Hot take: preheating your anvil before welding on it actually matters

I always thought anvil preheat was just old-timer superstition (you know, like the whole 'don't strike cold iron' thing), but after cracking my third weld on a 2-inch hardy tool last month I decided to try it. Threw my anvil by the forge for 20 minutes before welding and the crack didn't show up at all. Am I just getting lucky or does that heat soak really make that big a difference for weld integrity?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisa59d ago

I remember reading something from a metallurgy forum a while back where a guy explained that the mass of the anvil acts like a heat sink, pulling all the heat right out of your weld zone before it can properly fuse. Does that make sense with what you saw? I mean, 20 minutes by the forge sounds like it's just enough to bring the whole anvil up a few degrees so it's not instantly stealing all that welding heat. Maybe it's not about the anvil being hot per se, but more about making sure the temperature difference between your workpiece and the anvil isn't massive. Idk, I've never been brave enough to try it on my own stuff but your experience makes me think I might give it a shot next time.

iris_davis907d ago

Got a buddy who tried this last winter. He set his anvil next to the forge for about 30 minutes while he was heating up some mild steel for a scroll. Said he forgot about the time and just went at it once he grabbed the piece. His first hammer blow threw sparks all over the place and the weld actually stuck way better than his usual cold anvil jobs. He's been doing it ever since, swears it cuts down on his reheat time by almost half.