jac

Once again, many thanks to all! There are some wonderful ideas here. I might throw several of these together: perhaps paint the end in contact with the ground and char or oil the exposed sides.

Many thanks to all! The stand is common nominal 4x4--untreated yellow pine. Outside of the humidity it will experience in my garage, it'll be largely away from any moisture. It is and will be resting on concrete. Does this change your thoughts on the matter?

I just built a wooden stand for my PW. The stand and anvil will remain out of the elements in the garage. Currently, the wood is bare. Would you treat the wood in any way, or just leave it bare? If you would go for a finish, what would you use? Thanks for the help!

Thanks for that information, Alan. Much appreciated.

LOL!! Yeah, it's in the garage right now. I think my wife is getting sick of my trips to the garage to gawk at it. Going to get started building a stand for it soon! Once again, thanks to all for the invaluable help provided. I think Alan, Mac, and perhaps others were correct: the cutting table was worn or deliberately modified. There were no cracks or repairs in the area worn/modified. The white spot in the photo above appears to me to be a photographic anomaly. She passed the ball-bearing test with flying colors!

Many thanks to all!

Thanks folks! Weight indicated as 1 1 6 or 146 pounds.

Thanks very much, Alan. For me, it's difficult to know what's going on just by looking at a photo. I hope the white mark below the rounded table doesn't indicate a crack or repair. The current owner assures me there are no cracks or repairs, but we'll see:

Thanks, Spanky. Interesting that your PW is similar. I felt the same: use not abuse. It helps immeasurably to know you feel the same. Does anyone know if a maker had ever produced an anvil with a table having a rounded corner like that?

Thanks Frosty and ausfire! Added data, as suggested, Frosty. You've opened up a whole new dimension of thinking for me. Sadly, I was only looking at anvils as tools, but they're reflections of those they served and almost have lives of their own. Many thanks to all!

Thanks, Thomas. I felt the same way; but being a newb, your comment is most reassuring.

Thank you both very much. Yes, Alan, I didn't mention the table in my original post, but it was a curiosity to me, too. I wonder what could have caused the damage to the table? It's very interesting.

Thanks for having a look at this: Sometimes it's hard for me to judge what I see in photographs. To me, there appears to be significant wear to the heel. The chipping beside the Hardie seems common enough, for a used anvil, but the smooth wear around the perimeter of the heel seems sort of strange. Perhaps a farrier was using the anvil to spread shoes. What do you make of it? Does it look like a nice face, or are you troubled by the wear? How do the edges look to you, in general? This newb thanks you greatly!