Linda,

Here is my take on the anvil.... I would not waste my time trying to reface it. I suspect it is a bit pitted or marred up from use.

I would acquire an angle grinder and equip it with a hook and eye attachment and find the best portion of the anvil and refinish only that portion so it is usable for our smaller work. Most likely you will need to start with a fairly course grit and then progress to finer grits up to no finer than 320.

I finished my Swedish anvil in this fashion and it has served me well.

Best of luck and let us see the anvil before you start.

Another tip. If you are going to be forging spoons on this anvil... I suggest rounding one edge to at least a 1/4" or 1/2" radius. The ring will be deafening so wear hearing protection. I also deaden the sound of the anvil by placing sandbags over the horn and heel of the anvil. I am told that a powerful magnet attached to the body will also help deaden the sound. Not sure about that one.

Fred

Fred Zweig
Metalsmith

Linda,

Welcome to ArtMetal - you'll get it all figured out quickly, I'm sure.

As for your anvil question, the amount of resurfacing that is necessary is gong to depend on a couple of things; what you want to do with it and what condition it is presently in. On the condition, a big factor is what kindof anvil it is. Real anvils, those that are made with either wrought iron, cast iron or cast steel bodies and a tool steel face plate, are worth resurfacing, but it should be approached carefully - you don't want to cut much off the face or you'll ruin it for forging. If the anvil is cast iron without a tool steel faceplate, it is only good for non-ferrous work and you can do whatever you want to the face since you can't make it any worse. I should note here that I am a professional blacksmith and therefore somewhat of a "snob" about anvil quality. :-)

Assuming that the anvil is a normal used anvil, with some rust, some dings, and maybe a bit of chipping on the edges, the resurfacing is pretty straightforward. You just want to clean up the face to the point it is good enough for what you need/want to do and no more. I prefer my anvils to have faces that are pretty smooth and shiny, and that takes time and energy.

With a used anvil, I start with a belt sander and an 80 grit belt to knock off the surface rust quickly and let me see how the surface looks. From there,I usually switch to the 4-1/2" angle grinder with a 220 grit greenback disc and I feather out any shallow dings and dress the edges to a small radius (about 1/32" to 1/16") all around. The edge of the anvil on the far side, from the horn back about 4-6" I dress with a significantly larger radius, about 3/16" at the horn tapering back to the 1/16" at about 6" back. If you're not doing hot forging, that larger radius may not be as necessary - you decide that based upon the use you plan for it.

After I have the whole face cleaned up I'll usually switch to my heavy-duty dual action random orbit sander and regular sandpaper, progressing through the grits until I get to about 320 grit. That is pretty close to a mirror surface for most purposes. On the small 100# anvil I use for silver work, the face is buffed to a mirror surface, but the others are just sanded shiny.

On any anvil with a tool steel face, do not remove more than 1/16" of metal! Any more than that will cut below the hardest part of the face, leaving it soft enough that it may be easily dinged. Keep in mind that an anvil does not need a perfectly flat face to be a good working anvil. My favorite old anvil has a sway in the center of the face after a couple of hundred years of work, and I find that slight depression very useful for straightening work where it needs to be moved past center to overcome "springback."

The physical reality of anvils is that the only part hat actually matters is the part that is directly under the face of the hammer - all the rest is just useful mass. Now, the spot that is under the hammer face may move around, so I like the whole anvil finished, but 90% of the work is done right in the middle of the face.

If you will post pictures of the anvil, showing the top, sides. front and rear. I can give you much more specific guidelines about finishing it. What I've given you thus far is just the generalities of the issue. Each anvil is different and should be dealt with according to its particular needs.

Rich