly after a quench to relieve stresses as quickly as possible. Upon later examinations, you could see the heel of the anvil pulled down a little - showing that the forklift metal was pulling against the center web of the train track REALLY hard. If I had pulled that out and tempered it back 5 minutes sooner...ah well
I’m glad you enjoyed it, though I wouldn’t go on record saying this saved me any money! :P
Why not go to the scrap yard pick up one big chunk Steel and use that is in anvil and while the horn on
Where I live there is no such thing as a scrapyard that you can go to and buy scrap. :( Trust me, I have looked hard. Called everywhere. Went in person. Nothing. I’d have to drive 4-5 hours at least.
Plus the forklift tine was given to me for free so I already had something that would work! :)
Alrighty then that's just what I would think you would normally try to do
Oh it’s definitely the best option in terms of time and money. You’re not wrong. Good advice for others starting out :)
@@BennettTheSmithupdate nowadays the Vulcan 44 lb steel Anvil is a really good idea
@@CXonthefly definitely! It’s great to see new, more affordable anvils and tools being produced as more people are getting into smithing again.
Tenacious... I like it! 👍
Looks good! I also need to force plate on my rail, so thanks for idea how to do this!)
No te molesta el pelo ? XD yo me lo corte no aguante mas ajajaajjajajja me llegaba a los cocos el pelo . Saludos desde Chile ✌✌✌✌
It does sometimes, but I'm pretty used to it and haircuts cost money! :P
Invest in a gas powered stick welder
this is basically my anvil big brother haha
Did you qwinch in water?
Yep. For the thickness of the metal it was fine to use water (plus no way I had that much oil). The crack was mainly due to the super thick face pulling against the relatively thin webbing. Should have brought it out and tempered the web right away. But the crack was fixable and the face is nice and hard!
Did you heat up the water first?
You’re crazy, bro, but in a good way! Awesome video!!
Good job, nice video, thanks for sharing.
Thank you! It’s my pleasure.
When you square your edges get some hard surface rod/wire. See if it holds the edge better. Cool anvil.
Is there any reason to temper the face after hardening?
Well it depends, I suppose. If you achieve a REALLY hard face then yes. You want the anvil to be tough and resist chopping and cracking.
The residual heat in such a large mass is going to do a lot of tempering work. The preheating I did for the welding after the quench completed the tempering.
Even though I didn’t get a super hard face, it can still be beneficial for stress relief in the metal
Stop it from cracking although hard it's very brittle
Also you really need it to be a lower hardness than any hammer or other striking tool you’re likely to use. Otherwise, any direct blows between a striking tool and a harder anvil face are likely to result in damage to your striking tools at best, or at worst, your striking tool shattering with the force of a small explosion and burying a collection of hardened steel shrapnel into various parts of your face and body.
All the welds are pretty. Some are pretty nice and the rest are pretty ugly.
Yep. Problem is the pretty ones are right next to the ugly ones. So even the pretty one end up looking meh because the overall is inconsistent.
Ah well. They’re holding solid and that’s what matters most :)
You my friend, have enough equipment and Just enough experience to be dangerous. Although it was entertaining to watch. Can you remind me of somebody I just can’t put my finger on it
Oh trust me, I can be dangerous with far less equipment. But I've carefully kept all my digits and various bits and pieces. Properly attached even!
My question, why did u temper it Before u finished all the fab and welding ? Nice job , lots of work. 😁
Simply because the whole process was done in multiple steps over many months. The quenched and tempered version was stage three and then four months later I added the extra weight to the sides to reach stage four.
Also, the tempering temperature is pretty close to the pre-heat temperature, so it would more or less be tempering anyway.
I know it’s been awhile but is track hard to weld?
No more so than any similarly sized chunk of steel. Preheat is mandatory, both to prevent cracking and it seriously helps less powerful welders get enough penetration.
@stephen john gray True, though scrap steel (last I checked) gets you 3-4 cents a pound, but folks sell pieces on ebay for closer to a dollar a pound. If I had a source of rail track, I probably would too.
nice video. tough luck on that horrific crack.... on another note, has anyone ever told you you sound like the legendary Joe buscemi?
Thanks. The crack was fixable though, so no worries.
Joe buscemi?
Why did you get it SO hot? 400°f bro thats it
For which part? The quench? 400°f isn't even close to critical temperature for hardening. For the welding preheats, 400°f is about what I was doing.
Will you fill the voids with lead?
Probably not at this point. Perhaps after I get a new anvil, it could be worth revisiting though. A compare and contrast of the two. Hmmm...
GREAT JOB.
Thanks!