EDIT: I forgot surfacing anvils was a touchy subject, so I guess this thread should be tagged to contain GORE. I have no reserves about what I did, but it may be unsettling to some. Proceed at your own risk.
Well 3PM rolled around as usual, and I went to eat a snack and check "the list". Right at the top of my nearest craigslist was a listing for a Trenton anvil. I quickly picked up the phone and set up a deal. It was about 2 miles away counting a stop at the bank. I met the guy at his storage unit and we bs'ed for a minute, then did the deal. He had a 250 lb Trenton but wasn't going to sell it (yet
).
This little guy was pretty beat up, but nothing that scared me off. I mean it's just a paperwieght (see bench grinder for scale)...
He claimed to have used it some, and had done a nice job wire wheeling it up. Perfectly proportioned for its 100 lb size.
The face had some pretty good dings from nearly a century of use:
I got back to work about 4 and decided all further progress on other jobs was done for the day. I figured I'd clean my new find up a little, you know, as the saying goes, when in Rome, Blanchard grind away... err or something like that.
I ran the wheel up on the Blanchard 18 and found out I had 9 1/2" between the chuck. Perfect, since this anvil was just over 9" tall.
I threw her up on the chuck and hit the mag. The bottom wasn't the flattest, but it seemed to sit level enough. The initial sparks showed exactly what I expected... it was sway back worse than an old nag. It was bumping on the tail and right up by the cutting table. I didn't care exactly how much saddle there was because I was going to grind until I was happy.
Looking better after about .030". You can tell which side the blacksmith always stood on:
It's a pain to photograph ground surfaces.
After taking off about .125", I decided it was as good as I was going to be able to get within reason. Since the base wasn't the flattest, I was limited to a half thou or so a pass. It took a little better than a half hour to clean the face up. That's mostly coolant on the face.
The only thing I couldn't get rid of was a portion of the abused, rounded over edge in the center on the most used side. I can live with that, and I didn't have to weld or hard face any.
I didn't want it to rock around on the bench, and seal up good if it was ever used for anvil shooting (never!), so I flipped it over to clean up the base. Since the face was fresh ground, it stuck hard to the chuck and I could hog some metal off. I took about .150" at 3-5 thou a pass.
Overall, I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Going to be tough to smack anything against that pretty face and mess it up.
It will be right at home sitting next the my 165 Trenton at home.
Greyson
Well 3PM rolled around as usual, and I went to eat a snack and check "the list". Right at the top of my nearest craigslist was a listing for a Trenton anvil. I quickly picked up the phone and set up a deal. It was about 2 miles away counting a stop at the bank. I met the guy at his storage unit and we bs'ed for a minute, then did the deal. He had a 250 lb Trenton but wasn't going to sell it (yet
).This little guy was pretty beat up, but nothing that scared me off. I mean it's just a paperwieght (see bench grinder for scale)...
He claimed to have used it some, and had done a nice job wire wheeling it up. Perfectly proportioned for its 100 lb size.
The face had some pretty good dings from nearly a century of use:
I got back to work about 4 and decided all further progress on other jobs was done for the day. I figured I'd clean my new find up a little, you know, as the saying goes, when in Rome, Blanchard grind away... err or something like that.
I ran the wheel up on the Blanchard 18 and found out I had 9 1/2" between the chuck. Perfect, since this anvil was just over 9" tall.
I threw her up on the chuck and hit the mag. The bottom wasn't the flattest, but it seemed to sit level enough. The initial sparks showed exactly what I expected... it was sway back worse than an old nag. It was bumping on the tail and right up by the cutting table. I didn't care exactly how much saddle there was because I was going to grind until I was happy.
Looking better after about .030". You can tell which side the blacksmith always stood on:
It's a pain to photograph ground surfaces.
After taking off about .125", I decided it was as good as I was going to be able to get within reason. Since the base wasn't the flattest, I was limited to a half thou or so a pass. It took a little better than a half hour to clean the face up. That's mostly coolant on the face.
The only thing I couldn't get rid of was a portion of the abused, rounded over edge in the center on the most used side. I can live with that, and I didn't have to weld or hard face any.
I didn't want it to rock around on the bench, and seal up good if it was ever used for anvil shooting (never!), so I flipped it over to clean up the base. Since the face was fresh ground, it stuck hard to the chuck and I could hog some metal off. I took about .150" at 3-5 thou a pass.
Overall, I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Going to be tough to smack anything against that pretty face and mess it up.
It will be right at home sitting next the my 165 Trenton at home.
Greyson
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Solid 
Blanchard grinder to the rescue.
