Jerrod Miller
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I have a question for you. I just read through your adventure in casting your anvil. We are about to try and persuade the the directory of the foundry at our university that casting anvils (200ish pounds) would be a good idea. The foundry has an induction furnace with a 300lb capacity and we have about a thousand pounds of railroad track (legitimately acquired, lol) that we thought to suggest as the material. RR is usually 1085 steel. Do you think that this steel would be viable for melting down and casting into an anvil?
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We buy RR track by the 10,000 pound truckload to melt in our induction furnaces, so no worries there. I've tested several samples of track and the highest carbon content I've run across is about 0.65%. The key is to choose a final composition that you can heat treat properly. So your heat treat facilities will dictate what final chemistry you should aim for. Remember that heavier sections are best cooled slowly. This is why many modern anvils are made of air hardening alloys.
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Thank you! I will let the smart people at the foundry (which does have heat treat facilities) figure out the particulars. I just wanted to know if the track was even worth considering as base material.
I have a 200lb cast iron stand that was cast here 101 years ago. I would love to have a brand new anvil to put on it that was also "born" here.
If I can get away with it I am going to use something very similar to the pattern you used - at least in proportions and shape. You don't by any chance, still have the CAD files that you might be willing/able to share?
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