The anvil

I've been working on this little gem on and off over breaks and lunches for quite some time. It doesn't look like it but there's a lot of filing to get a reasonable shape. Of course it's an anvil. A rather small one at that.

It doesn't look very good because it just came out of the hardening salts. Usually I take care of all my hardening needs with a torch or small kiln. This time around I wanted specific results. The material is M42, that's right high speed steel!! We have plenty of offcuts and scrap pieces at work so I appropriated this piece. Back to hardening. I wanted to have a hard outer surface and a tough inner core. So I left it with one of the hardening gods who work in the hellish shop next to mine. He dipped it in molted barium salts at 1850deg for a time and let it cool in air. High speed steel is an air quench steel so no need to dip it in water or oil. Long story short I got an outer shell that's about 55Rc and an inside core that runs around 45Rc. 55 is what ordinary knives are hardened at and 45 is something like the face of a hammer. Which is perfect. Not so hard that it will crack but hard enough not to dent if I accidentally hit it with the hammer while using the anvil for it's intended purpose.

Of course now it looks like shit so finishing is in order. First I'll sandblast the whole thing to get a uniform canvas. The table will then be ground on the surface grinder. The horn I'll have to finish by hand with sand paper and india stones. Then of course I need to make a stand. The underside is drilled with two holes for just that purpose.

I'll let the reader wonder how I drilled a square hole through it. Toolmakers must have a few secrets! ;o)