Harbor Freight Anvil: Can It Be Hardened? 

I wonder if it is possible to weld or bolt a steel plate to the top?

Yes I made several fire pokers

You might be able to melt it down 2 or 3 of them, and cast them directly over a preheated and fluxed rectangular plate of 4140 or 5160 which can be hardened after the fact to give you a simple knife making anvil with a hard face and plenty of mass(assuming the face actually sticks).

why? the scale gives good contrast shows the scratches better. would be the opposite of what you want

@@genghischuan4886 but for the ball bearing bounce test that has to be dampening some of the inertia.

Yeah the scale is really deadening the rebound potential. Kinda surprised they overlooked that one.

@@genghischuan4886 But are you only seeing scratches in the oxide and not the hardened steel? Tough to tell.

@@jasondavis3244 Here is the deal, it was all just horse shit anyway. people who work metal know that if you try to water harden a dirty cast not to mention partial water quench. The whole thing was retarded, then all this dont do this at home shit. who cares about the scale. and seriously anyone watching this already knows how to do this anyway. If they really wanter to do a water quench then antifreeze should have been in the water. This was stupid

Yes!! Always go to a unpolluted place to pollute! I love humans!!!

HF anvils: not good for blacksmithing. _Great_ for your typical DIYer's "anvil-shaped object" needs.

@@rockylong7546 Hey, it's just raising the iron content of the water. Helping the local wildlife have healthy hemoglobin levels!

@@gpweaver don’t say hemoglobin. I am part globin and my mom is full hemo. OFFENSIVE!!

@@rockylong7546 good, be offended

Ah, but remember, one of Adam's sons was the originator of metalworking. That means he was probably taught by God Himself, and it's likely there was no "bronze age." The Bible mentions steel and iron long before secular "scientists" believe it existed.

So how do you explain the bronze weapons and armor we have found

@@kylejohns2288 Satan put those there to fool us, like dinosaur bones and UFOs

LoL love that blue collar casino 🤣

I watch Project Farm, The Harbor Freight car battery jump box, couldn't jump a Ford 4 Cyl Ranger. The Harbor Freight zip-ties, the best. I got an open box small shop vac for about $20, amazing for small, tight area jobs, use the hell out of it. picks up screws and nails Your comment, on track. I have engine hoists and stands. about 3 floor jacks, couple ATV jacks and jack stands, never had an issue. The ATV lifts I use all the time on our Harley's and other motorcycles. One of the floor jacks I use on my F350. I have busted some of their hand tools, but I am fine with it. Need to modify a hand tool, cheap is the way to go. I have a lot of old made in USA Craftsman, not going to grind an open end wrench to fit in a small spot I'll most likely use once. This is where Harbor Freight shines. Sometimes cheap tools are priceless.

I've bought things from HF and now, I wouldn't buy a pencil there.

@@michaelconran5252 the rule I was tight growing up, if you need it for one job, go to HF, if you need it to last go to Sears

@@deathsicon unfortunately Craftsman is not the same anymore. Most of the Craftsman is have is from 80's early 90's. Now I buy other brands that have lifetime warranties. I got cheap if it something I will only use a few times. I went cheaper on the 72 Torx I may use 2 or 3 more times on my Harleys luckily over the years I have anywhere from 3 to 5 of everything.

Wouldn't u want to polish off the surface oxides im no pro

@@mikehancho3500 Not just those, also decarburization (decarb) - a layer where the inverse of case hardening has happened - air has leached out the carbon. Usually quite thin but some steels and long soak times can cause deeper layers.

Also with hardening metals most metals need to be tempered back as they would be to brittle and shatter if struck or dropped from a distance . It kinda makes me think the casting got hard but because its cast it is easy to break when hard so that's why they leave them soft anvils , my question would be can you weld a solid high carbon steel to the anvil and harden the piece of high carbon steel ?

LOL. Sounds like you need to do more research before making sweeping statements and presenting them as fact.

Thank you Wayne

Thank you William merry Christmas to you and yours 🎅🏼🎅🏼🎅🏼🎄🎄🌨️🌨️❄️

@@ChristCenteredIronworks Thank ya!

Exactly what cheap tools are for. Can modify, and use them in a pinch as they were not intended to be used. Break it, who cares? break that old Craftsman (When they were good) or Snap-On, you cry.

Thank you Wayne merry Christmas And God bless you Sir 🎅🏼🎄🌨️❄️

There is no bondo inside a casting, and any bondo in surface pits would burn out way before those temperatures, its basically plastic.

Me too buddy 👍

BTW I'm guessing the anvil will crumble

Thank you and merry Christmas to you and yours as well ❤️

Would of but then you wouldn't of been able to see the scratch test results with the glare from the studio lighting...

@@ChristCenteredIronworks wrong answer.

Definately. Someone wrote a comment above that Harbor Freight anvils are only anvil shaped objects. They are good for straightening nails or for paperweights. Cast iron is not hardenable.

Cast iron can be flame or induction hardened (common for machine ways, gears, etc).

Me too And welcome to the channel 🙂

Let us know how it turns out!

Cast iron has MORE carbon than steel, not less. That makes it brittle, which is why it's unsuitable as an anvil.

Case iron can be case hardened.

Merry Christmas And maybe enough to test ? 🤔

I've heard of people welding plates on, always assumed they meant arc welding. (and quite a few did, I suppose). Somehow The thought never occurred to me that you could forge weld it. That might actually be the best possible "upgrade", short of selling it and buying a better anvil.

I am still very new to anything other than some stick and MIG welding but I have always heard that you can't weld cast iron. Is forge welding different in that respect?

@@markhenrikson9790 You can weld cast, but it is not easy to do, well beyond the abilities and equipment of your average amateur welder. As for forge welding, My understanding is you can bond pretty much any metals that you can get hot enough, and can keep from forming scale/oxide, but there could be some that don't work.

Looking forward to it 🙂

Thank you And merry Christmas to you and your family as well 🎅🏼🎅🏼🎄🎄🌨️🌨️

LoL I see what you did there 😉🤫

Screwed or bolted? They are two entirely different fasteners.

@@chrisallen9154 bolted

We will have to see 😉

First, cast does not mean cast iron. Second, forging does not consolidate material or "intertwine" the grain. Third, rope is not stronger because it is twisted. Iron is a crystal. It does not have long or stringy grains, it is more akin to sandstone or quartzite (metamorphic sandstone where to silicate grains grow together from being exposed to high heat). Casting has the potential to create voids or porosity from the process failing or being done improperly, but heat treatment itself can do far more to refine and homogenize the grain structure than "forging" can. Besides, what does it really mean to have a forged anvil? How did they create the billet in the first place? Are the feet, horn, heel, and face all welded onto the waist? Is it arc welded or forge welded? Are those perfect welds, or are they just as susseptible to failure as a cast anvil? A good anvil is a good piece of iron made well, regardless of the method used in it's construction.

@@DragonHide94 ok first, I said Cast, not Cast IRON, I understand the difference, still like you said, hardening cast at all destroys any strength the metal had because of all the voids and the lack of consolidation of the grain of the crystals, you can see it when the hardy breaks off how large the crystal grain is the difference between cast and forged metal is the grain structure of the metal, forging tightens that structure and you get much more grains in a smaller area I used rope as an example because and I quote "The twist of the strands in a twisted or braided rope serves not only to keep a rope together, but enables the rope to more evenly distribute tension among the individual strands. Without any twist in the rope, the shortest strand(s) would always be supporting a much higher proportion of the total load." but i guess i should have used gems as an example, quartz is loose and not consolidated well, while diamond from heat and pressure is far harder. there's a difference here between hardness and strength though, the harder the steel the more brittle it becomes, the stronger the steel the more easily it bends. the best anvils are forged because you tighten up the grain structure, remove any possible voids in the steel and then can heat treat it to harden, cast may be able to be hardened but will not be as strong as forged steel, there's a reason steel swords are never made from castings.

@@thejackofalldans786 I have neither the time, not the crayons to explain why everything you just said is wrong (except the rope because it was a quote from elsewhere).

Holland anvil made in Michigan or if you are on a budget The #66 double Horn anvils online like The one I reviewed would be good 🙂

it would have been better had they used oil instead of water to quench it

@@signolias100 maybe. Would have been better if they’d gotten some railroad rail…. Hope to get some railroad rail myself.

The Russian anvils are solid performers.

Cast iron won't make any difference. The material can't be hardened. The surface of the piece can look like it's been hardened, but that hardened layer will be only microns thick, because cast iron has too much carbon in it. It's for lowering the melting temperature. It causes the casting to be rigid (fragile) and relatively soft, not malleable. You can quench steels that you can forge and reach good results. You can have success with a piece of 4140 for example.

@@baladar1353 That answers my question, thank you.

Physics - you can't do anything with cast iron far as heat treating goes. Best you can do is break it like they did - cast iron is super brittle as it is - heating it glowing hot and drowning it will assure you of a break - just like dumping cold water into a well overheated motor block.

Yes and no. With cast iron, it's a lost cause. In general, though, you are 100% correct. The lydenfrost effect forms a "pocket" of steam around the anvil, preventing it from further cooling it. Historically, anvils were often quenched under running water, often a waterfall or "shower" type rig. Even moving it around helps break up the pocket, but fast moving water is better.

You’re exactly right Cyrille. The quenching method was suspect. And there should have been a water hose dumping in cold water to offset the temperature rise from the anvil. You wouldn’t quench a knife blade in a champagne flute filled with water. Quenching that much cast iron in any case is probably not a good idea. But if you’re going to do the test, it should’ve be done under the best conditions possible. Especially since doing the quench correctly would have required so little effort. Removing the scale prior to the hardness test should have been done, as well. Finally the anvil plate should have been tempered.

@@oddjobbob8742 I expect if someone really wanted to they could have a tool steel plate forge welded to the HF anvil. My old Fisher is made that way, tool steel plate on cast iron body. Nice anvil, no ring so I don't get run out of my neighborhood. Far as quenching goes, just for fun, what about hot water or salted water? May be less shock to the cast iron.

@@Dannysoutherner thank you for commenting to my post. As far as the thermal shock goes, I think the RU-vid would seem to indicate the HF anvil was able to handle the thermal shock. Of course is the scale had been cleaned from the metal some heat shock introduces flaws might have been seen. I wish the Priducer of this excellent RU-vid had treated the subject as a heat treatment experiment rather than hardening alone. I would have liked to have seen the outcome if the anvil had been properly cleaned and tempered.