I saw a thread a while back here about a Harbor Freight Russian made 110# anvil for a real good price. Never having enough tools and stuff around, I went to check it out and came home with one. Kind of rough, still plenty of tool marks as you can see.
[NOTE: all thumbnail images can be clicked for larger image...]
Here's what we started with.
So, I called on my friend Dan Tull. He said it was a good place to start, but we could do a few things to make it a much better tool. Take out the tool marks, put a radius on part of the near and far edge of the face to make nice bends, and try to make that duck bill into a horn.
Where to start?
Ok...first we laid out some lines to make a radius on part of the near and far edges. You can see the chalk lines in the pic. They are exaggerated to illustrate what we're trying for. Also note the center line of the horn.
More like duck bill than a horn...
Dressing the anvil
OK...here we go. We used a 9" angle grinder for the edges and the horn, with a 1/4 " thick course grit hard rock on it. Round off part of the near and far anvil edges, going from about 1/8" radius to 5/16" radius. This is also used to take the casting marks out of the horn and shape it some.
Making a radius on part of the near and far edges.
Working on the horn
Now..about that duck bill instead of a horn. Dan used a gas/mig welder and we added some material to the end of it.
So..we add some metal underneath it also...
Then we ground it to shape.
and shape it...
more like a horn now.Now I have a travel anvil that I can pick up, but it is still not a replacement for a heavier shop anvil.
A bit more work
Ok...we've got a nice horn now and some rounded and sharp edges. Now to get those tool marks out...we switch to a big sanding pad, one with some flex in it. We want to take the tool marks out, not grind in new ridges...
Onto the face...This is a 9" sanding disc.
Also define the cutting table or shelf...
Tool marks are gone. Nice surface to work on. But that hardy hole looks big...
Yep. Too big for my hardy tools...
Here's the fix. Dan took some 1 1/4 x 1 1/4 x 1/8 angle stock and made a hardy shim.
Ready to use. Here it is again,
Before....
And after.
I have welded up a stand for it, will post pics later. As Dan said, this is a great travel anvil, and as I am moving stuff into and out of my garage with no established shop, it works pretty good even though it's only traveling about 20'.
Best of luck. Thanks for the help Dan.
R. C. (Rick) Evans
